Category: The Forces of Evil
Type: Reference

Article Name: Painting Mordor Orcs - Part 1
Author: Tobold Hornblower
Description: A guide to painting the orcs of Mordor.

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I really enjoyed this article, it was well structured and easy to read. I like how you avoided a very complicated approach and stuck to the principles of miniature painting.

The orc looks great in my opinion, I must admit that against your other orcs his skin looks slightly bright, but I'm sure a wash of some kind could fix that. Your painting was clean, and you avoided the common article approach of taking 50 hours over a goblin's eyelash to achieve perfection. For gaming this (and your other orcs) will look brilliant in any battle. I can't wait until your next orc!

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Brush licking is for better painters.

It took me a while to figure out which ord it was - I spend too much time with the plastics. Anyway, I have no problem with the skin colout as the orcs in the movies had a huge range of colours (well dirt is available in many shades!) and some had tattoos (I believe).

Excellent illustration, and I like the reasoning and thoughts behind painting strategies, alternatives discussed etc - it helps me think (danger, cliche ahead) 'outside the box'.

Great article.

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I agree on Joseph's comment that these orcs will look brilliant in any battle. Awsome article and I also have to agree with you son that the skin looks to human, in you article the skin basecoat is good but you go to humany(it's not a word but I couldn't find any other to use)in your highlights. Still great article. Love the armour and clothes exspecially though.

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certainty of death,
small chance of success,
well.. what are we waiting for?

Mark, another fantastic article!

I agree with Dorthonion...the skin color isn't an issue. Those little beasties came is so many different colors that you cannot possibly go wrong unless you made him purple. I think your son would see him differently if you have a wide range of skin colors. He is one fine looking model if I do say so myself! Keep 'em coming Mark!!

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No one feels as helpless as the owner of a sick goldfish.

As always, Tobold, I stand in awe of your painting skill. You could paint a rock and I'd consider it the best thing I ever saw .

It's like that song says:

"Well, it's, alright now.
I learned my leason well.
You see you, can't please everyone,
So you, got to please yourself."

Wise words, wise words. The things you learn listening to the overhead radio while working retail. Wow.

Anywho, great orc, can't wait to see the whole army you've got planned for 'em. Besides, if he doesn't blend well enough, just make him a captain then he's allowed to look different.

yep, very nice article with many descriptive images people/painters will love to follow!

I am always thankful if many WIP pics are provided to really spot out the differences in each stage.

But for that - and this is the only tiny constructive (?) criticism I might add - I would have preferred close-ups of the painted area in question. (e.g. if you describe the painting of the face/flesh it would have been nice to only see the face).
On the other hand it is nice to always see your figure from the same angle and how the overall appearance changes with each step.
So both ways have their advantages.

Anyway, I admire your superclean style in painting! Even those rotten guys look better (more rotten) when they are painted carefully (though one/me always tends to paint them loosely. I must change that!

And you manage to make them all look individual!

Great work there, I really like how neat and tidy you paint your minis. Very well done!

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"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men"

Nice article as usual mr. Mark!

Pleasant reading and nice pictures to go with it.
Oh! And a nice result too! Always a pleasure to see these artciles mate!

Now, what about orc. n2?

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Chewy, we're home!

fantastic article, very well describing the painting process with clear pictures too. Excellent stuff.

Fantastic set of Orcs as usual Mark...great job on the chosen colours...they look awesome.

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There are fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world

Wonderful work Mark, simply wonderful. The skin colours are more in keeping with the original books (where orcs are variously described as swarthy or sallow skinned) than with the typical fantasy green-skinned goblins we see so often.

Excellent descriptions and techniques (as usual), Well done!

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Dagster

Mark, I liked this... actually I liked this so much that when I remembered I have that exact pose undercoated and based in my box, I dug him out and tried the guide immediately! The guide works in practice very well and I spent a couple of pleasant hours (the pint may have also affected... ) and came with a nice orc.

I'm eagerly ooking forward to your next one.

-- Pasi

I enjoyed this article a lot, particularly because it focused on large scale painting you could use for bulk painting, rather than showcase mini articles which we see so often on OR.

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Great article as you always write!
And a great looking orc

keep it up can't wait to see more

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I can't please everyone all of the time, but I sure can tick people off most of the time

Now I 've finally learnt how you paint these wonderful orcs!

I wanted to wait with leaving a comment on your article until I have enough time to read it carefully. And I wasn't disappointed. As always in case of your painting guides the whole process is explained very precisely and excellent pictures make reading it very pleasurable.

Thanks for submitting it. I hope to see some more articles on painting orcs in the future !

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Independent Painters

Thanks everyone for such wonderful comments!

As always, the sort of generous, encouraging feedback a fellow gets on this site makes them immediately feel guilty for not putting in more effort, effort worthy of such wonderful feedback!

I hope to get the second article out fairly soon. Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to sort out. Working hard in December, it sucks!

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"Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."

Awesome guide Mark!
Wonderfull to see a guide starting from white undercoated miniatures!
I really like how the article is build up, how you managed to link the final result to the research so great!
And you style always satisties me so well! The smooth painting of yours is brilliant imo!

Excellent guide! Well done mate!

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CMON-gallery

Brilliant article, just two things:

Why are you basecoating a model white if you're painting most of it black again anyway?

Your highlights could be a little brighter.

And the skin colour: Nothing wrong with it. Just paint some more in this styles. Mix some green ink through the skin colour you use to make it a little more grey-ish. Great article and good to follow. Thanks!

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@Bart: Thanks mate. You're always so kind. I'm still waiting for you to disclose the magic of your amazing bases (not that your models aren't amazing too).

@Sarcon: Sorry, I used to harp on about why I prime in white at the top of every article and must have left it out of this one. I thought I mentioned something in the article about just painting it black again, as you so rightly state. Anyway, the reason is that, for the first 18 months or so that I was in the hobby, white primer was all we had here in South Africa. Now, I prefer spray primer to brushing it on, so I used the white anyway, as a "primer", nothing more. So, yes, I paint black over most of it, especially for orcs. Even my ringwraiths were all primed in white! Silly, certainly. Am I sorry? Not at all. It was all I had, and it worked for me. I do prime in black nowadays though (for certain minis), as I managed to get some Chaos Black spray primer. The orc I started for part 2 of this guide is primed in black. Hopefully I'll get the second part done before I die, but thesedays that seems an impossible task.

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"Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."