Painting Space Wolves

Hi everyone, I've put together a Space Wolves painting guide to share my personal take on the ever changing Space Wolves paint scheme. Everyone seems to use various shades of grey for their Space Wolves models and I am no exception.

This guide to painting Space Wolves is quite advanced and comprehensive, so please don't be put off by anything, simply have a go at trying out some of the techniques. After all, that's how I learned to paint better.

Best of luck and have fun painting! -Dave (Munky)


Equipment, Materials and Paint.
Paintbrushes ranging from fine to medium
Modeling ballast(use fine and medium mixed for a random effect)
Pva (white) Glue
Games Workshop White Spray Primer
Games Workshop Purity Seal Spray Varnish
Humbrol Matt Spray Varnish
Micro Sol & Micro Set ( for transfer application) Microscale
Magic Wash (for making your own washes) Magic Wash
Baking Soda (for snow)

Foundation Paints
Astronomicon Grey, Fenris Grey, Mechrite Red, Charadon Granite.

Washes
Badab Black, Devlan Mud, Gryphonne Sepia, Ogryn Flesh

Paints

Skull White, Chaos Black, Boltgun Metal, Shining Gold, Burnished Gold, Schorched Brown, Bestial Brown, Graveyard Earth, Snakebite Leather, Blazing Orange, Codex Grey, Dwarf Flesh, Elf Flesh, Bleached Bone.

Stage 1
Once you have assembled your marine, water down some Pva glue and stick some Ballast to the base, once dry give him a quick undercoat with the white spray. I have chosen white undercoat because it helps me see the detail and I want the model to be quite bright when finished.





Stage 2
Once the undercoat is dry we move on to base colours.
The base is painted Charadon Granite, I find that thinning the Foundation paints 1-1 with water or 2-1 with water is sufficient to get the colour on there.

The armour is painted with a 4-1 mix of Astronomicon Grey and Fenris Grey (Fenronomicon Grey), the shoulder pads are painted with a1-1 mix or Red Gore and Mechrite Red (Gorite Red), any metal areas are painted with Boltgun Metal (most GW paints I thin 1-1 with water).

The Brass areas are based with Bestial Brown and then Shining Gold (the brown is a good first coat for the gold which is quite thin).
The fur is based with Schorched Brown and drybrushed with Bestial Brown, Snakebite Leather, Bleached Bone and Skull white working each colour towards a white tip.

The red hair is painted with a 1-1 mix of Graveyard Earth and Blazing Orange, the face is painted 1-1 Dwarf flesh and Elf flesh, bones/skulls are painted Snakebite Leather and any leather straps/pouches are painted Bestial Brown.

Stage 3
We now move onto shading the miniature.
The armour is shaded with a 2-1 mix of Shadow Grey and Schorched Brown mixed with 4-6 drops of magic wash, this is "lined" around the joins between the armour plates and anything touching the armour (include the shoulder pads in this step too).

Metal is washed with Badab Black, brass areas in OgrynFlesh, as well as the skin and hair.
Bones and leather are washed with Devlan Mud also a little Devlan can be used to pick out the mouth and eyes if you like.
The fur is washed Gryphonne Sepia then Ogryn flesh.

Stage 4
Highlighting.
Drybrush the base with Codex Grey, the armour is "edged" with 1-1 Astronomicon Grey and Skull White.

The pads have a small line painted as close to the edge as possible 1-1 Gorite Red and Sunburst Yellow.
Edge the metal with Boltgun Metal and the brass with BurnishedGold.

The hair is brushed with Blazing Orange on the edges and tips, the face is highlighted on the most prominent areas 1-1 Dwarf Flesh and Elf Flesh.
Any leather is edged with Graveyard Earth, and bones are highlighted with 1-1 Snakebite Leather and Bleached Bone then pure Bleached Bone.

Stage 5
On to the final details.
I weather the armour by first applying Chardon Granite in small "chips" on the edges of the armour, this is highlighted with a small line of 1-1 Astronomicon Grey and Skull White.

Then I mix 1-1 Graveyard Earth and Charadon Granite and 8-10 drops of magic wash and apply this in layers over the lower legs from around the knee down(concentrating it around the feet).

The black pack markings are painted on and the transfer applied with the microscale solutions.

I hit the models with a coat of Purity Seal then a final coat of Humbrol matt to get rid of the shine.

Snow
If you want snow on your bases, your can make it using pva glue, baking soda and a little water to get the gloopy consitency right. It's important that you only apply this after the model has been varnished, because varnish yellows slightly with age, and we dont want yellow snow now do we!