Orc & Goblin WIP

     After getting a little frustrated with the bone painting technique on my Savage Orcs, I took a little break from Orcs & Goblins. Pulling me back into the O&G groove, I started to clean up a set up Mangler squigs.
 

 

            The first thing I noticed with these guys that differ from many of the other models I've been working it, is the texture of the skin. The next time you happen by one of these guys, take a close look at them. For the most part, the models I've been working with haven't had subtle details like this. Tyranids have some texture, but not like this. Even the Arachnarok Spider doesn't have this level of detail, and they were released around the same time for the same army. If this is the direction GW is going with its finecast models, I think it's good.

     That said, we are dealing with finecast here and a few shortcoming did rear their heads. Most of the bubbles I encountered were on the undersides of the models, and were easily dealt with using greenstuff. The chains were my big problem, specifically the chain on the squigs. The solution to this problem was to place the Night Goblins with chains in a fashion where the Night Goblin chains, overlapped the 'bad' chain portions on the squigs.

   

      The second problem I encountered was one of my own making. While these models are sold to be used as a single mini, I think everyone keeps them apart and uses them as separate Squigs. Because of that, there's a connection point between the two models, where one squig is stepping on a Night Goblin, which is on the other squig's back (it's hard to see, but look where the top squig is standing on the other). 

     Because of how soft finecast resin is, I was able to carve out the Night Goblin, and greenstuff the area he was in. Add in a little bit of detail & skin texture (pressing the knuckle of my pinky), and we're ready to roll.


     I thought these squigs would be a perfect chance to experiment with a few airbrushing techniques. I wanted to go for a frog-like paint scheme: a light colored belly with another color on top. It'd give me a chance to try out finer blending techniques. 

     I have a Master's G48 (See here & scroll down) airbrush, and on the front of it you can adjust the air pressure via a small screw. This allows me to get a low PSI needed for precise blending. The caveat, the lower the PSI you want to use, the more dilute your paint needs to be. When basecoating, I can get away with diluting the GW layer paints down around 1:1. For this low PSI work, I further diluted that mix down 1:1 (final concentration: 1 part GW Layer Paint to 3 Parts dilution mix). My general dilution mix is 90mls of water w/ Liquitex Flow Aid added + 10ml Isopropanol.

     Add in a little bit of drybrushing highlights, and painting of the 'bumps' and this is what you have.     


Back to the Savage Orcs.

     I think taking a bit of a break also did some good. Coming back a few weeks later, I couldn't really remember what was bothering me so much. Some of the bone stuff I did actually looked good. I know I've had a few of those moments where I pick up a old model I painted and said, "How the hell did I paint that? It actually looks good."

     Anyway, reading through the responses from my last post (and thank you everyone that commented), I've been trying out a few different methods. I started with a bone base (had to start there, as the whole lot of them were already painted), used a range of washes and highlighted the raised areas with bone.

     The only one I didn't like was the Nuln Oil as it was a little too dark. I also liked the different effects that they all gave. It's not like every piece of bone looks exactly the same, right? With that, I'm just about finished all the Savages. I have the 2 banner bearers left to finish, and the Orcs will be done (for now). I still need to finish up the boars, and make bases for all of them.

     That's what I've been working on. Thanks for reading.

-Crispy