WIP: Venerable Dreadnought, Part 02

After priming, I drybrushed the model with the base colors: Golden Iridescent Bronze, Vallejo Gunmetal Metal, and Liquitex Pyrrole Crimson followed by a layer of Pyrrole Red. Then I painted the fur areas with a watered-down mix of Vallejo London Grey (a very, very old bottle) and Liquitex Bronze Yellow.

Here's the result:

A few notes:
The two layers of red & crimson give me a nice worn base coat and better depth of color than I can get with with just a single red hue.

Because I don't want harsh black shadows in the patches of fur, I chose to coat it completely with a grey base coat instead of drybrushing. Now that I have a lighter base, the remaining layers will be drybrushed.

I use a paper towel to test each brush-load of paint before I apply it too the model. this way, I know I'll get the right texture.


No need to use a good brush for this step. I prefer an old Size 1 brush that's lost its tip. Some painters prefer to use a completely dry brush (it is "drybrushing" after all), but I like to wet the bristles and then gently pinch them between two layers of paper towel. The thin layer of water protects the bristles and keeps them from becoming overloaded with dry paint. Then they stay together, instead of shooting out at odd angles. I rinse and dry the brush every 2-3 minutes, and I wash it out whenever the tips get clogged with dry paint.

A few more photos:

WIP: Venerable Dreadnought, Part 01

This pewter Space Wolves model has been in my studio for years. It's time to put it together, add a few details, and get it painted:

Things I added:

A fur leg band (green stuff)
A banner (green stuff, welding rod, polystyrene tube, and the head from a goblin wolf-rider's mount)
Ground texture (rocks and sand)
A few extra decorations (plastic bitz)

Some time in the last six years, I added a dog's head (from a pewter Mordheim model, I think) to the pelt on the dreadnought's left arm. I don't remember why (I may have intended to convert it into a lion's head). That's the problem with holding a model for a decade before you decide to paint it. I'm not entirely happy with the dog's head, but I don't think it's a fatal problem. And if I wait until it's perfect this model may remain unpainted for another 10 years.

Here's a quick trip around the back and sides: