A slowly growing Waaagh!

[Tex]

Slightly better pictures:

This trio took me ages to complete, but let me experiment some "modern" techniques I'd have never considered before my last painting hiatus, such as zenithal lighting.
Next in line (still not 100% sure) is a nice unreleased hooded orc provided by the notorious fsf ebay seller, now apparently vanished.

 

[Ketil Trout]

We might have to wait a while between updates, but its always worth it. Your painting is beautiful, basing and scenery is great and your backgrounds atmospheric. Looking forward to more in the future, also still have a goblin sitting on my desk staring impatiently, will sort him out soon. Beautiful orcs indeed.

 

[Pumpkineater]

stunning paintjobs and atmopshere, I love it tons.

 

[Tex]

Thank you both for your kind words, they're really much appreciated

@Andrew:
I'm looking forward to seeing your goblin, but don't worry and take your time...it'll always be shorter than mine (oops, this doesn't sound quite complimentary, does it )

Speaking of new projects, I started working on the new orc, an unreleased variant of this classic archer:

It has basically the same body and face, but with the hood on and an eye-patch.
Strangely enough, the unreleased variant is bulkier than the commonly available one.
After two orcs dressed in chainmail I decided to paint this one as it sports proper clothes and will allow me to use more vivid colours.
Speaking of which, I'm open to suggestions: what do you think could work better? Bright or desaturated tones? But primarily: which colours to use for the hood and the tunic?
At the moment I'm inclined towards a bright tone, with a carmine red for the hood and a turquoise blue for the tunic, which should contrast well with the green of the flesh.

I also started working at recreating this classic conversion by (I think) Colin Dixon: I've got all the components needed - even down to the correct impaled zombie head - and some other pictures for reference.

This time I'll try to post some wip pics.

 

[ardyer]

Love those photos and especially the scenic background! It really gives a sense of being there!

 

[daddyorchips]

beautiful paintjobs

 

[Cassarus]

I love everything inside this thread! <3

 

[Pygmy Witch Doctor]

Really love these also! the new standard bearer looks great. Wonderful atmosphere in these photos and i love how you paint the Orc skin.

 

[Tex]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.
I'm working on the metallics on the new orc, I hope to have something to show soon.

 

[Micha]

You painting is truly sublime, Tax. Every mini is a joy to look upon and Shows jow much potential These venerable old sculpts have. i cant´t vee say which one I like most. The metals are my favorite part, with the Transition between the shiney and the rusty parts being as smooth as it is. Looking Forward to your next work. Oh and the bases, the bases - I wish you´d make a tutorial out of it. Did you sculpt he mushrooms??

 

[Tex]

Thank you for your kind words, Micha!
As I said above, I've just started a new orc and this time I'm going to post some wip pics of it and its base, with some little tutorials here and there if they can be of interest...my hobby time is currently suffering, though, as I'm getting married in less than two months and...well, it's a mess
Yes, all mushrooms are made out of greenstuff, as well as the little purple flowers, btw

 

[TheHoodedMan]

Wow, that`s a cool standard, thanks for showing.

 

[JonAtron]

Possibly one of my favourite painters here. Its so good and natural looking, you make it look easy! I'm squinty eyed at the pictures wondering how has he got that texture, how has he blended that colour so well, so some WIP and tutorials I'd LOVE! Might even help me improve some too!

 

[Tex]

Wow, guys: I almost feel embarrassed by your praises!
Keep them coming, though

As I said earlier, hobby time is suffering at the time; in addition, my skin recipe is a bitch to master and I often get stuck on minimal portions of the mini for what feels like ages: blending from very dark green to almost pure white can be very tricky, as I often get some unexpected variations even if I use the same 4 basic colours. And I need to get them perfectly blended.

I'm currently working on the first arm of the new orc: as soon as it will be finished, I 'll post some pics, I promise

 

[JonAtron]

If you ever get the time or inclination I'd really like to see a tutorial on how you did the rusty metal on the spear head. Its perfect.

 

[Tex]

At the moment I cannot provide step-by-step pics, but here is a summary:

- on orcs - as they usually sport a substantial amount of metal gear - I start with an undercoat of spray silver paint (I know it's unusual, but it gives a smooth finish, which I can't get painting metals later with citadel metallic paints - I'm going to try scale75 for this in the future).
- I then start applying every kind of colour as a very thin wash, generally differentiating their order in order to get a specific finish for each kind of equipment (mail coat, weapon, armour, etc.): I usually start with violet, then purple, blue, green, red, brown, black, olive green (catachan is perfect) and yellow;
- I often repeat the cicle to get a really weathered look;
- when I'm done, it's time to start building up the rust (at this point you'll just have some dirty metal parts): I start stippling some fine, irregular "web" of rust marks with scorched brown and catachan green, then I build up on this with snakebite leather, dark red and orange;
- I then wash the area again with blue, purple and catachan green;
- I repeat these last stages using more orange every time until I'm satisfied, then I sparingly apply some mithril silver on the edges, then some other washes, then silver again in order to get even the "fresh" metal scratches blended with the rusty/dirt metal.

On the spear of the last orc for the first time I used some orange pigment, and I'm really satisfied with the result: I just wetted it with a drop of water and stippled the spear head: btw, for "my" stippling I use a fine brush (I paint nearly everything with a 0 ) and I do it with some care to get a very fine rust "web" (not round dots, paint splats or uniform areas)

Hope this helps

 

[Tex]

The last months have not been very productive, but I want to share some very early WIP images of the orc I'm working on and its base...I hope to make some progress while I'm on holydays .

unreleased orc:

base:

inspiration:

As you can see, the orc is an unreleased variant of a generally available archer, provided by the vanished fsf ebay seller.
Strangely enough, when you have both variants in hand, the unreleased one turns out to be bulkier than the other.
The casting was not excellent, with double mold lines which affected in particular the left elbow (which I'm currently stuck on).
The pommel of the short sword wasn't sculpted at all, so I had to make one out of GS, giving it a half-moon shape (in my horrible pictures it's barely visible).

The base:
ignore the 40x40 plastic base I glued the actual (unbalanced) 25x25 base on: it will be removed as soon as the weight of the orc will make the thing stand upright.
For the tree and its roots I used actual roots, joining them with GS; last night I added some micro roots hanging from the two levels of the base and I'm going to add some more soil in places before starting the painting stage.

 

[Ketil Trout]

Base looks great so far, and really interesting to see an unfinished model to see how you work. I shall be keeping a close eye on this, also still feeling very guilty about a goblin I owe you. I will sort that soon.

 

[Tex]

Base looks great so far, and really interesting to see an unfinished model to see how you work. I shall be keeping a close eye on this, also still feeling very guilty about a goblin I owe you. I will sort that soon.

I am a patient creditor, don't worry

 

[Tex]

As usual, for Orctober I have nothing ready

In order to partially redeem myself, I'll post some WIP pics of the unreleased orc I'm working on