Spooky Scary Skeletons

Spooky, scary skeletons
Send shivers down your spine
Shrieking skulls will shock your soul
Seal your doom tonight

Just when I thought the pile of shame was under control when my long time ASOAIF player suggests a swap of some figures and a copy of Terror the Lichemaster, the hard to find Advanced Heroquest supplement for some Song of Fire and Ice Miniatures

Somehow I accepted the trade and here are the figures I received

A selection of skeletons with scythes, zombies, orcs, goblins. and other things

There is no denying it these figures are dated: like a typewriter, flared jeans, sideburns, muton chops and cheese cloth shirt these belong to a bygone age. However, they do posses a retro classic dungeon bash vibe which perhaps give them a charm not withstanding the stiff poses, wide leg stances and lack of dynamism or detail. They will end up populating a dungeon defending their home from murderous burglary minded dungeoneers. The Skeletons are of no real use outside of this setting- whilst I could use them as Tomb King Guards with halberds, the scythes don’t really pass for halberds.

Over on Youtube I follow the Ninjon channel and he had a way of painting up the equally dated tomb king which also posses that style of pumpkin head skeleton ( though the Heroquest ones also seem to have huge feet) involving contrast paints and zenithally highlighting . voila the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M_odL_8s8E

This inspired me to think : why not just slap a load of acrylic ink straight on to the bone coloured plastic. Essentially an even quicker version of the Ninjon approach without needing an airbrush.  I was hesitant as I wondered if the ink would stick but I was working from home without much to do and figured what the hey. Here is the result

Plenty of bonesman abvove, ( perhaps George Bush Jnr)

So Father G, why the green eyes. The answer Timmy is that the Terror of the Lichmaster book describes these bonesman as having green lights glowing from their eyes. Hence an excuse to use that bottle of fluorescent green paint I have.

The AI Feedback tool suggests that I should have some of guide to my painting method. So below a guide to the stages

1. Second figure from left. Apply ink: lots of ink. In this case I started with Liquitex brand Acrylic ink Burnt Sienna . this proved a bit too red for my liking . To soften the effect I added about 50% Liquitex Orange yellow Azo and this proved better. Now I painted up 19 of these and I was not exact about the mix, so there will be some variation. The trick is to bathe the figures as the ink will stain the bone and ensure a consistent colour
2. Third figure from left. Shading. Apply Liquidize Raw umber to the ribs, the area below the shoulder blades, the feet and the hands and the the knee socket, essentially you are lining the negative space between the bones
3. Highlight, Vallejo Dark Sand is applied to the tops of the bones focussing on the eye sockets, the ball of the shoulder and the curve of the cranium
4. The wood, is just Raw umber streaked on in lines to create a woodgrain effect. While the blade is Scale 75 Viking Gold with turquoise then green is splattered on for verdigris. Fluorescent green is applied to the blades and the eyes radiating out in straight lines .

The method was quick. I did these in less time than two Silver Helm cavalry.

So, that was a fun way to while away a few evenings at home. However, I am now back to my usual planned project .