Saurus Painting Guide

This is a continuation of the write up on White Dwarf's painting workshop for Lizardmen, May 2003, Issue #280. This is what I followed to paint my Lizardmen army and I like the results. Again, I just found the sheet in my files and wanted to commit it to the website before I lost it again. This is an adaptation of their article from page 28. I didn't keep as good a notes on the colors actually used so I will highlight the GW color's recommended and take my best guess about the paint I used. Please adjust this when painting. When I was certain, I mentioned the FA (Folk Art) brand first and highlighted it. This would be much more difficult to replicate since I took less accurate notes =(

Prep:

• Assemble the model minus the shield. Consider pinning the arms but most of the Saurus arms have stayed. If I do these with the spears, I think I would definitely want to pin them.
• I ranked them up before I put the heads on to make sure they fit together and then glued the heads of the left guard facing outward. I might like to do the same on the right side next time.
• These worked out just fine to be painted on their bases.
• Now is also the time to glue sand, cork, or any pebbles you want on the base.
• This is also a good time to make the movement tray for them and coat it with sand.
• I also think it would help to magnetize the mini's now so they can be more easily handled.

Undercoat:

• Spray black primer on the mini's and the movement tray. Touch up with watered down FA's Pure Black.
• Now paint the whole model (except perhaps the weapons but this can be touched up later) with GW's Enchanted Blue thinned with a little water (FA's Colbalt Blue or Brilliant Ultramarine?).

Bases:

• Now is probably a good time to over brush the base and movement tray with FA's Burnt Umber.
• Then drybrush with FA's Teddy Bear Tan. Set the movement tray aside now until it is time to varnish and static grass.

Shading:

• Drybrush the skin with a mix of GW's Enchanted Blue and Ice Blue, 1:1. (Ice Blue may be FA's Light Blue or Baby Blue).
• Wash the entire model in GW's Blue Ink mixed with a generous amount of water for more even coverage.
• The ink darkened the model so now drybrush just the skin with the mix of GW's Enchanted Blue and Ice Blue, 1:1.
• Highlight the skin with GW's Ice Blue.

Back Scales:

• Paint with GW's Regal Blue (I am pretty sure this was FA's Prussian Blue).
• Then drybrush with GW's Enchanted Blue. Keep the drybrushing under control and on the scales only.

Back Spines and Head:

• Basecoat the back spines with 2 coats of GW's Red Gore = FA's Alizarin Crimson.
• Stipple the red splotches on the head plate with GW's Red Gore = FA's Alizarin Crimson.
• Highlight the spines and splotches with GW's Blood Red = FA's Napthol Crimson.
• I seem to have given the higher up guys more splotches, perhaps suggesting more age.

Weapons:

• Spears are given a basecoat of FA's Pure Black, then FA's Burnt Umber.
• Highlight with a mix of GW's Scorched Brown and Snakebite Leather, 1:1. I probably used FA's Honeycomb or Teddy Bear Tan, possibly Raw Sienna.
• Highlight with GW's Snakebite Leather.
• Hand weapons are given a basecoat of FA's Pure Black, then drybrushed with FA's Medium Gray.

Shields

• Spray black primer
• Dry Brush FA's Black Cherry (GW's Scab Red) and FA's Alizarin Crimson (GW's Red Gore) pretty heavy.
• Paint the top half of each scale with FA's Napthol Crimson (GW's Blood Red).
• Add a highlight line around the top of each scale with FA's Pure Orange (GW's Blazing Orange).
• (The following 3 steps mimic the jewelry section and can be done at the same time).

Jewelry and metallic bits on the weapons:

• (If you have done the shields' scales, this part can be applied to their details too.)
• Basecoat the jewelry with FA's Pure Black.
• All metallic bits were painted with FA's Metallic Antique Gold., and highlighted with FA's Metallic Pure Gold.
• Use FA's Metallic Gunmetal Gray for the blade of the spear (GW's Boltgun Metal).
• Highlight the blade of the spear with FA's Metallic Silver Sterling., (GW's Mithril Silver)
• Teeth on the hand weapon, teeth on the shields, and darts on the blowpipe were picked out with FA's Teddy Bear Tan, then highlighted with FA's Tapioca. Leave some of the Teddy Bear Tan to give the teeth an aged look.
• Pick out the claws with FA's Tapioca. Any of the Tapioca can be highlighted with a little more white added it needed.

Mouth:

• The mouth and tongue were painted with FA's Alizarin Crimson, similar to GW's Red Gore.
• Highlight the tongue with FA's Skintone.
• Pick out the teeth with FA's Tapioca.

Eyes:

• The eyes were painted with FA's Napthol Crimson, then a small dot of black was made in each pupil with a very fine tip sharpie marker. Okay, so it's cheating a little but those things are incredible small!

Glue on the Shields.
Check them over for details and paint the edges of the bases black again.
Varnish the mini's and the movement tray with matt varnish.
Eyes, tongue, and mouth can be painted with gloss varnish for a more realistic wet look.
Glue on Static grass on the mini's and movement tray.
March them off to war!