How it’s made - Grey Fur

Welcome to the first installment of How It’s Made. I am changing the use of my Mentor Monday and will attempt to provide a new guide each Monday. For any stream coach patrons, I will still answer any and all content creation questions. For the hobby supporters, still feel free to use the discord and twitch stream to ask your questions and I am more than happy to answer.

Ragnok, Norse Orc Hero - Grey Fur

I painted this entirely with ProAcryl paints. At the bottom of the page are links to Monument Guides, as well as a link to their store and my discount code to get the paints for yourself.

I wanted to achieve an older fur look and feel, or that of an animal with a white or grey toned fur color. Imagine either a beast with naturally white or grey hair, such as a wolf. I am focusing here on the hair color, not the flesh hide underneath. The fur on this lining is very full, so not much flesh is showing through. Usually you will apply brown or flesh tones to the tanned hide the hair is connected to. Truthfully, we could have done so here, as you can see a bit of the hide showing on the edges of the fur lining. If you want to achieve this, you should glaze in some brown tones, or leather tones to the edge of the hide, to really seal the effect. But, for now, we will focus on the Grey Hair

Step 1: I base coated the whole fur area with Dark Neutral Grey, over a black primed model. If you are using different paints, go with your darkest grey without going ‘black’.

Step 2: Next step you can do 1 of 2 ways. In the fur lining, I am intentionally creating some texture, instead of leaving just the resin hairs appear smooth. To do this, you can use dry brushing. I layered Dark Warm Grey over the entire area, without going into the deepest areas. If you are dry brushing this, use a bigger brush, and get aggressive, just leave the deep recesses untouched. If you have already painted other parts of the model, this can get messy, so use caution. I used a layer brush and followed the hair follicles without getting paint into the deepest parts.

Step 3: Dry Brush Light Neutral Grey over the fur areas. Do this lightly, allowing some of the paint to ‘build up’ slightly, causing a dry pigmented texture. Do not go too heavy, with the texture, just enough to help bring some life to the old fur. Make sure this is also light enough that some of the darker grey are still showing through.

Step 4: Lightly dry brush the most extreme highlights with Bright Warm Grey. This is a VERY strong color, so use it sparingly. This should only hit some of the highest pieces of fur, or ends of the hair follicles. You can also use a detail brush to layer this on in key spots if you prefer.

Step 5: Using a 4:1 thinned solution, wash the entire fur lining with Transparent Black. Make sure not to let the mixture pool on the fur. You will see the shadows become darker, and the grey tones all blend together

Step 6: (Optional) If you would like to bring some brightness back out, you can very lightly dry brush again with Bright Warm Grey, just to make the tips of the hair follicles show more pronounced. Layering can also be done here, but should be very light.

For Monument Hobbies paints and more http://monumenthobbies.com/ref/gamerdadnc and Use Code - Gamerdad for a discount at checkout!

Also, check out their Facebook page for additional Pro Acryl recipes https://www.facebook.com/Monumenthobbies/