easy way to paint salamanders?

[chaplain belisarius]

Hi,

 

im not much of a painter and am wondering if anyone knows an easy way to paint salamanders? thanks...:)

[freakytah]

I'm by no means a great painter, but I'm currently working on my first army which happens to be the Salamanders.

 

There's obviously room to improve, but I'm happy with the way my first squad of marines turned out and they were pretty simple.

 

For the green I base coated with The Army Painter Orkskin green, followed by drybrush of snot green with a little bit of scorpion green to lighten it up (snot green and the orkskin dry to virtually the same color). I used scorpion green for the highlights, followed by a wash of badab black or devlan mud.

 

When I finally have enough of an army together to play with I'm sure they'll look good on the battlefield!

 

http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt66/freakythaii/DSC02202.jpg

 

http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt66/freakythaii/DSC02201.jpg

 

http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt66/freakythaii/DSC02196.jpg

 

http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt66/freakythaii/DSC02203.jpg

[BrotherZaah]

Here's how I paint my Salamanders:

Green:

 

Basecoat the dark foundation paint colour - orkhide? not sure on the name. A smooth even basecoat. Drybrush snot green twice for a nice coverage. Edge Highlight scorpion green. Wash with watered down thraka green. Repaint the details and inner shoulder pads black.

 

Gold:

 

Scorched brown followed by shining gold.

Flames:

 

Draw the outline and fill it with mechrite red and a fine detail brush. Follow the outline with blood red but leave a bit of the mechrite showing at the tip of the flames. Repeat for orange, yellow and finally bleached bone right at the bottom of the flame - leaving a bit of the previous colour showing each time.

 

Eyes:

 

Basecoat denab stone. cover with golden yellow, badmoon yellow cresent at the bottom front of the lens, small white dot at the top back of the lens. Use a fine Detail brush.

 

General Tips:

 

Leave the bolter off and paint them seperate - makes life 100's of times easier.

 

Use thin coats of paint - especially with details, if you make a mistake you can afford to try again with thinner paints before you lose details.

 

Gold needs a couple of coats to get it looking amazing.

 

Don't go OTT on the flames, yes the salamanders cult is all about heat and flames but they're not pyro's or legion of the damned. A few well thought out flames with always look much better than a model covered in them. That said this method allows a commander or vehicle model with a lot of flame to stand out.

 

Use the right tools for the job - basecoat brush, standard brush, fine detail brush. All have very specific uses.

 

Don't do it all at once, do one stage on all the models you wish to paint, then walk away and do something else. when you come back you'll notice more imperfection than had you been staring at them for hours. Take your time - you've just laid out 20+ quid for the models, you want them to look their best.

 

Don't worry if your first attempt doesnt look good, keep going with what ever method you choose changing what you dont like. when you're done, if you've used thin coats of paint you can go back and apply what you've learned to the first models you painted. - Your first squad may take you forever to perfect but once you have the method correct the other models will fly by.

 

Finally, here's what my salamanders look like for reference:

 

http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo242/BrotherZaah/IMG_2998.jpg

 

Heres What the flame method above should look like.

 

http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo242/BrotherZaah/IMG_2966.jpg

[freakytah]

Dude I love that vehicle! I need to learn how to paint scales, I'd love to try adding some on my first rhino.

[BrotherZaah]

Dude I love that vehicle! I need to learn how to paint scales, I'd love to try adding some on my first rhino.

 

The Salamander head is made of plasti-card - makes sclaes a lot easier than freehanding.

[Obliterator]

The Salamander head is made of plasti-card - makes sclaes a lot easier than freehanding.

Genius! You can also say it's extra armour!

Here's one of my chaps:

Primed with Army Painter's Greenskin, highlighted in 3 steps:

- 2:1 Snot Green:Scorpion Green

- 1:1 Snot Green:Scorpion Green

- 1:2 Snot Green:Scorpion Green

- shade with 2:1:3 Dark Angels Green:Chaos Black:water

- liberally wash with unthinned Thraka Green

- extreme highlights with 2:1 Scorpion Green:Bad Moon Yellow

Basically I pre-mixed all colors in some spare paint pots so the colors are consistent throughout the army, and it really speeds up the painting. The highlights are just edge highlights that get thinner as you use the lighter colors, the shade is just painted into the recesses. The extreme highlights aren't really necessary to get a nice result, but they do make the model pop.

You could also just prime with Greenskin, and edge highlight Scorpion Green, then wash with Thraka Green, as the gets you a lot of nice gradients on its own :)

[chaplain belisarius]

thanks guys! :wub:

[paintner]

get a dark green primer and do a black was over ... ta da.

[hmk17]

Les from awesomepaintjob.com had a couple of great videos on this.

 

 

His method is really simple.

[crazychib]

There is a guide on the GW website. I use their method (except I do yellow eye lenses). It is easy, but I find it quite time consuming.

 

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/...034&start=4