Blog Vapa's lizards

[NMvapa]

Hey, this is my first painting blog and my first AOS army. I have painted lots of models in 40k though, so I have some idea of what I'm doing. I would also like to apologize for any grammar or spelling errors, as this is not my native language.

Ok, I am starting this blog today, as I just got my first models. I bought 31 old skink models from a friend. The models seem to be from 1995, as they were painted with the old GW paints, which are very hard to strip and the model itself is currently OOP(Out of print), skinks with bows. The guy that sold them to me was kind enough to have done the 3 weeks of stripping required to remove any kind of that old paint, so they were relatively clean. I decided to prime them with a white acrylic spray, as I intended to be speed painting them. For those of you, who don't know speed painting is the methode of painting huge groups of models fast trough the use of white primer and washes or washed down paint. You paint the models in 2 or 3 waves of 2-3 colors. I decided to try speed painting out, cause I reckoned I will be painting a whole lot of skinks in the future and I needed a way to paint them quickly, while still getting a nice color scheme. Anyway, to the actual painting. Here are the models primed in white:




After that I took 2 models to try out 2 color schemes I had in mind. For the first one I used washed down light blue(Hoeth blue) for the skin, then I covered the bow and the lether parts with Mournfang brown and the quiver and other bits with green (Wrpstone glow). After that I used Steel legion drab for the arrows, the scales were red(Khorne red) and I used a darker blue (Kantor blue) for the back area. The model came out quite nicely, although these old models didn't have scales, so I had to eyeball it. Here is a picture:


The other paint scheme I didn't like. The idea was for a huge portion of the model to remain white, the back would be dark blue and the scales and face would be light green. While painting it I realized that this won't work for speed painting, as the white base necessitated much more slow and accurate painting, because every mistake was really easy to spot. When I finished it, I felt that the white part didn't look white, but just unpainted. I went back and covered the skin with grey, but it still didn't feel right. Overall, I didn't like neither the look, nor the execution. I can't help but feel, that my own inablility to paint the scheme right was the cause for that, rather than just the color scheme being bad. In any case here is a picture of the second scheme and the 2 schemes together:

 

[Aginor]

I also prefer the blue one.

 

[NMvapa]

Ok, so I managed to finish the skinks. It took me about 4 hours for the 30 models, which shows how quick speed painting is, although I am sure a lot of people can do it way faster than me with this technique. I even managed to get them painted in one sitting, though it got a bit frustraiting in the in the last hour. Here are the pictures:

 

[Aginor]

Ok, so I managed to finish the skinks. It took me about 4 hours for the 30 models, which shows how quick speed painting is, although I am sure a lot of people can do it way faster than me with this technique. I even managed to get them painted in one sitting, though it got a bit frustraiting in the in the last hour. Here are the pictures:
View attachment 41911 View attachment 41912

My 30 Skinks took me days, as I don't speed paint.

I can't really tell how yours look up close but for Skinks I think you can really speed paint them, unless somebody looks real close they always look fine.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

It took me about 4 hours for the 30 models

That is insanely good productivity.

 

[Lord-Marcus]

I've done that before, although the wash methodleaves a bit to be desired imo. I generally drybrush speed paint.

Question: are you doing these in groups of 5 at a time? Any more then that and the paint normslly semi dries or gets in the ferrel of your brush. That makes it a painting to clean.

 

[NMvapa]

I've done that before, although the wash methodleaves a bit to be desired imo. I generally drybrush speed paint.

Question: are you doing these in groups of 5 at a time? Any more then that and the paint normslly semi dries or gets in the ferrel of your brush. That makes it a painting to clean.

I painted the whole 30 at a time, used wet pallet and that helped, where usually the whole paint dries really fast, here I was able to use about 90% of it before it dried. The fact that I used washed paint played a role as well. The benefit of the wet pallet is that it thins your paint and makes it real hard for them to dry, since the top paper is wet(also has to be thin) and the wet towel/paper beneath assures it stays that way.

 

[NMvapa]

That is insanely good productivity.

Yea, way faster than anything I've ever done. Helped that there were no ornaments on the models, though you could technically shave of some more time if you really practice xD

 

[Lord-Marcus]

I painted the whole 30 at a time, used wet pallet and that helped, where usually the whole paint dries really fast, here I was able to use about 90% of it before it dried. The fact that I used washed paint played a role as well. The benefit of the wet pallet is that it thins your paint and makes it real hard for them to dry, since the top paper is wet(also has to be thin) and the wet towel/paper beneath assures it stays that way.

Wet pallet changes things. I have one, but it's huge and until I get some space issues sorted can't use it unless I'm at the hobby shop

 

[NMvapa]

My 30 Skinks took me days, as I don't speed paint.

I can't really tell how yours look up close but for Skinks I think you can really speed paint them, unless somebody looks real close they always look fine.

They all look pretty much the same as the one I painted first(when I tried out the colors), I painted them in the same oreder with the same paints, so apart from the red markings being a bit thinner or thicker there is no difference.

 

[Lord-Marcus]

Did you let the washes dry between stages?

 

[NMvapa]

Wet pallet changes things. I have one, but it's huge and until I get some space issues sorted can't use it unless I'm at the hobby shop

I made mine for like 50 cents at most. You need some kind of really thin paper, you can buy a whole lot cheap, I bought mine from a printing shop(is that how you call it?). Some tissues/toilet paper for the layer underneath and a plastic box, the top of an icecream box, etc. You can get one of these if you don't want to water the towel every time(the horror). I am sure the big one you have is probably better, but this one is small and costs (almost) nosthing, so it's nice to have in certain situations

 

[NMvapa]

Did you let the washes dry between stages?

If you paint the whole 30 of them in organised fashion, the first one should be almost dry when you finish the 30th one, you may have to wait a bit considering the different temperature and ventilation in different rooms and the speed at which you are painting. The only thing you need is a bit more space, so you would know the oreder in which you paint the models. I had 4 lines and I painted them starting form the front, left to right, so it was easy to track.

 

[Lord-Marcus]

If you paint the whole 30 of them in organised fashion, the first one should be almost dry when you finish the 30th one, you may have to wait a bit considering the different temperature and ventilation in different rooms and the speed at which you are painting. The only thing you need is a bit more space, so you would know the oreder in which you paint the models. I had 4 lines and I painted them starting form the front, left to right, so it was easy to track.

Good method. Thanks for explaining!