Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, Recently, I've gained an abundance of time so I figured I might take up brush and green stuff once more to return to my favorite dinosaurs. Right now, I'm doing basic research for inspiration for my models. I generally like to give each model I make an identity of it's own and the identities I draw from the natural world most of the time. What I noticed is that a lot of turquoise colored animals in biology tend to have black details. So, for this project, I will be drawing on the abundance of creatures that have this particular naturally selected colorscheme. To start with, I need some saurus warriors, so I'm looking for rough-looking color sets. Whereas skink-scales are subtle and generally have more flowing colors to them, I want Saurus' warriors to have very contrasting patterns on their hides. Pythons and monitor lizards were a good inspiration for such. Saurus 1: Blue Monitor Lizard Saurus 2: Turquoise Python Saurus 3: Recolored Burmese Python Probably, I will take some more pythons that I can find patterns for and recolor them as well. The Turquoise Python in fashion and Blue Monitor Lizard in nature are going to be my main inspiration over the whole. Then on to more beautiful lizards. Because the skinks are artisans and in general more subtle than their saurus' brothers, I'll be drawing on the more beautiful lizards that I've been able to find, as well as birds and even butterflies to get the patterns on their flagella-thingies. While Saurus might apply some basic paintings of blood unto their hides, the skinks' hides will be decorated with more sophisticated and detailed works of art. Skink 1: Aruban Whiptail Lizard (spots=mayan art) Skink 2: Turquoise Dwarf Gecko + Ulysses Butterfly Skink 3: Turquoise Cotinga Skink 4: Baron’s racer turquoise snake Right now, I am not yet sure how I'll be painting these lizards, but I think I'll start with a white basecoat on the skinks and then apply multiple coats of turquoise, black and white, whereas the Saurus will start with a black basecoat and then receive several layers of drybrushed turquoise then black again. I haven't quite figured out the Slann yet. I think I will go for a mixture of bigheaded aliens and frogs. The design would be symmetrical and the detail will be made to look like mayan art much like with the skinks. If all that fails, I hope to do another Kroak. My idea for it us to apply blue-sheened bones in the lizardmen army all-round to make it look like their are fresh from the body. For this, I will use chicken bones as inspiration; those with the bluesheened pearlish look to them. Looks and still feels soft. I really like that aesthetic for bones, so I'll be applying it if I can. Since these kind of bones are relatively see-through, I will have give the skulls a seperate light-grey(if not white) basecoat. Right now, I have no particular plans for the weapons and armanents that the lizardmen will be using. I do know that anything that is usually painted into a metal color, I will try to make into a stone-color instead and make it look like these colors flow from the obsitite instead. Will be a white base-coat, black will be added in the lower faces with several layers and finally I will give it a brown-orange wash. Possibly, I could change those plans and turn it into a dark green instead to mimick obsidian. More artsey motives and bindings will finally be done in gold, since gold is a material that is very easy to mold and make reliefs with. Any kind of construction will be a rockhewn color.
I'm actually considering to take an easier road to what I wish to achieve; I'll paint the models black and white first and then throw in a wash to get the right color going instead. Then I'll do the finishing touches dependent on the identity of the lizard.
Wow, sounds very ambitious. If you can, post some photos of the reference material you are looking at. Some of the species you mention are unfamiliar to me. Thanks.
For the Saurus; Blue Monitor Lizard Turquoise Python For the Skinks: Arbun Whiptail Lizard Turquoise Dwarf Ghekko Ulysses Butterfly Turquoise Cotinga Baron's Racer Turquoise Snake
Sounds like a good looking army. Makes me think of a bad TV commercial. Baron's Racer presents: HOT LINK!