hey everyone just wanted to show my second ever mini and space wolf work in progress. I posted my first attempt a few days ago and took a lot of every one’s advice this time around. really happy with how the armor is coming along. going away for the week so this is how he sits for now. just wanted to share current work as an amateur :)
Hey everyone! I just wanted to show off my first ever painted mini! I also posted this over on the Space Wolves subreddit, so some of you might have already seen this little guy over there. This is my very first miniature, and honestly my first time doing any kind of art as an adult. I’m 25 now and probably haven’t held a paint brush in close to 10 years, so jumping into mini painting was definitely intimidating at first. But I ended up really enjoying the process and I’m already excited to start the next one.
This took me somewhere around 5–7 hours total since I was learning as I went and figuring out how acrylic paints even work in the first place. I used mostly Two Thin Coats paints, with some Army Painter colors for highlights and a few Army Painter paint pens for some details like the leather straps and smaller bits. I also tried dry brushing for weathering near the end, but quickly realized I probably should have done that before a lot of the detail work. Honestly though, even if it wasn’t the “right” order, I still kind of like the rough worn look it gave him.
I mainly wanted to post this because I feel like a lot of “first mini” posts online are from people who already have art backgrounds or painting experience. This is a REAL first attempt. No experience, no clue what I was doing half the time, and definitely plenty of mistakes along the way. It’s rough in a lot of places and my inexperience is definitely showing, but I’m still really proud of how it came out.
Would love any tips or advice for the next mini. One thing though: if you mention techniques, please explain them a little because I’m still super new and a lot of the painting terms are basically another language to me right now lol.
So about a week or so ago I made a post here asking about paints because I had just started getting into Warhammer 40k, and honestly everyone was incredibly welcoming and helpful. This is kind of my follow up post because I just finished my first ever miniature — a Grey Hunter I’ve decided to name “Tyr Dropper,” mostly because I was convinced this whole process was going to end with me frustrated enough to drop the thing halfway through painting. Somehow though, he actually turned out pretty decent.
Most of the model was painted with Two Thin Coats paints, but I also ended up using a few Army Painter colors that arrived after I had already started. I experimented with dry brushing at the very end to try and give the armor some weathering and texture. Looking back, I probably should’ve done that a little earlier in the process before cleaning everything up, but honestly that’s part of learning the hobby I guess. Every mistake on this guy already feels like something I’ll improve on for the next one.
I mainly wanted to post this because I figured some people here might appreciate seeing a genuine first attempt from someone completely new to the hobby. I’m 25 years old and I genuinely don’t think I’ve touched a paint brush since maybe 9th grade art class, so going into this I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. He’s obviously far from perfect, and nowhere near the incredible Space Wolves minis that originally got me interested in the faction, but I’m honestly really proud of how he came out for a first try.
Anyway, just wanted to show off my first son of Russ and say thanks again to everyone who gave advice and encouragement on my first post. This community made jumping into the hobby a lot less intimidating.
Hey all,
I’m brand new to 40k and the hobby in general, and after a bit of digging into the lore I landed on Space Wolves. I just finished building a box of Grey Hunters and primed them with Army Painter Space Wolf Grey.
I’m planning to stop by my local game store this afternoon to pick up paints, but I’ve never painted miniatures before, so I’m trying to keep things simple for now. My goal is just to do a clean, straightforward version of the box art scheme—nothing too advanced, but close enough that they look like proper Space Wolves on the table.
I was hoping to get some advice on a basic set of paints to start with. Ideally I’d like to keep it to around 6–10 paints total, and avoid mixing colors if possible while I’m still learning.
If you have suggestions, it would be really helpful to know:
The core colors you’d consider essential for a Space Wolves scheme
Any good equivalents across different brands (in case my store doesn’t have a specific one)
And if there are any beginner tips you think are worth knowing before I start, I’d definitely appreciate those as well.
Thanks in advance for the help — looking forward to getting these painted up.
For Russ!
Hey brothers, I’ve become really interested in Warhammer 40k and the Space Wolves over the past week or so, but I know close to nothing about 40k as a whole. I’ve never played a wargame or miniature-based game before, but I love model building, sci-fi, and war stories, so I figured this hobby might be a great fit. After digging into the lore a bit, I decided I wanted to be a son of Russ and start with the Space Wolves. For Russ and the Allfather.
I bought a box of Grey Hunters that I’m planning to build and paint this weekend, but as a total newbie I have a bunch of questions. I’m not sure I’ll play the game much right away, but I do want to understand how the game works enough that I don’t accidentally build or paint my army in a way that causes problems later.
My main questions are around building, painting, and army identity. Do all my Space Wolves need to be from a specific Great Company, or can I mix and match? How personalized can I make individual models? Are some units supposed to look more uniform than others? For weapons, can I just build whatever looks cool in the Grey Hunters box, or do the weapon choices matter for rules/gameplay? How should I decide on company markings, pack markings, colors, etc.? Do all my Wolves need to be consistent in that way?
I’m also wondering what units would be good to prioritize after Grey Hunters. I’m mostly looking for a fun hobby to build, paint, and take my mind off work/life, so I’m not looking for some hyper-competitive meta list. I just don’t want to spend the next year building an army, finally decide to play a game, and then find out I messed everything up or that they “aren’t real Space Wolves.”
Basically: what beginner tips do you wish you knew when starting Space Wolves/40k? Any advice on building, painting, collecting, or avoiding newbie mistakes would be hugely appreciated.
Glory to Russ and his eventual return.