Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I play Eldar and I like to paint most of my vehicle weapons the beached bone colour.

However, when I just paint it flat bone it's too light and not very good. How do you get that weathered darker bone look many Eavy Metal painters have on their Eldar vehicles?

Should I undercoat it black (I've done them white so far) and then dry-brush bone on repeatedly? How do you guys do it? I'd appreciate any help!

I don't know how the heavy metal team does it but for me it's a proecss of black undercoat followed by Beastial Brown->Snakebite Leather->Bleached Bone and finally a little edge hightlighting with Skull white.
Dependending on the look I'm after I'll blend the in between colours more or less.
Hope that helps some

Right, i paint bone with the following, Rotted flesh, with a mix of catachan green and scorched brown glazed very VERY thinly in shadowed places, i then high light with mixture of the rotted flesh and bleached bone & white, to bring it just off white, never ever highlight with pure white.

finally ill add light crack lines in a khaki then a bit of scorched brown mixed in for depth


Hooowever you wanted to do eldar, so

Khaki as your base, or Dheneb stone, then use bleached bone to highlight that , and a bit of white mixed with the bone for your extreme highlights, revert back with a leather colour mixed into your base colour (mix of dheneb and bleached bone) and create crack lines for visual stimulant, then deepen with scorched into the mix

Wow!

That sounds like it should produce some very good weathered bone.

With Khaki as my basecoat do I want to Prime parts to be coloured in bone black from now on or white?

Easy method -
base-coat Deneb stone
Wash with a mix of yellow & brown ink.
Done

Best to do over black prime.
Don't use khaki - the coverage is poo.

Black -> Thinned down painted on Bestial Brown -> Thinned down painted on Graveyeard Earth -> Drybrushed Dheneb Stone -> Drybrushed Bleached Bone -> Highlights of Skull White

OR

Basecoat of Bleached Bone -> Black wash -> Drybrush of Bleached Bone -> Highlights of white

bleached bone -> devlan mud wash = done

WAAAAGGHH-god wrote:bleached bone -> devlan mud wash = done

QFT , it's how I do mine, occasionally I try base coat Bleached Bone -> 50%Bleached Bone 50%Skull White -> Skull White highlights

Then devlan mud wash. It really makes the bone feel dirty and, well, muddy. It's also much easier.

to be honest, Hes playing eldar, eldar wraith bone isnt brittle broken bone you would find on a corpse, its tooled to be pristine, but all methods above work.

Depends a lot on the environment where the bone is weathered.

Desert/dry areas tend to leave them whiter.
Moister areas tend towards darker yellow/browns.

Prime white or black guys?

I'll try a complex method as a compilation of all your suggestions.

Prime White > Basecoat Bone > Devlin Mud Wash > Dry brush Khaki > Dry brush Dheneb Stone > Dry brush Bone > Extreme Highlight with Skull white/Bone.

Should that create some added depth or just use unnecessary steps.

Keen to see how it turns out Dorian.

I do black under coat, followed by bleached bone, then I wash lightly (ink cut with water and detergent) with brown, wait for it to dry, then I use a similar thin yellow wash to stain some of the parts and a drybrush of bleached bone in areas to pick out detail.

personally, you dont need to drubrush eldar vehicles are flat surfaced and will look hella messy drybrushed.

Base it white, basecote dheneb, was devlin in the cracks, highlight edges in bone, then extreme mix with bone and white, easy, clean and wont make eldar look cack

If you want it bright-ish, go with white primer. It's very hard to do things like yellow, white, and bone on black primer without adding a LOT more work by adding layers to get colors similar to what you want.

If you're going over black, a base coat of dheneb stone is mandatory. It'll cover well and you can do a coat of bleached bone straight over the top if that is what you want, we can even cover the whole basecoat; you're looking at 2 watered down layers tops, mostly (unless you go really thin). Over black? Try 6 or so.

Bleached Bone with a wash of Devlan Mud.