Hello everyone! Time has come for my two steggies to be painted. I'm planning to paint one of them red and the other one blue. I want the colour to be distinct, but somewhat 'muted' and natural. For both of them I want the scales to be darker in value and with less chroma (so darker and not-as-blue or not-as-red as the rest of the skin). Both of them are primed white. BLUE STEGADON SKIN: I would like his skin to be like the 'official' rockgut troggoths skin . Thunderkhawk blue looks like a good base on white primer, with Fenrisian and Ulthuan highlights. Not sure about the shade. Do you guys agree? Alternatively, I was thinking about a similarly light tone tending towards purple rather than green, using Calgar Blue as a base, Crimson or Violet as a Shade and Fenrisian and Ulthuan as highlights. SCALES For 'greener' scales I could use Stegadon Scale/Dark Reaper-> Nuln or Agrax/Coelia->Thunderhawk or Dark Reaper->Coelia->Thunderhawk For 'purplish' scales I could use Dark Reaper->Violet/Crimson-> not sure if I would Highlight with Warpfiend/Slaanesh or Calgar/Fenrisian RED STEGADON Well, this is harder. SKIN a typical transition from Khorne Red to Squig Orange would make the Steg look like a Squig, which is cool but I don't know if it is what I want. A more muted look could be achieved with Doombull Brown->Brown shade->Tuskgor Fur-> Caidian/Kislev highlights -> Bloodletter but I'm afraid it will look too dark and leatherish. SCALES Red scales could replicate red skin scheme, but using a dark nuln oil shade and avoiding the brightest highlighs Maybe reddish-brown scales, going Rhinox->shade->Doombull->Tuskgor could work too ( glazed in bloodletter at the end?) Let me know what you guys think about these ideas. Pics, tutorials, comparisons are more than welcome.
I'm glad I understood the main colors, but doesn't it look darker then the 'official one'? Maybe white primer and layering instead of dry brushing can make it lighter? Do you think a a similar scheme based on calgar blue could work?
It's down to the painting style why it's darker, the GW official picture, those 3 are layered carefully, in the video it's quick and easy but the colours will probably be the same. Calgar blue will work nicely.
Thank you. I'll see what my indecisive mind comes up with. I'll probably go for the Thunderhawk way, as I know what it should look like. PS The official ones also seem to have lighter edge highlights in Ulthuan Grey or Blue Horror.
Nice, definitely looks like you've nailed the colour. I remember reading somewhere on this forum, can't remember where now sorry, but it was from a White Dwarf magazine, showing how a official box art painting was actually done by the 'Eavy Metal team, and it was ... ridiculous. It was like yes they used the official paints but they had all these crazy combos of different paints and then like 50 layers starting with 10:1 laiman medium, etc, etc - totally extreme details compare to the instructions you usually get on the box art which is usually Base Paint > Shade > Layer Paint. So yeah that is probably why the instructional videos come out differently to the 'Eavy Metal paintjobs which are showcased on the box.
Thank you. Yes it took me much more work than simply doing base>shade>layer, with intermediate drybrushing or intermediate layers of very diluted colours. For the blue guy for example, I added hoeth blue as either drybrush or light layer in many places before final highlights, and used Blue horror or Vallejo Light Blue Grey for that purpose. Of course I lack a lot of the skill and knowledge to achieve the results I want to pursue, but 50% of the official instructions are to say the least misleading. I still can0t see ho Kabalite Green->Coelia shade-> Sybarite green can lead to a green turquoise lizardmen skin with deep and bright areas; it just looks like a dinosaur-shaped cucumber whenever I try it.
Found it. All that for just the SKIN on the model haha nevermind everything else. Meanwhile look at the back of a Gloomspite Gitz box and it will tell you to paint skin you need Death Guard Green > Coelia Greenshade, Nurgling Green and Krieg Khaki.
Thank you guys. I'll post a Pic of the finished steggies soon. If you want I'll share my recipe. The blending required often dry brushing between main passages and careful layering the same color drybrushed to get rid of the dusty effect, increase brightness and make the details crisp. Looks boring but didn't take much time.
Very nice - I’d say near perfect on both accounts (digging the blue - May have to steal for myself) really nice work!
They look lovely. The blue in particular really pops. You could go a bit lighter in highlights for the horns and spikes on the red one. Or, it you want to keep the horns darker, just add in another transition . At the moment its horns look unfinished.
so, this is as finished as thei will probabily be for some time. 6 months into mini painting i'm quite happy with the results. I added a lighter layer on the dark horns, maybe i'll go on again with pallid wych flesh. Hope you guys enjoy them, feedback always welcome