Help needed painting old school Space Wolves

[Kalidane]

Okay so after a decade+ of futile endeavour it's time to start asking questions.

I've always been a fan of the paint job used on the original Space Wolf box sets and even more so of Kim Sybergs technique, as seen in WD185; below.

Essentially it's strong black-lining with the armour quickly and smoothly coming up to a near-white.

How do you pull off this colour transition? Layering has failed me dismally so far although there has probably been some improvement since the late '90s I'm not convinced highlighting up will do it.

What _is_ the base colour of the armour?? I can't find anything out of the pot that looks like that, although I may have found a great RMS triad or two that might get there those paints are in storage for now. And well I don't think Kim used RMS as an 'Eavy Metal painter featured in WD more than 15 years ago.

VGC analogue of Shadow Grey has a surprising amount of purple in it compared to the last iteration of Citadel Shadow Grey but I'll call that a good thing for where I'm trying to go. Also received a pile of CdA Shadow Grey recently which I'll get onto the latest test model and get a shot up as soon as the batteries recharge.

 

[khavor]

I think you've got the colors right; shadow gray, space wolf gray, and white. I painted a bunch of SW's way back when inspired by Kim's as well. I had a 50/50 pot mixed up of shadow and space wolf which always proved invaluable. But as to how he did the transitions so seamlessly, I think everybody's wondered the same thing since WD 185 came out. Still an awesome, inspirational army, if a bit bright nowadays.

Do GW even make those colors anymore?

 

[Willdorling]

Those SW are IMO someofthe nicest minis GW have made. My brother was a awesome painter in the 90's and had an army of these at a really high standard. He used a lot of space wolf grey but not sure of the darker tones. I'll ak him but he's probably forgotten bu now. I may nab his old minis strip a few and have retro session myself.

Cheers
will

 

[razza]

Hi, the new Russ Grey is what you are looking for i think, it is pretty much a mix of Shadow Grey, Kommando Khaki and Space wolves grey.
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat840001a&prodId=prod1500202a
I would add in fortress grey (administratum grey) and white for any highlights over that.
love those old school wolves too!

 

[Kalidane]

I'm not prepared to risk Citadel paints for important roles - colours are changed or removed too often for the liking of my Great Company. Several hundred troops in metal plus another hundred in plastic then characters and vehicles.

On the other hand CdA has been around since the start and are the original pigments used (give or take a measuring-it-by-eye batch). VGC also has stuck around for a while and provides lots of gone-burger colours.

Right, I'll get back to the brush and testing and camera

 

[RuneBrush]

What _is_ the base colour of the armour?? I can't find anything out of the pot that looks like that

I think you hit the nail on the head - it's not a straight out of the pot colour If memory serves a 50/50 Blue Grey/Space Wolf Grey came out similar (note similar, not identical). Blue grey eventually became shadow grey (though wasn't 100% the same colour). If I were trying it now, I'd paint the whole mini that mix colour, black ink the shadows, touch up and then highlight using pure white with lots of quite thin layers.

 

[Kalidane]

My Reaper empty droppers came just the other day so I'll get a 50/50 underway as that's going to be useful no matter what.

I quickly gave up trying to maintain the integrity of the blacklining on this colour tester. I'd forgotten that particular joy!

First pic has final incarnation Citadel Shadow Grey on most of the armour; VGC Shadow Grey on his right leg (our left).

Second pic now has CdA Shadow Grey on his upper left leg (looks the same as the Citadel) and his left foot CdA over P3 Coal Black I think it was. I think I'll be sticking to classic black for the black lining.

I recall the last time I tried to get these highlights it looked like cake frosting so I should be able to top that this time around...

Edit: Oh yeah Empty Reaper MSP Bottles (code 08702) does not come with any kind of agitator. I really miss the cool lead skulls

Moar edit: okay the 1:1 mix looks great in the bottle and fine on the palette but way too sky blue on the model. I'll see how some stronger ratios turn out

 

[Kalidane]

I think you've got the colors right; shadow gray, space wolf gray, and white. I painted a bunch of SW's way back when inspired by Kim's as well. I had a 50/50 pot mixed up of shadow and space wolf which always proved invaluable. But as to how he did the transitions so seamlessly, I think everybody's wondered the same thing since WD 185 came out. Still an awesome, inspirational army, if a bit bright nowadays.

Do GW even make those colors anymore?

Clean/bright is cool! Ref: Bobby Wong for more super cool Space Marines.

No GW don't make these colours any longer but they recently introduced a triad suitable for the Wolves. Or is it four colours? I can't find my swatch brochure. They look nice but I'm happy to stick to the older colours and style especially for the boys in metal.

 

[Wyrmypops]

I always loved the way Shadow Grey transitioned into Space Wolf Grey. They relate so well with each other. Rather joyous to paint them, so creamy, a very satisfying experience. Though that was for one-offs, could put the time in. For a more sizable force, yeah, I'd definately consider making up bottles of those incremental stages of paint to cut down on the mixing, and maintain a uniform approach. A bottle of 2:1 Shadow to Space Wolf Grey, and another of 1:2 ratios would be ruddy handy eh.

Before GW changed paint ranges, their Foundation line included Fenris Grey. A darker version of Shadow Grey. That'd be nice to implement if you wanted a touch more shade, but factoring in those strong foundation/base sort of paints are a bugger. They're so strong, makes layering a nightmare if they're in the mix.