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The Alchemist's Bench: Miniatures Painting Your Miniatures: Part Two - Skeletons

Miniatures

by Nathan Stout Before you start painting your skeletons, you need to decide what you want them to look like. I decided to go for several different looks for my batch of skeletons. I want some that look fairly fresh (newly vacated!), some that have been sitting around for a few years, and some that look like they have been sitting in a dark corner of a damp, musty dungeon for ages. First put a white primer coat on your skeleton. This will allow the other coats stay on and it gives the piece a more natural, organic look. After the primer dries, take a small amount of black paint and lightly brush it over the skeleton. Don't completely paint it, just put some black here and there. Now, you should start to paint the white on fairly quickly before the black completely dries. Once you have the white coat on, the skeleton appears to have old slightly dirty bones. Conversely, you can lightly brush the skeleton with a dark green, then once the white is painted on you have a moldy look. You can adjust the "age of the bones" by adding more or less of the black, green, or what ever color you wish to try out. Once you have completed this step and the skeletons look pretty nasty, its time to give them life. Use a black wash and lightly paint the skeleton with it. All the detail will appear, giving the simple plastic skeleton a menacing and realistic look. When painting with water based paints, a popular method of getting terrific detail out of your minis, it to "wash" them. A wash is a REALLY thinned out color. There are black washes, flesh washes, and other types. Once it is mixed, the wash is painted over the miniature, bringing out all the detail. I have discovered that you can do this with oil based paint, but it doesn't always come out right.

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