What kind of wolf is a suitable mate for my wolves?

Oof, looks like me trying to make the post look atleast a tad bit pretty didn't go well, well, you learn everyday.

What kinds of things do you like in a wolf? More natural? Well blended or high contrast? Any favorite bases or markings?

Like, for Amer, do you want her to have pups that look like her? Or a similar base with different colored markings? Or a different base with similar markings? I've gotten a pretty decent handle on what sorts of results a breeding might get you, so I'm happy to help out if you've got an aesthetic in mind? 

@HollowWorld7

Sure! Thanks for the help by the way. 

For the questions you're asking, I love well blended and natural for a wolf, though sometimes wolves that look pastel can be cute haha. As for my favorite markings/base.. The blaze forehead marking is one of my favorites, though in general the markings just depend on if they go well together for me. So far, the darker bases (for example, Bronze) give me much more interest than the lighter ones (a few ones excluded, like argent for example), but I haven't seen all the bases yet. I'm sorry if this doesn't help too much, I don't have a specific favorite yet on wolvden, so it all really depends on the well-blended and/or more natural designs 

For Amer, I don't think I specifically want to get puppies that look the same as her, though I do not mind. I think I'm basically looking to get a male wolf that when breeding them together, a pretty pup comes out (like a combination of the two, for example). So, the base and markings don't have to be too similar with one another. It's almost like a breeding project, except I don't know what I'll get and what exactly I need to have to get it. 

Maybe I'll consider redesigning Amer a bit aswell? Though I think she's fine, well, I'll see in the future! 

Alright, hope I can help a little! Also, here is the Grouse House Guide to Genetics, which is where I got my starting info for breeding (it can be kind of overwhelming though! there's a lot of info in there). Let me know if you have any follow-up questions!

Base Advice:

Bases are pretty easy once you get the hang of them, but took me a while to fully guess what I might get. The guide I linked has the math for what bases to expect from different pairings, as well as a spreadsheet to help you out. Elieno and Ollie have lots of possible base outcomes between them: any Tier 1 Cool Medium, Cool Dark, Monochrome Medium, or Monochrome Dark base is an option. Amer and Rowan have the potential for Tier 1 Warm, Monochrome, or Muted Dark. (I'm not a fan of most of the Muted bases, personally, but that's up to you). 

Marking Advice:

So, with Elieno and Ollie the number one reason you're not getting pretty pups when you scry is because their markings are in the same slots. Pups have a chance of getting a marking from any parent with a marking in that slot, which means that as they currently are any potential offspring can't have more than 3 markings. When you redesign Elieno that should help a lot, just by him (presumably) being redesigned to have more markings. If you want their offspring to have the blaze marking (since it's your favorite) I'd recommend designing Elieno to have a blaze in marking slot 2, since that's where Ollie has hers. That'll give the pups a very high chance of having the blaze. 

Meanwhile, Amer and Rowan both have a fair number of markings, so that isn't the issue there - my guess would be you're not seeing anything you like because they both have Dark bases, meaning all their pups will also have Dark bases. They both have lots of black markings, which can look very cool (as you can see on Amer) but can also blend in a little too well (many of Rowan's markings are hard to make out). Rowan's 10th marking is also Yellow Underfur - this means the Yellow Underfur is layered on top of all his other markings and covering some of them up. That may be part of the trouble with pups between them too. Even without adjusting his visible markings in the wardrobe I can tell that one is at least covering up most of his Black Throat and White Patchy Unders. His white markings are also at low opacities, making them hard to see, which looks good on black and dark gray bases (at least I think so) but not so good on a lot of brown ones. 

For any pairing, I'd recommend trying to match up wolves who either both have a lot of markings, or at least have markings in different slots. Try not to match up ones with markings that would be redundant if they both passed on - for instance, if Rowan passed on his Yellow Underfur it would mostly cover up Amer's Black Inuit Unders. If the markings are in the same slot - if Amer's Black Inuit Unders were in slot 10, for instance - the pup would only get one of them, removing that issue. 

Opacity is also something to consider: pups inherit the average opacity of the parents for that slot, plus or minus about 10%. So, for instance, if you bred Elieno and Ollie in their current forms and the pup got Ollie's White Irish marking they'd get it at about 65% opacity (100% opacity + 30% opacity). If the pup got Elieno's Gray Shoulders, they'd likely have it at a full 100% opacity, since both parents have a 100% opacity marking in slot 3. This may also be part of the problem you're having with Amer and Rowan - most of their markings are at 50% opacity or lower. This can make them blend in with the base almost to the point of invisibility. Amer has a Black Half Stripe in slot 3 that's barely visible at 21% - Rowan doesn't have a marking in slot 3 at all, so if a pup inherited that marking it'd likely be completely invisible at about 10%. You can always grab opacity changers from the Grove for just 1SC each, if you like a marking and just can't see it very well. 

I hope that helps some! Personally, when I'm thinking about pairing outcomes, I usually skip the scrying stone and pull one of them up in the wardrobe, set their markings to whatever opacity is likely, and flip through the possible bases they could have, adding and removing different markings from either parent. It can take a while, especially if the two wolves are very different looking, but it's free, and I find that sort of thing interesting. 

Ooh, thank you for that! It was very interesting to read, I think I learnt some things now, thanks! 

I'll keep that in mind while I redesign Ollie and try to find a suitable stud for Amer :) I feel like I'll do much more now, which is not a problem, because this actually feels kind of exciting to do so far! I haven't been doing anything big on wolvden yet. So this is nice. 

Well, not sure if there's anything left for me to tell, but is it maybe okay if I one time or two come message you to ask more about the breeding if I find some studs for Amer, for example, or redesign Ollie? If not - It's understandable, I don't want to butt in if you're busy or would rather not be getting such thing. 

Absolutely! I don't mind helping where I can, and I'm around pretty often 

Cool! Thank you again :)

Also, I have already planned a redesign for Elieno and Ollie, I saved the wardrobe links already, so, if you ever wanna talk we can pm!