Vast Painting Guide Ep. 5: The Skeletons

Steps

1. 1 Base coat each skull's eyes, nose, and mouth, plus the dark head areas on Casty and Slashy, with Decay Black; block in the crow and neck feathers on Cassidy's head with the same color.
2. 2 Base coat all five skulls with Hykey Yellow.
3. 3 Base coat the green armor and fabric pieces — Screamy's pauldrons, part of Slashy's chest armor, Cassidy's tunic front, and part of Stabby's armor — with Merm Green.
4. 4 Base coat the leather pieces with Skrag Brown: Shooty's boots, part of Stabby's clothes, Cassidy's entire cape, Screamy's upper arms, and Slashy's hands.
5. 5 Base coat every steel-armor piece across all five miniatures with Rlyeh Grey.
6. 6 Base coat the red armor pieces with Hastur Purple.
7. 7 Base coat the wood, leather, and cloth accents with English Uniform — Screamy's fur, sword hilt, and banner pole; Shooty's bow, hood patch, gloves, straps, and quiver; Cassidy's doll and tunic center; Slashy's shield straps — then finish the remaining black details (Slashy's axe haft, Cassidy's staff, Shooty's arrows) with Decay Black.
8. 8 Dry brush Buff over Screamy's fur, then a lighter pass with Hykey Yellow mixed in; edge highlight Shooty's pauldron trim with Undead Flesh.
9. 9 Highlight all the green fabric by mixing Undead Flesh into Merm Green over several layers, finishing with pure Undead Flesh on Cassidy's tunic.
10. 10 Reinforce the brown/leather highlights with English Uniform after an Agrax Earthshade wash, push further with English Uniform mixed with Buff, and lighten the pants and boots with Skrag Brown mixed with Flat Flesh.
11. 11 Highlight the black arrows and Shooty's skull with Ivory mixed into Decay Black and into Hykey Yellow, then wash the skulls, pants, fur, and brown areas with Agrax Earthshade and reapply the highlight mixes on top.
12. 12 Highlight the red fabric — Screamy's banner and horn, part of Cassidy's cloak — with Wild Rider Red mixed into Hastur Purple.
13. 13 Dry brush Cold Grey onto Cassidy's back fur, then reinforce shadows everywhere with another pass of Agrax Earthshade, including the faces, necklace, and hands.
14. 14 Paint the non-metallic-metal armor: sketch highlight points in Ivory, then build smooth gradients from each base color up to a bright top color — Merm Green to Ivory for the green armor, Hastur Purple (with a touch of Decay Black in the deepest shadow) up to Ivory for the red armor, and Rlyeh Grey to pure White for the steel armor — edge highlighting every metal piece once the gradient is blocked in.
15. 15 Paint the sword hilts with a non-metallic gold gradient using the same highlight-and-edge technique.
16. 16 Dark-line every material separation and recess with thinned Black Ink, reinforcing the eyes, nose, mouth, and teeth on all five miniatures.
17. 17 Give each eye a glow: a dot of pure White in the center, then Green Fluorescent painted over it once dry — also used on the tip of Cassidy's staff.
18. 18 Paint the bases Light Green with a black edge, then apply a spray varnish to finish.

Paints used

• Agrax Earthshade (Citadel)

  Wash over the brown/leather areas, the skulls, pants, fur, faces, necklace, and hands to deepen shadows

• Black Ink (Vallejo Game Ink)

  Thinned for dark-lining every material separation and recess on all five miniatures

• Buff (Vallejo Model Color)

  Dry-brushed highlight on Screamy's fur; mixed with English Uniform and Ivory for further highlights; used pure on Cassidy's hands, necklace, and staff wraps

• Cold Grey (Vallejo Game Color)

  Dry-brushed onto Cassidy's back fur

• Decay Black (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Base coat for the skulls' dark features, Slashy's axe haft, Cassidy's staff, and Shooty's arrows; mixed with Ivory to highlight the arrows and skull; deepest shadow tone in the red non-metallic-metal gradient

• English Uniform (Vallejo Model Color)

  Base coat for the wood, leather, and cloth accents; reapplied over the Agrax wash as a highlight, then mixed with Buff for a further highlight

• Flat Flesh (Vallejo Model Color)

  Mixed with Skrag Brown to highlight the lighter brown/leather areas

• Green Fluorescent (Vallejo Model Color)

  Painted over the white eye dot for a glowing green eye, and on the tip of Cassidy's staff

• Hastur Purple (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Base coat for the red armor pieces; base tone of the red non-metallic-metal gradient; mixed with Wild Rider Red to highlight red fabric

• Hykey Yellow (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Base coat for all five skulls; mixed with Buff and with Ivory for skull highlights

• Ivory (Vallejo Model Color)

  Sketched in to mark non-metallic-metal highlight points and used as the top tone of the green and red metal gradients; mixed into Decay Black, Hykey Yellow, and Buff for other highlights

• Light Green (Vallejo Model Color)

  Base color for the bases, edged in black

• Merm Green (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Base coat for the green armor and fabric pieces; base tone of the green non-metallic-metal gradient; mixed with Undead Flesh to highlight the green fabric

• Rlyeh Grey (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Base coat for every steel-armor piece; base tone of the steel non-metallic-metal gradient up to pure White

• Skrag Brown (Citadel)

  Base coat for the leather pieces; mixed with Flat Flesh to highlight the lighter brown areas

• Undead Flesh (Scale75 Scalecolor)

  Edge highlight on Shooty's pauldron trim; mixed into Merm Green (finishing pure) to highlight the green fabric

• White (Vallejo Model Color)

  Top highlight tone of the steel non-metallic-metal gradient, stippled chainmail texture, and the base dot for the eye glow

• Wild Rider Red (Citadel)

  Mixed into Hastur Purple to highlight the red fabric on the banner, cloak, and horn