BONEZONE 2026 Is Open and I'm Painting a Royal Herald

Richard Gray runs a skeleton painting competition every year called BONEZONE, and the 2026 one is open. I’m entering it. I have never entered a painting competition in my life, so this should be interesting.

This year everything happens beneath the sands of Nehekhara. There are two eligible kits, the Liche Priest box and the Royal Herald box, and you paint one miniature from either one. Whichever sculpt you like. If you’re feeling especially bony you can enter more than one, or every one of them.

Conversions are fine as long as the original model stays recognisable.

The Deadline

BONEZONE opened on 1 August and runs to 31 October, so there’s plenty of runway. Which, going by every project I have ever done, means I’ll start it around the 29th.

How It Works

You pick Standard or Master, paint your model, then photograph the front, the back, and a close-up of whatever bit you’re proudest of. Submit before the deadline and Richard plus a Mystery Judge do the rest.

Judging is open-style, so multiple Gold, Silver and Bronze awards can go out in each category. Nobody’s fighting over one podium. If entering a comp has ever felt intimidating, that takes some of the sting out of it.

The entry form isn’t live yet. Richard says it’s coming shortly. The rules and FAQ page is up now if you want the fine print first.

My Entry

I went with the Royal Herald. Long-dead champion, royal regalia, weathered armour, enough detail to keep me busy for weeks. It hasn’t turned up yet, so at the moment my entry is a tracking number and a lot of confidence.

I do know how I’m painting it. Back in July I worked out a new way to paint skeletons, completely by accident, while airbrushing sandstone bases for an Infinity commission. Phthalocyanine blue ink over Tenebrous Grey, tangerine ink on top of that, then a bright orange skin tone airbrushed zenithal that turns white the second it touches the ink. Burnt umber pulled into the crevices like an oil wash, then stippled skin tone and pure white on the high points. The bone comes out green and blue down in the shadows and warm and nasty everywhere else. Skelly Joe took about four hours start to finish.

That’s the recipe going on the Herald. Same process, a lot more regalia to work around.

The timing on this is almost suspiciously good. In 2027 I’m painting an entire Tomb Kings army with that recipe, which is the kind of plan that sounds great right up until model number twelve. So BONEZONE gets me a test run on one miniature, on a deadline, with somebody else judging the result, before I commit to doing it a hundred more times. I would much rather find out now where the recipe falls apart.

Painting Along

There’s a Discord for it, which is the easiest place to post WIPs and get a shove when you need one. Worth digging through the 2025 winners and the full 2025 gallery as well, both of which are a good reminder of how high the bar goes.

Full details are on the BONEZONE 2026 page.

Ten weeks. Go paint some bones. I’ll see you tomorrow.