White Wolves: The Decoration

After painting my Winter Argus from Privateer Press's Hordes game and being surprised at how well it turned out, I decided to duplicate the scheme on two more models, but document it this time. The models in question are Laris, the companion of Kaya the Moonhunter (Epic Kaya), and the pewter white-metal version of the Pureblood Warpwolf. The Pureblood is now available as part of a resin kit that can make any of the Warpwolves, but it's nowhere near as distinctive as the older sculpt. For the record, this is the only known case where I prefer a metal model to a plastic or resin one!

Had I realized that they are supposed to be white, I might have chosen a different primer than black, but with a lot of patience it can be done. The first step after the priming was to paint everything but the deepest shadows in Testors Model Master Gunship Gray, as shown here.

According to my notes, the next thing I did was to paint white over the gray, but I don't believe them. I think that was a Testors Model Master light gray, but the label on that bottle is already so smudged that I can't tell what it is! I also hit it with a black wash, but that was a miscalculation as it was too early for that.

Next was a light coat of white over the grays, mostly avoiding the recesses that should stay darker. 

Now it gets the black wash. 

And some white drybrush for highlights.

Now that the whites are done, the armor plates get Testors Model Master Insignia Red. The sleeves of the Pureblood are Testors Brown, drybrushed with Dark Tan.

The howto in the Hordes book suggests painting the higher color (gold in this case) over the entire armor plates, then washing it with several other colors for the lower areas, but that seems like a lot more work, and it's really hard to paint over metallics! So it's not what I did. Testors Gold on the ridges of the armor plates and on the seams of the Pureblood's sleeves.

All that's left now is details. Cream for the spines, claws, and teeth because that's the closest I have to a good bone color, then some Copper for the bands that hold the sleeves up. Yellow for the eyes, and a bit of black for pupil where the sculpt of the model (and my small-motor skills) allow. Finally, a nice dark orange for the front arc, and some Fall color flock complete the models.
<picture still coming>

Next up are some Warpborn Skinwalkers and the Druid Wilder. The Wilder is basically done, but the skin color came out looking like she is 80 years old and wearing too much makeup to try and hide that fact, rather than the young apprentice she is supposed to be. Hopefully a little more work will clean that up!

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