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So, I have started a new project, to have a whole 2000 point Ork army for warhammer 40k, painted by the 1st of october. I don't intend to win any awards, just have a nice looking army fairly soon. I decided I would start a blog about it, mostly for my own benefit to keep track of my progress, and to get critiqued so to improve.

To start, lets preface this by stating that my work is worse then some artists who say their work is "bad" (your awesomeness tells me otherwise!). So getting feedback would be really helpful.

Anyways; the first image is what I have to work on, the second is what I did for today:

Okay. Holy gak. 2000 points in 34 days equals about 60 points a day. Paint 10 Boyz a day, alternate with some vehicles and you'll make it! I'll be following this closely.


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Also, you're not bad. But, there are some things you could improve:

- Thin your paints. You can't believe how important this is. Just add a drop or two to your palette.

- Finish a colour. The teef on the Boy are obviously just a layer of white that you can see through. Kepp on adding watered down layer after watered down layer until you only see the white.

- Same for the metal.

- Shades. You don't need to highlight or anything to make nice models, just add a shade to make it pop a bit more.

Might sound like a lot, but just think about it, and try to do it whenever you paint! Good luck!

Thank you Matthew! I appreciate your advice. Even though today i couldn't implement all of it, mainly because I couldn't get my hands on any new paint today to do the different shades.

So, here is my work for today:

You can do it. Dakka can help.

Yeah, thin your paints. I get that you're trying to paint a lot in 30 days, but if you apply a thin layer and let it dry on Ork Boy # 1, by the time to get down to Ork Boy #10 the first one will be dry. If you plan on coming back and touching each of the models up, then I guess you could make multiple passes. Whatever works for you.

Bring on da Orks!

Thank you, Cleatus! I think I did better on layering and thinning today, though I didn't do a great job taking the pictures. Maybe I'll finish early enough tomorrow to get my dad (Photography is his hobby) to take the pictures again.

Anyways; here is today's batch, it's not 60 points, but if you add the excess points from yesterday, I'm one point over!

Looking nice! I'd recommend getting a shade, I'm not trying to be annoying, but they make everything better. OR, you make one yourself! Just take, say Abaddon blak, put two drops of it in an empty bottle, fill with some water and boom, Nuln Oil. A green shade for the skin could be made by mixing your darkest green with black. Not the best way, but it works until you can get your hands on the good stuff.

Oh, okay! Today i'm going to paint the Stompa, so that'll give me a day or so. If I can't get over to the FLGS before I'm done with the Stompa, I'll do that.

Just...... DO IT!

Make a wash with your black paint- should be almost all water and barely any paint. When you're all done with a standard boy, cover him in this stuff, using a dry brush to wick away any areas where the wash is pooling up too much. It'll settle into the recesses (the teeth, for example) and give the whole model some depth. Also, it'll make them look a bit grimy, like they've been on the Waaaghpath a while. It's a cheap and quick and gives decent results.

Okay, I got my Stompa done! It came out pretty good, I tried to spray paint all the details on this one, but that didn't turn out too good. So I took a big brush and wound up doing all the details by hand.

Okay, I love it! I'm guessing a fancy scratchbuild?

Thank you! And yes, you'd be right. Me and my brother built it back before there was a standard model for them.

I admire your ambition, my friend! Stellar work so far; it's tough to stay motivated when painting Orks (there's so many small details!) but it can be done.

I think Matthew's advice is pretty much spot on. Your models will look immeasurably better with a couple of washes, namely: Agrax Earthshade and, as mentioned, Nuln Oil.

If you're feeling really ambitious then have a look at GW's YouTube tutorial for Ork skin where they use a wash called Biel-Tan green. I've had some pretty good results with it.

Good luck with your project!

Thanks, NidLifeCrisis!

I made a homemade wash with black paint and distilled water; what do you guys think? (Also, seeing as how many points I finished with the Stompa, I'm giving myself time on the next few. Expect my next picture sometime tomorrow or the next day.)

Now dat Boy looks pretty darn good! Amazing what a wash can do. Keep going!

I have finished my blitza-bommer, to herald in the new month.

Unfortunately it seems I missed yesterday. It's just as well, I'm so many points ahead with the stompa anyways. But that attitude won't paint an army, so I continue on. Also, today I finally managed to get over to the FLGS, and got some new paint and real Nuln Oil shade.

Hej man! Good to see you're still going strong.

I like that Painboy conversion; he looks suitably vicious and a scalpel short of a set etc etc.

What's the story with the blue base rims? Are they to mark out your boyz as Deffskullz? I have to admit I'm not greatly enamoured of them... I find them a bit distracting from the models themselves.

Originally, yes. The bases are blue because the accents are blue. I started the blue color scheme years ago in early 5th edition, now i'm stuck with it even though I don't really have them as deffskullz anymore (In the lore I made up for them they are Freebooters) and would much prefer another scheme, maybe orange? But to do that would be so much work that I have never really wanted to do it.

Anyways, what color would you recommend for the bases?

I dabbled with 'Doombull Brown' for a while but I've actually settled with 'Steel Legion Drab'. I think that's what GW usually uses for its display models. It doesn't steal the model's thunder and seems to go well with pretty much any type of basing!

For my bases I also use a few of Army Painter's 'Highland Tufts'. They're ridiculously easy to use and look awesome!

Thanks for the advice, Nid! I'll keep my eyes peeled for those things.

Anyways, I'm taking a bit of a break today (I'm so tired!). So in my half-break, I'm experimenting with different color schemes other than blue. The results are below, as well as what I painted yesterday.

I kind off like the red one, but that's mostly because I want them to be I 4 :(

I like the Blue and Red. The white seems to clean for the Boyz. Nothing says all your Boyz have to look the same! Do each unit a different colour if you like. It'll help you know which unit is which if the charge the same gitz!

Liking the army. Especially how the Stompa looks like a BIG! Dread

Keep up the good work. It inspires me to paint more of my stuffs.

Finished some boys. I think I'm going to go with the blue, TBH. The other colors just don't impress me enough to go to all the trouble of changing. @lain: I guess so, but I guess I just like the idea of all of them having one color uniform. I don't know, I very well might do that anyways, but not until I get another color I really like.

Also, I'm changing up the way I'm doing this month. Doing sixty points a day is just far too tiring, and I'm getting sloppy. So I counted up my models, and if I'm diligent enough to do one everyday, I can finish in time and do it right.

One per day is still an admirable goal. I've been chipping away at a squad of Gretchin for over a month. You can do it!!

Thanks, Cleatus. But unfortunately, I have already fallen short of my goal! Couldn't get my second trukk finished today, but that's not too surprising (It's a big model, after all). Anyways, I thought I would post a WiP shot for my progress today. I know it's not much, I had a rather tiring day.

Hey min, 60pts a day is a hard slog for Orks. That could be 10 Boyz. I'm lucky if I manage that in 10 days.

Trukk is looking good, it's a pretty detailed kit. I like the white/blue pattern on the front. Brave guy painting it in one. Good luck min!

Alright guys, I have an announcement to make:

I think i'm going to end my Month of Orks early. Sorry guys, but over the past few weeks I have decided that for anything bigger then a boy one day is simply not enough time to paint them as good as they ought to be. You see, I started this project just coming back to the hobby from several years of doing other things, And I learned that painting and modeling is really my favorite part of the hobby after all. So I no longer want to get my units done fast, I really want to get them done well. I'll Make a new blog, probably named "Lazzamore's General-purpose Blog".

Don't sweat it man, it was an ambitious project. I give you a lot of credit for knowing what you want. I'm right there with you. As tempting as it is to rush painting a bunch of models, I want my minis painted to my satisfaction. If that means spending a couple hours on one basic troop, then I guess that's OK because I'm happy with the results.

Post a link to your new blog here. Or just re-purpose this one. Whatever works for you.

Well, it was good while it lasted. Kudos to you though, you've painted about 1200 points in 15-ish days. That's great! I'll follow your next plog closely.