I figured it was about time for an updated walkthough on painting Space Wolves.
This will be the 4th incarnation of a Space Wolf Army for me. My first was a very shadow grey with black tiger stripe camo from 1st edition, followed up with a 3rd/4th edition army, then a 5/6th edition Razorback Mech list, WolfWing, and TWolf cav lists (3 different armies), and now the current one, my daughters 7th edition Space Wolves army. I did her paint scheme a lot different than these ones picture below, however I have an extra Grey Hunters Squad with Wolf Guard Battle Leader that I wanted to paint up a bit closer to the GW method for painting Space Wolves.
Step 1 - I started with a grey primer. Trying out some different ones since the GW and Army Painter ones are just too danged expensive when I am averaging a full unit every night. These guys were primed with Rustoleum light grey automotive primer. After that is dry, apply Russ Grey (GW) to all of the armor plates.
Step 2. Since I am working on a batch painting process, I went ahead and painted
all the areas that were to be gold/bronze with VGC Brassy Brass, yellow
areas with GW Averland Sunset, pelts with GW Rhinox Hide, bone areas
with GW Ushabti Bone, and flesh areas with VMC Flat Flesh. After all of this was dry, I washed the entire model with GW Argrax Earthshade.
Step 3. Re-apply Russ Grey (GW) to all of the armor plates, leaving the wash in the cracks. Apply the first layer to the yellow with GW Yriel Yellow, leaving the wash in the crack. All metal parts to be silver were painted with GW Leadbelcher, and then washed with GW Nuln Oil. At this point, we have a good tabletop quality mini, but I wanted to go a bit further with it.
Step 4 - Highlight all gold/bronze areas with GW Gahenna Gold, silver areas with GW Runefang Steel, armor plates with GW Fenrisian Grey. Yellow areas get a layer buildup of GW Flash Git yellow.
Step 4 - Highlight the face with VMC Flat Flesh. Yellow areas get a highlight of 50/50 mix GW White Scar and Flash Git Yellow. Armor areas get a final small edge highlight of P3 Frostbite. A quick drybrush on the pelts and tails of GW Ushabti bone, and then follow this up with a light wash of GW Agrax Earthshade.
And here is the finished model, ready to base. Good times - now I just need to go and paint the 10 man squad that goes with him! I will add more steps as the Grey Hunters will have red, black and white areas on them as well, so will cover how to do those colors as well.