Tutorial: How to paint Eldar Wraithbone

People often ask me how I paint the warm grey wraithbone weapons and details on my Craftworld Iybraesil and Ulthwé models. It’s actually pretty simple and straight-forward – check out my tutorial for painting Eldar wraithbone here.

This tutorial assumes you know the basic grips of painting Warhammer miniatures. Step-by-step I explain all the paints and techniques I used. I have a rather eclectic paint collection, so when I use a paint that is not from Games Workshop (or out of production), I’ll try to provide you with suitable alternatives from the current Citadel paint range [in brackets]. However, if you want to achieve exactly the same result as shown, I recommend expanding your paint collection. You’ll find a list of all the paints used in this tutorial at the end of the post.

Aeldari Wraithbone painting guide

Basecoat all of the wraithbone details such as the weapon, fins, and clasps with Rakarth Flesh.

Add some shading by painting Wyldwood directly into the recesses.

Tidy up with Rakarth Flesh.

Apply an edge highlight of Reaper Master Series Polished Bone [or Rakarth Flesh mixed with White Scar].

Complete the wraithbone areas with an even thinner highlight of Model Color White [or White Scar] applied to the upper edges.

Here we have the finished Storm Guardians of Ulthwé. The flamer’s nozzle was painted with Vallejo Mecha Color Steel, recess washes with Terradon Turquoise thinned with Contrast Medium, highlight with Vallejo Model Air Steel, and then I thinned Magos Purple with Contrast Medium and applied multiple layers towards the front to build up a purple gradient.

You can find a detailed 19 pages PDF painting guide for my Ulthwé paint scheme over on my Patreon.

If you need to expand your paint collection to follow the tutorial, check out our partner stores Wayland Games, Element Games, and Taschengelddieb, which offer an amazing range of paints at a discount.

Also check out my other Aeldari tutorials, here we have a complete painting guide for my Ynnari inspired Voidscarred Corsairs paint scheme:

And, of course, my classic Iybraesil scheme:

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If so, leave a comment or reaction below, and if you got any questions, leave them here so I can answer them for you.