Skeletons - Quick Markers Set

Bone is not white

The commonest mistake with the undead is to paint a skeleton white. Real old bone is yellowish, bleached on the edges and darkened in the recesses, because soil and time have settled into them. White looks like plastic on a figure and on top of that it takes the depth out of the surface. Bone is therefore built up in layers from the darkest to the lightest, and a purely white tone is not used at all, or only on the sharpest edge.

The layers in one package

Desert Sand forms the darker base, Bone Brown is used in the recesses and to suggest settled grime, Putrid White is the main bone tone, and White Shadow closes the build as the brightest highlight on cheekbones, ribs and joints. Leather is left for straps, scabbards, remnants of clothing and for wood, because a skeleton rarely stands on the table naked.

Working from dark to light

The surest sequence is to lay the sand base over the whole skeleton, add the brown into the eye sockets and the gaps between the ribs, go over the raised surfaces with the bone tone and finally highlight the edges with a dry brush. The marker is an advantage for this method in that it holds the shade absolutely the same from figure to figure, which is something mixed paints will not manage across a whole unit.

An addition to the base

The sand and the brown shade will also serve on the soil of a base, so a skeleton and its base hold together in color without having to get another package. The same pair also works on crumbling masonry, roots and dry leaves around the feet, that is, on the setting that usually goes with this subject.