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So i have a giant bunch of assault on black reach orks and because alot of them look similar i was thinking that to differentiate them from seperate units i would paint tattoos and body paint on them in different colors but im not quite sure how to start. i wanna do either like hand prints ala the lord of the rings style orks or like trible tattoos but i also dont want to screw it up. any suggestions?

Like this?

You could start off with simple lines on faces or bands on arms and work up from there. I have very little free handing experience but that's how I start on text.

The trick to tattoos on models is keeping it simple. Unless you are the steadiest hand, and have the smallest brush, the more complex you make any design the more it will bleed together. I would personally recommend getting the smallest brush possible and practicing on a test model. I would also suggest to keep the paint very light on the brush for added control.

zikko wrote:Like this?

Alot like that yes. Any ideas on the drippy handprints?

Gitstompa wrote:Alot like that yes. Any ideas on the drippy handprints?

Practice. At this scale, they won't have to be perfect anatomical prints, so focus on the basic shape: the palm doesn't lay flat, so paint a c-shape, terminating at the thumb joint; the fingers would leave two elongated dots each, distanced slightly from the hand (the first section of finger doesn't fully touch when you lay your hand flat, due to the thickness of the palm). Oh, and check the GW website for advice. I'm sure they've done a painting article for Uruk-Hai in the LoTR section of the site.

If you want to go the simpler route, I know I've seen a tutorial on the GW website for orky warpaint, Death Skulls style, that looked quite spiffy. It's as simple as painting skin, you're just using a different palette. Pick a section of face, if you aren't doing the whole thing, drop a straight line to mark it off, then (re)paint that section as you would skin, only using shades of red, blue, etc. instead. Solid swaths of face paint are much easier to pull off than finicky tribal tattoos and they'll actually stand out at arm's length.

I'm somewhat limited in my application of tatoos and facepaint, but I can give you a trick or alternate line of thought to think about -

Whenever I need hazards, writing, or other finicky stuff I use a pen/marker. It gives the control I need and doesn't look out of place in the slightest. Obviously you don't want to use a ballpoint, but I found some sort of sharpie-like ultrafines that work wonders.

Somebody once posted that trick when they were describing how they did hazard markings and it changed my life. Well, kind of - I don't use it that often, but I really am grateful for it when I do need to do detail work of that sort.

If you want to do intricate little designs like handprints, my advice is to do the following:

Man up

Accept the fact that you are not a golden demon winner

Make custom decals

Decals are easy to make, look good, don't require years of practice to get right, and require at most about $20-$30 worth of gear if you already have an inkjet printer.

Ghostofman wrote:Decals are easy to make, look good, don't require years of practice to get right, and require at most about $20-$30 worth of gear if you already have an inkjet printer.

I'm a huge fan of making your own decals, but they aren't appropriate for infantry models like Nobs, who have very little in the way of flat space to apply them. Especially not as tattoos on arms and such - no amount of Micro-sol or Mr. Mark Softer is going to make that work. They work great for space marines, tau, and such though.

You're going to need to go with a micron pen, or whatever ultrafine pen equivalent you have access to.

Sounds like a challange Ouze.

I happen to have a Black Reach kit I haven't gotten around to building the Orks from yet and some left over custom decals for my guard army. I'll take a boy out, prime him, and slap a few decals on him to see how it looks. I'll post pictures later tonight/this week and we'll discuss the details then.

You can also get colored pens to make the tatoos. This will have the advantage of crisp lines that don't bleed. Marking over paint may be a bit of a hassle if you're heavy on the pressure or have a pen that doesn't flow easily.