Blog Restarting my lizardmen

[Yara]

Hi all,

Some time ago I started a lizardman army, but (like many of my projects) work on it sort of stalled as other things diverted my attention. I've now resolved to finish what I started, and I hope that this log will motivate me.

It's not a very large force, just a batallion box and some other bits and pieces, so hopefully I can stay the course this time! The first few things I post will probably be recaps of what I've done so far, so apologies if you've seen them elsewhere before.

I decided to start small with a unit of skirmishing Skinks. As you'll see, I've gone for the conventional colour-scheme:

 

[Avak786]

They're brilliant Yara! I really like the detail you've lavished on the skinks faces and crests!

 

[Kblock]

Nice looking Skinks. I look forward to seeing the rest of your army!

 

[Yara]

Thanks very much for the comments and encouragement! More photos to come as things progress, but here's what I'm working on at the moment -- a Skink/Krox cohort made out of 5th Edition and non-GW models:

 

[n810]

Oh Reaper's Lizardmen. I haven't seen those in a while.
Oh nice clean paint job on those Skinks.

 

[Yara]

Oh Reaper's Lizardmen. I haven't seen those in a while.
Oh nice clean paint job on those Skinks.

Thank you very much! You're right that it's a Reaper Lizardman. It's a shame that there's really only one which is a suitable Kroxigor stand-in as they're very reasonably priced. I'll just have to live with the duplicate pose in the unit.

I've finished painting one now so here's what they'll look like, although the base is not yet complete:

 

[n810]

there aren't too terrible (with some slight modifications), they added a few more to their line recently.
https://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/lizardman/latest/02351#detail/IG_1849_1 https://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/lizardman/latest/03390#detail/03390_w_1

 

[Yara]

there aren't too terrible (with some slight modifications), they added a few more to their line recently.
https://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/lizardman/latest/02351#detail/IG_1849_1 https://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/lizardman/latest/03390#detail/03390_w_1

Many thanks -- I hadn't seen those. I particularly like the second one. I wonder if it'll come out in Reaper's Bones range?

There was a thread in the main Painting forum about converting old Skink archers with shields and javelins. This is what I've done to build my Skink Cohort, so I posted the following text and images there... I'll put it all here too so I have everything in one place.

I used a sharp knife to carve off the quivers, bows and arms and then stuck on the javelin arms and shields that I had spare from the new Skink kit. The shields cover a lot of the body, so you don't have to carve things off perfectly:

 

[NexS1]

Very clean painting. Good work. I like!!!


Also, those kroxigors are pleasing to the eye

 

[Yara]

Very clean painting. Good work. I like!!!


Also, those kroxigors are pleasing to the eye

Then you very much -- I'm pleased with how they've turned out too. It's only taken me 25 years, but I've finally plucked up the courage to try highlighting instead of just drybrushing everything!

The Skink/Krox unit is now finished and I'm likewise happy with how everything looks together:




I'm aware that nearly everything I've done so far has been Skink related. The next thing I'm planning for the army is a bit larger, but will still have some Skinks involved...

 

[Yara]

Hello! So things got a bit delayed....the radiator in the man-cave sprang a leak (from the panel itself, not the joints!) and this turned the carpet into an approximation of a Lustrian swamp. And then it also got cold in there without any central heating...

Anyway, I have made a small amount of progress:



Obviously it's short of a howdah and crew, but I'm pleased to have got this far. I really hate painting horns!

For the skin I followed the GW painting tutorial video on YouTube for the Maggoth Lord. I'm actually really pleased how it came out....I was a bit unsure while it was in progress, but having finished all the extra details it looks a lot better. Here's another view in slightly different light, which shows the difference between the flanks and belly a bit better:



Now I have heating again I have no excuse for further lack of progress

 

[n810]

So far so good.

 

[Crowsfoot]

They look amazing!

I have just picked up a brush after 23 years and the painting style has changed so much, everyone used to drybrush or use blending for better quality models, now it's edge highlighting which im finding hard to convert too.

How did you make the transition?

Regards

Crowsfoot

 

[Yara]

They look amazing!

Thank you very much! I'm very pleased with how things are coming along, although I wish I could make progress faster!

I have just picked up a brush after 23 years and the painting style has changed so much, everyone used to drybrush or use blending for better quality models, now it's edge highlighting which im finding hard to convert too.

How did you make the transition?

First up, I don't know if I have fully made the transition. The Stegadon's skin and scales, for example, were mainly drybrushed, as was the skin of the Krox and Skinks on the previous page. So I definitely still make use of the same techniques I picked up 15+ years ago.

What's changed most for me has been the introduction of the Citadel Shades, especially Devlan Mud (or whatever it's currently called). Somebody called them "talent in a bottle" and I really agree: they're a very quick way to add depth and shade to a painscheme. What I did find, however, was that they tended to dull the basecoats down considerably -- this is definitely the case with Devlan Mud, for example. So this encouraged me to go back over washed models with the base colours to brighten things back up again. It turns out that this is basically highlighting, and I've recently moved on from just reapplying the base coat over a wash on to adding a second lighter coat on edges etc to really make things "pop"....which is how I've picked up edge highlighting.

What really helped steer me on how to do this was the availability of painting videos on YouTube. The Games Workshop ones are excellent in that they cover this basic basecoat+wash+highlight technique, so if you've not seen those I'd defintely watch some...even though there aren't any Lizardmen-specific ones (I think), there's probably something covering a similar paintscheme (for example I applied the Nurgle Maggoth Lord one to my Stegadon). Another great source of YouTube videos comes from the Itslikewatchingpaintdry blog.

Apologies for the lengthy post but I hope this helps!

 

[Kblock]

Great looking steggie! Keep up the good work.