ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO!
We who are about to rock, salute you, and welcome you to the rockingest Goff Rocker this side of the Studio Plot, bringing down the roof in the newest Space Opera: Squigs, Dakka and Orks onna Roll!
Fulfilling the studio challenge for Sci-fi, I offer you the most entertaining model I've had the chance to paint in a very long time, and one that has fully ignited my love for painting again. Eschewing the standard black leather on black leather that is advertised on the box art, I wanted something a little more characterful.
Having my wall of paints staring at me, I decided that nothing screamed metal more than a studded denim jacket, and having not painted fabric nicely in a while, it offered some fun opportunities for texture work. Next was a decision to go with red leather trousers, although having gone a bit too bright with the highlights, I decided to make them orange squig leather trousers instead. Allowing me to tie the amp-squig in to the rest of the model.
I was then presented with a real treat; a single gloved hand! No other musician came to mind other than the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, but a pure white glove was never going to work on an ork, so I went for a very grimy off white/yellow. As I chose to paint this with the hand and guitar detached I had to be careful to match highlight directions, but this was relatively easy, as you can see, due to the final position of the hand being very flat.
When it came to the guitar I knew I needed to add a real punch of colour, and nothing would have worked better than red, and as we all know; "RED ONES STRUM FASTER!" But not any red, it needed to be a vibrant cherry red, mostly to help bring warmth back to the palette of the model nearer the top. The bonus effect was that the orange to red tones get more intense as you move up the figure, assisting with the journey I want the audiences eye to take, moving up the figure.
But as we focus back to the amp squig and the base, there's a story to both of these elements as well. Growing up I always wanted an amp by the company "Orange Amps", however I got in to wargames instead of live music, so the money needed for a nice amp bought me many models instead. But this was my time to honour that previous desire, and luckily worked perfectly with the colour plan for the figure.
As for the base, in my head all I could imagine was this epic song that called on the power of the WAAAGH! to raise the roof. So to reflect this, I wanted a cracked earth effect with the green waaagh magic seeping out, which was achieved by slapping a good layer or two of green down, followed by Agrellan Earth from Games Workshop to give that cracking effect. Finished with a drybrush of sand yellow from Vallejo, it really brought the whole effect together.
I can't tell you just how much nostalgia this model brought up for me, from my earliest days in the hobby, buying my first box of Ork Stikk Bombers from Marquee Models in Harlow, Essex, through my time working for Games Workshop in Southampton, where I was tutored by a great painter to let a model tell its own story just by selecting the right colours, all the way through to the joy I had taking my son to buy his first models last week. I've always loved painting orks, and they never fail to remind me why I find solo mini painting so relaxing and inspiring. I've kept notes on most of the paints used, so if you have any questions please do ask, I'd love to share with anyone interested.
Now on to the second model of the week!
With my painting mojo well and truly up, I wanted to tackle my need for a ride in the illustrious limousine, and offer this Michonne from Walking Dead, for Lady Sarah's perusal.
Having painted the infamous "Fish Tank" of zombie heads two challenges ago, I had this resin figure sat in a draw collecting dust. But I knew that I wanted to give it a breath of life, which I appreciate is a bit ironic knowing the setting she's from. Although I could have drawn inspiration from the TV series, I wanted to give my own spin on her clothing colours, as I imagined her from the comics.
I knew I'd be sticking to earthy tones, however they needed to be distinct from her flesh tone, which ended up being the triad for "African Skin" from Wargames Foundry, and I feel it gave a lovely rich and warm tone to the flesh areas. I then tackled the cloak/cape with a military green in mind, almost imagining the oilskin material but a bit dried out, mostly to desaturate the colours. Again this was a deliberate choice so as to keep the warmth close to her skin, and differentiate the intimate from the necessary items.
This decision to go with saturated, warm tones gave rise to the spot colour being red, and where better than in the triangle pattern for spot colours. The red boots were painted with two separate reds, a shiny one for the toe caps, and a duller one for the rest of the fabric, although I don't think it really shows up after basing sadly. A bandana in a matching red helped finish the model off, and I was happy. The brown trousers, black shirt and katana were kept dull and simple in tonal variety so as not to distract the viewer from the key areas.
Dear Lady Sarah,
Please accept this warrior woman from a zombie apocalypse, to strengthen your forces and share many a fascinating, and possibly gruesome, story or two. I have marked on the map below my desired journey to the Casting Couch, where I have a fun twist ready to share, next week.
Yours,
Tom
Welcome weary traveller, you have made it far in this post, through highs and lows, so why not take a seat as I regale you of my points and how they came to be...
28mm Model x2 = 10pts
Studio Entry x1 = 20pts
Lady Sarah Entry x1 = 20pts
Total = 50pts
Thank you all for reading this post, I worry my colour theory might have bored you, but I do hope that my enthusiasm shines through, because I've had a blast painting these two. Now it'sover to the big green guy to sing us out...
ORKS IS BEST, CRUMP DA REST, ITS FIGHTIN TIME!
ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO,
ERE WE GO, ERE WE GO THRU DA COSMO!
WAAAAAAAAGH!
Tom.
From TeemuL: That Orc Rocker is terrific and I did read and enjoy colour theories and stories behind the colour choices. I guess the Orc is bit tall compared to 28mm minis so I gave you a few points extra, it is just so stunning mini with great paint job. There are some skulls, too, for those interested in that kind of things. It is kind of funny, that your Limo ride is such a grim and dark and your orc from grim and dark future is not, quite clever (if unintended) contrast. Waiting for the Casting Couch entry.