Friday Quick Tip: Ork Skin Video

I have really taken to filming my painting sessions.  It's given me a nice new outlet to share tips and tricks with.  It's also a great way to learn how to edit video!  Today I bring a tip from my latest footage, painting Ork skin.

To preface, I never approach a models skin the same way twice.  I've made mention of my love of variety with skin tones before, and have made more headway in that effort with my Orks.  With each boy, nob and warboss, I've played around with the colors on a whim, never really bothering to remember or write down just how I got to a finished skin tone.  But with that in mind, I thought it would be a good way to show the process by filming as I painted my latest Ork model. 

They're set at double speed, with queues for colors used, so it shouldn't be too hard to follow!  With that in mind, give the videos a watch! 









You might notice that at one point I go to using a watered down Bleached Bone, though I found it to be a little too strong for where I was at with the model.  I ended up using a 50/50 mix of Bleached Bone/Goblin Green instead and did a final highlight of pure bleached bone.  It worked out better, and faster, than it would have had I not used the mix. 

The matt varnish is used to knock out some of the shine.  I still think he could go for another hit of it, but will wait until the model is finished and do a complete spray of the model with the airbrush instead of painting it on.  Using washes will leave you with a lot of shine, so be prepared to kill it off.

I really dig some of the music I'm finding on youtube!  I hope you enjoyed the videos and here's to it helping a few of you out there!  I'd love some feedback as well, let me know what you think!

Reinforcements: AoBR Ork Warboss

It's been a long time since I first started working on my ork warband.  I picked up the Assault on Black Reach boxed set and knew I wanted to do something with them, but I also knew that whatever it was going to end up being would be a long time in the making.  True to form, there are now only 5 finished models at this point in the force!

On The Table: Ork Warboss

The object of the last quick tip is revealed!  Still heavy in WIP territory, but much further along than I would have guess he would be in so little time.  This scheme really does go on so much faster than nearly any other I've worked on in recent weeks/months.  He has a good amount of work left though, to include one more stage of highlights, a touch of metal work, some freehand checks, and a bunch of detailing.

More on this big lug once I finish painting him!  What have you been working on lately?  Share your links in the comments section!

Field Report: Looted Wagon

Big D over at Hogs of War has a fantastic inside-out Ork Looted Wagon weathered with a Dremel and plenty of Mig powders.  As I'm in the market for a Looted Wagon for BoLSCon (and I love me some inside out armor weathering), I might just have to completely steal this idea.  Part 1 can be found here.

Got an article you'd like to see featured here on TPC?  Send us a link at ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com and we'll see about getting it up! 

Field Report: Ork Skin Tutorial

Androsch at Tower of Heroes shares a fantastic Ork Skin tutorial.  And as a bonus, we get excellent shots of his wet palette while painting.

Hey, that looks like my wet palette, so maybe I'm doing something right?  (It might be a miracle.)

If you've got a tutorial or a tip you've posted or seen recently, we want to know about it.  Send 'em to ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com

Field Report: Ork Trukk

This is an old one, but I love it.  I'm working on another Ork Trukk Project and GIS turned up this gem: a closed-cab Trukk for Ard Boyz by MadDokGrot at Vaults of Hera.  Too bad the site seems to have gone dormant, there are some great projects over there.

Links!  We want em!  Send your links for great articles around the web to ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com!

Field Report: Ork Fort

Check out Jimbo's Workbench (no relation) for a great recycle of a CD spindle into an Ork Fort.  One thing I always struggle with for terrain is the foundation element-- what will I use as the base piece that will provide the shape of the element.  Once you get the foundation, pieces are easy to decorate.

The CD spindle is plastic and has a great shape for terrain.  The scale is great and they even come in varying sizes.  With four of these and two cereal boxes cut in half vertically you'll have the foundation for a fantastic and huge Ork fort.

Don't forget, if you've got a tutorial you'd like to see featured here, send us a link at ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com! Even if it's not your own article, we're all about sharing great info from around the web!

Field Report: ForgeWorld Weathering Powders

Lost In The Warp has a great review of the ForgeWorld Weathering Powders and compares them to the Mig and Stardust brands. As a bonus there are also a few tips on how to use the powders for rusting a tank and applying a great wet mud look to some Orks. Head on over to Lost In The Warp and check it out.

Got a great link you'd like to see put up? An article you've posted on your own blog? Send it to us at ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com. Just be sure it has something a bit more useful than a pretty picture! It's all about learning folks!

Friday Quick Tip: Ork Trukk

Today's Quick Tip is more of a declaration; a result of a realization I recently put together. The light shone down and all the past little tid bits and pictures I've seen in the past suddenly came together into a realization.

The Ork Trukk is the best model that GW makes.

Here's the thing: in an army there's all sorts of fighting vehicles and most of them are well represented. But when an army goes to war there are probably just as many support vehicles as there are tanks. And army needs trucks-- trucks of all kinds. And while there are big tanks, little tanks, grav tanks, open-topped tanks, APCs, and all sorts of self-propelled artillery pieces made by GW there aren't very many trucks.

Luckily the Ork Trukk is extremely flexible and makes the basis for everything from four wheels to ten. Here are a few Trukks that have inspired me in my latest creation.




Dave Taylor's Ork Trukk reversion was one of the first conversions that started me thinking about the potential of the Trukk. Dave's vision was to create the original Imperial Guard truck that was the basis for the looted Ork Trukk. He's since started a three part tutorial and set of downloadable templates for this conversion.




Another fantastic Trukk conversion is Warboss GargDregga's Tanker Trukk. Multiple Trukk kits and extensive plasticard and tube was used in this incredible piece.




The Trukk is good for more than 6 wheel trucks, too. By inverting the axles, removing one of the sets of rear tires and cutting down the overhang you get a real nice car chassis. kenshin138's hotrod styled Trukk is a fantastic testament to how flexible and recyclable the Ork Trukk kit pieces are.




Here's the basis of the car conversion. In this case I've mid mounted the engine for my Formula Waaaghn project. Movement of the gas tank is optional, the key is to mount the axles upside down to get a lower vehicle. For this car I also cut the frame to fit the axles since it was too high below the frame and too low when mounted above.

To balance the ride height adjust the angle of the front axle to get the rank that look to you. Don't glue the wheels until the axles are glued and secured. Once the axles are set you can rotate the irregular shaped Ork wheels to get and even balance on the car, so that each of the wheels sit on the road evenly.

I'll do a full write up on my car at a later date, but after building a few normal Trukks I just can't see anything but all sorts of new conversion ideas. Besides all sorts of military support vehicles, I can't wait to build an El Camino Trukk!

What other ideas are out there for truck-based vehicles? And if you think there's a model as flexible as the Ork Trukk, let me know!

Eye Candy Thursday: Splnes Orks

[Ed.: I've been watching the progress of a local player's Orks and his scheme has reignited my fascination with yellow. Here are a few pics and his run down on his technique; I hope you enjoy and it ignites a flurry of yellow armies! -- RealGenius]



Just a really quick rundown of what we are working on today. RealGenius asked me to do a little tutorial on my newest army, you may have heard of a little Ork clan called Bad Moons. I chose the Bad Moon clan for their wealth; I wanted to build a heavy army full of Nobs, Mega Nobs, Looted Tanks, Battlewagons, and grot slaves.





I’m relatively new to painting Orks; I started with a single nob and worked out the flesh tones until I found an even color I liked with lots of highlights and so nice shades. He didn’t turn out exactly as planed but it gave me a good idea of the direction I was headed. The armor color was a no-brainer since I was working with Bad Moons I will be working with yellows. Now there’s no reason I have to work with those brighter yellows, my Orks like getting dirty. So first I loaded up on the colors I thought would be needed: Chaos Black, Skull White, Bleached Bone, Gore Red… you get the idea, I got paint!

Now the big colors used in this project would be the greens. I picked up Goblin Green and Snot Green for an orky feel. For my yellow I use Bubonic Brown?!?! It’s yellow to me! But let’s push ahead. Another important detail is my washing, I will use Devlin Mud and Thakka Green, maybe some others but mostly those two. Now that we’ve gathered the right colors we can jump right in and paint these bad boys up.

1) First things first, remove all the flash off your new models and glue him to a base, some people don’t glue the model to the base until their done painting but for these Orks I did for one major reason, I wanted it to look like they had been tromping though the mud. To achieve that I glue the model down then, with white glue, glue down some small rock and sand. Don’t worry about getting it on those Ork boots… we’ve been a tromping!

2) I then prime, every body knows that a good solid coat of prime is the best start to having a durable model! I use black primer since my Orks will be mostly dark colors.

3) After that primer is done drying I slop on my base colors. Now Orks are not uniform creatures, they don’t wake up in the morning a color coordinate themselves with their fellow looters! My Orks all have different clothing colors, I try to keep the pants darker and the shirts lighter but, hey, sometimes you got the mix it up. I try to stay neat but hey if you spill over a little we can fix that latter. Now to keep with the Bad Moon theme I paint any armor with my “yellow”. Also any glyphs I hit up with the yellow. I use a mixture of metallic to paint guns and bullets or earrings, go wild it adds flare!

4) Now to the flesh, I start with an even coat of Goblin Green, head to toe. I use Leather Brown and then Bleached Bone for teeth, eyes, and finger nails, also any bones they may be carrying, such as skulls or bull skulls.

5) Once I’ve painted every piece of the model I wash the entire thing in Devlin Mud. I go thick allowing the mud to flow into the deeper recesses.

6) After the Ork is dry I go back to the flesh, I use the Snot Green to go over all the muscles and raised parts of the model such as eyebrows.

7) Allow that to dry and follow up with a good dry brush of Goblin Green, I lay this one on pretty thick but not so much to completely cover the Snot. Also stay away from the valleys! You only want to highlight the raised up parts and let that nice shade hide down in the crevices.

8 ) Wash all your flesh in a light coat of Thakka Green.

9) Now I mix a 25/75 skull white and Goblin Green and lightly dry brush over only the upper most details; mainly the veins on the muscles and face.

10) Wash all your flesh in a light coat of Thakka Green.

11) I go back and hit up the armor plates with more yellow, avoid details such as bullet holes and scars. Also I like to paint on some checkers or flames since Orks are so fond of these markings. For the checkers I use mostly white and black, but I like to go back and wash over the white with Devlin mud to dirty it up a bit.

12) Now all you need to do is a bit of touch up work. Maybe a little highlighting on the weapons.

13) For the base I use a tan, this is the only paint that is not GW. But for the most part its just tan. I water it down and paint the entire base including getting on some of the orks boots or paints. Once it dries I wash it with Devlin Mud, and I’m done.



Go forth and paint yellow! Seeing a bunch of new, yellow Bad Moons out there is great compared to the old 80's red and yellow Orks I'm used to seeing.

You can follow Splnes' Bad Moon Ork project online at http://www.beltofskulls.blogspot.com.

Friday Quick Tip: Speed painting for large units.

Hi, Thomas aka Goatboy here to help out those people that have a ton of units lying there unpainted and find the task of finishing off their army daunting. My methods for painting have helped me finish most armies within 3 to 4 weeks to a good table standard. Today I will just be talking about how to start the process and plan it out. So let's get started.



1. Plan out your color scheme with a test model. I normally like to take just one basic model and bust out with a color scheme on it. I write out each color I use and any changes I might do with it in my little paint journal/random notebook I get from work. I like to do this so I won't forget the methods I used when trying to finish off squads.

2. Once I complete a test model and find a scheme I like, I go about setting up blocks of units to paint. Most of the time, 10 man units work out pretty well, and once you get the hang of that you can move onto larger blocks of models (like orks who are normally in blocks of 30 or 15, depending on the unit).

3. I have the amount of plastics dudes set aside, I go and grab all the colors I used and set them up into rows based on what they are used for. I separate my skin tones, my armor tones, etc out into their beginning to end color phase. I also do this with my washes, to ensure that every model has the same look as I move through the unit.

4. From there ,I start the unit with putting down base colors first and then moving on from there. I slowly go through each level of color for the section I am painting. You can normally paint one layer and go all the way to the end with the same color and have the first one be dry by the time you get done. From there you can move onto the next layer and go from there. Washes, take a bit longer to dry, and that is why I normally leave the washes towards the end since a lot of the time I use the same one to unify the entire piece in a shade of color.

5. I move through each color set until the model is done. This is a way you can finish large batches of models in a small amount of time. Usually after a model of two you can start to move faster as you know how to lay the paint down since you are doing it over and over again.

Next time I will go through the use of washes and how you can use one color to help create a unifying shade throughout the model. It adds a nice bit of depth to the model and is really a quick way to get a finished piece for your army.

If you have any questions about the list or want to know more, shoot me an email. And again, the link below takes you to my art and miniature commission site.

Masta Blasta WIP: Playing with Ork skin

In preparation for the Macharian Crusade I've done up a Big Mek as Masta Blasta, an Ork known for cramming Bomb Squigs into his Shokk Attack Gun.

The main things I focused on were matching the face of the Mek to the one in the campaign book, and adding a large bulge to the Shokk Attack Gun feed tube to represent a Bomb Squig. The head was easy: green stuff goggles and a light bulb. For the tube bulge, I cut out a round of plasticard to represent an Ork tank bomb and squished it into a blob of Milliput vaguely shaped like a squig (a large bump for the body and two legs). Once that was applied, I used some green stuff to restore the patch-work texture to match the rest of the tube.

For the paint work, I got my inspiration from this technique from Da Waaagh. Instead of doing the green+green+green base/highlight/wash I normally do, I wanted to paint the base coat of very light and bleached out colors and then use the new washes and my old inks to tint and shade the skin, clothing and gun until I was happy with the depth.

Here are the work in progress shots:



As you can see the base coat is really white and not very orky at all. But have faith-- washes to the rescue! Also, the model is not assembled in the above pictures, so things are a little skewed.



Here is after the first run of washes and you can see that the color is starting to come out. Two coats of wash were used on the skin and pants. The color is still a little faded for my taste, but you can see some of the nice red-orange-yellow on the pants and brown undertones in the skin.

Overall I really like the difference in skin and style that it will bring. I will probably use this for some of my other HQs and special characters, although I might try to stay closer to the technique posted on Da Waaagh for the next model since I still have a lot of shading to go with Masta Blasta here.

Ork Nob Tutorial, the deuce

Like most things painting related, Thomas beat me to the punch on his Ork Nob Tutorial. He has a great style, and he's ridiculously fast at painting up armies, that it is no wonder he finished his Nob before me. (I think this year I've painted three or four squads, while he probably finished three or armies in the same time.)


My style is a little more traditional and I usually don't do anything innovative. All my skills come from copying others' techniques. Sometimes things turn out same-old, same-old but sometimes I take little techniques from here and there and come up with something pretty cool looking. (I'm just as surprised as anyone when this happens.)


Before I started painting I took a good look at the Nob model. While the level of detail is good, and a huge improvement over the old Macragge push together models, there are a few differences between this Nob and the others in my collection.

First is a metal Nob (left) from the Nob Box set. There is a lot more fine detail on this model than two plastic Nobs, but the size and proportions are very similar to the White Dwarf Nob (middle). The Nob on the right is from the Ork Boyz Box set and suffers from universal Boyz legs. Since his legs come on the accessory sprue, these are the same legs for normal Ork Boyz, and look a little "weedy" in comparison. Otherwise, the detail is good, but is a little angular compared to the metal Nob. (I think the angularity is the result of the plastic or CAD design process, and not part of the style. While the stiches on the metal Nob have an irregular, organic look, the plastic Nob holes look exactly the same.)


The only complaint I have about the White Dwarf Nob is that some of the detail disappears when you rotation the model from front to back. For example, the WD Nob has a stikkbomb clipped to his belt with a round link. But when you turn the model to the side you can see it looks like a cylinder (instead of a round donut shape that a ring should be). From the front it looks great, but as you spin the model it almost looks like something that was made in 2D and converted into 3D. The handle of the stikkbomb has some "webbing" connecting it to the back of the Nob. Look at it from the side, and it looks normal, but turn it around to the back and it just doesn't look as expected. No doubt these artifacts are part of the model making process that makes these guys so cheap to produce. In the end, it really is nit picking, and from a few feet away you'd be hard pressed to notice the difference between the three different Nobz.


All differences aside, I wanted this Nob to match with my current Ork army. Using the same techniques as my Ork horde meant black primer, blank base and lots of dark metal that would match with my Goffs.


First come the base coats in this order: Orkhide Shade, Adeptus Battlegrey, Calthan Brown, Boltgun Metal, Chaos Black and Tin Bitz. After touching up errors, here's what you get:

My Boyz all have black pants and shirts (although I have a few Lootas with brown pants). For the Nob I wanted to try grey pants, to give him a little more detail over the normal troops. It will also help contrast against the black-metal chest and shoulder plates. I used the Chaos Black not just to touch up, but to paint over all of the black primer on areas that I wanted to remain black. I've found the Chaos Black has a little sheen to it, compared to a flat black primer, and this sheen makes for more convincing black metal. You could just use some gloss medium, but since I needed to touch up anyway, it wasn't that much more difficult to repaint all the black.


This step alone took about an hour and 15 minutes, but this is where most of the work is done. Plus at this stage you are painted to a 3-color standard, and sometimes when I am rushing to build a new unit or squad for a tournament, I'll just get to three colors and be good to go.


Next comes the first highlight layer: Knarloc Green, Astronomican Grey, Tausept Ochre and Mirthril Silver.



And now time for the wash: Thraka Green on the skin and Delvin Mud on everything else.





And after that, some final highlights and details to bring it together. Basing is just some Gale Force 9 earth and light brown static grass, to match the rest of my army.





This is the model I submitted to the Waaagh/Bolter and Chainsword painting contest. Zero votes, and rightfully so, there's nothing particularly special about it. Especially compared to the winning entry (although I could have done without the blue stripped pants on that one).


No conversions were allowed in the contest and I wanted to add a power klaw to my Nob, so I did some more work on it. I built the power klaw by scratch from plasticard and tube. I also touched up the metal armor plates, since they didn't turn out black enough for my taste. I also noticed his skin was a little lighter/highlighted compared to the rest of my boys, so I toned it down with another wash of Thraka Green to give it a deep, green glow. With the bosspole, now he's good enough to lead my Boyz into battle.



Total time was about 3 or 3.5 hours, including the PK (which is pretty easy to make), but I did notice I forgot to finish the skull on the bosspole!

Ork Nob Tutorial

Today I will show you how I finished the White Dwarf Nob in about 2 hours. The biggest help whenever painting any type of figure is to plan out your colors before hand. I pulled out all the colors and set them aside from beginning layer to highlight layer, followed by any washes I plan to do. This helps when you are trying to finish off squads and go for the conveyor belt painting. Or machine painting as I sometimes call it. But enough of that, onto the how to and the what the...

Step 1. Basecoat that sucka mc!!! I normally base my figures black. Why? I just like how they look with a darker shade. You can base them white, but I find it makes the metal too shiny. That works great for Fantasy or nice and happy figures, but for the armies I play (Chaos, Orks, Nids, Daemons) black is where it is at. Oh and onto the basing. I used a piece of wood you can find around any trees or plants at office buildings. It is just a cut piece that they use to help keep the soil around the plant. It works out great as a rock. Oh and yeah, I cut off the hair because I don't like hair on my orks for some reason. It just doesn't seem to fit well with me, and thus I wanted a different looking White Dwarf Nob.

Step 2. I've decided to start with the skin tones of the ork. My base color is a Catachan Green. I prefer to use this, because I am not a fan of the super green you normally see orks as. I think that green is just a bit too much, and much prefer the olive tones in Catachan Green as a base coat.

Step 3. From here, I use Knarkloc Green as the beginning of my highlight. I start to build it up in the shapes present on the figure. Luckily, the figure is pretty gnarly and for the most part you can do a sorta dry brush, but with a lot of paint on the brush style. You just take it and basically paint the higher points of the figure with the color. I try to leave the Catachan Green in the recesses, because, after we wash it, those will become much darker and create the shadow needed.

Step 4. Here I add the super highlight for the skin. I use a Camo Green, because again I like the olive tones these colors bring out, and I feel the color is more representative of what an Ork would look like. They are stinky and smelly, and thus not too bright and green. But hey, do whatever you want, this is just how I paint orks heh.

Step 5. I wash the skin in a Thraka Green from the new wash set. The wash darkens all the greens, and creates a harmony in the overall tone. It also creates more colors, due to the fact that the wash as a weight to it and it pulls down into the crevices.

Step 6. I add another highlight of Camo Green to the skin in order to pull up to a brighter highlight. And bamf, we are done with this orks skin.

Step 7. Lets start with the pants of this model. I decided to go with the tried and true brown pants for this ork. I went with brown because, a) it is orky, and b) it isn't too terrible difficult to create a nice leather effect. First layer of brown is Scorched Brown.

Step 8. After that, I start to highlight the pants using Calathan Brown.

Step 9. This is followed by Snakebite Leather.

Step 10. I use Bubonic Brown to finish off the final pants highlights. Just like the skin, I start to paint closer and closer to the highest point on the figure. This way it can create a much more starker highlight and shadow, and thus give you model more omph.

Step 11. Here I add the wash Devlan Mud, to help create a shadows in the pants and around the figure.

Step 12. Now I start with the metal bitz. I have my own method for creating rusted metal and I used the basics for this figure. I always start with a base of Tin Bitz. I use inks later on, and I find the brown and red tints in Tin Bitz to be great for bringing out a nice rusty color.

Step 13. Here I take Boltgun Metal to start to highlight bits of the metal. It is pretty bright, but once you put a wash over it, it brings it down just right.

Step 14. After that, I just use a Flesh Wash Ink to cover the metal bits. There is a lot of brown in this ink, and thus it really creates a nice rusted effect for the metal on the model.

Step 15. After all of that, I take a cheap Antique White, and dry brush over the metal. This helps break up some of the shine from the ink, and creates a nice look for the model I've found. It also gives it some weathering to the model.

Step 16. Now I add details to the figure. I decided to go with a nice counter color for the model. One of the best ways to make a model stick out, is to add a counter color. Something different that breaks up the overall form of the model. Here I decided to go with a nice yellow to help break up the monotony of the figure. I started with a base of Macharius Solar Orange on the shoulder pads of the model.

Step 17. Here is the finish model, after some more dry brushing of Antique white, and finishing touches of Iyanden Darksun on the orange bits to bring it up into the Yellows I wanted. I think the figure came out pretty good, and with the upcoming Nobz in the new starter set coming out, he might fit into a nice Nob squad that rides around in a Battle Wagon.