Ork Flesh

Ork Skin Tone

Thought a little guide on painting some muted ork skin might help a few people out. I've found previously when painting Ork skin that they always look a tad too bright; a kind of colour that suits lizardmen better. usually I would just go Dark angels green, and then work my way through the brighter greens in the GW colour range. Whilst this does work for some quicker painting, its a little to cartoonish for me, ork should be worn and dirty, definitely not bright and shiny (in my opinion).

So I worked out this scheme of painting as I went so its not finely tuned yet and you could probably still miss out a layer and get a good effect, but the final result is worth it. So here we go...


Colours you will need
Dark Angels Green
Graveyard earth
Scorched brown
Red Gore
skull white

Stage 1
You should already have removed all mould lines and tidied up the model, then sprayed it black so its ready to paint. The model Ive used has been pulled out of a box at random and quickly sprayed so it isn't that tidy.

So the first and simplest stage is a nice coat of Dark angels Green.

Stage 2
Now you want to lighten it up a bit on the raised areas. mix a 1:1 ratio of Graveyard Earth and Dark Angels green and apply, making sure to leave the recesses. I use Graveyard Earth instead of white as the resulting colour blends quite well with the basecoat and is more muted. Don't worry too much about being neat as we will be washing those recesses later.

Stage 3
As you would usually continue to highlight the raised portions of skin. This time with a 2:1 ratio Graveyard Earth : Dark Angels Green.

Stage 4
Now were going to wash those recesses, use a very watered down mix of 2:1, Graveyard Earth : Scorched brown. you want 15 to 20x water (very watered down). now apply the brown in small amounts. you will need to do quite a few layers depending on how much water you added mine took 6-7, and you will have a good blend from the lighter greens going into the recesses. Using this method stops the watered down paints appearing blotchy after they dry, but make sure it is dry before adding another layer. to enhance the darker areas I then added a very small amount of Scorched brown.

Stage 5
This stage adds a lot of texture to the skin tone. First repeat stage 3 in areas you feel you have gone a bit overboard with the brown wash. Mix 6:1, Red Gore : Dark Angels green. Apply this on small areas of the muscle, I chose to use it on some of the more raised areas.
These areas may now stand out a little bit, but don't worry, use the same mix from stage 3 again this time watered down and use as a glaze over those areas. this should blend well from the brown shadows and make the redder portions blend in too.

Stage 6
highlight the most raised areas with 1:1 mix of Skull white and Dark Angels green.

Stage 7
Give it a final glaze of the watered down 2:1 mixture of Graveyard Earth and Dark Angels green. You should now have a well textured, subtly highlighted and realistic looking greenskin.

P.S. This could be sped up by combining stage 5,6 and 7 by applying the red and the highlight and giving the one glaze with the green, but this was an experiment. If anyone has they're own version of painting ork skin that gives the same/similar result please tell me how.