Bones II: Two Skeletons

     This week I also completed two skeletons fro the Bones II "Shambling Dead" set.  In the past I have always painted my skeletons by priming them black, and then drybrushing them with various shades of off-whites and white.  This time, I wanted to try starting with a white undercoat, and then using a black wash to darken the recesses.  I also wanted to try using a darker off-white in my drybrushing.
      I prepped the figures in the usual way; soaking them in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish- soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.  I then glued one of the figure to a white-primed 1" fender washers with Aleene's Tacky glue and the other to a black primed 1" fender washer.  I then glued the washers to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of the Elmer's glue each.

     I began by painted both skeletons entirely with White.  When the White was dry, I gave both a wash with GW "Badab Black" wash.

     I drybrushed them first with Americana "Khaki Tan", and then with Americana "Buttermilk", then lastly with Crafters Acrylic "Light Antique White".  

     I then painted the shaft of the halberd, and the bow, with Americana "Mississippi Mud".  Next, I painted the head of the halberd, and the base of the archer, with Ceramcoat "Walnut".  I also painted the base of the halberdier with Americana "Neutral Grey".   My next step was to give the halberd shaft and the bow a wash with GW "Agrax Earthshade" using a wet brush.  While I had the "Agrax Earthsahde" out, I also used some of it with a fine brush to help delineate some of the bone joints that had become obscured by the drybrushing.   

     I then worked on completing the rust effects on the halberd head by adding splotches of Crafters Edition "Spice Brown", and then some lighter splotches of  Accent "Golden Oxide" to give the impression of rust.  Afterwards, I drybrushed it lightly with Some Folk Art "Gunmetal Grey".  I then worked on the rocks that the halberdier stands on, and drybrushed them with Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey", followed by Folk Art "Platinum Grey"

    When everything had overnight to dry, I gave the figures a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  That afternoon I flocked the halberdier's base with Woodland Scenics "Snow" flock, and the archer's base with regular green flock.  The next day, I sprayed the figures with Testor's Dullcote.

     I'm pleased with how the new methods I tired turned out.  I think these skeletons turned out looking pretty good.