21 October, 2012

Space Wolf step-by-step part 3: Faces, Fur & Bones

I'm back with another round of tutorials in my Space Wolf step-by-step project.  This time I'll be covering the face, as well as the bone and fur areas of the model.  I've also done a quick tabletop job on the steel and soft cables on the model.


My Color List for this tutorial (GW is from the Games Workshop Range, VMC is Vallejo Model Color, P3 is Privateer Press Formula P3):

Black (Primer)

Face & Hair
P3 Sanguine Base
P3 Menoth Highlight
GW Tallarn Flesh
GW Ogryn Flesh
GW Astronomican Grey
GW Ceramite White
VMC Iraquian Sand

Fur
GW Khemri Brown
GW Dheneb Stone
GW Ceramite White
GW Gryphonne Sepia
GW Devlan Mud
GW Badab Black

Bone
P3 Thamar Black
GW Khemri Brown
GW Hormagaunt Purple
GW Graveyard Earth
GW Bleached Bone
GW Ceramite White
GW Badab Black (Optional)

Steel
GW Boltgun Metal
GW Mithril Silver
GW Badab Black


Soft Cables
VMC German Grey
GW Badab Black

Now that you've got the paints, lets start off with the face!


1: The face was based with a 1:1 mix of GW Tallarn Flesh and P3 Sanguine Base.  This base will give your end result a warmer look, which will contrast well with the general cold feeling of the rest of the model.

2: Layer on pure Tallarn flesh.

3: At this point we'll start adding in some VMC Iraquian Sand and being more particular about where we place our highlights.  This step is a 2:1 mix of Tallarn Flesh and Iraquian Sand.

4: Continue the highlights with a 1:1 mix of Tallarn Flesh and Iraquian Sand.

5: For the final highlight, we'll add in some  P3 Menoth Highlight.  this 2:2:1 mix (the "1" being the Menoth) should be very selective, touching bone structure, wrinkles you might want to add and other high points light would catch.  I have also added a glaze of GW Ogryn Flesh in the eye area to shade that part back.  This particular head is pretty squinty, so I just used pure Menoth Highlight to line in the suggestion of his eyeballs.

6:  As a Long Fang, this guy has white hair.  I started with a base of GW Astronomican Grey.  Don't forget his eyebrows (as I sometimes do!)

7:  I gave his hair a pretty liberal highlight of P3 Menoth Highlight, leaving the base in the recesses, or in places I wanted to suggest some texture (such as the top of his mohawk).

8:  Finally, a highlight of GW Ceramite White goes on sparingly.

And that's the head!  If you happen to be painting a Grey Hunter or a Blood Claw, simply sub out the white hair for a color of your choice.  On to the steel and soft cables...

This is a pretty quick process for my tabletop models, and one of the areas where I cut corners to save time, but the pictures serve to show you the overall look of the model at this stage.


On the left, you can see my basecoats:  VMC German Grey for the soft cables, GW Boltgun Metal for the steel.  On the right is essentially the final result after both are washed with GW Badab Black.  The final step is a simple edge highlight on the steel with GW Mithril Silver.  This step isn't shown, due to the limited amount of steel on this particular model.

The final process we're going to tackle tonight is for Bone and Fur, which feature prominently in most Space Wolf models.


1: Both the fur and the bone are based with GW Khemri Brown.

2: Wash the bone with a 2:2:1:10 mix of GW Graveyard Earth, GW Hormagaunt Purple, P3 Thamar Black and Water.  Reapply a thin layer of Khemri Brown as a highlight.

Begin highlighting the bottom half of the wolf tail with a 1:1 mix of Khemri Brown and GW Dheneb Stone, followed by a 1:2 mix of Khemri Brown and Dheneb Stone, and finally add a bit of GW Ceramite White to the mix.

3: Gradually add GW Bleached Bone to the mix and begin highlighting the skull.  For tabletop pieces, I save time by layering in the striated pattern you see above, rather than the wet blending I might normally resort to.

Wash the top 2/3 of the tail with GW Gryphonne Sepia.

4:  Continue adding Bleached Bone to the mix, with an edge of pure Bleached Bone on high points of the skull.

Wash the top 1/2 of the tail with GW Devlan Mud.

5:  Add a bit of GW Ceramite White to your Bleached Bone for a selective final highlight along some of the sharper edges.  I also added a wash of GW Badab Black in the nose and eye sockets, to bring them down a little bit more.

Apply one coat of Badab Black to the top 1/4 of the tail.  Once that dries, add a second coat around the recess at the top of the tail.

That concludes our work for tonight.  Kick back, have a pint (or a keg!), and check back soon for the next installment, wherein we'll take a look at the bronze and leather parts of the model, as well as a quick look at rune stones.

- Brandon

1 comment:

  1. Thanks again for another inspired article.

    Will be starting my wolves soon, have printed and laminated each blog entry to-date for easy on the spot following!

    VERY excited for the bronze and rune stones.

    ReplyDelete