30K Wolves, Finishing what we started

[Dantay VI]

 

 

 
Which wing looks better?
 
Now I have you hooked... Time for the boring wall of text!!
I am working on a Fire Raptor fr my Space wolves army, and so far I am quite happy with it. I am doing it in 30K colours as it is a chapter relic of days long
 
I want her to look cool without necessarily going all bling-tastic and over the top, hence the black, almost tattoo'd look of the designs thus far (plus tattoo designs are where most of my inspiration comes from) I als want to tap into the fact that although they are drawn on from Viking/Noorthmen stereotypes, like the archetypal Viking they were ore than just raiders, but consummate artisans too especially in metal work.
 
To this end I would like to use a lot of knotwork and celtic/viking/norse inspired designs for my models
 
The basic plot behind Night Fury, as that she sat above the battlefield like a hawk circling prey, always watchful and always trying to protect Russ from the worst of the battle... She became his talisman and protector, like a great wyrm protecting her young.... Lost for aeons, she is rediscovered by he Wolves and returned to her former glory ready to stalk the stars once more in defence of Russ' own...
Her discovery also give the Wolves hope for she was never far from Russ' side, so could Russ be coming back to his sons and to grant Bjorn the absolution he craves?
 
The wing design is to represent Night Fury herself. I am cosidering putting the wolf which stalks the stars on the black thruster box, as if she is sitting over him as a guardian... Would that work as a concept?
 
This is where I am at so far...
 

 

 

 

 

 
So which wing design looks best??

Is this a nice blend of norse knotwork and a bit of an edgy almost tribal look, or is it taking it too far?

Does this sit better with the idea of wolves not just being warmongers, but artisans also? 
 
Any and all thoughts hints, tips & constructive criticism are very welcome.
 
Thanks

[The_Chaplain]

Please take the following commentary with a healthy dose of salt:

 

I don't think the tattoo/tribal marking style (which the dragon made me think of immediately) are the way to go for a space wolf fire raptor.  Between the grey and the tribal- it reads more space shark than space wolf (with the former having some Maori influence in their design).  I like the idea, but the execution can be handled better.

 

I honestly believe if you were to take some celtic cross or celtic dragon images off of google, and use them as a reference-- penciling out the design on the wings before painting it, giving it a nice gold or bronze trim; it would be a thing of beauty.

 

But hey, that's my two cents. 

[BrotherCaptainArkhan]

Cool model so far! The heat effect on the assault cannons is really cool.

 

I have to say, if you want good feedback, I would strongly recommend putting the text in your post in a colour that does not hurt the eyes - I literally can't read what you've written without selecting all the text with my mouse. Might sound petty but a lot of people will see the illegible text and just hit backspace.

 

I like the freehand you've done so far and the ideas for more. I would suggest looking  at some actual Norse runic art (i.e. runestones) if you want to take it further; I would check out the Jelling stones (for runic inscriptions) the Ramsund stone (for frieze-style imagery) and the Adelsö stone (for cool motifs and iconography).

[Dantay VI]

Hi Chaplain, and Brother Captain Arkhan.

Which text colour would be best? I am running this as IP Board so it defaults to black text for me (at work, so trying not to get caught doing something other than work hahaha...). I understand that the blue is garish also. If you could suggest a colour, I can use that. Not being picky, I was just never really aware of the problem before.

Would this Orange/yellow be okay for instance?

Chaplain, thank you for your observations. If all I wanted was smoke blown up my wazoo and not some constructive help I wouldn't have posted so no need for salt and I wil take any advice on board

Now is probably not a good time to mention I did a 2 tone paint job and went with a slightly lighter grey on the underside I was running out of standard mech grey at the time and being on an oil rig, getting fresh paint wasn't an option

I can see where you are coming from with the grey over black looking decidedly carcharadon-ish and I do like the design, but I wasn't sure if I was straying too far from the celtic/ norse theme. Maybe a gold or bronze would be nice, as the starlight glints off the bodywork as she makes her assault run...

The second and final pictures were a variation on this design.

But with 1 wing removed and the other extended out on to the upper fin (?) I like it but it is a PITA to fit on the wing

I also looked at other designs too...

This is my gallery where I store ideas to use on vehicles etc, maybe you could take a peek and see if there is anything there that catches the eye?

When it comes to execution, what can I do to improve?

Brother Captain Arkhan, thanks for the feedback, I'll definitely look into the Runic stones for ideas..

[Dantay VI]

I have been doing this for my wing designs, is this what you were meaning Chaplain?

 

 

 

 

 

I re-did both wing designs, moved the paper template around slightly to bring the wyrm's head on to the wing, which in all honesty the position was bugging the life out of me. I also freehand pencil lined in the design, as its too complex to cut out and stencil.

 

Now I am at this stage.

 

 

I quite like the gold wyrm, so I will work it up a bit more to give it definition, like the front engine cowlings and see how it goes. The paintwork is still a bit rough, but I'll tidy as I go.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Oh and for the fins I may try painting on these, well 1 of them as the wyrm wing!! I think I might be going mad...

 

 

[The_Chaplain]

I think it looks a lot better- it embraces the celtic/viking imagery the wolves are known for more than the previous iteration. 

[Squeaky]

Yeh the gold has made it a bit more wolfie could maybe add a few small bits of knot work around it but either way make liking where it's going :)

[Dantay VI]

Thanks Chaplain and Squeaky, I'll see how the wings go and try to keep it in the more celtic/ norse tradition.

 

The tribal is nice but it is more Carcharadon-esque than wolfy... As a Space Shark, you are welcome to pilfer the design if you want Squeaky!

[Dantay VI]

 

Looks like it could work.

 

What say you?

[deathspectersgt7]

IT looks good like the Gold.

[incinerator950]

Gold looks good.

 

A tip from someone who did this in ACFA, find a medium for decals and markings. The gold is proportionally fine, but the top wings feel like you're going to go overboard.

[Dantay VI]

Hi DSS7 thanks for the compliment.

 

Hi also to incinerator950. I am a little worried that the gold might get ovebearing, but with the angles of the fins, we shall see. What is an ACFA, if you don't mind me asking?

 

Any ideas what would be a nice contrast colour to the gold and grey if it got to be a bit much?

 

I had been toying with a NMM style of brown and yellow if the gold doesnt work...

 

A bit like some shields I have been working on for my Wolf Guard

 

 

 

 

 

It's crude, but if the metallic gold gets too much maybe this might work.

 

I couldnt get the knotwork to work last nigh and planned to give up.... Then just as I fell asleep I had a Eureka moment. I am going to give it a try this morning and if it pans out I'll show you the results

 

[incinerator950]

Armored Core For Answer, mech game. I'll pm you a few designs to show you what I mean.

 

You could try lowering the contrast between the two colors, dull the gold a little.

[Dantay VI]

Incinerator, That would be cool to see those pictures.

 

Well, remember the epic wing of epicness?

 

 

It was an epic failure

 

The design was too small and intricate. I struggled to get it drawn on a few times, so instead cut away all hte black and tried to use as a stencil, but it was a nightmare. The complexity is too much and incinerator is right, it will just be an overload.

 

It looks like a slug smoked a joint and crawled across the wing.

 

So a few more options then.

 

These are something a lot simpler which I purloined from the interwebnet and I can easily shape and adapt them to fit the wing. Maybe less is more in the fancypants stakes??

 

And there is the old faithful too

 

Opinions?

 

 

 

[Dantay VI]

How's that?

Still need to do a bit of tidying up, but overall I am happy with it.

Click on the pics for bigger piccies.

 

[Blissful Brushes]

That's tidy, I like. Vis-à-vis the 'wing(s)' I would err on the side of caution, both for execution and looks and go for the simplest.

The first two are too complicated in my opinion; it's too busy. The third, on the other hand, is far simpler, which will make life easier for your stencilling and brings it far more in line with the dragon motif, stylistically. To me, for a larger piece, consistency is key.

 

Keep it up, it's setting itself up to be a very unique piece whichever way you take it.

 

--BB--

[Dantay VI]

Hi BB.

 

Thank you for you insights. I do agree in large measure with what you are saying. Whilst the wing design I originally went for was really nice, it was also too intricate for my skill level and it wasn't part of the original design, so the consistency would possibly have gone out of the window too.

 

 

These are 2 variations of the dragon design that I have borrowed from, if from a purely consistent/ simple approach, would these serve better for a wing design? I do like the third design also.

 

 

Maybe the best thing is to paint them on and see how they look with the angle of the fins etc...

[Dantay VI]

First off I want to apologise. I did give the knotwork another go and while moderately successful on the upper fin sections it was a disaster on the sides facing the dragons.... The angle makes it a nightmare.

Top tip of the day: Do not glue the wings together and then try and paint any form of even slightly complex design. The tipping point was where the paint started to get blmishes/ bubbles below from too many layers, so I gave up and went back to a much simpler non-knotwork design like those from the tattoo. It loses the sonsistency of having the knotwork, but hopefully it still works as it was part of the original design.

I am sorry I couldnt get the knotwork to work, but hopefully this will do instead.

[Squeaky]

The shading of the work is really nice and I totally understand the knot work on the concept design was incredibly detailed I think it does the job of connecting the two wings very well mate :) and codus for trying such a complex design.

[Dantay VI]

Thanks Squeaky, maybe I can do something knotty with it a bit further down the line!

[Blissful Brushes]

Ah well, live and learn hey! I still think it looks pretty awesome, and when you get back to civilisation you can just take it into account for your next one

Looking forward to it being finished up now!!

[Dantay VI]

Thanks BB

 

I'll get cracking. Tidy up still required, but dragon done on the other wing.

 

[Dantay VI]

Hey folks... Well I made a wee bit of progress in getting the gold done on the wings and the front & rear thruster units... I was working on it until nearly midnight (4 &1/2 hours), so yes I am fairly sure I am certifiable :D

 

 

I hope you like.

 

I was thinking (a dangerous hobby in these times I know) Nd although I have enjoyed doing the gold work, I feel that the central fin needs to be a little different. This may be Russ' pride and joy, but she was also a military craft, so I was thinking to use the tail-fin as an identifier.

 

I am not a military man, so how would one go about ID'ing an aircraft and what sort of thing would go on a tail-fin. Numbers/Runes etc??

 

Looking for suggestions, so if you have any please pitch them forward.

 

Thanks

[deathspectersgt7]

Looking ACE !!!

[Squeaky]

That's awesome dude :) looks nice now that both sides are done or there abouts!

 

Well I don't know if this helps in design ideas but placement and stuff actually on a wing maybe

 

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/HLFLLuS--HQHwZ2Ya2c2gZt4d6Mt27avwcnIJwbYrE4MqHQTw6CXNf11vGMKhvOXc8N1evXkK7C3NTC7I4Q2v8CgCqFaIGbWe2dATbEz5Hav6F3cPF4=w443-h200-nc