The Howling Pack

Here you will find the three wolfen that make up the Howling Pack. There is also an elf, but I've not painted him yet. Just click on a thumbnail to see the puppy you want.

Agyar the Unyielding

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This is Agyar the Unyielding, wolfen leader of the Howling Pack. Or as I call him, the wolfen formerly known as Biggles. I really didn't like the way his eyes were covered over with the goggles, so I decided to give him a head swap with a predator wolfen. Unfortunately this now means that its rather difficult to get a good shot of him.

I tried to keep him very muted and so I went for shadowy grey tones for the fur. I admit its rather difficult to see the fur effect on this one. He looks more fluffy IRL. Anyway, I wanted the sword and shield to look very weathered, hence why the shield looks like it's patchy. This is a deliberate attempt at getting the weathered look and I really like that effect. I am particularly fond of the way the armour came out. I used a layering technique to build up the colour in a two tone effect so that it blends from purple at the base, to a more terracotta look to the raised areas.

I am getting better at freehand and am really proud of the work on the sword. I used graveyard earth highlighted with bleached bone and white for the bone armour. It came out a bit pinkish, but I think it works with the other colors overall.

The base was built up using some insulation styrene for the rocks. These were then painted and flocked in patches to give them a moss covered look. Then I mixed up some PVA with Woodland Scenics snow and dabbed that on in patches. I also created a waterfall by painting on some blue tones mixed with some iridescent meduim, then covering that in "water effects" (another Woodland Scenics product). This is my fiancee's favorite wolfen, he says its my best one to date.

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Lykai the Freed

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This is Lykai the Freed, my entry to the GT XVIII.

He's basically painted in a similar way to the card photo, although I have replaced the purplish skintones with a tan/grey on his feet, snout and under arms.

As with all my wolfen, he is done in my patent fluffy look (unfortunately the pic is a bit dark in places and you can't see the fur effect on his thigh). The fur started off black, then scorched brown was used as the base, this was highlighted with beastial brown, then snakebite leather. More golden tones were used in his
tail and hair.

I tried to keep the colours very natural looking with the turquoise stone and NMM gold providing a nice accent. I went with a weathered look to his armour, to stay in keeping with the overall look of ragged clothes. I added a bit of bright green into the gold NMM mix on the gun, I think that worked quite well. The freehand on the gun is something I am particularly proud of.

I used a combination of graveyard earth, highlighted with bleached bone then successive amounts of white on his shirt. It almost looks like it's a bit seethrough. This was really a happy accident. I kept the wood on the gun quite dark as I wanted the look of mahogany.

The base is made from a piece of insulation styrene, carved into the rock shapes. I painted the rocks to look stripey like that, because I wanted the look of Schist which is a really nicely striated metamorphic rock. The stones were then stippled with greens and oranges to make them look like they are covered in moss. I then
added the snow.

I mounted Lykai so that he looks like he's pointing the gun in a more horizontal direction. The original sculpt makes him look like he's just holding it, not like he's about to aim, so I felt this pose was better.

A note about photograpy. I've been trying out the manual settings on my camera and have found that ISO 100 and an EP setting of 1.3 (exposure setting - I'm guessing this is the Sony digital version of shutter speed) really helped to give a better result. I use a Sony cybershot DSC-P50.

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Saphyr the Lone Wolf

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This is Saphyr the Lonewolf of the Howling Pack. I was rather disappointed, as this mini was badly cast. In particular the orfrai (the winged cat) has a badly cast face.

Anyway, I was in Norwich City and I saw this gorgeous husky-like dog which was very orange coloured on it's back and a light tan colour underneath. It had one blue eye and one green eye. I thought I would have to paint a wolfen like that. So here he is! The orange fur went well with the orange of the Orfrai, I thought. Anyway I started with white as a basecoat, then built up the orange tones using beastial brown and snakebite leather. Then I built up the lighter fur underneath using graveyard earth, bleached bone and then white.

Having given him some fur, I then went for a weathered look to the fabric, again building this up in very thin layers using a mix of imperial purple, graveyard earth and terracotta. I then used a slightly thicker mix of these colours to build up a crosshatching pattern to create the weave of the fabric.

The blades are supposed to be covered in ice (that is a spell he has). So what I did was stipple on various shades of blues and greens onto a white basecoat. The paint is quite thin. I then lightly brushed over the still-damp paint to blend the colours together and create a smooth look to the overall coverage. Once I had got the desired effect, I then painted on some freehand glyphs on both swords. I outlined these so that they look like they are engraved in the blades.

I was in a bit of a quandry as to what colour to paint the rest of the clothes and glove, I originally painted them in a sort of camoflaged green colour. But that didn't seem to work, so I repainted them in the cold blue colours used on the blades. I think this works well as a contrast to the warm orange tones and really brought the whole piece together. The stone on his back is painted grey (though you can't see it in the picture!).

I created a glacial outcropping fo him to stand on out of insulation foam and painted this in the same blue/green tones. I then covered this in Woodland Scenics Water Effects and WS Snow, to give it a really icey look. I also used some Water Effects on his blades to give them the look of being covered in ice.

Compared to my other wolfen, he really stands out in my cabinet.

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