There are many ways to skin an Orc: (A) Followers of Khorne have many gruesome and creative ideas. (B) your humble miniature painter traditionally reaches for the paint pot marked *Goblin Green*.

Nowadays this isn't good enough. Traditions are upended, progress disrupts established methods. New and thrilling contrast paints appear. Soon enough some idiot is mixing them up, thinning them down, generally misusing them for artistic gain.

TLDR : Purple Primer > Wraithbone Zenithal > Contrast Plaguebearer Flesh > Contrast Guilliman Flesh

The Savage Orc and Goblin team sculpted by Brutefun is a numerous horde, so rewards an organised approach. I experimented on spare models PrintedPlayers provided; developing a easy recipe using thin layers of paint to build up a realistic skin tone.

I started with the simplest models, the linemen. Here are Step-by-Step photos of one player.




Bases
I used PVA and sandy scatter for texture, and then batch painted forty bases in dark dank earthy tones. Grass tufts and jungle foliage will be glued on as the last step.

Purple Primer
Alien Purple rattle can is the primer; to contrast with the predominant green skin. It should complement the blue warpaint on Positionals, and mighty blue Troll.

White Zenithal
The models are sprayed off-white Wraithbone from above. This zenithal basecoat works really well under transparent layers of contrast paint; giving an illusion of sunlight. I used GW Contrast as it has more naturalistic tones than the very saturated SpeedPaint.

Dry-brush Pink Flesh
Brush work started on the linemem. These are simple models and practically butt naked; so getting the skin tones right was the challenge. Dry-brushing the soft bits with pink Bugmanns Glow thinned with Highlord Blue SpeedPaint. Then a second dry-brush of off-white to highlight.

Contrast Plaguebearer Flesh
This 'ere Plaguebearer paint is a good 'un, and is the primary colour for the horde. I painted pretty much the whole model except the stomach and backs of legs. I used a clean damp brush to wipe off any excess and to soften the transition between the green and pink flesh.
The eyes, mouth and ears got a dab of Blood Red SpeedPaint; then I immediately wiped off the excess with that clean brush. If you look at for example the tongue and lips, the apparent highlights are simply the result of wiping off the paint, so the zenithal shows through as a highlight.

Contrast Guilliman Flesh
Straps and loincloths were painted with thinned Steel Legion Drab. And the entire model then painted with Contrast Guilliman Flesh thinned 50/50 with Contrast Medium to reduce it's power. I doubt this is a common use of this paint, but I felt it brought out the shadows.
The cloth and straps were a little pale so I added some Hardened Leather SpeedPaint to the flesh mix and glazed them a second time.

Details
Very simple models, this was mostly Wraithbone on bones, teeth, and nails. And washing with Pallid Bone SpeedPaint. Stones, feathers, and bangles were painted blue or yellow/gold - this is a deliberate choice to limit the colour pallet.

Highlights
This was a simple paint job with little detail work. I did a quick once round each model with Wraithbone to highlight a few edges. A relaxing afternoon's painting. Thanks for reading, and good luck with your painting projects.

Da Waaagh!


This article was originally written for Grotty Little Newspaper. That esteemed organ is in need of a new management team, so if you might be able to help jump on their Discord and kick journalistic butt!! Or at least PM me and I'll point you in right direction. Alas I can't take it on myself, but I would be up for writing the occasional article.

Da End