Tutorial: How to Paint Fell Wargs from the Hobbit

Fell Wargs are the ferocious beasts that accompany Azog’s Warband. Some are ridden by Orcs. This detailed tutorial will show you how to paint these Wargs.

This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of how to paint. For the beginners, I will explain the techniques as I go along. Each picture below shows four chronological steps. Underneath each picture are the corresponding instructions. Each step shows the paint I used during that step. It’s good to have reference material close to hand to check colours. I used google images for film stills and Games Workshop’s 360º pictures on their website were a great help.

Paints you will need for this tutorial:

Black Undercoat

Rhinox Hide (base)

Gorthor Brown (layer)

Baneblade Brown (layer)

Rakarth Flesh (base)

Steel Legion Drab (base)

Agrax Earthshade (shade)

Pink Horror (layer)

Zandri Dust (base)

Stirland Mud (texture)

In case you need to expand your paint collection, head over to Wayland Games or Slave to Painting, which both stock a huge selection of paints at competitive prices.

1. Undercoat the model with black primer. 

2. Paint the Warg’s smooth skin areas with a coat of Rhinox Hide. Then dry brush the raised fur areas with Rhinox Hide so the recesses of the fur still show black shading. 

3. Mix Gorthor Brown (50%) with Lahmian Medium (50%). Apply this thin layer on the areas shown above in the picture. You will need to apply three or four coats to build up the opacity. This will ensure softer blends. Make sure each layer is dry before applying the next. 

4. Mix Baneblade Brown (50%) with Lahmian Medium (50%). Apply this thin layer on the lower halves of the legs. These multiple thin layers will allow you to blend from the Gorthor Brown layer to  the Baneblade Brown. Also paint some Baneblade Brown highlights on to the face of the Warg. 

5. Mix Rakarth Flesh (50%) with Lahmian Medium (50%). Apply this thin layer on the lower halves of the legs. I wanted paler legs on my Wargs for two reasons. Firstly, my bases are dark brown and I didn’t want the model’s legs to blend into the base. Secondly I think it will be a nice visual cue to the White Warg and tie in nicely with the Warband as a whole. 

6. Dry brush the fur with Steel Legion Drab to highlight the fur. 

7. Add a wash of Agrax Earthshade to the fur and the dark areas of the skin. Do not apply the wash to the lower legs. 

8. Create a glaze of Pink Horror (25%) mixed with Lahmian Medium (75%). Apply this to the bottom of the paws, the ears and lips. If you can see a tongue paint this with Pink Horror as well. 

9. Paint the claws and teeth with Zandri Dust. You can also pick out the eye with this colour as well. Feel free to add some white to the eye if you wish.  

Finally base the model in a way which fits in with your collection. I used Stirland Mud texture paint highlighted with Karak Stone and the base edge was painted with XV-88. Static grass and scrub were glued on in small clumps.

You can see in the last picture a sneak preview of the next tutorial. Hunter Orcs. You can combine this tutorial and the Hunter Orc tutorial to paint Hunter Orcs on Wargs. 

Tale of Painters has a whole host of Hobbit tutorials for you to check out.

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