Hello guys, welcome back to Not Just Mecha, it’s Marco here and today’s video will
make the joy of every army and commission painter out there uh and of course Seraphon
players.
I need to stretch the speed painting muscles before tackling the scary mass of plastic
inside Cursed City and Warhammer Underworlds warbands are great to get a good dose of instant
gratification.
Plus I have to make a confession…
In all my years of miniature painting I never worked on Lizardmen and this is the perfect
occasion to fill this gap in my collection with a set of cool unique characters.
We’ll talk better about my speed painting philosophy during the video but here’s an
overview of my process.
I give myself a defined limited time frame to complete the work, and in this case, thanks
to the uniform aesthetic of the warband, I planned to stay around the three hours of
work.
I plan every step before starting painting to maximise my efficiency and I prepare all
the colours and tools I need on the table both to save even the smallest amount of time
and to avoid artistic sidetracking.
In order to create visual complexity, I divide the work in many super quick and super simple
steps and every phase has to push the model a bit closer to the final result so I try
to minimise the natural back and forth flow of classic painting creating a more linear
chain of events.
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The skinks are really small, so I must be careful working on their tiny volumes, playing
with high contrasts to avoid losing the shape of the little muscles and their subtle masses.
The chameleon has a totally different colour scheme, but even if with different proportions,
all its elements are repeated on the skinks so with a good planning this will not slow
down the flow of the work.
The Saurus has many elements in common with the leader so I’ll work them as the same
entity.
I start with a quick coat of black.
I usually start this kind of paintjobs with a coloured primer to immediately skip a step,
but the coloured plastic of these kits always gives me some adhesion issues and a bit of
tonal interference if I don’t cover everything extremely well, so I prefer to start sealing
the model with a simple coat of neutral black.
I put a lot of thoughts in the choice of my first tone.
The foundation of the scheme and what would have been my coloured primer in a standard
grey plastic model is Moltow Burgundy.
I chose this tone because as you’ll see later it’s the perfect contrasting complement
for the light blue skins, it’s a good shadow for the yellow feathers and a great warm foundation
for the gold elements.
With a single, simple, uniform pass I give to all the different elements what they need
to stand out.
Uh and it’s a perfect high contrast base also for the green skin!
Then I shade my base tone using Magenta ink.
This is a real shading step applied only on the parts facing down to start building the
progression of a simple all-purpose zenithal light.
Shading with a wash you simply lower all the values without any sense of the light’s
direction and movement.
The ink in its pot seems lighter than my base but layering a couple of transparent passes
you immediately get a natural and soft transition into the darker values of a similar harmonious
tone.
^ Plus, the ink adds an interesting reptilian
shine to the shadows that makes them deeper and even more in contrast with the next layers.
To create the strong contrast I need to highlight the small volumes of these models I jump to
the main tone for the skins without intermediate colours or bridging steps.
Golden High flow Teal is an opaque tone so it can easily cover even a much darker and
contrasting value with a couple of thin layers but thanks to its fluid formulation it gives
me space to modulate with the base the edges of the cone of sprayed paint softening the
strong transition.
I carefully adjust the distance between the model and the airbrush and I’m super gentle
on the trigger, but my main source of control comes from the position and the angle of the
model that I move constantly to always get the best possible shot.
I apply the same reasoning to the chameleon but because of the higher transparency of
light green paints I fist apply a layer of a solid bluish emerald green, then the real
tone I want for him using a powerful florescent green.
As you probably noticed at this point this process in its steps and visual output is
just a zenithal value sketch like the one we usually do in black and white and the beginning
of the work but here I opted to do it directly with colours mainly because of the small size
of the models where layering is more efficient, striking and easier to read than overlapped
transparency effects.
I use white ink to base the feathers.
This is just preparatory work so if you don’t feel confident using the airbrush on these
small details you can do the same with the brush without losing anything but precisely
because it’s just a base layer the stakes for trying are extremely low still being a
great training for your precision control on the trigger.
I create the sensation of volume and its vertical movement leaving in transparency some of the
red as a subtle shadow.
And I use a tiny bit of the same white to increase the spectrum of the light modulation
on the blue skins.
This layer is super transparent, so you don’t perceive it like white but just like a very
light blue.
I apply it also on the green chameleon in preparation for the next step.
Again, every colour must be applied everywhere needed a single time, when you have it ready
in the airbrush or the palette, always pushing the models towards their final look.
I needed white to support the extreme transparency of yellow ink, but even working with an opaque
yellow I suggest you a solid light base to boost its vibrancy and saturation.
Yellow incorporates the sketch underneath creating a smooth modulation with a simple
flat, overlapping of paint.
Similar idea on the green skin that immediately gets a wider variety of tones naturally flowing
into each other in the smooth transition from magenta to yellow.
And since I planned everything to work with an interconnected snowballing effect, this
yellow and its modulation it’s the perfect base for the green shade.
Because of the high content of yellow, green tones suffer of the same lack of opacity and
covering power but working with this kind of layered transparency they mutually boost
their saturation and final visual impact.
Same process and behaviour for the orange shade.
Using a fluorescent orange slightly more opaque than the other two tones I’m sure to obtain
a powerful, vibrant, eye catching colour.
And since I have it ready in the airbrush, I use few delicate sprays to add even more
complexity to the green skin that now incorporates six different colours; usually this is an
overkill especially for a speed painting process, but you can’t save on tones painting a chameleon.
A quick, light pass of grey on the bases is the last thing I can do with the airbrush
and all the remaining little elements and the general definition are a work for palette
and brush!
I base the metal parts with a mix of silver paints and a warm deep gold.
I want these elements to create a soft contrast with the skins’ cold tones still maintaining
a relatively neutral nature that I can alter with transparent paints later to create different
sensations or even totally different metals.
Thanks to the light but richly modulated base I created for the skins now I can use contrast
paints to quickly work on the darker scales on their backs.
I use Akhelian green and Space wolves grey and a bunch of mixing/glazing medium to create
a fluid grey blue that will set its tone in a couple of steps easy to control.
The medium adds body to the mix that prevents the watery paint to flow away from its target
making it easy for the brush to move around precisely and the extra transparency is useful
to control the opacity and saturation of the mix.
I need this extra translucency also because this is not the only layer I want to apply
on the scales.
I add to the palette Volupus pink and Magos Purple and I use them slightly diluted with
extra medium to lower the value of the scales adding new tones and sensations at the same
time.
Again, the plan is to use many quick and simple steps working all together to create complexity.
I use the purple notes also on the chameleon to enhance the impact of the original warm
tones in all the wrinkles and folds of the skin.
These are basically quick glazes made softening just a bit the strong impact of contrast paint
with some medium.
I use Plaguebearer Flesh, Aggaros Dunes and medium to create soft transparent filters
for the metal parts.
The base tone is already a pale, warm gold so I use Plaguebearer flesh to add extra character
and saturation to specific parts, and Aggaros Dunes to enhance the volumes using it to underline
strong shapes, deeper lines and details, and everything facing downwards.
I use contrasts also in their basic way to quickly set the red and blue patterns on the
equipment of the priest and the Saurus.
Fluid paints are great for this kind of precise works because even if in general they seem
more difficult to control they are easier to use when you have a lot of details that
can absorb the excess in their panel lines minimising the risk of mistakes!
Time for adjustments and, more important, definition and this is the full palette I’ll
use for the final steps.
Two tones for every major element give me a huge spectrum of new colours when mixing
and in general a good variety of hues and shades straight form the tubes still keeping
my options in a contained, harmonious palette.
This is my first test of the the new hydration membrane by RedGrass games that will come
out in a Kickstarter next month!
It’s very different from classic palette paper, with a plastic finish on top that makes
it washable and reusable, and it seems to control better the water’s transpiration
from the sponge.
I’ll let you know my thoughts after more experiments!
Now all my painting is super smooth because of all the airbrushed layers and various coats
of transparent colours so my main priority in this stage is to introduce the sharp definition
and the grit of the brushstrokes with the full load of information they carry in every
little line and dot.
To push this concept to its maximum and compensate the look of this soft finish I use every colour
and mix in its original consistency, without adding water or medium or using just a little
bit to help the mixing on the palette.
The thick paint and its natural volume break the monotony adding a ton of extra information.
The use of different brushstrokes is the key to create a stronger sensation of different
materials, different textures and a general increased complexity.
I use a thick stippling on the scales to suggest roughness and an irregular rocky feel.
In few steps this monochromatic layer adds a ton of depth thanks to the separation of
the different levels and planes of the sculpt.
I use the light desaturated yellow to add structure and definition to the feathers.
Here I use thin lines applied in the natural direction of the single fibres to create the
illusion of their dimensionality.
The colour here is just a bit lighter than the base because I want a low-key definition
where you can perceive the presence of a mass of fibres but without really seeing the single
elements in perfect focus.
I want the weapons to look like sharp onyx, so I paint a greenish blue pattern of irregular
lines on the clean dark surface.
Even if I imagine it as the same material the pattern on the armour and the mace of
the Saurus becomes more about dots and short lines to render better the sensation of something
delivering and receiving blunt hits.
Teeth and claws are painted with thick skin tones mixed form a base of yellow ochre and
red.
I use the undiluted paint and vertical brushstrokes to create the texture of the rough reptilian
claws.
I break the scheme of the cold skins bringing back a bit of warmth with a light greenish
turquoise.
The paint itself is still thick here but I use longer and more fluid brushstrokes to
enhance the volume of wrinkles and the upper profiles of the muscles.
I connect the two different finishes with little dots of lighter and lighter paint.
I use pure yellow in the same way on the chameleon to add textures and little extra interesting
elements.
If you want to create the effect of a pool of water without the need of real depth Tamiya
Clear paints are great to set the same kind of glossiness without messing with resins
and their long drying times.
The last step is to edge highlight the metallic elements.
Metallic highlights are really powerful and easy to read even when painted in a quick,
simple way so I kept this definition for the last stage because I like to modulate and
adapt its sharpness based on the one I have on the rest of the model to deliver a uniform
effect without having unbalanced details arriving to the eyes with extremely different impacts.
And here’s the final result!
Three hours of extremely simple and relaxed painting to create my speed painted version
of the iconic, heavy metal scheme for the Seraphon.
Again, these are my first lizardmen, so I wanted to test myself on a colour scheme that
I know since I was a child, but I never had a chance to really work with.
I think the funniest challenge in these models is represented by their scale and the size
of the details you can paint and add in the many open surfaces you still have all around
their skins and equipment.
The choice of tones is of course specific to the models, but you can easily adapt and
apply this same workflow on every other miniature.