Good question! I kind of went with the colour scheme without thinking. Bur since I love the old-world fluff and that coalescent is a thing, I decided to go for something inspired by the descriptions of old Lustria.
I decided to go for a swamp theme after finding a tutorial from Mengel Miniatures. It looked easy, practical and didn’t necessitate the use of any fancy or esoteric material. Only problem, I didn’t own any Nurgles rot and I wanted to use a bolder, more saturated colour anyway. As such, I made my life more complicated by trying to replace Nurgles rot with ardcoat.
Here are the three first version (from left to right).
First try, I used ardcoat mixed with scorpion green for the first layer followed by three layers of ardcoat + incubi darkness. The theory was that it would build some deeper colour and a nice gradient thanks to the transparency. The result was a mess because I completely forgot that ardcoat has a very different surface tension than other mediums I work with… Also, the weird texture of GW bases was still visible, making it look too gritty for water.
Second try, I sanded the base and painted the green gradient directly on it. Again, I had an amazing idea! Using an old PA water effect that I nabbed god knows where. The result was mitigated, the gradient looked a lot better, but the water effect was too textured for my taste. (Also, it took forever to dry!)
Third time's the charm. I tried two layers of ardcoat on the green gradient and it gave me the best result. It’s glossy, it’s fast and it look like algae/duckweed riddled water if you squint hard enough. And I’m happy with the way the saturated green contrasts with the muted tone of the skink’s skin. The only disappointment is the lack of vegetation. It could use something to make it a bit more jungle-like (maybe some aquarium plastic plants?). But I can’t do a thing until the shops are open.
Finally, a picture of two more skinks joining their brothers. I love skinks. They are a real pleasure to paint! I think I may go for a fang of Sotek theme later just to paint more of them.
Next step: More skinks, check the pile of grey plastic for possible saurus and find out how to take better picture.