#honestly these pics dont do this fit justice

[zenosanalytic]

Paintbrush, Plasglue, and Holy Clippers: Skeletons Part 1

I have painted the Unquiet and Restless Dead >:3

My initial plan after The Goons was to start painting Orcs and Goblins to continue the skintone practice into greens and blues, but 1)I didn't have enough minis to really do that justice and 2)I saw some Really Cool Skeletons sculpts while out gathering goblinoids and I just had to try those first uwu uwu Here they are in their Baxes

And Here they are finished(and under the same image-editing I used for the last post; looking at these on my pc there's some definite distortion -I'm thinking maybe the Sharpen or HD function?- so I'll try to figure out better settings in future, or just a better lighting setup >:T)

I, again, didn't have the time to do this in one sitting; it took me from the 5th of October to the 16th.

My first idea was to batchpaint these, but 1)I hadn't used any of these bone colors before so didn't really have a preference and 2)6 is way too few for that. So my second idea was to do a color-test: paint each of the three sets in a different base, use one shade on half of them and another shade on the other half, and then see which ones I liked. But again: six isn't really enough for that either |:T |:T So so, in the end I just decided to go Hog Wild: The two WizKid "Deep Cut" minis I painted in a Vallejo mixture I cooked up, and the rest I based each in their own color. I actl HAVE good notes and process pics to share on this one, so I'll break this up into probably 2 posts. In this one I'll cover what I'm calling "The Wight", who really just needs to get some sleep c'mon guys!, and its Inevitable Odd-Couple Platonic Unlife Partner, The Champ(sword and shield).

Here's my Tired, Tired Corpse

My vallejo bone-recipe: 3parts Yellow Ochre(mustard yellow), 2parts Dark Sand(a dark beige/ivory), and 1part Off-White(honestly really close to the housepaint of the same name). I, sadly, didn't have an ivory at the time X| X| X| The "part" here is just 1 brush's-worth of each paint; each drop from the bottle is WAY MORE PAINT than you'd need for just two models. Vallejo's Off-White was WAAAAY Stronger than the other two colors so fyi

I really want to try out Vallejo's Ivory(which I, in the Future, have Now >:> >:>), but I REALLY liked the result of this mix; it's a nice, yellowed old-bone look. I shaded Wight in Earthshade and Champ in Sepia(both citadel shades)

Again: I really love both of these -___- the sepia on this base gives good shadows and a "clean" bone look, like THIS is a skeleton that CARES about its Appearance(which I also feel fits the vaguely charismatic, 'Party Time!' pose it's in XD); while the Earthshade gives strong, deep shadows and really Grunges up this skeleton that has Given Up on undeath, Quite Honestly, and just really wants to lie in its tombdust and Rot in PEACE why do you Adventurers keep COMING HERE?!?!

Weapons Next. I wanted Wight's sword to have a ice-enchanted look to it, so I figured I'd try out some dark blues I had: Beowulf and Cloudburst from Army Painter, and Dark Prussian Blue from Vallejo

I did a few swatches of them on the tissue I use to clean my brushes; Beowulf was too bright, DPB too dark, and I liked the look of Cloudburst(tho: thinking about it now, I prob could've done a Really Cool gradient of Cloudburst from the hilt to Beowulf at the tip. Something to try in future ^v^ ^v^). I followed that up by lighenting DPB with the LEETLEST BEET of offwhite, and picking out some edges and nicks in the sword with it. Here's how that looked.

Neat!

Champ's sword I painted in Vallejo Black-Green, and then Stippled using a long-bristled drybrush with citadel Gauss Blaster to look like an old, corroded Bronze sword(which: I dont think pre-industrial tech could actl MAKE bronze swords that long without also making them super wide and heavy[I mean: idk if INDUSTRIAL tech can], but this is a fantasy world, they have magic, It's Fine), and I quartered its shield in Red and Yellow ala the stereotypical Saxon/English pattern, painted the outer ring and boss with Vallejo black, the interior with APSP Dark Wood, its straps(and its sword's hilt) with APSP Ruddy Fur, and then used val black and a detail brush to sketch the joins

They came out a bit thick and sloppy unfortunately, but I think it's Fine u_u u_u u_u

Next I did the Wight's rotting flesh and hair. First I tried a mix of Vallejo "Basic Skin"(Yikes :|) and Dark Sand, washed in citadel's Soulblight Grey shade, which created a Gr8 old, bloodless, dead flesh basecolor. Then, to give it that Fetid rotting look, I went over THAT with a dark green shade, Citadel Poxwalker, which TOTALLY killed the effect; it applied too evenly and was just too intense(and blue) a green for the look I was... looking for X| X| So: I went to the hobbystore to look for alternatives, found an AP speedpaint called "Rigor Mortis" which sounded promising, picked up another green citadel shade called "Kroak Green" which was yellower and paler than poxwalker, covered with Rigor Mortis(gr8 dead flesh color), washed in Kroak, and it looked AWESOME. For good measure I went back with Poxwalker and a detail brush to darken the most recessed places and really liked how it turned out. Wight's hair I painted in Val Green-Black mixed with black to darken(I think it was 2-to-1 but I didnt write ti down X| X| X|), washed in Soulblight to give it that faded dead-hair look, which looked stupendous, then applied Poxwalker which, oddly enough, worked JUST fine with the hair.

All that was left at this point was to do the metallics and the bases. I used that Tabletop Minion's technique for old or corroded metals again, drybrushing Army Painter's Evil Chrome(NOT a speedpaint) on Champ's sword, and APSP Broadsword Silver on its shield-ring and boss, and APSP Enchanted Steel(a sort of blue-green-silver?) over Wight's sword. Both worked well but I was REALLY blown away by the subtle sparkle in Wight's sword

I think these photos capture the sheen on Wight's sword pretty well, but one of the edits I did smoothed out Champ's sword-closeup WAY too much to get a good idea of the bronze >:T >:T >:T

As to the bases, I did a three-tone gray stone using citadel opaque paints: Mechanicus for the basecolor, a dry brush of Dawnstone on top of that, then a lighter drybrush of Celestra on top of THAT. I shaded it with Nuln Oil(citadel black shade), touched up the Celestra dry brush, and then varnished!

Ok ^v^ Tomorrow I'll cover the Mooks of my Undead: the Soldier and Miner Skeletons

[slumbercube]