#bonetones

... Unfortunately I only took before and after pics for the Soldiers XD so here ya go

I decided to paint them up in 4 colors: Skeleton Horde and Aggaros Dunes from Citadel, and Pallid Bone and Howling Sand from Army Painter SPs

Then I washed the Miners in Earthshade and the Soldiers in Sepia

The darker ones here are the Earthshade, and the lighter the Sepia. I loved how all of these looked. The Dunes/Earthshade one in particular created a VERY grungy, crawled-out-of-the-earth look that I really enjoyed, tho the Howling Sand/Earthshade was a wonderful Bleached-Bone look in its own right with excellent, dark recesses. One thing to note here: the Howling Sand applied rather goopily and needed a bit more attention to spread evenly, but it dried into a wonderful finish and makes an excellent ivory color for this range of paints, imo. Between Skeleton Horde and Pallid Bone I prefer PB? It's got a bit stronger color and applies more evenly, and Skeleton Horde has a very subtle yellowish or olive hue to it that I just personally think isn't AS GOOD for bone as Pallid is? It's still a good color tho, it creates stronger shadows in the recesses, and I felt it worked better with Sepia than PB did, so I think they're close enough that it's really a matter of preference(also: I'd like to try a different shade on PB in the future).

Next I painted their Clothes and Weapons

Unfortunately these were the only process pics I took during this step X| I used AP's Ruddy Fur for the Miners' Gloves and Boots, and the Soldiers' Pants and pauldrons, and Noble Skin for the Soldiers' Boots. I painted the Pickheads in Val Black and the pickhead "ring" in a rust-mixture I made from Vallejo Red and Flat Yellow(which clarification: is ALSO the Vallejo Yellow I used for Champ's shield. I think I just called it 'yellow' in the last post; I'll go back and edit it correct). The Red was MUCH stronger than the yellow, so it was something like a 1-to-4 mixture, tho I didn't write it down X| X| I then used this mixture to stipple rust spots onto the Picks. I painted one of the Soldiers' swords the same way, and the other as I painted Champ's(Val Green-Black, stippled with Gauss Blaster Green). I painted the Soldiers' chestplates and chainmail, and the miners' helmets, with the same black&rust undercoat, and the belts with APSP Gravelord Grey.

I'm not terribly happy with the Miners' pants. I wanted a denimy base color that I'd then try to look faded and grimy with shades, but my initial approach just didn't work out. I didn't record it fully but I think I used Beowulf Blue shaded with citadel Tyran Blueshade, and then tried applying a shading of Mummified Grime(also a Speedpaint) thinned with speedpaint medium, but it just made the pants Shiny >:T >:T >:T On the same trip I picked up the Rigor Mortis for Wight's flesh, I picked up APSP Tyrian Navy as well, and used that to paint the Miners' shirt; it was a much better denim blue. The metallic details(belt buckles and shoulder-spikes and such) I painted in Broadsword Silver, then I drybrushed Broadsword Silver on the black-and-rust "Iron" undercoats, and Evil Chrome on the "Bronze" Soldier's sword.

After that I painted their bases using the method detailed in Pt1, varnished, glued em up, and that was that! Overall I enjoyed this project but it didn't really answer my question of "what is the BEST way to paint skeletons :? :?" since, unfortunately, I liked ALL of these ways XD It just really comes down to preference and what effect you're looking for :T :T Truly: Bonetones are a Land of Contrasts u_u u_u u_u