How I Paint Ork Skin

Over the years, I’ve had quite a few people ask me how I do my ork skin. After a few failed attempts to document, I’ve finally succeeded. Here’s how I do my orks…

A few notes: Ork hide is a great replacement for Dark Angels Green. I didn’t stop using it all together, just differently. The Dark Green Ink (which they no longer sell…) has been replaced with the DA Green, but as a wash between the Goblin and Scorpion Greens. I prefer the color transition this gives better than the inks did. The paint based wash also dries faster!

I don’t use straight water to thin my paints – no, not snobbery, just that I have a premixed bottle of some additives taht do things to the paint and I don’t have to measure each out all the time. Although I usually add more water through the brush as I’m painting, adjusting as I go depending on what the paint is doing on my palette.

Here’s my mix… 50% Water, 25% Golden (brand) Acrylic Flow Release and 25% Magic Wash MIx (4:1 Water/Mop-n-Glow).
I thin the paint down about 1:2 or 2:1 (Paint/Mix) as a starter, then adjust w/water untill it flows from the brush nicely.

The rest is pretty much standard. In the darker greens I paint almost the entire muscle by grouping, leaving the small areas in the deepest recesses primer black. When I get to Golbin Green Istart leaving the bottom of the muscles alone, concentrating on the tops and middle of the muscle. Buy the time I get to the Scorpion Green, I’m only hitting the very tops of the muscle, where direct overhead light would hit it. All of these layers are put down at least twice. If your paint is thinned and applied correctly, it dried fairly fast.

The final step is the Dullcote layer. It’s a flat spray sealer from Testors. If you’re in the US you can find it in almost any hobby store. The UK recently banned it due to the tolune content but sounds like there’s a non-tolune based version in the works. The two most important things to remember about Dullcote is #1: everything will be duller, including all highlights. I always bring my higlights up at least one step past where I want it. Notice how in the photo above, the Scorpion Green is not as bright as the second to last step. And #2: Dullcote is your friend bacuase it can do some of your \”blending\” of layers for you. I think the diffusion of the matte layer helps fool the eye a bit into thinking two close colors are smoother than they really are.

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial about my ork skin. When I do my special units like Warboss, Big Mek, etc. I use these same steps but with many, many more steps and thinner layers to mke a more gradual change in the colors. I’ll try to show you on my current warboss project (if I remember to take pictures!)

Sukigod