Salamander test models

I need feedback. I want to do a reverse color scheme, but I've about decided to give up and go traditional. Either way, I plan on doing a lot of conversions. The first two are aobr marines that I painted up to test the orange scheme. The third one is a dragon cave that I am carving up for my display board.

I have no idea what I have done to the thumbnails, but I can't fix it. If you click on them they kind of show up. Pretty blurry though.

The dragon head looks freakin' awesome.

Thanks man. I just realized that I didn't give a size reference for it. It is carved from a block of 8x8x8 in. foam.

I abandoned the reverse paint scheme. It looked terrible when I had three models side by side with it. I am going with the traditional salamander colors now. I'll have to rely on my conversions to make the army stand out. Here are some shots of a new test model next to my banner.

I'm digging the skin color. The bright green is really going to pop on the table.

I have a Salamander metal backpack with cloak attached if your interested.

As much as I wanted the orange to work........ the green looks better. Keep posting your progress, its looking really good.

I slopped this last one together, but I think it is atleast the style and scheme I am gonna go with. I need help with my highlights, what color do I use for my first and second highlight? I am base coating in snot green. I thought the cloaks came out looking pretty decent.

My only suggestion would be to do the cloak in orange or red.

If you're using a wash like Badab Black, you can use the original color as a very faint highlight and then choose a lighter color of the same hue (i.e. green) or even mix some white with the original color.

Use Scorpion green as your highlight. You seem to be going for a vivid color scheme and this will help. You can also glaze your model with a green wash, for a richer color.

Also, I second Dan's comment on the cloak. Though I think you should go for a more neutral color so it doesn't fight visually with the rest of your figure. I would suggest this:

Skin:
Basecoat - dark flesh
Highlight - Vermin Brown

Scales:
Basecoat - Scab Red
Highlight - Red Gore

Wash - Devlan Mud & thraka green to help tie it back to the green armor.

Finally, your highlights are way to thick, try a smaller brush. a few edge highlights go a long way.

Red will really make the green pop. I wouldn't do the whole cloak but maybe just the bumps. I really like the way the cloaks worked out. Looking sharp. I would go with monkey's advice and start with a watered down black wash and then highlight with the original color and see what it looks like.

I am using my homebrew black wash, which I think looks amazing. The models have been looking good up to the point of highlighting. I think Tiberious hit the nail on the head when he said my highlights were too broad. I will try to thin them down on my next test model.

Thanks for all the feedback guys.