Ongoing Legion Color Scheme Challenge

I've been working on a Legion of Everblight army since the beginning of the year, and it's starting to take on the features of a Learning Experience.

Let me regale you with my painting movie montage:

Just the base coats on the warspears. They're getting an extremely pink skin and purple/magenta scales. Redish leather, gold and silver metals. Honestly, the only thing I liked on these guys was the leather. 

Here I started experimenting with washes: Reikland Shade (red) and Seraphim Sepia for the golds, and Reikland Shade and Druichi Violet for the skin. I really loved how it came out, but I couldn't get it to highlight back up without looking like poo. It's cool with just the washes, but I want more.

Also, that carnevean lurking in the back was the first model I painted for this army. She's a little too purple, but I'm not sure how to fix that yet. Add that to the list of things I haven't figured out yet.

Thagroooosh. I'm avoiding washes now and trying to paint his skin with straight-up mixing of paint for shadows and highlights. I'm also trying to incorporate some skin spots, which was what I wanted from the beginning but am only just experimenting with now... I would love for it to look like bruising, and gather it around where the plates and spikes come through, like they're tearing through old flesh. Work in progress.

Very early version of the Ulk's coloration, and just base coats.

Going more and more natural on the color scheme, which means I keep getting comments like "Wow, I've never seen that Circle model, who is she?" Sorry, guys, she's with the Legion.

The latest mini. I was testing out my new expensive brushes on him. I washed his skin with the red just to see where the low points were, then did some highlighting. Liking the skin better, but thinking the cartoon-purple for the scales might have to go. Not sure what else to do with them, however. Hm.