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I've been working on Ork on and off for the past three or four years. I've collected a huge array of models and have committed to painting an entire army many times over, each time coming back with a new painting style and determination to actually finish this time around. A little while back, after the release of the new GW Washes, I thought it would be about time to retry my hand at my first love. After nearly a dozen different combinations of washes, inks, foundations, and paints, I finally settled on a Ork hide I can be proud of. My previous trials were pretty lousy, to be perfectly honest. Let me give you a quick rundown on my Ork painting history.


This is my first incarnation of an Ork. At the time, I was particularly proud of the eyes. I managed to churn out about 50 ladz before realizing that the paint quality was pretty sub par. I was still fairly fresh into the hobby, but even by my standards of the day, I was far from my best work.



A year or so later, after being bitten by the Ork bug again, I began to work on more "realistic" looking Orks. I switched a majority of my paints to Testors for their more earthy and real tones. My goal was to vary the skin tone in which my Orks had, and to keep the clothing and hide very muted. The result was in meeting of my goals, but was a far cry from what I expected. I managed to churn out 30 of these puppies before realizing that no details could be noticed when playing tabletop. From any angle, during play, they just seemed like a huge mob of dark, muted figured. I realized then that in a game of fantasy, painting realistic just wasn't quite practical.




After the launch of Codex: Orks this spring, my enthusiasm for Orks reemerged. While at first greatly disappointing with the Codex, I eventually fell back into the swing of Ork building. Deciding to start from scratch, purchased a box of boyz and began to paint. After my last attempt with Orks, I approached this project with a goal in mind. To make my Orks more standard and vivid for the table. While I wanted a less traditional green hide for my Orks, I wanted something that when I began to amass a large number of boyz, green would be the prominent color on my side of the table. After a dozen trails of green wash and paint combinations, I finally settled on one of the most simple of applications. It came down to a white primer, a Camo Green base, three washes of Thraka Green wash, and then a watered down buildup of highlights of Camo Green again. I immediately fell in love with the color. It was still gritty, bright, but not too clean.

When I paint, I typically created a demo piece in which I take a great deal of time and effort painting. I use this piece as both the standard scheme and the bar on to which ever model to follow much obtain. Here is the first of my newest Orks.


I have slowly began to paint more Orks, and during the painting process, have decided to add additional items to unify the models as a whole which would be visible on the table. In the traditional Goff theme, I decided to go with black and which check patterns. My following two Orks have these applied and I added them to the demo piece. Check em out.



I also decided to take some more time on my bases as well, because even with my original models, I have always felt that a model is either completed or left lacking by the quality of the base. I decided a desert theme was fitting with the fluff of my army and have produced over 20 variations so far.

Overall, I believe this is a project I will actually complete. I have longed for a completely painted Ork army in which I could be proud of. I will keep you all posted as to the progress and greatly welcome any comments or questions.

For all interested, below is the 750 core army list I am building towards.
750 Pts - Orks Roster - Waaagh! Skraga

1 (Warboss) Da Grand Ova Tyrant Gul Skraga @ 105 Pts
Power Klaw; Slugga; Stikkbombs; Furious Charge; Mob Rule; Waaagh!; 'Eavy Armour; Attack Squig

29 (Boyz) Da Gor Boyz @ 245 Pts
Choppa & Slugga; Rokkit Launcha (x3); Furious Charge; Mob Rule; Waaagh!
1 (Nob) Boss Kruk @ [41] Pts
Power Klaw; Slugga; Furious Charge; Mob Rule; Waaagh!

20 (Boyz) Da Dakka Boyz @ 130 Pts
Big Shoota (x2); Shoota; Furious Charge; Mob Rule; Waaagh!

3 Killy Kan'az @ 120 Pts
Dreadnought CCW; Skorcha (x3)

1 Da Zzap Gunz @ 90 Pts
Zzap Gun (x3)
6 Da Krew @ [0] Pts

1 Da Booma Gunz @ 60 Pts
Kannon (x3)
6 Da Uvver Krew @ [0] Pts

Total Roster Cost: 750

Those are fantastic looking boyz there. Very impressed with your results, can you expand a bit on your painting technique? I particularly like the many shades of color in the skin tones.

Another nice touch is the 'ork applied' paint on the rokkit and done on the checks. Really looks like the boyz painted it on themselves.

Great job so far, and I look forward to your progress. An ork army done to this nice standard would be a treat to see! Thanks for posting.

love it, great detail on every model, makes em all stand out.
quick Q.
how long does it take you on average to paint a slugga boy?
im thinking alot of time.
but a whole army painted like this deserves to win something.

Thanks for the comments.

@GrimTeef: The method is actually quite simple. I apply a based coat of Camo Green over a while primer. Then, I apply three layers of the Thraka Green wash, allowing each layer to try before applying the next. Then, I begin to build a highlight using slightly watered down Camo Green. First, I paint a light layer over the washed green, and build off each layer towards the most raised edge. This build up of Camo Green gives the effect of several shades and a smooth transition between light and dark.

Thanks for the comment about the checks and such, because thats exactly the effect I was going for. Some of the GW studio Orks have their patterns painted on with such precision that it seems unlikely it was painted by an actual Ork, and I was going for a rougher, more random feel to it, as through it was actually painted by the hand of an Ork.

@JD21290: I'm always refining my method. My demo Ork took me roughtly 5 hours, but each subsequent Ork only took me roughly 2 hours each, although I'm currently painting in batches to make greater progress. I would be extremely proud if I am able to finish a 50+ model army with my current painting scheme. I'm trying my best to keep up steam on the subject, and not let the drive peeter into shelving the project.

I love this thread! ive had the exact same problem with my orks and i love your paint scheme. how do you get your checks so straight and even? everything aside those boyz look fantastic

I love the skin tones. Much better than the bright green skin on most Orks. It definitely gives them a sense of realism and combined with the other colors choices really works well for the models.

The skin tones are fantastic.

I especially like the tankbusta. Very nice indeed.

ive never seen so goodly painted orkies and their sking was just so amazing gratz!

lovely. too many people i play with have extreme high lights on the skin, like goblin green straight to skull white!

these look great

Great looking progress on the orks. I particularly like the warpaint on the faces.

Thanks for sharing.

Looks awesome. The bases are totally killer, as well. Looking forward to more pictures.

Wow, brilliant work!! I love your final incarnation, particularly the axe raised guy, those boots and pants are just perfect!!! I'll be really pleased if my guys come even close to this, I can usually come up with a decent skin but on my models the trousers and boots just get sort of lost, those are spot on, especially with the weathered dust/mud up the boots!!!

Really really good, well done!!

holy shnikeys! That is a gorgeous army, one of the best ork armies i have ever seen. Well done!

Thank you again all for the positive comments about the army. I am pretty proud of my current work. I'm currently finishing up with two more boyz, then I'm going to get busy on designing some Zzap Gunz and Kannons. Orks are anything but standard, and I just don't feel right in buying three of the same peices. So, as soon as I've drawn up some sketches, I'll post them ASAP for some insight and feedback.

Awesome work. Your Orks are more or less exactly how I envision mine when they are "perfect". Me being a beginner, I'm ways off, but you've certainly arrived there.
Well done!

sweet paint job .

they have to bethe best painted orks ive seen to dat, i think i speak for everyone when i say, enter the golden daemon
you will win hands down.

please!!! tell me how you do those checks. they are perfect !

Finished another small set of Orks boyz recently. Will get a group shot posted as soon as I can. I'm going to turn my attention on building up some Kanz and some converted Zzap Gunz and Kannonz. I began work on a Warboss a few years back and while he still needs a great deal of work, I thought I'd show it for some constructive criticism.





He's very plain, I know, which is why I'm asking the Dakka community for some help on what you would like to see added or changed with Warboss Skraga.

maybe have him holding a bloody head?

Okay, some have asked me about how I go about painting Ork skin and how I do the checks patterns on the boyz. Well, I'm still working on a build-up for the skin, but the checks are fairly simple so I'll go ahead and get started with that.

First, I begin by painting the intended area black. Simple enough.


I then horizontally stripe the area with marker lines using thinned Codex Grey. I don't really bother with a second set of perpendicular lines because I want the pattern to have a rough hand-painted feel.


Next, I lightly blotch on some thinned Codex Gray in my intended blocks. As you can see, I do not bother with trying to keep in any lines or form sharp edges. Any mistakes at any point but the end are left to be cleaned up later.


I build up the following layer with thinned Fortress Gray, focusing more on the inner part of the block.


Finally, I apply a layer of thinned Skull White, focusing primarily on the inner area of the block. I then use near straight Skull White to brighten the center areas for a vivid white look.


Finally, Chaos, being the great equalizer, I use Chaos Black to fix any and all mistakes I may have (definitely) made during the paint work. I define my blocks more sharply at this point.


At this point, I'm basically done, but I like to add some defects and scrapes and wearing on my pattern. This is done by applying Chaos Black over the intended area and then a applying either Chainmail or Boltgun Metal, leaving a thin outline of black showing.


There you have it. A quick and dirty rundown. More to come, hopefully.

just how i paint my checks

warboss: love the black ork banner head (would look great on the ghaz. model) and love the old skool power klaw even more

only thing i can think of is raising him a bit, a small bit of scenery on his base to make im stand out.

this doesent compare, but i got bored, so heres my pathetic attempt at an ork lol, didnt want to go with a basic jawplate, so i improvised.

I think if you found a cool squig model you could also include him on the base? and those checks are awesome thanks for the tutorial! Cant wait to see more.

Thank you very much for that tutorial on painting checks!

I've basically avoided any and all checks on my Orks so far, but for my group of Nobz i'm doing and the new Warboss I was thinking of finally attempting them.

Your method is perfect, because the checks aren't exactly uniform, and do look hand painted. The addition of the scratches and defects on the checks only helps to make it look more Orky.

I didn't have time to get the pics worked up for my Skin painting tutorial, but I did manage to complete a small project I've been working on for a little while. I, like many, have a GW Army Case. However, I was always a bit grieved with the Emperor's Aquila always mocking me as I looked upon it. Then, with much Ork like thinking, I thought the best thing to do was to Orky it up a bit. I drew the following picture a while back as I should have been paying attention in one of my courses.



Using it as a template, I give you the following. It still needs paint, but it came out pretty much as I envisioned it. The things you can do with plasticard, eh?

Very nice DaBoss, the smooth value of the Ork skin is awesome. Thanks for sharing your recipe, and also the step by step on the checkering! I remember doing some green/blue checkering on the helmet of a friend's warboss a couple years ago, and it was hard keeping them straight then. Don't know how GW gets theirs so clean (tape maybe?) I could see some red and white checkering a bit, do you make that the same way you do the standard white and black?

Actually, I have never tried Red and White checkering, although I'd imagine doing it in the same manner as I have demonstrated, only building up with Scab Red, Red Gore, and finally Blood Red. This process would probably have to be done before the application of White, although it makes any clean-up job with a base color much more difficult.

Really nice skin on the new guys! And I've always been a fan of the checks pattern

Just so happens I've been fiddling with orks recently.

migsula wrote:

Just so happens I've been fiddling with orks recently.

You dirty !!!

Amazing job man. The skin looks fantastic and easily stands out with the neutral brown clothing. Quite inspiring. I have the same problem of trying to make my models too realistic (which ends up having them not really POP at all on the battlefield and looking boring..) so maybe I need to just give it a rest and try out your method of slightly exaggerating colors to bring my models to life.

Also, on a side note, I was bummed to see you lose the white paint on their chins. I thought that was a super cool touch on your earlier models! (That's actually how I found these - while googling orks for painting ideas, they just looked hard core!)

P.S. Sorry for the Necro, this just seemed like a great little collage of painting evolution and I thought others (and of course myself) would be interested to see if you've made any more progress in your goal of a completed army..