Ork Boys WIP Part 2 - Testing the Paint

Waaaaaaagh!

So my first ever Warhammer 40K army was Orks from the Second Edition.  I played them into the Third Edition, then gave them up for Dark Angels, and later Tyranids, Tau, and, well, everything else, really! :)

With the new Shadow Wars: Armageddon game, I have an opportunity to play with the green skins again without investing in a whole army, and I knew I must given that the models came with the game and were just sitting there waiting to be built!  It has been fun to go back to the drawing board and look at painting Orks in the context of everything we do now versus my own pale skills of the past and what was done in the mid-90's with miniature painting in general.

I wanted to make the Ork team something special in my collection, so I set about painting two test models that are going to be add-ons to the kill team where necessary and not part of the core nine the team begins with. This really grew from the fact that the boxed set allowed me to build 11 models, and not through any grander strategy on my part.

Here are close ups of the boys, one with Choppa and Stikk Bombs, and the other a simple shoota.

I need to spend more time managing white balance with my photography.  I think the blue background and grey plastic are a challenge for the auto settings on my iPhone photo app.  But anyway, there they are...simple enough, no frills on these base test models!

I wanted to get comfortable painting Ork flesh since pretty much all of my other armies for 40K have little or no flesh apart from the odd helmet-less head. I just don't paint skin all that often!  So after reviewing a few online tutorials and checking a digital copy of the Citadel Painting guide for Orks, I chose my test recipe and purchased what I needed. Then I finally got stuck in and laid some paint down...

I like the results on these models quite a bit.  I really got into the faces, and had fun with the Deathskulls war paint motif. This choice pays homage to my original 40K Ork army which was also drawn from the Deathskulls clan.  These looters are a perfect fit for scrounging about in the ruined hives of Armageddon.

Wot are ye lookin' at, umie?!

Light is bouncing all around in this close up - I'm very certain there isn't blue paint on the teeth of the model, for instance.  I really enjoy the features of these sculpts and how they come alive under a little paint.  At the end of this session, I was satisfied with the results and feel ready to move forward.  I'll finish these two boys up, but I'm pretty confident painting the rest of the surfaces here since they are treated pretty much the same as I've done on various pieces in my collection.  

Until next time,

Cheers and Happy Gaming!