Before we embark upon our quest to fulfil the designs of the Great Plan though I'd just like to say that as with my other Miniature of the Month Masterclasses, this isn't a step by step tutorial. Rather than having photos of each and every stage of the process, there are only pictures of the finished miniature.
Although I do try and plan out painting projects in advance, there's quite a lot of jumping between the various elements of the miniature to build things up so it's a bit tricky doing a full step by step, but I do go through how everything was painted and all of the colours used are highlighted in bold.
To get best use out of this guide, you'll need to have a little bit of painting knowledge already as it makes use of a couple of more advanced techniques, but as a quick note; glazing is using a diluted paint to apply a tint to an existing colour. Stippling is using the brush to apply paint in a 'stabbing' motion so as to create or accentuate texture and feathering is using the same brush as you've just applied paint to the miniature with—without reloading paint—to drag the paint out and over the existing colour. This spreads the new paint, thinning it and blending it in with the rest of the area.
Champions of order and eternal enemies of the forces of Chaos, legend has it that the Seraphon species survived the death of the World That Was and were led to the Mortal Realms through the Aethric Void by the Great Drake Dracothion.
The Seraphon are swift and merciless in war for their resolve to banish the taint of Chaos from the Mortal Realms is absolute. Through arcane might and primal savagery, their armies cast down damned tyrants, sunder skull-studded fortresses and seal corrupted Realmgates, all in the name of preserving order.
Under the leadership of the mysterious Slann Starmasters, the pieces of a Seraphon army are carefully arranged for the battles they fight within the Mortal Realms. The fundamental battle-formation of the Seraphon is the cohort – a gathering of warriors under a single leader, and it is cohorts comprised of Skink and Saurus warriors which are most commonly called upon by the Slann.
Skilled in the deadly arts of ambush and skirmishing, some Skink warriors arm themselves with Meteoric Javelins or Moonstone Clubs and carry Star-bucklers for defence while others loose crackling projectiles at their foes from afar using Boltspitters.
One point to bear in mind when assembling them is that the Star-bucklers can be held in either hand as you remove either the Javelin or Club from the hand that will be holding it:
This type of assembly for different weapon variants was pretty common on older kits and isn't anything to worry about, just something to keep in mind when you think about how you want to arm your miniatures.
After playing with a couple of the combinations, I decided to go with a Meteoric Javelin and Star-buckler for mine:
Once the Skink was assembled and glued to the base, I added a half buried skull and some texture paste before priming everything grey.
Every one of the Seraphon belongs to a 'Constellation' and while each of these has distinctive markings and culture, all of them are intrinsically linked back to the realm of Azyr, with names and markings reminiscent of one of the great zodiacal constructs which fill the upper vaults of the heavens, such as the 'Fangs of Sotek' or the mighty 'Thunder Lizard'. After a bit of scouting the internet for inspiration, I eventually settled on Loxibitl's Spine - mostly because I really liked the scheme, but also because it would offer the opportunity to work on something blue which is a colour I don't paint very often.
As with the other Masterclasses, I've divided the miniature into smaller areas to make it easier to keep track of things - in this case, there's the Skink, its' weapons and wargear and finally, the base.
The Skink
Skin
To get the blue skintone for the Skink, I began with a basecoat of Russ Grey which I shaded with Drakenhof Night that was thinned with a little Lahmian Medium so that it would flow more smoothly and not pool so much on the flat areas. Once this was dry I went back with Russ Grey thinned with a little water and layered up the raised areas of the skin - feathering it into the darker shade where the skin was falling into shadow due to the hunched posture of the Skink.
With this done, I applied a couple of thinned layers of Fenrisian Grey to the raised areas of the skin, again feathering it into the darker areas of the skin. Once I was happy with how it looked, I then used some pure Fenrisian Grey to create some initial highlights which were then refined with a focused highlight of Ulthuan Grey to areas like the eyebrows, tympanic cavity, nostrils and jaws, as well as the sagittal crest, and the harder edges of the Skink's muscles and and joints.
Dorsal Scales
The deep red of the rough scales on the Skink's back were started with a basecoat of Khorne Red which was shaded with Berserker Bloodshade. Over this I applied a chunky highlight of Khorne Red to the edges and raised areas of the scales, which were refined with Wazdakka Red and before being given an extreme highlight of Squig Orange. To finish the scales off, I carefully added some wee dots of Ratskin Flesh to the corners, paying particular attention to those where the highlights of Squig Orange came together.
Sagittal and Commisurial Membranes
In contrast to the blue skin, the membranes of the Skink's crest and jaws are a lustrous green, which in the case of the sagittal membrane also has red mottling where it meets the back of the Skink's skull. To achieve the green, I began by applying a basecoat of Caliban Green which I shaded with a careful application of some Biel-Tan Green. I then applied a layer of thinned Caliban Green, followed by a couple of layers of thinned Warpstone Glow.
To help achieve a smoother transition from dark to light across the sagittal membrane, these layers were painted by drawing the paintbrush from front to back, 'pulling' the paint across the surface and leaving more of the pigment where the brushstroke finishes than where it started.
Next, I made a 50:50 mix of Warpstone Glow and Moot Green which was applied in exactly the same way as the previous ones, followed by one final layer of pure Moot Green which was focused towards the back of the membrane.
To finish the green off, I highlighted the rear edge of the membrane with Moot Green and then added a final extreme highlight using Gauss Blaster Green.
For the mottling, I stippled some dots of Khorne Red onto the crest which were then highlighted with spots of Wazdakka Red and Squig Orange to tie in with the dorsal scales.
Claws and Teeth
I wanted the claws and teeth to stand out from all of the other areas of the model and to look 'reptilian' in nature, so I decided to paint them a dark glossy colour. Beginning with a basecoat of Abaddon Black I then applied a layer of Dark Reaper followed by a more refined layer of Thunderhawk Blue. I used a little Fenrisian Grey to add some highlights to the claws and pick out the individual teeth and then to finish things off, carefully painted some thinned down Gal Vorbak Red between the Skink's teeth to create the suggestion of it's tongue.
Eyes
For the yellow eyes, I began with a basecoat of Averland Sunset which was applied using a couple of thinned layers to keep it nice and smooth. I then shaded this with Fuegan Orange before reapplying a little Averland Sunset being careful to leave the shading visible where the eyes met the eyelids. Using thinned Abaddon Black I painted in the vertical slit pupils using slightly elongated dots - if you're not happy with how these look then you can tidy them up with a little Averland Sunset as required. I then applied a fine highlight of Yriel Yellow to the eyes, followed by a wee dot of Flash Gitz Yellow in the corners as an extreme highlight.
Weapons and Wargear
Star-buckler Carapace and Markings
In contrast to the bright green of the Skink's crest, the scaly surface of the Star-buckler is a much more muted colour, so I started out with a basecoat of Death Korps Drab - this is quite a thick paint, so be sure to thin it down a little and apply a few layers to get a consistent finish. Once I was happy with the basecoat, I shaded the buckler with Agrax Earth and once this had dried re-applied a layer of thinned Death Korps Drab but kept this focused around the edges of the larger scales. I then highlighted all of the edges of the scales with Death Guard Green which was followed by a more sparingly applied highlight of Nurgling Green, mostly to the upper edges of the scales which would catch the most light. To finish the green off, I thinned down some Krieg Khaki with a little water and then used it to paint some wee dots on the sharper corners of the scales.
For the markings, I used some masking tape to help mark out the stylised stripe across the buckler and then used some sponge from a blister pack to apply Hobgrot Flesh. You could paint this in freehand if you wanted to, but I thought that using the sponge would a little to the narrative of the model - perhaps the markings are a bit scuffed from use, or maybe the paint was hurriedly applied by the Skink.
To finish the markings off, I highlighted the edges of the scales that the stripe crossed using Morghast Bone and then a little Ushabti Bone before adding some dots of Screaming Skull to some of the corner.
Gold
The gold jewellery, frame of the Star-buckler and the head of the Meteoric Spear all started with a basecoat of Retributor Armour before being shaded with Agrax Earth. The jewellery and Star-buckler frame were then layered with Skull-crusher Brass and highlighted with Stormhost Silver.
Copper
The totems on the Star-buckler and the copper torc on the Skink's right arm were basecoated with Screaming Bell - this is quite a thin base paint so you'll need two or three thin layers to get a nice consistent basecoat. I applied a shade of Reikland Flesh to both the totems and the torc before adding a little thinned Agrax Earth to the centres of the totems. Once this was dry, I highlighted them all with Hashut Copper and then used Sycorax Bronze to add some extreme highlights.
Silver
Just as I had with the head of the pear, I wanted the haft to look as though it was forged from a suitably 'meteoric' looking alloy so I basecoated it and the rings fastening the totems to the Star-buckler with Iron Warriors and then shaded them with Agrax Earth followed by Nuln Oil once this had dried. To add a subtle sheen back to the metal I applied a layer of thinned Leadbelcher to the upper half of the spear haft and then added some highlights of Ironbreaker to the spear and the rings on the buckler finish things off.
Braided Bracelet
The corded bracelet on the Skink's left wrist was basecoated with Gal Vorbak Red and then shaded with Berserker Bloodshade. It was then layered with Gal Vorbak Red followed by Word Bearers Red before being highlighted with a 50:50 mix of Word Bearers Red and Bugman's Glow. I added a final highlight with some pure Bugman's Glow and to be honest, I'd probably skip straight to this stage if I was going back and doing it again!
Base
Earth
I decided to paint the Skink's base in a muddy brown, so started out with a basecoat of Dryad Bark to get a nice flat earthen colour. I applied this using a couple of layers both of which were thinned with a little water so they would flow in around the texture on the base more evenly.
Once the basecoat was completely dry, I then lightly drybrushed the earth first with Baneblade Brown and then with Karak Stone.
Shattered Rock
The chunk of sundered stone was basecoated with Dawnstone before being shaded with Agrax Earth. Once this was dry, I took some thinned Dawnstone and over the course of a few layers built up a grey tone I was happy with, being careful to leave some of the shaded grey showing though in places so the stone has a weatherworn appearance. Once this was done, the next step was to start to add some highlights to the edges of the stone with Administrum Grey, I also stippled a little onto some of the flat areas of the stone to add a bit more variation to the tone. I then added a finer, final highlight of Grey Seer, paying particular attention to the corners of the stone.
To finish the stone up, I thinned a little Mortarion Grime with some water and glazed some random patches of the stone to help add a little more natural tonal variation to the surfaces.
Skull
I decided to went for a slightly mouldering bone for the half buried skull so I out started with a basecoat of Morghast Bone. Once this was in place, Agrax Earthshade was painted directly into the eye sockets and nasal cavity and once that had dried, the whole skull was shaded with Seraphim Sepia. I thinned some Morghast Bone and layered it onto the skull before adding highlights using Ushabti Bone followed by Screaming Skull.
To help tie things together and add to the narative of the miniature, I applied a glaze of Dryad Bark to the areas of the skull nearest the ground to help to bed it into the base. I also added a few layers of the same glaze to the Skink's feet and lower legs to give the impression that it has been trotting over the muddy ground for some time, perhaps on extended patrol around some site that's of significance to its cohort, or maybe doggedly running some enemy of Order to ground.
To finish the base off, I added a few grass tufts, before painting the rim with a few thinned layers of Abaddon Black and with that the Skink Warrior was complete.
I think that about does it for this masterclass. Although they're relatively small in stature and simple in design, you can bring a ton of character and narrative to humble Battleline units like Skinks. If you were creating a Seraphon army you could map quite a lot of these ideas on to the bigger beasts like Saurus and Kroxigor as well, perhaps changing up the markings on the shields on different units, or adding in some black dorsal scales to denote more senior or specialised troops.
Until next time, as always, thanks for reading - I hope you found this Miniature of the Month Masterclass useful and if you give any of the suggestions in it a try, I'd love to hear how you get on.
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