Blog Athrenax's Adventure Into Miniatures

Hi everyone! As you might have heard, I'm pretty new to the scene, and have been asking around for (and receiving) help around here. I figured it was time I shared some of the stuff I've painted so I can get some feedback on my actual painted models.

I had no idea what kind of colors to pick when I started, so I just bought some colors that were suggested on the back of the kits, and figured I could mix more colors if I needed. While I don't mind the schemes on the box, I do feel that I am now kind of "stuck" with them when it comes to painting additional models of the same type so as to make them match. I have also seen some amazing schemes around here that make for very coherent armies, and kind of wish I had done something similar. However, I am still pretty happy with my models, and will probably continue using the "default" color schemes with slight variations.

All my models are primed with Ceramite White primer from Citadel, and I typically paint the base color on most of the body even if I'm going to completely cover parts with another color. Not sure if this has any effect.

I started with a Start Collecting! box, which I have fully assembled, but not yet fully painted. I then picked up a Skinks box, a Temple Guard box and another Saurus box. I haven't actually had time to do a lot of painting, so I don't have a lot to show yet, but here's what I have to show you so far:

First, my Skinks with blowpipes. They are the first (almost) complete unit, missing just the base and some details (bronze on some details, finished weapons, and some cleanup):

They were based with Temple Guard Blue with a little Castellan Green mixed in. The scales were painted with Sotek Green. For the "fins" I mixed some Caledor Sky into Ceramite White, which when I applied it looked very white, but when it dried became a pretty nice "baby blue" that I was really happy with! The picture of the lone skink doesn't really show this very well due to poor lighting, but you can see it better on the whole unit. The browns are Mournfang Brown, and the bony color on the claws and teeth is Ushatbi Bone. The eyes are Flash Gitz Yellow, and the tongue is Khorne Red. I plan to pain their base with Castellan Green to get a marshy look.

These next two pictures aren't particularly exciting, but are mostly here for reference. They are of the first model I painted, a Saurus Warrior from the Start Collecting! box. I put on way too much primer because I thought it had to be completely white before I could paint it, so a lot of the details are gone. He also isn't finished, because I wanted to assemble and paint some other stuff.

As you can see, there's still a lot of things to do here. I need to paint the base, figure out what to do with the thing hanging from the end of his sword, paint the stone portion of his weapon, the teeth, the eyes and bronze the metal parts. I based him (and the other Saurus) in Temple Guard Blue and painted the scales with Kantor Blue in an attempt to reach a look similar to what I saw on the box.

Next up is my first completely finished model, which I painted yesterday: a fourth rank Temple Guard, whose shield I glued on before I realized I should paint them separately.

I wasn't sure what color to base him in, as I wanted to distinguish my Temple Guard from the regular Saurus Warriors, so I tried a few colors for the skin. I ended up with Caledor Sky, with a Kantor Blue wash, and Stegadon Scale Green for the scales. However, I feel this skin looks pretty smurfy, so I am considering trying out Temple Guard Blue (should be fitting...) instead, still with a Kantor Blue wash. Hopefully that looks a little better. Any thoughts or other ideas?
The bronze and the wooden handle are based in Mournfang Brown, where the bronze is then painted over with Gehenna's Gold. I am considering doing a more golden look (with a yellow base instead of brown) to distinguish them further from the Saurus, but I think the sheer amount of bronze is enough, as I really want to save gold for my characters.
The gray in the halberd is Dawnstone, and I'm not entirely sure what I could have done instead that still looks like a natural material? The shield is based with Mephiston Red with a Khorne Red wash on top. All bone is Ushatbi Bone. The human(?) head is based with Ushatbi Bone, then drybrushed with Mephiston Red, before it was drybrushed with Ushatbi Bone again. That head, along with both skulls and the shield then received a Seraphim Sepia wash.

Except for the skin, I am very happy with my TG, even though I still have some thoughts on possible improvements. Also, is his entire face actually covered with a bone helmet, or is the lower part actually his face and he just has half a skull on top of it? This closeup makes it look like there are scales on his face, which makes me think he's supposed to have an exposed face, though I do kind of like the whole skull mask thing.

 

Oops, forgot to include this bad boy that I spent most of a weekend painting:


He is still not finished, as I still need to bronze the bronzy parts, paint the tongue, and possibly another lighter layer on his underbelly. After that there's a lot of cleanup of edges and paint that got out of bounds.
His scales were based in Mephiston Red and were painted over with a Khorne Red wash. All the browns are Mournfang Brown, where the metal parts with be painted with Gehenna's Gold to create a bronze look (see my TG above). The claws are Abaddon Black and look pretty scary. The stone is Dawnstone.
The underbelly was painted with Ushatbi Bone, then washed with Seraphim Sepia, before I drybrushed Ushatbi Bone on top. Pretty happy with how it ended up!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do for his base. Any ideas?

 

These guys look great! I am liking the blues here and the carno looks fantastic!

 

They look great! One thing you should do is get info about washing and shading and try it out to give your models more depth Excellent job!

 

Good job so far! Can't wait to see more. I will echo the previous statements. Shades and Glazes are a painters best friend. Or as my gaming group likes to call them Liquid Experience!

 

You're off to a great start! I really like your finished temple guard. Once the Lizardmen gets their gold they always come together nicely! Personally I like the more yellow gold so that it's real bright and shiny Experiment with it yourself and see what works best for you. I look forward to see more

 

I'll try to go over a few models with my Seraphim Sepia to try to get some more depth. As for glazes, are there standard Citadel ones that I can pick up at my local game store? And what do they do? I assume they give a shine to the models, and secure the rest of the paint from damage? I noticed some of the thinnest edges were losing their paint, like the crest of my TG.

And for something completely different: I picked up my Slann today, but I'm not yet sure how to paint him. I think I want a dark green-blue hue to the skin, but since it's so expensive, and prominent in my army, I'm afraid to experiment on the model and ruin the detail. I also don't really want a super light belly like on the pictures on the GW site, so I need to either 1) paint the entire body in the same color, or 2) pick a similar but lighter color for the belly. In the first case I'm concerned it will look bland since there's so little to break up the visuals, and in the second case I'm afraid I won't get a good color. Any good ideas for a color scheme? I plan to paint the throne stone with gold details and Elysian Green plants.

 

I do plan on using a brighter gold for some models, but I like to think that it's not so abundant that just anyone can cover themselves in it, so I'm saving it for characters and stuff like the Engine of the Gods. However, I might try it on something like the unit Champion and see how it looks. Maybe it just looks so much better that I'll give them all gold!

 

Hmm, opposite of what? My TG or the "default" color scheme?

 

Agarax earthshade is also great for making anything like worn.

 

Teal and yellow look great together for example. Really there's no reason to feel too boxed in. Go look around at everyone elses stuff, google exotics reptile and amphibians even a bird or two. Scour deviant art for fantasy illustrations and dinosaur pictures. Eventually some inspiration strikes

 

Finished my Slann for now. Not sure if I'm completely happy, but I think it turned out pretty decent, so I think I'll go with this scheme for now and see how it looks with the palanquin painted.

Unfortunately the lighting isn't great, as the skin at least on the back isn't quite as monochrome as it looks here. At first I tried the orange color on the belly, but I didn't really like the look, so I went with a solid frog-like green with Elysian Green. Then I drybrushed Castellan Green, applied a Seraphim Sepia wash and drybrushed a little Elysian Green on top of that again.

Some changes I'm considering are mixing a little bit of green into some Ushatbi Bone and very lightly brush some on the belly. I'm also thinking of trying some brown spots all over to break up the monotony. I kind of want to make some sort of pattern around the eyes and hands to indicate great magical power, but I'm not sure how to do it without it looking silly. I'll try to drybrush some layers of different shades of blue on the hands first, but if anyone has done something similar I'm open for suggestions!

In other news, I finished gluing and priming all my models! My Cold Ones are mostly finished, though their riders are still unpainted. I finished the Carnosaur, but because it is so front heavy, it ended up toppling over and tearing off the top layer of the paint and MDF base. Do any of you have experience with the large Carnosaurs and getting them to stay upright? I'll try to finish up one of the Cold One Riders this week and post some more pictures, otherwise the Palanquin is the next thing on the menu!

 

I like this green, very frog like, but I think you're right, maybe needs a different colour for the belly. But looks great so far!

 

I think the brown spots would look great! As for the carnosaur, I´d suggest pinning it or a stronger wood material

 

He looks great so far! And what a perfect frog color! I'm all for the lighter belly as well. You can try and then you can always go back to elysian green if you don't like the results

 

nice work I have been putting off completeding my last slann since its goinf to be a big job with lots of small details and I want to do it right...as for the carnosuar what I did was use a good amount of lucite glue thick formula and I have not had any issues with it falling...I made my base out of 4mm pressed fireboard. I know some people used magnets with I would have done so I could transport him with ease once if ever I get to play....

 

Pinning as opposed to gluing? I assume by drilling into the leg and inserting some sort of pin that I can also insert into the base? Any tutorials on this? I don't really have access to any other bases here, though. I just ordered my bases online, not sure if wooden bases are available for online purchase (at a reasonable price)?

Is lucite glue different from other super glue? I tried googling it and didn't really find much about it, but did get some hits of Loctite, which is a brand I've seen here in Norway. I've just been using the super glue I got at my LGS