Blog The Guardians of Huitzi

[Korokai]

Hey guys.

This is my first attempt at a paint log, but before it starts, I'll give you a brief run down of my past Warhammer experience.

Basically, I've been playing Warhammer fantasy on and off for the past 2 1/2 years, and previously I 'collected' 40k models. In this time, I've 'started' many an army, and never successfully finished one. The furthest I ever got was with an Ogre army, but I eventually grew tired of it.

I've always had a thing for the Lizardmen. I've had an interest in Dinosaurs since I was 3, and the Aztec/Mayan aesthetic has always appealed to me. Despite this, I've never really given Lizardmen a proper go. I've picked up a battalion for them in the past, but it's always been sold on and never really given a real chance.

I'm far from the greatest painter. Despite being into Warhammer and 40k for a good 5/6 years on the whole, I must have finished maybe, 45-50 models. I am a terribly slow painter, but if I'm honest, I never really had a 'space' for painting. Recently I've moved house, and got myself a proper desk, so I might be a bit more productive now!

That's why I've started this paint log. To hopefully keep me motivated whilst I try and build/paint the army I've always wanted. A Lizardmen army... And with a new army book rumoured soon, I figured I might as well take the plunge, once and for all!

To start with, I've picked up a battalion, and an extra 10 Temple Guard.

In the last couple of days, I've been working on removing mold lines from the 8 Cold Ones in the box, and they're finally assembled (sans riders, for ease of painting), and are currently drying out post undercoating!

I can't currently post pictures, as my account is yet to be verified I think. Once it is, I'll post something, even if it's just the 8 undercoated Cold Ones!

Hopefully this will be the start of an enjoyable paint log!

Thanks for looking!

 

[Korokai]

Quick update.

I've not done much, as I'm a notoriously slow painter/assembler, and over the last few days I've been absorbed in various other activities, and it took me quite some time to decide on a colour scheme I liked, a good week was spent pondering over different colours, and then I had to order some new paints to achieve the scheme I liked.

Either way, here's the 8 undercoated Cold Ones, chilling out on my dads appallingly dirty workbench. Looks like this bench hasn't seen any use in a while, although I'm finding it useful as the garage gives me somewhere for models to dry without making the whole house smell of spray paint!



Since then, I've built 4 Saurus, and started work on a practise Cold One. Basically just working on a single model so that I can decide whether I want to commit to the scheme for sure, before starting paint work on them all. This is still quite WIP. The cream and gold areas need washes, and the leather areas (strapping and saddle blanked) obviously need to be painted. The scheme was somewhat inspired by the Velociraptors from The Lost World.



Any feedback is more than welcome, as are any motivational comments that might keep me going!

Thanks for looking guys.

 

[Dyvim Tvar]

Looking good so far. Colors make sense and execution is clean.

 

[newscales]

off to a good start. keep up the good work

 

[Korokai]

Thanks for the responses so far guys!

I finished the Cold One, here's a pic.



Overall I'm fairly happy with how it came out. It's hard to see in the picture, but the eye is painted yellow. I'll go in and do the pupil when I'm feeling more confident!

The green on the grass etc under the dino's foot is a bit poor, the thraka green wash didn't shade it as well as I had hoped but on the whole I'm quite happy with it.

Next up is building 16 more Saurus. When that's done I'll go back and start working on the other 7 Cold Ones. Once the mounts are done, I'll work on the riders!

Thanks for looking once more!

 

[n810]

Dry brush the grass bit with some goblin green or some other bright green and it will turn out prety good.

 

[Dyvim Tvar]

I think the dark brown scales could use some highlighting. Dark colors tend to obscure detail, and it's hard to see the individual scales.

Curious to see how you do the riders.

 

[Korokai]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I went over the leaves with a drybrush of green, I think I need to pick up another shade of green to get the desired effect, so next time I order some paints, I'll pick up some lighter green, and can go back in and drybrush them again at some point.

Regarding the scales, I agree 100%. However I'm absolutely terrible at highlighting, and I'm worried that if I drybrush the scales, I might end up smudging paint onto the orange skin parts. Any advice regarding this, as it's something I'd like to do, but I'm worried about ruining the work I did on the skin.

Thanks again guys!

 

[Dyvim Tvar]

I think you should give drybrushing a shot.

First, use a color that is even lighter than the orange so that it won't look weird if you do get a little bit on the orange areas. A bone color would be good.

Second, you need to make sure that you after you get paint on the brush, you get almost all of the paint off before the brush touches the model. The brush really should be dry. Running it across a paper towel sevel times is a good way to do it. Also, using a big brush and barely dipping it in the paint to start with helps. Run the brush LIGHTLY across the scales once, and if there is any streaking stop--you have too much paint on the brush. If you use a wet cloth immediately, you should be able to clean off the streaks. If you do it right, it should add just a touch of lightness to the high points and edges of the scales.

And if the highlights end up too light, then just hit the area with a thinned-down wash and it can bring them back to a more mid-tone brown.

 

[Korokai]

Thanks for the advice, I gave it a go and I'm really surprised with how good it looks. It's far from perfect, but for a first real attempt, I'm quite happy with it!

Here's a pic.



As I said, quite happy with it. Currently I'm assembling another 4 Saurus, I want to get all 20 built and undercoated by the end of next week, wish me luck!

 

[n810]

Yea it turned out quite decent.

 

[Dyvim Tvar]

That little touch makes a big difference. Looks good.

 

[Old Mossy]

Agreed, very nice model you've got there.

 

[Anomic]

I really like the colour scheme, looks very good.