Black Orc Commission

[CreganTur]

I recently picked up a commission and started working on the first batch- a group of 25 Black Orcs. My client asked for a scratchbuilt standard, so I took some old green stuff I keep around for rough work or occassions like this and created a tattered flag:

I'm trying out some new techniques on these guys that I learned from the Speed Painting with Thomas David tutorial from Miniature Mentor- it's a great tut that I highly reccomend! My first step was to create a highlight layer that I am using as a guide for highlight placement later:

ight now I'm just working on one of the basic orcs to get my colors right- a proof of concept piece:

I glazed on the skin base color but haven't done any shadow or highlight work on anything yet- this is just as far as I got tonight. The col thing is that you can still see the highlights and shadows peeking through, which will give these guys a great look (hopefully) when I'm through.

 

[MightyChad]

I'm really curious to see where this goes, especially the technique.

 

[CreganTur]

After mixing a lot of test colors I finally finished the proof of concept piece for this group of orcs. The only requirement that my client had was that I had to use black and yellow in the color scheme. Figuring out what to paint black was easy, but the yellow was a different matter. Near the end of painting this guy I decided to paint the evil sun yellow. I remembered seeing an interesting recipe in an old masterclass from White Dwarf, so I dug up the article and used that.

Figuring out where to put the highlights was very easy thanks to the highlight layer I airbrushed on first. I feel pretty good about this guy, but I'm starting to wonder if I should up the highlights on the armor just a little bit more and maybe add reflection points where appropriate... I just don't want to overdo them.

My VMC Smoke came in very handy with this guy- it added some great texture to the leather and weathering to the weapons.

I've sent this pic off to my client for review, but I wouldn't mind any advice from you guys.

 

[Empchild]

I like the brown tint to the weapon though I must say I am not a fan of the green skin.

 

[MightyChad]

I think the armor needs to be edged a bit, or broken up some other way. Like on his left shoulder plates, maybe some checks on the middle plate, or dags, something. It just looks like flat black in the photos, but it may be a trick of the photos.

 

[CreganTur]

@empchild
what bothers you about the skin?

@chad
The black actually has a couple layers of highlights on them, but when I added Babab Black to smooth them out I think it covered it so the camera can't see it. I am going to up them a little more for the reflection points, though.

 

[MightyChad]

...when I added Babab Black to smooth them out I think it covered it so the camera can't see it. I am going to up them a little more for the reflection points, though.

I thought it had to do with the photos, do as much as you think you need, and as long as the customer is happy, that is all that matters! Anyway, I'll be watching this thread.

 

[Empchild]

The skin is rather..flat.

 

[CreganTur]

I took a number of suggestions and imroved the test piece. I redid the skin highlights to bring out some more variation and highlights, reinforced the highlights on the armor and added reflection points, and I also noticed that I neglected to paint the skull on the helmet earlier, so I fixed that. I feel a lot better about this guy now and I hope my client will agree. I've also been taking notes on all of these changes so I'll be able to replicate the results on the other 24 pieces.

I also bought a light tent- the eBox from Sunpak- which also includes halogen lights so I've been playing around with it trying to find the best settings for my camera. These are the best shots I got, which are untouched. I'm wondering if I might need to buy a smaller size because my camera (as crappy as it is) complains there's not enough light and it might be because the light tent is too large of a size for miniature work... not sure.

As far as trying to immitate Thomas David's techniques- I think my paint isn't thin enough when I apply it because you can't see the shadows and highlights as efectively as you can on his miniatures... just stuff to work on for the future.

 

[SpeakerDad]

Digging the armor / weapon and the skin is much better. I have the Thomas David video as well and you are definitely on the right track. Looking really good.

 

[CreganTur]

I've been working silently on these guys for the past couple weeks and felt like it was time for a mini update. I've finished the metallics, the black armor, and the yellow emblems. I'm still fiddling with my light tent, so some of the shine on the armor is from the lights and some is painted in place- it's hard to tell which is which, but they're looking good so far. I've still got a good bit left to finish, but I think that I might be able to finish painting these guys pretty quickly so I can move onto the bases.

These are the command units- I'll be spending some extra time on them after I finish the rest:

A random selection of the regulars:

 

[CreganTur]

I've finally fiished the regular mooks for this commission. 20 of them are exactly the same (except for one who randomly has a morningstar instead of an axe) and then there are 2 metal black orcs who are considered standard units as well. Other than basing I have to finish the command units- the leader, drummer, and standard bearer. They'll be a couple of days behind.

I also got a new camera, so these images are much better than what I could do previously. Still working out the kinks in my settings, though.

 

[Torn blue sky]

Ahhh this reminds me so much of the old school painting *flood of nostalgia*

 

[CreganTur]

Well, I've finally finished this commission and sent the final pics to my client for approval. The biggest part at the end was building the display tray, which was magnetized. I'm most proud of the standard, because yellows are hard to work with, and the human-skin drum. This was a fun project that I'm glad I worked on.

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