My Space Wolves Giude

[Joeuhnk]

After nearing completion of my army, and refining my painting technique (and making a LOT of mistakes), I thought I would share my method for painting Space Wolves. This method is aimed at basic troops (I spent a lot longer on my HQs and such). The idea is to paint them decently quickly, but still have something of high-tabletop quality.

Most of my experimentation (and failures) went into trying to use fewer coats where possible. I was able to eventually cut the time it takes to paint a troop in less than half from when I originally started.

Here goes:

1. Base the models using Citadel Shadow Grey spray paint. I advise you order directly from GW. I bought a can off the shelf at the local hobby shop and it was no good...came out very powdery. They later confessed it had been on the shelf for several years. Also, I live in a humid climate, and I always spray inside. I once tried to spray coat in too much humidity. Brand spanking new spray paint can handle that, but most can't.
2. I paint the bolter, chest eagle, and a knife accessory I put on his back to say "I am a Grey Hunter" black using Reaper Master Pure Black. RM comes in squeeze bottles like Vallejo now, and is thin enough that it's usable from the bottle. I use a Loew-Cornell comfort series #3 synthetic for this (Michaels, $5). Usually only one coat is needed.
3. Using the same brush, and the new Games Workshop Foundation series Iyanden Darksun, I paint the shoulder plates. This paint was a godsend because it goes on in one coat over the Shadow Grey base. The color is a little muted though (true of all GW foundation paints), so I put a single coat of Delta Ceramcoat Antique gold on as well. I thin both of these paints approx 0.5:1 in water : paint. And yes I do use Delta Ceramcoat for some stuff. Their paint is very inconsistent, but some of it is high-quality if you are willing to experiment to find out which (I was). If you absolutely must use model paints, Citadel Golden Yellow works too. I myself tend to avoid Citadel paints other than metallics though, since you have to thin them and they are not in a squeeze bottle.
4. Using 4:1 thinned Citadel Brown Ink, I paint in the crevices around the shoulder plates for a shadow effect. Don't load the brush too much here or it gets messy.
5. For the purity seal, I base the seal in Delta Ceramcoat Opaque Red (this is a FANTASTIC red BTW) and the ribbons in 1:1 mix of Citadel Bleached Bone and Delta Ceramcoat Velvet Brown, thinned 0.5:1 water: paint.
6. Dry brush the ribbons in Bleached Bone. I generally dry brush straight from the pot.
7. Highlight the rim of the seal in 3:1:1 Opaque Red: Delta Ceramcoat Opaque Yellow : Citadel Skull White.
8. Glaze the ribbon in Citadel Brown Ink thinned 8:1.
9. Paint Citadel Brown ink in the little crevice in the ribbons (okay I spend a while on the seals, sue me).
10. Dry brush the bolter and knife in Citadel Bolt Gun Metal
11. Dry brush the chest eagle in Citadel Dwarven Bronze
12. Highlighting time! I pre-mix my 2 highlight colors. Highlight 1 is a 3:1 mix of Delta Ceramcoat Cape Cod Gray (this is EXACTLY Citadel Shadow Grey) to Citadel Space Wolf Grey. I then thin in water to the desired consistency and add a couple drops of dish soap. I pre-mix about 10ml at a time. I use a Winsor&Newton Series 7 #1 to to the first highlight.
13. Highlight #2 is 1:1 Cape Cod Gray:Space Wolf Grey thinned as above. This is a line highlight, and I use a W&N Series 7 #00 for this.
14. For the eyes I go simple. Fill them in with Delta Ceramcoat Opaque Red. When I think paints for small areas like this, I mix about 10ml of water and 10 drops of dish soap. This breaks the surface tension which is a godsend for small areas. I use a W&N #00 and a magnifying lamp for this.
15. Using the same brush, I outline the eyes in Citadel Black Ink. This is easier than it sounds. And my hands shake. The ink flows very well.
16. Paint the bases whatever color you want.
17. Apply decals
18. Top coat in matte acrylic sealer. The decals look way better if you top coat after.

Here is a pic of a Marine in various stages of painting (click to enlarge):

[Donut]

Ok guide for beginers I guess. But to me they don't really capture the look of the Space Wolves. I would surgest under coating them black and then painting on shadow grey then a mix of shadow grey + space wolves grey then space wolves grey highlights. My friend does his like that and his look amazing.

[Sir Clausel]

this belongs in tutorial.
but I think its looking good.. some more pics from each stage would be great!
keep it up!

[Joeuhnk]

this belongs in tutorial.

Ah. If a mod wants to move it then cool.

I would surgest [sic] under coating them black and then painting on shadow grey then a mix of shadow grey + space wolves grey then space wolves grey highlights. My friend does his like that and his look amazing.

I actually do something almost exactly like this for individual models that I want to spend some time on, and that I want to look really good. As I said in my post, my goal was not to produce "amazing" looking models, but to paint troops that look quite good, but can be painted quickly enough to make it practical to paint large quantities of rank-and-file troops and still be able to see your wife and kids once in a while . For instance, drybrushing is a technique I probably would not use on a model I wanted to look really cool, but it saves time for high-quantity stuff and looks okay if you apply a glaze after. My main objective was to share some of the stuff I discovered through experimentation that saves me a lot of time.

EDIT: I don't have more stages to take pix of now, but I am planning on painting a squad soon, so I will. The one intermediate one was the model I used to experiment with the new GW foundation paint and also see if Reaper Master would coat black over shadow grey in one pass (it does).

[Ap0k]

moved

[Dr.Know]

I might suggest that you hit it with some dull coat. Ive always hated shiny figures. GW has Matte Varnish that I use. Other than that its a nice table top quality.