Nipper Jr

Hello!

As some of you may know, Nipper is my Gargantuan Squiggoth, part of my Ork horde, painted years and years ago. For Christmas last year I got a Gnawzilla, from Kromlech, which is a very nice resin kit with similar dimensions to the Forge World 'regular' Squiggoth. Obviously this means Nipper has a son now, and that I would have to paint him up in a similar scheme, which I did:

Nipper Jr here was a fun project (and nice to paint something for myself again!), it was good to see where I have improved over the years since I painted his dad. While I'm by no means a top tier painter, I've definitely added a lot more techniques to my repertoire, and I think become more 'efficient' with combing techniques like dry brushing and washes regular with highlights to create a better overall effect.

I'm particularly pleased with the face, though as he's a big lad it was hard to take a photo of it in the light box without the actual face being in shadow, here's my attempts:

Also cool to note the kit includes holes for magnets so the howdah can be removed easily:

And of course, I had to take a few shots with some passengers and with big daddy Nipper:

"Don't talk to me or my son ever again!"

I'm still quite proud of Nipper's head, I think the skin, teeth, gums etc all holds up. To my eyes there is a clear improvement in the scales over the rest of the body and the metal sections, which on little Nipper Jr just feel like they have a lot more depth to them?

Anyway, hope you like him, he is now one of my favourite miniatures, obviously. Thanks for reading, and please stay safe.

Ghaz and Dave - the Warlord and Deathskull Stompa!

Hello!

Follow up from the last entry, I saved the big boyz to the end. The Warlord himself, Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, and the Lord of War, the 900-ish point Stompa, affectionately known as 'Dave'.

Let's look at Dave first. As with the others I went for mostly bare metal with some splashes of blue, and I opted for a more ramshackle look with lots of rust and different blue-ish colours to contrast with that.

I had a lot of fun with weathering on Dave, using a sponge for paint chips and soot, and some rust weathering powder mixed with water to go in the gaps and streak down from rivets etc.

Dave also has magnets, so the arms and head can be removed for transport:

I also took the opportunity to put Dave alongside my own Stompa, Da Toof Krusha, painted years and years ago. While I do love the slightly cartoony charm of mine, the improvements in my dirty rusty metal techniques are quite considerable. Also mine is being ridden by a grot with a hammer, so that's something.

So speaking of technique improvements - I put all of that sponging experience into painting Ghazghkull to go alongside these Deathskull gitz. Obviously Ghaz is a Goff, so he's not going to go around covered in blue paint, but he might use a few 'borrowed' bits from his new allies.

I'm really happy with how this model came out, all the rust and chipping just looks right to me, he looks 'blue' but not super Deathskull, the face stands out appropriately without being too bright (a personal pet hate of mine - when the Warboss has lighter skin than the boyz due to more highlight layers.) Just absolutely nails what I like my orks to look like. I have to admit when he was voted model of the year I was a bit skeptical, but having got my hands on it, Ghaz is a fabulous model and I think I want one myself!

Look how chonk he is compared to his lucky grot Makari!

And here he is leading his 'council' of Deathskull bosses! No question of who's da biggest!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this little Orky project. I know the client is happy with them, so that's the main thing, but it's also good to paint some proppa minis again! Also, this might not be the end of the Ork blog content...

Stay safe!

Deathskull Ork Characters

Hello!

First commission of 2021, and a fun one! A whole bunch of Ork characters (and something a big bigger...) turning up in a rokk from across the Atlantic. The brief for these was that they are Deathskulls, usually, but not quite as blue - obsessed as many of their kin are. The existing scheme is largely dark clothes and bare metal armour, so I'd be adding colour a little more selectively than my Boyz or the last Ork thing I painted. As usual, I was asked to not do the bases. Other than that I was given fairly free reign, so here's what I did:

First up is this rather savage looking Warboss, mildly converted from the AoS Megaboss. As he looks pretty primitive I decided he'd have no paint on his armour at all, and instead the colour would just come from the corrosion of the various metals involved. A splash of warpaint and I think he looks 'blue' enough if you squint a bit.

Next a couple more Warbosses, each given a bit of blue, worn down paint on their armour or straps and cabling, as well as a big colourful squig. The purple one is probably my favourite part of this whole batch of minis, it's a real character. I also couldn't resist painting a Redtoof glyph on it's master.

Some Mega Armoured ladz next - two Nobz and two big Meks with assorted gear. Plenty of rust and grime on this armour, and once again the blue cabling came out to add that splash of colour. Conveniently also contrasting well with the areas of rust.

The Painboy took the 'blue cabling' idea to it's logical conclusion with blue pipes carrying blue toxic goo. Also note that all the dried blood is from the contrast Flesh Tearers Red, which added that nice extra touch to the model. 

The weirdboy, another favourite. Glowing eyes and staff were fairly simple - the former effectively a 'reverse highlight' of the eyes, going from dark blue to white in a few steps, the latter a light green with Hexwraith Flame liberally slapped over it. The smoke was also nice a simple - I think I painted it Rakarth Flesh then washed with Space Wolves Grey contrast.

Finally, a couple of grots! That's the very festive Red Gobbo and the very lucky Makari. And you know if Makari is about...

Anyway, hope you like them, I had fun getting back to Greenskins. Next post will be a bit like this one, but bigger. Much, much bigger...

Stay safe!