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Skin tones and pigments in biology are achieved by multiple highly transparent layers over blood and muscle. This idea of transparent layering is what gives the best Hollywood monsters their realism.

In LOTR, Gino Acevedo created the skin-tones for Gollum by adopting this method and rendering layer after layer of fine transparent pigments over the digital musculoskeletal creation. The result was brilliant!

When I began my ork army, I wanted to go for a sense or realism rather than fantasy. Eavy Metal’s skin, although cool and well painted, just looks fake to me. The classic method of progressively finer and lighter highlights over raised muscle areas creates a great look, but not one that makes you believe the arm could bend, and the skin flex. So just wasn’t for me.

After some research, great tips online, and experimenting I came up with the following method which uses semi-transparent layerings and hopefully achieves a bit more realism.

This is by no means ‘the best’ or ‘the best painted’ ork skin, and as far as I know might not be original to me - but as I’ve gotten so much from this forum I just want to give something back and maybe this will help someone!

Thanks for listening to my long-winded intro, here's what I do:

Paints used:
Chaos Black
Bleached Bone
Devlan Mud (wash)
Thraka Green (wash)
Goblin Green

(Stages will be in separate replies - please scroll down to see the complete tutorial)



Stage 1.
Base the model however you feel. I used Chaos Black spray here. I would usually use a 50.50 chaos black & water and brush it on as I find the spay doesn’t provide a smooth enough painting surface, but never-mind.

Paint the skin areas with 30.70 mix of bleached bone and water. You may want two coats to get even coverage.

Nice the same concept I like to try to apply to flesh as well, interesting to see how it'll pan out on Orks.

Stage 2.
Cover the dry bleached bone with a heavy layer of Devlan Mud wash. For ork Nobz (with darker skin) I would give the skin two coats.

Stage 3.
Add a fine coat of Thrakka Green wash (slighly heavier for Nobz/Warbosses etc.)

Stage 3.5
Add a second, slightly heavier but still fine coat of Thraka Green wash.

(n.b. - on this and the last stage, by fine I mean tiny bit on a detail brush & dab it on refilling the tip regularly. Its a much clearer or more transparent layer than a regular wash coat. This will be necessary for the layers of pigment to show through.)

Stage 4
Add a very fine coat of Devlan Mud wash. I would usually do this stage after I finished painting the teeth, eyes, metal, straps, & clothes too so the whole model holds together.

Stage 5
Add some very fine highlighting of Goblin Green (60.40 with water) to the highest raised areas, particularly on the face.

Stage 6
Finish the skin with a fine coat of an equal mix of Thraka Green, Devlan Mud, and water.

Optional Stage 7 - Body Camo (for fellow blood axe players)

With a fine brush give several fine lines (with tapered edges) of chaos black (50.50 water).

Repeat this process with 50.50 graveyard earth/water, making sure you cross the previous lines at some point.

Repeat that with a 50.50 bleached bone mix.

You might want to add another very fine coat of Devlan Mud.

I think your definition of easy, is an understatement.

i dont understand the purpose of stage 2 -3 surely the devlan mud is just washed out by the darker green wash?


in comparisson
my easy technique for orc skin

basecoat black spray
use any light green paint (your choice of supplier)
thakka green wash

There is an optional stage that follows of highlighting with any brighter green, but i dont often do this.

Other examples from my army.

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/6091/ork2.jpg

I thought my skin was quite effective, and also very simple. This is my first mini ever by the way. ^

Goblin Green base
Thraka Green wash
Scorpion Green drybrush

Maybe not the best looking, but it is simple!

brainscan wrote:I think your definition of easy, is an understatement.

i dont understand the purpose of stage 2 -3 surely the devlan mud is just washed out by the darker green wash?


in comparisson
my easy technique for orc skin

basecoat black spray
use any light green paint (your choice of supplier)
thakka green wash

There is an optional stage that follows of highlighting with any brighter green, but i dont often do this.

Hi.

This method is all about transparent shading/layering. If you take out stages 2&3, the model will look different. The skin tone will be brighter and there will be a sharper contrast in the recesses rather than a smooth transition. The brown should show through if you use the washes correctly.

Thanks for your comparison, definitely simpler but I'm sure still effective!

Cheers

h.

It is easy though.

What a technique like this can also do is allow you to have a diverse amount of tones to the skin by altering the ratio of the washes, adding to a horde like this while maintaining some form of uniformity as well.

n0t_u wrote:It is easy though.

What a technique like this can also do is allow you to have a diverse amount of tones to the skin by altering the ratio of the washes, adding to a horde like this while maintaining some form of uniformity as well.

yup

Also - if you change the bleached bone to begin with you can create really cool subtle tone changes. Good ones are light reds and yellows.

my way of ork skin is no where near as effective but is very simple
here we go,

stage 1

mix up orkhide shade 50.50 with water and undercoat the models with this through a spray gun

stage 2

dry brush over it with goblin green

stage 3

highlight any high points or veins with scorpion green

that's it really

You'll get smoother. Transitions and better looking skin if you start with a lighter color and wash versus dry brushing over a dark color. Dry brushing works well for mechanical stuff but tends to looks dusty on flesh.

I started my orks by dry brushing like that but was never happy with the results. Washes ftw.

I've recently painted 30 boyz using this method. Skin took 2 days. - Definitely gets quicker the more you do it. - I wish I had some better pics. Hmmm.