Dark Elf Elite: Bones 4 Darkreach Figure

       This past week I got back to working on the Bones 4  Darkreach expansion and painted the "Dark Elf Elite" figure.
       I prepped the figure in the usual way, soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying it.  I then glued the figure to a brown-primed 1" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and then placed the figure in my painting grip.

      I began by painting the figure with Ceramcoat "Black".  When dry, I drybrushed the armor with Folk Art Color Shift "Black Flash".   When the "Black Flash" was dry,  I went over it again with a light drybrush of Reaper MSP "Aged Pewter".  After that I painted the face, knees, and hands with Reaper MSP "Dark Elf Skin".

     Next, I decided to try painting the cape with a gradated ombre effect.  I started with Crafter's Acrylic "African Violet"  at the bottom, and then wet blended that into Anita's "Violet" in the center, and then mixed and blended that into Apple Barrel "Apple Lavender" at the top and the parts hanging down in the front.  After that I painted her boots with Reaper MSP "Coal Black".  I then mixed a little of the "Coal Black" into some of the "African Violet" and painted the shadowed underside along the bottom and the splits in the cape.

     I then painted her hair with Americana "Grey Sky", and afterwards painted the sword blades with Ceramcoat "Charcoal".   After that, I painted the skulls on her armor with  Folk Art Brushed Metal "Brushed Bronze", and then repainted the swords Folk Art Metallics "Gunmetal Grey".

    I let the figure dry for a while, and then gave the whole thing a coat of Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash.  Then, when the wash was dry, I painted the eyes, then highlighted the face, and hands, with the base "Dark Elf Skin", and some Reaper MSP "Dark Elf Highlight".  After that, I highlighted the hair with Americana "Snow White", and then highlighted the boots with a mix of the base "Coal Black" with some Folk Art "Cloudy Day".

    Next, I highlighted the cape using the base colors "Violet" and the "Apple Lavender", with a little of the "Snow White" added in for the lightest highlights.   I then highlighted the skulls on the armor with Folk Art Metallic "Pure Gold", and after that, I did all the rivets on the armor using DecoArt Metallic "Rich Espresso".  I finished up by adding some highlights to the swords with Ceramcoat "Metallic Silver", and lastly, I painted the entire base with Americana "Mississippi Mud".
      I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave it a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish. I then used some white glue to glue some fine sand to the base.  When the sand was dry, I painted it with a coat of Americana "Charcoal Grey". When this was dry, I drybrushed the sand with the "Mississippi Mud", and then with some Apple Barrel "Rock Grey"; lastly I drybrushed it with a little Americana "Dove Grey".
      Another overnight dry, and I sprayed the figure with Testor's Dullcote".

     I like how this figure turned out, though in the end I think my ombre experiment with the cape was not a success.  I needed to start the lightening further down, as I don't think you really get a sense that the color is supposed to be getting lighter as you go up...it just looks like some highlighting in the end.