Gettin’ Da Ork Warboss Ready for 11th Edition!
Armageddon Ork Painting Tutorial
This comprehensive technical guide outlines the "Ugly Duckling" painting workflow presented by Merlin's Miniatures. Designed specifically for Ork collections characterised by high model counts and intricate structural detail, this process establishes rich, high-contrast results across multiple surfaces with optimal efficiency.
1. PREPARATION & ZENITHAL PRIMING
Establishing proper tonal under-shading is critical before applying translucent colour layers. This model utilises a dual-coat airbrushing approach:
- Base Undercoat: Apply a smooth, full-coverage matte black primer across the entire miniature to ensure deep recesses remain naturally shadowed.
- Zenithal Highlight: Spray a matte white primer directly from an overhead angle (90 degrees). This mimics a natural top-down light source, instantly pre-shading the muscular contours of the Ork and the sharp edges of its battle gear.
2. PHASE 1: THE "UGLY DUCKLING" BASE COATING
The core philosophy of this technique involves applying flat, block base colours across all major distinct zones before performing any wash or detail operations. While the model may look unfinished and high-contrast initially, the subsequent uniform wash step seamlessly ties these layers together.
| MINIATURE REGION | RECOMMENDED PAINT SELECTION | APPLICATION METHODOLOGY |
|---|---|---|
| Ork Skin (Base) | AK Interactive Golden Olive / Olive Green | Apply two thin coats using a broad, controllable brush. Provides a bright, cartoonish, high-energy green hue reminiscent of classic comic iterations. |
| Fabric Vest / Bones / Horns | War Paint Fanatics Great Hall Grey | Switch to a fine detail brush. Apply two thin coats across the under-suit fabric vest, horns, teeth, and decorative skulls to provide a solid light-neutral base. |
| Trousers & Webbing Straps | Citadel Mournfang Brown | Apply a rich, medium-tone brown base. This tone reacts exceptionally well to wash treatments without requiring extensive secondary highlighting. |
| Heavy Metal Platings | Formula P3 Boiler Black | An ultra-dark metallic with a heavy flake texture. Delivers exceptional single-coat coverage, establishing a heavily oxidised, rugged iron finish. |
| Banner & Accents (Green) | Formula P3 Cryx Green | Apply smoothly over the fabric banner and the heavy boots to provide a cold, deep-tinted military green tone. |
| Hydraulic Pipe Components | Formula P3 Battle Dress Green | A desaturated, khaki-leaning olive shade. Ideal for structural tubing, hoses, and mechanical piping lines. |
| Ork Weaponry / Shield Platings | Formula P3 Skorne Red | A vibrant, deep red base colour. Used selectively across structural armour shielding to signify captured or scrounged Space Marine gear. |
Technical Tip: Always use the largest brush possible for the specific area you are painting. This preserves clean, even coverage and accelerates the baseline colouring workflow.
3. PHASE 2: THE MULTI-STAGE WASH & SHADING PROCESS
Once all baseline coats are completely dry, uniform shading washes are introduced to instantly settle into recesses, map out muscle separation, and apply industrial griminess.
- All-Over Miniature Wash: Dilute AK Interactive Brown Black by approximately 50% with clean water or glaze medium. Liberally coat the entire miniature—including the white vest, red platings, and raw steel elements. This tones down raw saturation and creates natural gradient shadows.
- Targeted Skin Wash: Dilute AK Interactive Rotten Green by 50%. Apply this specifically over the muscle definition of the Ork skin. This works symmetrically with the Golden Olive base coat to enhance vibrant definition, completing a bright cartoonish style.
4. PHASE 3: FINE HIGHLIGHTING & TEXTURING
To bring the desaturated surfaces back to life post-wash, selective edge highlights and simulated textures are worked into prominent focal areas:
- Red Armour Platings: Re-establish the vibrant plates with fresh Scorn Red layers. Progressively blend in Citadel Mephiston Red and Evil Sunz Scarlet towards high-exposure areas. Utilise swift, vertical downward brush strokes to simulate realistic battlefield scratches and weathered wear.
- Fabric Under-Suits & Horns: Return to Great Hall Grey. Trace brush lines from the inner fields outward along exposed ridges to build up micro-texture depth. Carefully line out teeth and individual skull ridges.
- Mechanical Components: Stipple and lightly over-brush Battle Dress Green along the structural conduits to break uniform colour blocks and add age.
- Trousers: Apply a controlled edge highlight of Mournfang Brown using a fine detail brush along the sharpest fabric creases to add visual contrast.
- Skin Detailing: Build up layers using Olive Green, followed by Formula P3 Necrotite Green, and finalise extreme edge points with an impactful coat of Rainforest Green. Focus these bright tones heavily around the face and hands.
- Metallic Polish: Heavy drybrushing of Formula P3 Pig Iron over all high-wear metallic edges creates a raw, freshly scraped steel appearance. Follow with subtle spot highlights of Radiant Platinum on extreme edges.
5. ENVIRONMENTAL BASING & WEATHERING
A miniature's base dictates its atmospheric placement. This workflow integrates the model directly into its environment:
- Texture Application: Use a small palette knife to evenly spread a generous layer of AK Interactive Sandy Desert texture paste across the base field. Allow one hour for full setting.
- Tonal Integration: Coat the base rocks with Citadel Zandri Dust. Apply a 50% diluted Brown Black wash over the entire dried desert surface and selectively dab it onto the hanging banner flag to simulate rising dust and field grime.
- Final Matte Pigments: Dust Vallejo Light Sienna and Medium Rust pigment powders over the base, boots, and lower metallic framework. This provides a deep matte desert finish and realistic oxidation. Paint the base rim solid black to frame the final piece.
Thank you for choosing Merlin's Miniatures. Happy hobbying!
