Prot's Take on Space Wolves: Version 437 (Pics)

[Prot]

Hey guys,

Probably will post this on the painting section but I wanted to get some thumbs up or down from you guys first.

Let me cut straight to the pics:

The problem I am having is with the friggin camera. For some reason it has decided to put a slighty yellowish hue in the picture. Not sure why. Maybe I won't choose 'Best Shot' anymore and do it manually.

I had to hit 'white balance correct' to get them looking more normal... But for reference here is a picture completely unedited:

Super Close up time:

Brightened up a bit:

So there you go.

In person I love how these look. It took me several tries to get a Space Wolves model I liked. (You may remember my last post where I took advice and opinion and this is what came of it.)

The one thing that is kind of missing is the tonal quality of the blues, being MUCH darker to lighter.... in the pictures this seems only mildly evident for instance in the bottom of the leggings where the blue is quite a bit darker, or 'stormier' looking.... The battle damage is very minimized in the pics too.

But overall I really like it.... I've run into a major snag though: It takes me forever to finish a fig. The time required to do these 3 figs (and the bases aren't even done) is ridiculous, and I have friends telling me it will take me over a year to do 1500 points at my current speed.

I think the big problem is I am doing a lot of wet blending, and ink washing after the linework. Then I go back to make the transitions better. And finally a highlight or two to finish the armour... then I have to do all the crap like lenses, and ornate wolfy stuff. So this is bad news.... I don't know how to get this down into a reasonable time frame.

Well anyway I think it is my best take on them. I hope you like them....

[DV8]

They're looking good man, the definition in the joints and between armor plates definitely gives the models the visual "pop" that was missing before.

 

To be honest, the first few figures in an army (particularly where you're experimenting to hammer down color and technique) will usually take a lot longer. As you paint more for an army though you'll settle into a groove and get a feel for what works, what doesn't, and how to paint it faster. As an example, I've gotten painting my Wolves down to an assembly-line art form, and where it would have taken me 2 days to finish a model a year ago, it'll only take me a day now.

 

And besides, a year to finish an army isn't terrible. My Vampire Counts are only about 2500 points, and I've been working on them for the better part of almost two and a half years now (I've probably invested at least 6,000 man-hours into them). As long as the end result is a gorgeous army, don't think about the time! Better to get it done right, the first time around, than to rush through and not like the result down the road (and end up having to re-do it again).

 

A large issue with the camera tinting your photos yellow may also be an issue of your lighting, and the surrounding environment. Digital cameras nowadays have a tendency to balance based on all the elements captured within a photo, so having so many extraneous elements in sub-optimal lighting may lend to less than stellar photos if you're trying to get 100% color accuracy (as an example).

 

 

DV8

[Prot]

Thanks DV8.

 

About finishing the army... my summers are pretty bad. Usually working on the house, or simply out a lot. So I rarely get serious 40K time in the summer... My goal is to compete in the same tournament I just participated in about 2 weeks ago. So that's why the self imposed deadline.

 

It was actually a friend of mine who asked me how long this took... I guesstimated the hours, then he asked me how many figs I had to do... he calculated I had zero chance. lol

 

But I agree things will get faster. However, the washes are killing me. To get the washes sitting nice, in sequence, it takes a long time to feather them in the armour, and then deepen them. I wish I could speed that part up. The wet blending of the paints is faster... but as you know it all takes time.

 

One shortcut I have now is I skipped brown inking the very deepest crevasses, and am using a leather/space wolf grey mix for hardlining those deep areas allowing me to get right into a different colour....

 

I am trying to think of a way to get the airbrush working for me here. That would speed things up. I've seen some videos of guys washing entire figs with airbrush, I'm just not sure I trust that method of dousing an entire fig in the washes.

 

Anyway, thanks again for the kind words. I'm going to check out my camera lighting next time... and see if that does anything.

[Wulfebane]

These are beautiful. I Think I've finally been sold on doing battle damage on my models. You seem to have "just enough" to not detract from the model overall. I highly agree with DV8, do it right and you won't regret the investment.

 

Is that Vallejo liquid gold or a GW gold?

[Prot]

Thank you very much Wulfebane.

 

The gold is GW, but painted in levels:

 

Gold + Scorched Brown, then Gold, then Gold + Chainmail.

[Nrthstar]

Solid Dude! The transitions are great

[Forté]

I hate you Prot....your models are way better than mine :lol:

 

;)

[Blacksad]

dude, even if it took me a year per model, if the results were anywhere near as nice as this, I'd be happy :D

[Prot]

dude, even if it took me a year per model, if the results were anywhere near as nice as this, I'd be happy :)

 

Thanks a lot, but quite literally I tried working on 4 at once for the last two weeks... it doesn't work. The blues in the armour have to be wet for blending, and then I can 'assembly line' work the bitz.... like fur, and stuff, but I'm into my second week on those 4 guys. This is too slow.

 

I will have to admit I can't finish this in a reasonable time and probably need to break into a different project for a while.

[Forté]

Looked at your painting again and yep, still hate you :P

 

Really like the way they look dirty round by the feet. So often do you see weathered tanks but the marines look like they all have brand new armour on. I feel that SW have a more realistic approach with their armour too. Being, function first, aesthetics after.

 

Really good work.

 

Maybe, if we're really lucky, DV8 may do a new tut on how he now does his shading steps with his airbrush (hint hint if you read this. Pretty please).

[DV8]

The sequence/process is literally the same as when I did it by hand. The only difference is that at certain steps I applied the paint with an airbrush instead of by hand:

 

Primed Krylon Grey

 

Initial highlight (Fortress Grey)

Shadows (Charadon Granite + Codex Grey + Black)

Initial wash (Leviathan Purple + Asurmen Blue + Devlan Mud - all mixed in a pot re: my super wash)

Touch up highlight (Fortress Grey)

 

Those were done with an airbrush.

 

I then went back in by hand with my super wash to define certain joints and plates my airbrush just couldn't do, and added the final highlights in with Fortress Grey.

 

By doing the shadows, initial wash, and touch-up highlight with the airbrush instead of by hand, I finished the armor on 39 infantry and 4 vehicles in 3 days (granted, of solid painting, say 7-8 hours a day).

 

 

DV8

[Prot]

The sequence/process is literally the same as when I did it by hand. The only difference is that at certain steps I applied the paint with an airbrush instead of by hand:

 

Primed Krylon Grey

 

Initial highlight (Fortress Grey)

Shadows (Charadon Granite + Codex Grey + Black)

Initial wash (Leviathan Purple + Asurmen Blue + Devlan Mud - all mixed in a pot re: my super wash)

Touch up highlight (Fortress Grey)

 

Those were done with an airbrush.

 

I then went back in by hand with my super wash to define certain joints and plates my airbrush just couldn't do, and added the final highlights in with Fortress Grey.

 

By doing the shadows, initial wash, and touch-up highlight with the airbrush instead of by hand, I finished the armor on 39 infantry and 4 vehicles in 3 days (granted, of solid painting, say 7-8 hours a day).

 

 

DV8

 

That would probably look a lot different than what I'm doing right now. The dark to light areas are very... extreme on my figs. The pics pick most of it up, but I am thinking that I have to speed this up, and maybe there's -something- about your process I can try. I'm not sure.

 

Right now I prime white, and airbrush a 50/50 mix of Shadow Grey/Space Wolves Grey.

- Then I do deep line work with watered down Snakebite Leather

- Then I start the washes. (mostly Asurman Blue, with a touch of purple)

- Between washes I work the lighter areas with my 50/50 mix.

- Do another wash, but this time staying closer to deeper shadowed areas to get the blues darker

- Work it up in the lighter spots again with my 50/50 wash

- Finally work the extreme light edges with watered down pure Space Wolves Grey, until I can do some thin edge Space Wolves Grey (non-watered down) highlighting.

 

Then I go on to the metals/guns/pelts/runes/swords/gems etc.

 

Finally I hit the armour with damage....

 

It's definitely the most massive process I've done. I mean I've painted a LOT of armies, sold a lot of pieces, and I can honestly say none are as labour intensive as this (though I'm not sure if they're actually the 'best looking' figs I've done, but probably.)

 

I am completely envious of your finishing THAT many figs in 3 solid days of painting. Good for you for figuring out a process that allows for quality and speed!

[Forté]

Wow. That's cutting your old process right down. Is there much of a difference in the look? Take it you use a fine airbrush (I know you advocate a dual action ab).

 

@Prot. Try not to sacrifice too much quality for speed. An army like that will look really good an a table.