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.

Hey folks,

I'm just getting back into 40k after a huge hiatus. I'm trying things that 10 year old me just didnt comprehend like thinning out paints, using washes, etc. but I'm having some issues with getting a good, clean, even looking bone/tan color on my new Tau army. I'm painting the cloth/undergarments a dark blue, and then the armor plating a bone color for a nice contrast after I saw a black and grey scheme online that looked relatively easy to execute with patience.

When painting bone, the best method I've come up with from reading around here and given the paint I have is to do a foundation of Tau Ochre, followed by building up the bone on top of that. When I try this, I end up with a gloopy result with visible brush strokes and poorly saturated areas. I'm watering my paint down to a little bit more than 2:1, so i know its not TOO watery as most people suggest a straight 2:1, I'm thinking it might be an issue with how I'm building up the color. Should I be going Ochre -> something else, then just highlighting in bone?

It looks a lot easier on youtube, haha....Thanks in advance for giving me some help, I'm excited to be rejoining the community, even if it's as a noob.

Dheneb stone is a much better base color for bone than ochre. Thin it down alot then do 2 or 3 layers of that before using bone. If you use Dheneb Stone you will need fewer layers of bone.

Yeah agreed. Dheneb stone, wash and Bleached bone highlights would be the easiest way to do it.

Actually, I find that Bleached Bone with a Devlan Mud wash gives a good bone effect. It's more like aged ivory, but you can bring the color back up with some Bleached Bone and Skull White drybrushing.

Yeah sailense, I definitely agree that your method works with dynamic bone, where there are recesses and texture. Sadly, what I'm painting is flat and geometric armor plates, I kind of want it to look more like a very light tan. Was going to do Grey, but i like that theres a little bit more warmth to the Bone color. I'll definitely try Dheneb stone guys, thanks a lot for the tip.

Correct me if im wrong, but on a flat piece like the armor on a crisis suit, the washes would do very little, because they have no place to settle and shadow, correct?

For flat pieces, I actually use the washes like an ink to the surface. It takes some practice, but you can also move the wash around to get some color variation on the flat surface.

But Dheneb Stone does sound like the way to go. You could also mix in a bit of Tau Ochre to give the color some warmth.

Since I don't use GW paints, I can't give you exact colors, but my bone recipe looks something like this:



You could probably skip the brown color. For something like bone or white, though, you don't want to go straight from your base coat to the lightest color. You'll either end up with 2304932 layers of thin paint (which is tedious and the leading cause of insanity for miniatures painters) or streaks in the final product. If you don't want to start with a white base coat and use some sort of wash, try to find an intermediate color. It's going to be an exercise in patience whatever you choose.

Good luck.

Thanks >< I had that moment of "ohh, I could paint blood angels, they seem fun....but that's a lot of red". I didn't quite realize how exacting and unforgiving the Tau are. I'm toying with a slightly darker scheme in general, lightening up the blue and using that on the armor, then going for a brown undercoat, that just seems more boring to me I suppose. At the moment it's a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, I see lots of things and say "ohhh, I'd like to try that."

Well, if you want to stick to the bone color scheme, I'd suggest finding a good white undercoat (spray-paint or airbrush) and use some washes to slightly yellow the color.

Once you're done with the washes you can paint the darker areas (it's 100 times easier to paint a dark color over a light one). If you save the highlights on the bone armor for when you're done with their clothing, it would let you touch up any areas where the dark color got on their armor.

Okay, I'll definitely try that. Maybe a wash of sepia over white, then stone -> bone. it is a lot easier to go darker than lighter, that makes sense.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
One other question re: thinning paints.

Do you guys tend to thin you Citadel paints in their original pots? or do you pour onto a palette and thin there to preserve the integrity of the original paint. My worry is that if I try to thin a pot down to 2:1, ill end up going closer to 1.5:1 and it will be too runny. At the same time, the idea of pouring my paints everywhere makes me a little skittish as well... I wish the pots came with droppers, heh.

Thanks for being so helpful folks, it's much appreciated.