Jungle Heroes

Here are the images of the finished Lizardman Saurus Champion that I was working on during this Facebook Live session:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10213240257095085/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

As usual with my painting sessions of late, I tried to emphasize painting multiple figures at once.  There was a twist this time around... where I also tried to show that stripping minis is really unnecessary.  Originally this figure had a lot of dark reddish washes all over it, but I wanted it to match the other turquoise and purple lizards that I was painting during the session.

I mention several times during the broadcast, using the previous colors as an underpainting can be very useful to getting some very interesting color combinations.  The initial colors that I painted during the session were somewhat transparent, so that the underlying colors would show through.

He's also here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/223060767646?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Drumbeat

Here's something that I was able to work on during a podcast recording with the folks at Models Workshop.  I had originally worked on it over 10 years ago when I first started up my Lizardman army!

It was interesting to do this, since at that time, I was just starting to develop the Shaded Basecoat technique.  While that has undergone many alterations since, the essential idea is the same.  Start with the light middle tones and work lighter as fast as possible to cover the entire surface of the figure.

Once all the surfaces have been covered, and the lights and darks established, I can do several series of glazes.  The aspect that has changed the most is what I use for those glazes, and that I do more color contrasts in those mid tone areas.

These days, I use a lot of the Reaper Liner paints and Clear paints, along with the new Secret Weapon weathering paints.  All of those are fantastic for glazing, and better yet, they are just as effective for the mid tone work that follows!

He's also here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/222706689974?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Ye Olde Saurus

Here's something from many years ago... over ten in fact!  This Saurus warrior was part of the very first unit that I tried using the Shaded Basecoat technique.  The figure itself is quite ancient, since this variety of Saurus was replaced be new plastics in 2003.

It's a bit scary to think of this figure being around 20+ years old, but like some of the other ancient out of print figures I have done in the past, it is neat to see something such as this with an "updated technique".

Sometimes what is old can be new again!

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/322738479921?

The Red Menace

Long ago, when I was first developing the Shaded Basecoat technique, this is one of the units that I was working on.  At that point, I had mixed white primer with my paint to make the "lighter than needed" colors, and still do the priming stage too.  

Now that I have the airbrushes and the various colors of primer from Badger, it would be a lot easier to do this today!  These guys were tucked away in a box somewhere, forgotten for almost 10 years.  

I also didn't have the access to the fantastic glazing colors such as the Reaper Clear paints, or the Vallejo washes.  It's always interesting to look at very old pieces like these, and notice the differences.  It has more to do with the approach vs the final result.  

My current approach would let me focus more intently on the subtle color shifts in the shadows and mid tones, where years ago the establishment of highlights was the primary goal.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/222620380242?

Spear and Scale

This Saurus spearman is part of the very first unit where the Shaded Basecoat technique was used to paint mass amounts of figures in a compressed time frame... designed to be indistinguishable from my "old" one by one methods.

I mixed various brush on primers with regular paint to create the initial layers. 

Here's the first blog post showing how this method was done.  It is also the centerpiece of the Painting Pyramid video series.  There are 53 different titles, which cover all aspects of painting, basing and even terrain!  They are all available directly through me on USB drives.  Feel free to contact me if you are interested!

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/p/using-shaded-basecoat-technique-to.html

Savage Saurus

My original Saurus cavalry unit was comprised of the old metal and plastic kits.  The Saurus riders were all metal, which certainly made them top heavy!  When the all plastic versions came out, they required far less counter balancing.

Keeping with the same color scheme made them blend in with those original figures nicely, giving the unit a more diverse look.  It did require some shifting of puzzle pieces to get them to fit on the same movement tray however!!

Savage Terror

This is one of my favorite Lizardman figures that I made for the army, and one of the larger conversions!

I added the old style dragon wings to the ancient metal Carnosaur, as well as armor and even some chains.  I could not resist doing some firey object source lighting on those wings.  In fact, at this time, you could give the Saurus units 'marks', which would give them different traits.

One would be marked as 'Fearless', which would be represented by a unit that was painted in this set of colors... a dark grayish blue, with lava OSL.

It was a challenge to mesh the wings with that body, and a lot of green stuff was required.  I was able to use the continuation of the scale texture to achieve that blend.

The head crest was made from plasticard and brown stuff.  The character is painted grayish white, as was traditional for an Oldblood.

Now for some views of the lighting.  It was a huge challenge, because he was really heavy, and there were endless amounts of edges that would catch that light!  Ironically, that's why I chose to do that effect!

This was also the last Golden Demon winning figure... I forget which year that was, but GW stopped doing Games Days in Chicago after that.  It was a Silver Demon for Loq-Qar, which is what his head crest spells in Lizardman glyphs.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322546263032?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

The views from above show off the texture that had to be sculpted on to the wing joints to make them look like they were part of the original sculpt!  He was the centerpiece of the first Armies on Parade figure that won the overall in the U.S. back in 2012!

Jungle Hero

This conversion was made for my Lizardman army to keep "super weapons" from wiping out my very expensive Temple Guard unit.  It's been a while, but I believe that if Chakax fought in a challenge, the opponent's magical weapon would only count as mundane, thus eliminating the 400 automatic unsaveable wounds those stupid things did!

The base for the conversion was a standard Saurus figure, of which I had many!  I attempted to make it as close to the original metal version as possible, but I did take some liberties to keep it in line with my scratch built Temple Guard unit... made from those same plastic Saurus.  

At the time, there was no plastic Temple Guard set.

A few more views for you.  There were a lot of interlocking surfaces which certainly made it more challenging to paint!

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322517855142?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

I used a lot of brown stuff for the sculpting, since that holds an edge better than regular green stuff.  It is also a bit stronger and rigid, which is why I use it for things like horns, banners, parchments and other unsupported pieces.

Stripey!

I did a number of "color test" skinks for the Lizardman army as that massive project moved along.  Each unit was suposed to have a different look, as I had placed a special character in each one of the Skink and Kroxigor units... such as a skink priest or a chieftan.

There were some restrictions on what color patterns would work, based on the various types of skinks and Kroxigor sculpts.  These skinks were more conducive to stripe patterns, but the newer skinks had more texture, so it limited the stripes a bit.

As far as the Kroxigors go, they had much more texture, so stripes were even more problematic there!  I had to stick with color transitions instead of actual patterns.

Not so fast, But quite furious

Another of the old style Lizardman Cold One Saurus riders for you today.  These were a crazy collection of plastic and metal parts, mostly making them very topheavy!

I tried to get some extra counterbalancing weight by making the sculpey/cork basing, and by the usual magnetization.

This was part of a unit that won my very first Golden Demon, way back in 2007.

Skink Fest!

It's been a very long time since I have taken any images of the old Lizardman terrain board, known as the Temple of Blood!  Since Skinks were always my favorite part of my army, I thought I would pile a bunch of them on the board for new images.

Each level was designed for movement trays, so that actual combat could take place.  This upper level is usually occupied by Mage Priest Babo and his Temple Guard.  Here we see some brave Skinks with one of my scratch sculpted Terradons.

I have a number of articles on the construction of this board:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/02/construction-of-great-temple-of-blood.html

The Temple of Blood is featured prominently in the story of Stikki Wikkit!

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-legend-of-stikki-wikkit.html

Here's the original Temple of Blood, made from Sculpey:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-first-great-temple-of-blood.html

Here's a close up of some skinks, and that upper level.

These secondary levels were designed for skirmishers to fight on, and as movement cost for units on movement trays.

Normally this position of honor is occupied by a Skink Priest, but this time the freshly rebuilt temple still has its Skink laborers restoring it to its original state!

We have a mix of blowpipe skirmishing Skinks backed up by another Terradon scout, searching the skies for Chaos marauders.

I used foam core to make this back in the day... if I had it to do over again, I would have used the 1/4 inch thick pink foam.  This would have given me a lot more options in terms of texture.  It is a lot easier to carve and shape than foam core!  Also, I learned that foam core (with paper on either side) will warp once it is painted.

This doesn't happen when you paint the pink foam, another huge advantage.

One last view!  I will keep posting images of the individual Skinks, so stay tuned!!