Painting Undead is a very fast and straightforward business. Just paint lots of Skeletons and other basic troops and spend all the time you want on your characters and more characterful troops such as Wights.
Painting Skeletons
I found a very fast method of painting skeletons, the result will be a bit dirty but having seen pictures of hundred year old skeletons I have found that they actually look too clean. First I undercoated the models with White Primer, I then painted them with thinned down Bleached Bone. When it was dry I washed the models with a mix of Brown and Yellow wash, I used only a 5th or so Yellow. When the wash was dry I painted all the metal parts, like armour and weapons, with Black and drybrushed them with Boltgun Metal. Then I drybrushed the metal with a mix of Orange and Brown wash. This make them look really rusty and as a final touch I lightly drybrushed the edges with Boltgun Metal to make the edges look like they had been recently used.
The shields were a bit more complicated, but I made two units with different styles. The first one was a very Gothic one with Black shields with White lining and skull motifs, like the ones in WD 211. The 2nd unit had half a dozen different heraldries in it combined from yellow, green and red. I used skull motifs and many other transfers to make them look like old warriors with their own shields. You can also go for a brown shield with metal linings as they look more neutral, kinda like freshly raised Warriors.
You can use this method on Skeleton Horsemen, Chariots and Skullchuckers as well.
Wraiths
I really like Wraiths and have painted far more than I'm gonna get around to use, the reason is that they are even faster to paint then skeletons and really look like dark ghosts or angels of death. I undercoated them with Black Primer and then drybrushed them with a mix of Black and Grey, Grey and a very Light Grey. Then I picked out the bone parts in Light Brown, drybrushed them with Bleached Bone and finished off with some Skull White. The Weapons were painted in Black and drybrushed with Amethyst Purple to give them a more ensorcelled feel. I painted a unit of 20 in an evening, basing them took longer than painting them!
Zombies
I painted a few Zombies much like the Skeletons but I finished them off with some Light Green drybrush to make them look rotten, their clothes were painted Brown and washed with Brown wash.
Characterful models
Characacters and Wights look best in bright colours like Purple, Green and Yellow but a Dark Red can do very well also. To make the weapons look magical paint them Black, drybrush them with Dark Angel Green and finished them off with a Lighter Green.
Bases
I finished my bases by painting the top with thinned down PVA glue and water and dipping them in a lid of sand. When the glue was dry, after a night or so, I painted them with Black Wash and painted the sides Grey. This make them look like they are moving over an ash plain or other area where all life has gone, which is very suitable for Undead. In addition the Black sand correspond well with the Brown Bone and Black Shields to make them look really dark and evil. The Black feeling also give the image of nighttime.
Archive Skaven
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