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Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut





Been thinking about Orks a lot recently ha! But I don’t think I have even seen someone use a bit of creative licence and paint Orks a different colour. Seems odd that they were all the same colour.

There used to be black Orks in WFB and I think there was a similar 40K option in 2nd but they did not have black skin, more like green skin with an nuln oil gloss.
   
Made in ca
Gargantuan Gargant






There's actually a fair bit of people online that have painted Orks in different colours, many of them go red, or blue to show they come from specific planets with weird radiation or harsh weather conditions.

But generally, it's various shades of green mainly because of the fungus/algae aspect of their physiology that Orks are green AFAIK. And given how hardy and resilient Ork bodies are, I'm presuming it requires prolonged exposure and intense environmental conditions for them to permanently change their skin pigment.

You could just as easily have Orks paint themselves head to toe in one colour though, Deffskullz already borderline do it with the colour blue.
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






I've seen them of many colours and the ones that look "right" are the greens and yellow/greens. Whilst things like blue and red have been made, I'm not really sold by them.

Fluffwise, I think they are universally green, though I recall some older fluff saying that the bigger and stronger they get the darker their skin goes, until it is almost black. This is why gretchin are a much paler green.

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Willing Inquisitorial Excruciator






The fluff is that orks are green because they do photosynthesis IIRC. That said in the novel gunheads the orks are brown. It’s explained as some kind of mutation to better cope with the local environment. Think it’s rust in the sand or something.

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Longtime Dakkanaut





 Nerak wrote:
The fluff is that orks are green because they do photosynthesis IIRC. That said in the novel gunheads the orks are brown. It’s explained as some kind of mutation to better cope with the local environment. Think it’s rust in the sand or something.


So do Orks die if they are denied UV light? But they are fungi, which are not plants and do not photosynthesise. Mushrooms are more closely related to animals than plants in terms of evolutionary history.
   
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Implacable Skitarii




mrFickle wrote:


So do Orks die if they are denied UV light? But they are fungi, which are not plants and do not photosynthesise. Mushrooms are more closely related to animals than plants in terms of evolutionary history.


Orks by 'dex descriptions are more like lichens - i.e. symbiotic algae and fungus organisms, mycobionts with possible parasitism (where fungal cells are 'masters' and algae are 'slaves').
OTOH photosynthesis is definitely NOT main energy source for orks, as any squig farmer and mushroom cooker gretchin (and surviving human captives) can attest. So without light orkz most probably will either just have a bit less endurance - or just get hungry quicker (and possibly change coloration a bit from prolonged period in darkness - become paler most probably).

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Made in au
Longtime Dakkanaut





The algae in ork blood and skin is a symbiotic organism. Their reproductive cycle is a fungal spore based one that grows underground and 'fruits' an ork.

The algae is the reason that orks are green.


On earth, there are many different colours of algae:

https://utex.org/products/teaching-kit-colors-of-algae

So you could conceivably paint them a wide variey of colours. I'm surprised they never decided to make the Klan affiliation of an ork literally embedded in their skin - so that bad moonz were yellowy green, deathskulls bluey green etc.


On the other hand ork DNA seems to be fairly stable, so perhaps they never deviate away from green due to that.


I'm all for different algal coloured orks though.



   
Made in tw
Regular Dakkanaut





Weren’t there some Khorne influenced ones who became red in terms of complexion?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/15 05:25:33


 
   
Made in au
Battlewagon Driver with Charged Engine





 Cognitive wrote:
Weren’t there some Khorne influenced ones who became red in terms of complexion?


Could just be old blood on them from prior fights. Orks aren't exactly known for hygiene are they?
   
Made in tw
Regular Dakkanaut





cody.d. wrote:
 Cognitive wrote:
Weren’t there some Khorne influenced ones who became red in terms of complexion?


Could just be old blood on them from prior fights. Orks aren't exactly known for hygiene are they?

I remember reading their spores were turning red, and that those guys were worshipping Khorne in secret like some edgy blood cultists...however, I just don’t get why Orks would resort to worshipping Khorne as G&M are more powerful and already provided them with a ton of WAAAGH.
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut





What would be interesting is to see what some really kunnin Orks would look like if they started to worship tzeench


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Hellebore wrote:
The algae in ork blood and skin is a symbiotic organism. Their reproductive cycle is a fungal spore based one that grows underground and 'fruits' an ork.

The algae is the reason that orks are green.


On earth, there are many different colours of algae:

https://utex.org/products/teaching-kit-colors-of-algae

So you could conceivably paint them a wide variey of colours. I'm surprised they never decided to make the Klan affiliation of an ork literally embedded in their skin - so that bad moonz were yellowy green, deathskulls bluey green etc.




On the other hand ork DNA seems to be fairly stable, so perhaps they never deviate away from green due to that.


I'm all for different algal coloured orks though.




Yeah you could do some very interesting colours with some red or blue filters

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/15 07:51:55


 
   
Made in gb
Frenzied Berserker Terminator




Southampton, UK

I remember orks (fantasy though I think) being featured in an old GW 'how to paint miniatures' book, where they were done with a weird high-contrast scheme that I think was a bluey-grey base, then overbrushed with red, then drybrushed with white. Looked very odd, and definitely not the traditional green.
   
Made in gb
Incorporating Wet-Blending




U.k

The ones in gunhead had absorbed red pigment from the dust on the planet. Would happen to the humans too if rust lung didn’t kill them first.

40K is a massive setting and you can do what you like. No excuses needed. But to me any ORK not green looks weird and the “wrong” colour. But they aren’t my ORKS. They’re yours so paint them how you like.
   
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Dakka Veteran




chyron wrote:
mrFickle wrote:


So do Orks die if they are denied UV light? But they are fungi, which are not plants and do not photosynthesise. Mushrooms are more closely related to animals than plants in terms of evolutionary history.


Orks by 'dex descriptions are more like lichens - i.e. symbiotic algae and fungus organisms, mycobionts with possible parasitism (where fungal cells are 'masters' and algae are 'slaves').
OTOH photosynthesis is definitely NOT main energy source for orks, as any squig farmer and mushroom cooker gretchin (and surviving human captives) can attest. So without light orkz most probably will either just have a bit less endurance - or just get hungry quicker (and possibly change coloration a bit from prolonged period in darkness - become paler most probably).


The ork in Xenology went yellow after being confined to a concrete cell for an extended period of time to looks like you are right with your suggestion at the end, though YMMV how canon. Xenology is these days.
   
Made in us
Hardened Veteran Guardsman




My wife's Orky Army are pink...the Ork Grrrls. "Da Pink Ones are Invisible" is their logic because no one ever saw a pink ork. The oomies called them "girls" which must be a tribute to their monstrous strength and the fear these "grrrls" cause the oomies...so they took the name.

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Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut





slade the sniper wrote:
My wife's Orky Army are pink...the Ork Grrrls. "Da Pink Ones are Invisible" is their logic because no one ever saw a pink ork. The oomies called them "girls" which must be a tribute to their monstrous strength and the fear these "grrrls" cause the oomies...so they took the name.

-STS


Excellent
   
Made in us
The Conquerer






Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios

Canonically, they are all shades of green. But there is a lot of potential variation here. Green could vary from almost brown at its lightest to almost black at its darkest, and indeed it is said that the bigger and stompier orks get the darker they get.

Orks are technically a Fungus, which are neither plant nor animal but are closer to animal, with a symbiotic algae that gives them their green color. The overall Orkoid 'species' also encompasses all ork life forms. Normal Orks, boys, nobs, bosses, various oddboyz, etc... But also Gretchen, the various fungus that orks farm for food/other resources, squigs, squiggoths, etc... They are all the same Orkoid lifeform, just in different variation as dictated by their genetic coding and gestalt consciousness.

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Made in ca
Yellin' Yoof on a Scooter





Recall an old White Dwarf article where there were ‘greenskins’ of different regions of the Old World that had all sorts of different colors. This was seen a result of genetic adaptation to the local the environmental conditions (e.g. heat). They are the ultimate survivors!


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Made in it
Perfect Shot Dark Angels Predator Pilot





Sesto San Giovanni, Italy

On a connected topic are there green Squig?
And the squiggoth is an overgrown Squig, or a different species?

I never get the lore hidden behind the red Squid (I get from a modelling point of view: red is the perfect color to contrast green)

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Longtime Dakkanaut




 Cybtroll wrote:
On a connected topic are there green Squig?
And the squiggoth is an overgrown Squig, or a different species?

I never get the lore hidden behind the red Squid (I get from a modelling point of view: red is the perfect color to contrast green)


Squig is a catch-all term and is short for Squiggly Beast. There are many different species of squig, which the Orks use in different ways including as false hair or beards since Orks are naturally hairless. There are some species that are useful for riding, and some can grow to immense sizes (the Squiggoths).

In the old Rogue Trader and pre-2nd edition days, Orks could field bases of squigs and GW had bases painted in a whole range of colors but perhaps later they felt it was too colorful and garish and stopped showing them.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/07/12 10:12:39


 
   
Made in gb
Moustache-twirling Princeps




United Kingdom

Iracundus wrote:
In the old Rogue Trader and pre-2nd edition days, Orks could field bases of squigs and GW had bases painted in a whole range of colors but perhaps later they felt it was too colorful and garish and stopped showing them.
It was also mentioned that some(?) squigs were Tyranid beasts based on Orks that reverted back to following Orks rather than the Hive Mind (IIRC).
   
Made in gb
Battleship Captain





Bristol (UK)

I don't like the idea that they're tyranid beasts and I think GW has backed off of that.

There was a time where they were saying basically any wild aggressive beast was a subset of tyranid, but they've moved away from that a bit.
   
Made in gb
Stalwart Tribune





There are definately purple ones. somewhere. I just cant see them...



Green is best because Orks are green.

Blue is lucky.

Black is dead 'ard.

White is deadly.

Purple is sneaky because you've never seen a purple ork.

Yellow is flashy, both with explosions and with fancy gubbins.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/07/12 20:26:50


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Made in nl
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 Cybtroll wrote:
On a connected topic are there green Squig?
And the squiggoth is an overgrown Squig, or a different species?

I never get the lore hidden behind the red Squid (I get from a modelling point of view: red is the perfect color to contrast green)

Pretty sure that "squig" is just the generic Ork term for a wide range of "Orky" animals rather than being a single species. Hence the radically different anatomy of Squiggoths or Stikksquigs or other squig types compared to the "standard" Squig.
So aside from red Squigs and green Squiggoths, there might be other color species of squig as well.

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Made in de
Battlefield Tourist






Nuremberg

There are brown, purple and red leaves which photosynthesize here on Earth. I don't think it's too big of a stretch to imagine Orks who have differing algal pigmentation that results in different skin colours given the size of the galaxy and the general diversity of the Orks.

   
Made in us
Shadowy Grot Kommittee Memba






I believe the old fluff for ork genestealer cults is that other orks dont trust them because they aren't green.

My personal headcanon is that the brainboyz, whoever they were, had green skin and knew that green skin was unusual for a sapient species (knew of eldar, necrontyr at least that did not have green skin). and therefore when engineering the orks, they engineered in a distrust for non-green skinned sapient creatures as a way to keep them from falling under the control of eldar or necrontyr.

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I usually look at it in my persoinal head canon as humans live on earth like planets. most plants on earth have green leaves likely because is what grows best in the lightwaves on the imperial planets. I know other plant colors can grow here in fact I have red chard, purple Bok Chow and blue Kale in my own garden, but most things being green seems to have been the dominant trait for a reason.

I also like to think of orks in other environments changing colors to fit whatever the most efficient color would be to take light and convert it into energy.

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Made in gb
Mad Gyrocopter Pilot





Northumberland

Green Iz Best or so I hear.

I liked that bit of lore that said Cadians had purple irises because of their closeness to the Eye of Terror. It would be cool to see some Orkses that spawned near the Great Rift that looked a bit different like.

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on the forum. Obviously

mrFickle wrote:
Been thinking about Orks a lot recently ha! But I don’t think I have even seen someone use a bit of creative licence and paint Orks a different colour. Seems odd that they were all the same colour.

There used to be black Orks in WFB and I think there was a similar 40K option in 2nd but they did not have black skin, more like green skin with an nuln oil gloss.

Black Orcs weren't black. They were just a dark shade of green and wore black armor.

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Italy

On the hobby and painting side I've seen a lots of blue orks, also seen one army where it was blue face paint braveheart style that I've always wanted to try in the future.

I've seen Red Orks once with some desert bone drybrushing, they looked neat.
   
 
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