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Blog Watching Paint Dry Blog

Just A Skink
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Just A Skink

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Meaning that this "blog" will probably be about as interesting as watching paint dry. I'm notoriously slow at EVERY project I undertake and I have a tendency to let many projects go unfinished. Sigh... I hope I'll be able to maintain my inspiration.
 
You have my attention.
chilled_forest_lizard1.jpg
 
Here are my first pics for this blog. I recently purchased the Seraphon Starter Box. Since I have limited experience with miniature painting, I'm starting with my Saurus Warriors. Over the past couple of weeks, I've gotten several of them trimmed, cleaned and mostly assembled. Obviously, I'm leaving off the shields to paint separately and attach after. I slightly angled the spears forward to make them appear more "aggressive", or at least less static, without making them too difficult to pile in/form up.

saurus_warriors_assembled1.jpg
saurus_warriors_assembled2.jpg

Up next is the Saurus Warrior command, and I'm strongly thinking about saving the last warrior as a possible Astrolith Bearer.
 
Further (read: slow) progress on my starter box.

Saurus Command clipped, cleaned and mostly assembled. Shields will go on after painting.

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I did a small bit of customization to the alpha. I cut the hand/spear from a standard Saurus and removed the hand from the melee alpha arm. Then, I glued the spear hand onto the melee arm and raised it a bit. Since all of the other warriors have their spears dipped forward, I wanted it to look as if the alpha is raising his spear and roaring to drive forward his unit.
 
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UPDATE: Saurus color test/painting skill test.

So I'm trying some color/painting tests. I love the temple guard blue and thousand sons colors. I tried painting a lighter belly, in screaming skull, to offset the yellow spine I had intended to paint, for a Dracothian/Tlaxcotl scheme. Admittedly, I painted these colors pretty quick and I'm worried I won't be a patient painter (I never have been). That said, I'm not sure I'm crazy about the light belly with coelia greenshade over the top of it. The shade in general looks blotchy over the light color. I'm sure part of it is that I want the smooth pristine colors I see from so many painters here and on GW. Sigh...

saurus_test1.jpg

saurus_test3.jpg

saurus_test2.jpg
saurus_test4.jpg
 
So, next I tried painting an unfinished mini because I had trouble getting around the mini well. I also tried painting the blues over the screaming skull. I thought that it worked a bit better, but I'm still not sure about the light belly. It might just be that it's too stark, or that it's just not quite the right color, or that it's just too much to do. Maybe I should do the sepia over the screaming skull, but I was hoping to bring the belly color and body color a bit closer together. I do like the blues I picked and I might just use those.

saurus_test6.jpg
saurus_test7.jpg
 
Just A Skink said:
Meaning that this "blog" will probably be about as interesting as watching paint dry. I'm notoriously slow at EVERY project I undertake and I have a tendency to let many projects go unfinished. Sigh... I hope I'll be able to maintain my inspiration.
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Relatable a.f.
 
Don't worry, we have other painters here that work at a glacial pace.

Just post small progress updates a bit more often, that will help keeping motivation up.
 
Just A Skink said:
So, next I tried painting an unfinished mini because I had trouble getting around the mini well. I also tried painting the blues over the screaming skull. I thought that it worked a bit better, but I'm still not sure about the light belly. It might just be that it's too stark, or that it's just not quite the right color, or that it's just too much to do. Maybe I should do the sepia over the screaming skull, but I was hoping to bring the belly color and body color a bit closer together. I do like the blues I picked and I might just use those.

View attachment 49183
View attachment 49184
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To bring the body colour closer to the scales I would go grey then blue wash, try Light grey and Drakenhoff shade, the patchy shade is due to having too much on your brush and not getting it all on before it starts to dry.
 
Crowsfoot said:
To bring the body colour closer to the scales I would go grey then blue wash, try Light grey and Drakenhoff shade, the patchy shade is due to having too much on your brush and not getting it all on before it starts to dry.
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Thank you, @Crowsfoot
I tried to thin down the shade, but perhaps I still had too much on the brush. I hadn't thought about light grey with blue wash, but that's an interesting suggestion.
 
Was he primed? In the first picture you show of the skin color it looks like his spear is bare plastic
 
Minor update February 2019

Although I've had most of the pieces clipped and cleaned for a while, I've finally started assembling my saurus knights. Here they are with a scar veteran in front. They turned out so-so. I didn't test fit them to the cold ones before I glued together the saddles, so they are quite wobbly (not a tight or secure fit).

saurus_knights1.jpg

Here is a close up of the scar vet and the alpha. I did a little "kit bashing" of sorts using parts from the knights and warriors sprue. I am pretty proud of them, but the alpha's arm is too low and the hand interferes with the cold one's head. Sigh...

saurus_knights2.jpg

Lessons learned on the saurus knights:
  1. BE PATIENT! These are the most fiddly minis I've tried to put together yet.
  2. You should probably assemble the cold one first, and match the saddle & legs to the body before you glue together the saddle. Possibly a better fit?
  3. Watch how you position the bodies in the saddle/legs b/c it WILL affect the weapon arms and shields (the shields just seem to not want to go right). I guess make them as upright as possible?
  4. Watch your weapon arm positions so they don't bump into the cold one's body or head (probably just with spears and the standard).
  5. The drummer's left arm should probably be in a raised position b/c the feather on the bottom of his drum stick will interfere with drum placement (I found out that the hard way...).
  6. I can't find a good/secure placement for those silly drums. :mad:
 
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Totally agree. Assembling the knights in my first s.c. Box was such a hassle I’m dreading putting together the second batch.
:mad: WHY DO THE SHIELDS NOT FIT ANYWHERE? :mad:
 
Cageyblood said:
Totally agree. Assembling the knights in my first s.c. Box was such a hassle I’m dreading putting together the second batch.
:mad: WHY DO THE SHIELDS NOT FIT ANYWHERE? :mad:
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That is a really good point :joyful: I totally forgot about how infuriatingly hard my first batch of saurus was to put together. I think what made it hard was the tails; after putting together a full 16 then absolutely FAILING to be able to rank them up, I had to snap all the shields off and start over :sorry:

On the plus side, next time I assembled them all as a group, constantly making sure they were actually able to rank up this time. Now I got four batches of sixteen, brought up to 80 along with their unit fillers.
 
Things I am learning while trying to paint my skinks.

1. I am NOT @Itepixcauh (Ha ha ha.) Seriously, though his tutorial is helpful, despite my inability to achieve the same results.
2. Lamian Medium is your friend. Honestly, I may never use a wash without it. It definitely tones down Coelia Greenshade so it's not quite as dark.
3. Patience is a virtue (I wish I had more patience...).
3. Skink models are quite small.
4. I need keener eyesight.
5. I need steadier hands.
6. Apparently layer painting is beyond my comprehension and capability. I guess I really need to water down the color and paint numerous thin layers? I just didn't want to take too much time on base troops (remember that lack of patience?).
 
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