Painting Wolves for a beginner

[SpacePuppy]

Hey all, im hoping to be able to paint all 30(ish) Space Wolves over the xmas break over the next two weeks.

 

Heres the thing, i don't have a great amount of experience painting and my hands are pretty shaky when it comes down to the fine detail. However, i think part of my issues have been because of the brushes, me and my roomies use the Citadel fine detail brushes for most of our work and i think the length makes it difficult to control. Im going to buy new brushes (probably just 1 or 2 cause i have a wash brush and drybrushing brush already that work) that are shorter and stouter, come to a nice point and should be easier to control.

 

ANYWAY, im in need of an effective and quick paint scheme for my wolves, i'll list what i just picked up first;

 

Iyanden Darksun

Mechrite Red

Dwarf Flesh

Space Wolves Grey

Badab Black

Devlan Mud

Ogryn Flesh

 

My models are base-coated with chaos black spray, i was going to cover everything in Space Wolves Grey, wash with Badab Black, do the shoulder pads in Iyanden Darksun and Mechrite Red (My models so far are only Grey Hunters, 2 Rune Priests, 2 Wolf Priests and 3 Wolf Guard) put the Transfers on, colour the faces Dwarf Flesh then was them with Ogryn Flesh. I of course will do the bolters and swords in Boltgun Metal with a Badab Black wash.

 

I dont know what to do for the hair, i was hoping since they are grey hunters to make them look older but not sure what the best colours are for that. I also dont know what to do for their fur tasels and pelts and such. And how hard are faces to do?

 

Anyway, hopefully you guys can give me some tips that will make it easier for me, i want to keep it simple and i would like to not have to spend an hour for each model ya know? I have other paints too just not with me right now so i cant list them, but if you think i need any that i havent listed post them and ill grab them if i dont have them yet.

 

Cheers!

 

EDIT: What do you guys do for your back pakcs? I was honestly thinking doing them all white then washing with badab so the packs contrast with the body, but im not sure how good that will look

[Sigmund Hammerhand]

After using a wash on the model, you'll want to paint over it again with the color you used originally as washes have a tendency to leave blotches (nowhere near as bad as inks but I still find the outcome unsatisfactory).

 

Faces are very hard to get right. I would suggest that until you have some experience and very steady hands you don't try to paint detail on faces (like eyes, lips, eyebrows and pupils) and instead just use a coat of a darker color, then a wash and then highlight the most pronounced areas with a lighter color.

 

Hair you can really do what you like - I tend to use it to give the models some contrast (hence no grey - I know fluff-wise their hair is supposed to be grey but that looks boring, mine are predominantly ginger or blonde, sometimes white haired).

 

For fur I don't go with the fluff either as fluff-wise it's supposed to be trophies they got from wolves and hence would be grey or black but again this does not contrast very well so I use snakebite leather highlighted all the way to white at the tips with the intermediate highlighting steps consisting of changing ratios between snakebite leather and dheneb stone.

 

To speed the process up, I'd do the painting in lots of three models and then do the armor on all of them, fur bits on all of them etc. This means you don't have to keep switching colors which takes time and you don't lose as much as every time you mix colors you inevitably lose some of it as it dries out. Three models also means that you progress from one stage to another quickly enough to not get bored which is what happens to me when I paint the armor on ten marines before moving on.

 

I suggest you don't bother with detail just yet - you won't be satisfied with the looks. I'd keep it simple and get everything painted to start with and when you get better at painting come back to the models and paint all the detail on.

[Ironwulf]

Also, here's a couple of links from GW's site:

 

Step-by-step Assembly and Painting of Space Wolves. Of particular interest is the last page of this link. This shows the 'Eavy Metal method of painting.

 

Many people starting out with Space Wolves are discouraged when their models don't look like the studio models, but they bought Space Wolves Grey as the only color. I suggest a base coat of Shadow Grey in the darkest areas, then using a 50/50 mix of Shadow Grey and Space Wolves Grey for the majority of the armor. Use Space Wolves Grey only as the highlight color.

 

Of course, if you'd like to use a different color scheme for your Wolves, that's okay too. Many people prefer more of a neutral gray (maybe Adeptus Battlegrey as a base color), rather than the blue-grey of Shadow Grey/SW Grey. But I didn't notice that you had any darker grey colors in the list of those colors that you picked up.

 

Your mileage may vary. Best of luck with your Wolves!

[SpacePuppy]

I was thinking of using SW Gray as the base and then highlighting with ice blue, or dry brushing with a mix of ice and space wolves grey, thoughts? I also have Fenric Gray if that helps?

[Ironwulf]

If you're going to use the Ice Blue/SW Grey, that's okay, just know that your figures are going to be very pale compared to other Space Wolves. Fenris Grey is one of my least favorite colors to actually use on Space Wolves. I like the color, but I don't care for the way it works on my figures compared to Shadow Grey/SW Grey mix.

 

Again, this is just my opinion. YMMV.

[SpacePuppy]

I think i should cover everything in Fenris, wash with badab then dry brush with SW grey, or should i cover everything in Fenris, then dry brusg SW grey THEN wash?

[Wulfebane]

As has been said, there's literally hundreds of ways to paint SWs. Not to mention the debate between grey-grey and blue-grey.

 

You seem to want the blue-grey route and as to your last question, I would recommend the former method. washing over a near colorless palette such as SW grey with a black will make it look muddy and lose the saturation in the colors you laid down under it. So I'd go w/ fenris grey, wash with badab, though I'd mix in some devlan mud or even leviathan purple on occasion, then drybrush. A common misconception with shadows is that unless the subject is standing in a completely lightless environment, shadows are seldom pitch black. Adding devlan and/or purple to the mix will give the shadows a hint of color and bring life into the piece.

 

Some people will argue that most blue-grey method painters' armor looks too blue (indeed, most will call the SW grey more of a "baby blue"). If you felt like it, you can tone down the saturation of the blue by using adeptus battlegrey for the primer, highlighting with SW grey, or alternately, priming with fenris and highlighting with fortress grey, etc.

 

Whatever you do, I highly recommend acquiring some cheap marines to use as "studies" til you've perfected the formula of paints to help keep your army looking uniform beneath all their furs and trophies.

[SpacePuppy]

Yeah ive got some CSM i can practice on, thanks for the tips!

 

As for colour, i dont want it to be obviously blue but not obviously grey, i like the grey colours with a hint of blue

 

If its too blue i look like a smurf and too grey is too boring

[Nrthstar]

Shaky hands? Yeah, me too. Best thing I ever did was talk to some friends about it who said a lot of it is caused by your blood sugar levels. Mine used to be terrible, then when I thought I might be diabetic, I borrowed a friends blood tester and found out it was the opposite. My blood sugar runs low causing my hands to shake. I started picking up more juice/fruit and my painting has gotten far better. When my health insurance kicks in next month I'm going to talk to my doc about really getting it hammered down.

 

Long story short, tell your doc and see if he can help.

 

An absolute awesome face system can be found in the old white dwarf archive which you can pull off gw's site.

 

Paint your eyes first, one of two ways

 

Dramatic:

Chaos black for the entire eye

Skull white within the chaos black space horizontally

When it dries, follow up with a chaos black small veritcal line.

it turns out very dramatic and easily seen from a distance, but all that great up close.

 

More natural:

This is my prefered look. Paint this again before you do the rest of the face, trust me it's easier.

Paint the eye space white

Once dry I like to add some golden yellow to give my wolves some wolfy eyes

Dot of chaos black for a pupil

Easy but effective as you use the flesh to cover up any over run. Less noticiable at a distance, but very striking up close. Just make sure your primer is thin let you really see the details that need variations in color.

 

Talaran flesh (gw base color)

Ogryn flesh wash, really get it into the cracks

dwarf flesh mixed with a little bleached bone

if you want a paler skin, just mix in more bleached bone with the dwarf flesh and you can highlight with high level of bleached bone woth very little dwarf flesh.

[vtec407]

This is the method I use for my wolves:

 

1. Prime chaos black

2. Basecoat shadow grey

3. Paint details in basic colors

4. Wash whole model with devlan mud, done

 

It's simple, quick and effective.

[LoneWulfen]

AGProductions on youtube did a very good tutorial on how to paint space wolves. Everthing covered apart from skin and hair. Skin is a nightmare to get right, so i would suggest picking up a andrea flesh paint set and follow their instructions. For hair you could realy do anything;black, brown, ginger, grey, white anything really just remember to start with a dark colour and highlight with a lighter colour

 

just thought id say, the agproductions method has 3 stages of painting for the armour and takes about 10-15 minutes tops. Also he uses a lot of vallejo model colour paints

[MonSTeR]

For speed, you've done the right thing witha black undercoat, but it does mean you might need more layers of paitn overall.

 

1) First, I'd go for an overall coat of Fenris Grey mixed 1:1 wih Space Wolves grey.

 

2) Then wash with badab black. Don't make the mistake of slapping it all over the model, paint it into the recesses and let it do its job where it's supposed to do its job. Let that dry thoroughly and don't use a hair drier to speed things up on this stage or you'll end up moving the pigment around too much.

 

3) When that's dry, go for a highight of 1:1 Space Wolves Grey and Shadow Grey.

 

4) If you can be bothered/have time, add a final highlight of Space Wolves Grey to the armour edges.

 

The trick is to have enough definition between light and dark, but to have the colours close enough so it doesn't look like you're just painting in stripes.

 

 

 

For faces - use helmetted heads instead and simply go for black eyepieces in the helmets.

 

 

I'd also suggest buying a craft/hobby heatgun for drying the paint extra quickly. It's like a hairdrier that focusses on the heat rather than moving vast quantities of air.

[Blacksad]

for faces: talarn flesh as base, golden yellow for the eyes, paint the higher lying areas dwarven flesh, add a black pupil, wash (ogryn flesh or devlan mud, I prefer devlan mud) then highlight dwarf flesh again, or elven flesh if you want a slightly crisper lighter colour

[littlbitz]

If you really want a quick job, I suggest using Army Painter spray. They have a nice Wolf Grey color that coats very evenly, and will save you lots of time.

[Grotsmasha]

Hey, just stumbled across this thread in the PCA. I know your asking about hand painting, but this may help.

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Wulfebane]

If you really want a quick job, I suggest using Army Painter spray. They have a nice Wolf Grey color that coats very evenly, and will save you lots of time.

 

For half the price (or less), assuming you're in the states, I found that Krylon primer periwinkle blue comes out really close to a shadow grey/SW grey 1:1 ratio mix.