I've had several requests asking how I painted my Deathwing. I can empathise with this, since Bone can be a very difficult colour to do properly. It was frustrating for me when I was looking for painting guides and tutorials online and couldn’t really find any, back when I had just started on my Wing. Finally I just used a combination of several techniques to come up with my current style. While it can be time consuming, I feel that with a Deathwing army it is worth the investment to make a good looking force- especially since there are so few models to paint! Others prefer Darkseer’s slightly darker style- I would recommend this if you are after a faster method that still looks great.

The Model to be Painted

If you are after the basic methodology without having to read the extensive tutorial, my technique for bone can be summarised as:

1. Skull White undercoat
   
2. Bronzed Flesh
   
3. Watered Flesh Wash
   
4. Bubonic Brown
   
5. Bleached Bone
   
6. Bleached Bone/Skull White highlights
   
7. Skull White highlights

The following pages describe this technique, as well as several hints and tips, in more detail. It also describes the methods used for other details on the model. Feel free to use as many or as few of the techniques described here as you desire. Some notes:
-Click thumbnails for larger view, or in some cases, several photos showing the colour progression.
-Where photos of arms or body aren't shown, assume the same technique is done to them as is done to the shown area, unless specified.
-All paint colours are described in terms of GW's range. I use several Vallejo paints in combination with GW's, but I will keep it simple and just use the equivalent GW names.  

Step 0: Construction and Undercoating

Step 1: Bronzed Flesh

The first step is to simply paint on a layer of Bronzed Flesh over all the armoured areas. This should be watered down slightly, as we don’t want details obscured. In addition, try and leave the areas that will be a different colour (Green, Metal, etc) white, although you need not be too concerned about going over the edges.

Step 2: Flesh Wash

After completing a layer of Bronzed Flesh (and giving it plenty of time to dry! Wet paint and inks don’t like each other very much), crack open your brown ink. I use Flesh Wash, as it’s my favourite all-round ink. Chestnut Ink would probably also work fine here.
The most important thing to do is WATER IT DOWN A LOT. We want the recesses to be a very light brown rather than a dark brown. Too dark and there will be too much of a contrast between the top layers of bone and the recesses.  

Step 3: Chaos Black

Now that the ink is dry, its time to start putting on the black. Basically, this will go wherever there will be metallics (Gold or Silver) and also around the eyes, lights, joints, and any other colour you really want to stand out. If you are using Forgeworld shoulder pads, I find it helps to do a thin line of black where the sword meets the feathery-wings. This will help with separating the green and red later on. This also goes for the breastplate.
Again, keep the paint thin-ish and avoid blacking areas that will be a lighter colour later on (such as green or red).
Try not to make mistakes, but if you do don’t worry too much. I often go ‘over the lines’ and as such I have contingency steps later on for virtually all the errors you could potentially make.  

Step 4: Bubonic Brown

This is the part where we really start working on the armour. Get out the Bubonic Brown and thin it a bit, then start going over all the raised sections of armour. Leave the inked recesses visible at the very bottom, but you can go down the edges slightly without trouble. Examine the photos to see how far to go. Now is a good time to clean up the black you may have got on the armour-proper. I don’t paint the ‘vent’ type detail on the back of the feet as there is a high potential for error and I think they look fine as is. You are welcome to paint them should you desire.      

Step 5: Metals Part 1

Now start working on the metals. I use Mithril Silver for all my silver, with black mixed in if darkening is required, as here. Paint all the areas that will be silver or gold. It doesn’t have to be particularly neat since more paint will be going on over the top. Leave some black in the recesses for depth.

Step 6: Metals Part 2

Once the metals are dry, water down some black paint A LOT. This needs to be far more watery than ink is. Coat all the metal parts that will remain silver with this mixture. It might take a bit of practice to get the right amount to go on, but I believe it makes the metal look very nice when done properly. Rub lightly over the 'upper' areas with your fingers, this will remove some of the black paint on edges and the top of curves, adding simple highlights (black fingers are well worth the sacrifice!). More complicated highlights can also be done if you so desire. 

Step 7: Bleached Bone and Gold

This step is composed of two colours. First, Shining Gold is applied to the previously silver areas. The silver on the previous layer gives it a better shine, and makes the gold come up brighter than if it was applied to black by itself. When the Shining Gold is dry, apply some Flesh Wash (or equivalent) to the gold to add shading to the recesses. Later the flat/high areas will be given another coat of gold. Secondly, Bleached Bone is added to the armour. Now it will start to look like a Deathwing model. Water down the Bone so that it applies smoothly to the armour plates, but not so much that it will dribble into the cracks. Again, this will take practice. Apply the bone to all the areas of armour, leaving some Bubonic Brown showing in the recesses. You have now worked up from shading to main colour. If some paint does run into the cracks, dab as much as you can up with a tissue, but don't be too concerned, later you can run some ink in the cracks (almost blacklining) to tidy up. This step allows you to cover up any metallics you may have got on the armour in previous steps.  

Step 8: Dark Angels Green and some Detail

Quite a simple step here. Water down some Dark Angels Green and apply to chest and shoulder eagles, and Storm Bolter casing. If you aren’t into lots of highlight or want to finish the models quickly, you can leave the Green here as it is, the watered green over white sort of acts in a similar way to ink, leaving some 'pre-made' highlights and shading.
Additionally, paint the eyes and lights white in preparation for red. 

Step 9: More Green, Red and another round of Bubonic Brown

Another simple step. Give all the Green areas another watered down coat to make the DA green actually DA green. Paint the detail on the side of the Storm Bolter in white. Use Red Gore on the eyes and lights/lenses/details, as well as on the seal part of the Purity Seals and the sword on the shoulder pad. Apply Bubonic Brown to the parchment part of the Seals, as well as the skull on the left shoulderpad.

Detail: Purity Seals

Purity seals start with Bubonic Brown base layer. Following this, apply an unwatered wash to the surface. I don't water this ink because I can direct the ink into 'lines' in the deeper areas more easily with the thicker substance. Once the ink is dry, start with another layer of Bubonic Brown on the more 'upper' areas, leaving the thickest ink as is. Gradually highlight this further from the ink using a mix of Bubonic Brown and Bleached Bone in as many layers as you feel reasonable before finally using a touch of pure Bleached bone on the edges. You don't want to use too much Bone, as the Seals will then look too much like the armour (insufficient contrast).
The seals are a base of Red Gore, followed by Blood Red (sometimes a couple of layers are required to get a good effect) on the edges and part of the interior, and finally a mix of Blood Red and Skull White for the top and bottom edges, as well as a little in the centre. I have tried Bleached Bone in place of the Skull White to reduce the 'pinkyness', but I feel both methods work well enough. At this stage you should also be completing the red on the eyes, lights and shoulderpad in the same method.  

Detail: Crux Terminatus

The Terminatus is relatively simple. The gold follows steps previously outlined (silver, gold, wash, gold), and the skull is a very similar procedure to that of the purity seal parchment. So similar infact, that I do them both simultaneously with the same mixes. The difference is that with the FW pads at least, the skull needs to be almost drybrushed in some areas to show the detail sufficiently. Also, on the skull the highlighting can go much lighter because the gold prevents the skull from not being discernible fully from the bone armour.

Detail: Chest Eagle

The chest eagle detail is completed in several steps. After completing the multiple coats of DA Green previously, start by mixing a 50/50 combination of DA Green and Snot Green. Use this to fill in most of the raised areas, leaving the darkest colour in the gaps. Then use Snot Green to colour in about 50% of the raised areas, and finally a bit of Goblin Green at the tips of the raised areas as highlights. I find that if the Goblin doesn't go all the way to the center end of the raised areas, and curves upwards a little at the outside ends, it gives a very nice effect. 

Detail: Shoulder Pad and Storm Bolter

For the feathery wings of the shoulderpad, use much the same technique as that of the chest eagle, with a couple of small technique adjustments. First; on the Snot Green layer have two lines painted on each raised area along the edges, to help show the ‘feather’ effect. Second; on the Goblin Green layer, use only very light brush strokes from the centre of the raised areas out, becoming more solid at the strokes progress to the rims. As in the chest eagle, this gives a nice 'expanding' effect (the best term I can come up with to describe it). Use the same green colours on the Storm Bolter casing, except only complete the Goblin Green layer on the edges of the casing, not the middle raised areas. I find this highlights the shape better without drawing attention to the edges on the 'inside' of the casing if you get my drift. The metal on the Bolter could use an additional highlight of mithril/black 50/50 mix, which I've been doing on recent models but didn't on this one.
Complete purity seals as outlined above, and paint the red of the sword in the same colours as the red seals.

Detail: Sword

I used a different technique to my usual sword-painting technique here, but I think it worked reasonably well. This was basically just as case of mixing gradually lighter shades of silver and using them to highlight, with the raised edge receiving more 'light' than the shadowed edge. Makes it look distinctive, but it's maybe TOO much of a contrast. Light blue is also a favourite with Deathwing players for powerswords. I have done that on my Librarian to reasonable effect using Ultramarine blue highlighting.

Detail: Base

The base is also quite simple. PVA some gravel to the base. Once dry, paint black. Heavily drybrush in Bestial Brown, then more lightly drybrush in Bubonic Brown, then even more lightly drybrush in Bleached Bone. Paint the edges in solid Bestial Brown (you will need a couple of layers). Once all the paint is dry, glue on some clumps of static grass. Easy! It also complements the Deathwing scheme quite well.

Step 10: Highlighting Bone

Now, you are almost there! The detail has been done, now all that remains is some highlighting. Use a mix of Bleached Bone and Skull White for the bone highlighting. I don't have a strict ratio here, I usually just mix by eye which is a bit difficult. Basically, you want the layer to stand out, but not too much. I'm not such a help here- just try until you get something that looks right. Make sure the mix is well watered so that the paint sits flat on the armour, otherwise it can be too distinct when it should look blended.  

Final Steps

Attach arms! That's always useful. When that is done, use some pure Skull White to pick out the edges and raised points of the armour. Again, keep it well watered and only do this sparingly as it can look too obvious if done everywhere. Uppermost areas only! It helps to do a little more on the helmet, as this brings out the detail better. You want the helmet to look good because the face is the focal point of a miniature. I also varnish my Terminators, to keep the precious precious models (and paintjobs) safe. For this process I do one coat of Citadel Gloss Varnish, followed by another coat of Humbrol Matt Varnish. I don't like shiny models, and the good thing about a Matt varnish is that it also takes the shine out of inks, leaving them looking flat as well. This helps immensely with the purity seals.

For the 'Wing!