By Assistant Doc Andrew Hunt

I’ve seen quite a few skeletons over the years and have to say that the GW inspired  trend of painting them white with black lining does not fit my view of what skeletons should look like.

Of course skeleton are one of the easier troops to paint and any alternative technique should reflect this. In fact the lining of skeletons in black is a relatively slow process and any errors need to be covered up with the addition of white paint over black, which can take several coats.

My method is faster and I think it produces a more realistic ; ) looking skeleton.

Step 1.

Clean the figure of all flash and construct it. I usually use PVA glue to attach sand to the base at this stage.

Step 2

Spray paint the skeleton white. This will also give an undercoat to the sand covered base helping the sand stick better.

Step 3

Wash the figure with 3 parts water to 1 part brown paint wash. The brown selected is of course a matter of choice. I use a reddish medium brown.

Step 4

Dry brush the figure lightly with white paint. This will leave the brown wash in the joints giving the skeleton a dirty fresh from the grave appearance. Particular attention should be given to the skull and shoulder blades which will probably be brown after the wash.

Step 5

Paint the eye socket blood red and complete the base and equipment to taste.