Warband: Skeleton warriors and cavalry - Issue with bone on sand

[ErHo]

Its been 15+ years since Ive painted 10mm or smaller, the sculpts on these are incredible... dare I say cute undead?

Sorry for the pic size, I'm hastily posting this where and when I can!

Issue with these are the colors of the bones and the base.   I'm not sure how to properly differentiate sand and bone on such a small scale, they more or less just blend in.

I'm thinking of going back to hit the shreds of skin on the horses with different colors, grays and browns I suppose.

Pay no attention to the Orkboys in the back!


I dont know yet, thinking of defaulting back to grays brown basing, but I was hoping for an egyptian themed board to game on with my Dragon men, based the same way.

Any ideas or critiques are welcome and appreciated!

Thank you

[paulr]

Welcome ErHo

Good looking figures and nice desert basing 

Would a darker wash help the figures stand out a bit more 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Add green flock?

[Ithoriel]

Sun bleached bone would be whiter. Maybe a final highlight of white to lift the figures?

Or if they've been in the ground they could be darker - grey or even dark brown.

However, a light drybrush of white would be simplest.  

[ErHo]

Add green flock?

I'm leaning away from the green flock, having used tons for my last D&D campaign.    I thouhgt to use the tan/dead grass flock, but thats so close to the bone, I'm at square one again.

I think I'll have to lighten either men or base afterall

[fred.]

I like them as they are - having the skeletons blend into the ground seems appropriate.

If you want to lift the figures away from the bases, a couple of suggestions

A light dry brush of white as suggested by the others.

With the bases, add a few little bits of clump foliage and small rocks


These are 15mm, but it gives you the idea.

[ErHo]

Sun bleached bone would be whiter. Maybe a final highlight of white to lift the figures?

Or if they've been in the ground they could be darker - grey or even dark brown.

However, a light drybrush of white would be simplest.  

Thank you, and you as well Paulr!

I'll have to do one or the other, possibly both.

As it is, I used a linen colored base, washed it with watered down AP brown ink and highlighted with the same linen color.

Thank you guys for the suggestions, I'll try them all out and see from there.

[ErHo]

I like them as they are - having the skeletons blend into the ground seems appropriate.

If you want to lift the figures away from the bases, a couple of suggestions

A light dry brush of white as suggested by the others.

With the bases, add a few little bits of clump foliage and small rocks


These are 15mm, but it gives you the idea.

Those are handsome fellas you got there!   Did you use bare sand with the white highlight on top?

That green in patches does look good, MadLemmy, you might be right as well

[fred.]

Those are handsome fellas you got there!   Did you use bare sand with the white highlight on top?

That green in patches does look good, MadLemmy, you might be right as well

Thanks, I was pleased with how these chaps come out.

I think the highlight was a pale sand, rather than white.

[Leon]

Very nice!  As the other guys have said above, I'd either put a white highlight over the figures to lighten them up, or pop a bit of flock/brown on the bases to darken those down.  Just to get a bit of contrast between figure and base.

[DFlynSqrl]

Very nice ErHo.     I like seeing more Undead roaming around.  I agree about adding some green.  Just a splash here and there and add some bushes like Fred did in his picture.  I think it would still have an arid look to it.

Mine have more green than you're talking about, but if you did about half or 1/3 it might give your base some color and still have a desert look to it.


If you do decide to put skin on your horses they'll look something like this.  Here's a picture of mine, if you want a general idea of how it might look.

[Terry37]

If they were mine, I'd hit them with a thin brown wash  and when dry highlight with a wet dry brush (I know seems contradictory, but that's how I term it - its a thinned paint that is very watery, but with only enough on the brush to leave highlights). I do not paint the highlight on randomly, but try to hit those areas that truly would be highlights. Then I'll go back with a wet dry brush with more paint in it for the areas that special should be highlighted - in the case of skeletons, around the eyes, jaw line, ribs, joint bones, etc.

Here is a picture of my skeleton Riders for my HOTT Halloween army to give you an idea of how my style turns out.  The ones on the left are the better example as the ones on the right are in too much sun light. I tried to make any cloth left with a faded out and dirty look to it.



Hope this helps,

Terry

[Techno]

Another vote for a very light drybrush highlight with white.

Cheers - Phil

[d_Guy]

Well, the skeletons have certainly come out of the closet! Some lovely examples - almost a trailer for the up-coming painting competions.

[Steve J]

Great work and agree with the suggestions already mentioned.