Savage Orc Display

Here comes the Orc to smash through the village of unsuspecting citizens of the Empire!

For this guy, I tried, again, something new. :) This contest really pushed me to try new things and push my style into new areas just because I had the opportunity to do new things in general.

So for the base/plinth, again I used cork board for the rocks, but also some sand on the ground. The bricks are 1/48 scale, and laid down with super glue to make a kind of road. Once all this was laid down, I then smothered everything in Super Glue.. yes.. Super Glue.. to the point where it was like the piece was swimming in it. Then I shot it with some Super Glue accelerator. It gave a nice texture between the bricks actually that I really liked, and will probably do it again in the future. The tufts of grass are pre-made from a company in Germany I believe. All of this was a major experiment to say the least.

As for the Orc, well.. it is not my normal style at all. :) Too clean :)

Skin was pure Airbrush as it should be evidently obvious. But I really tried to make it really bright and dark for the contrast that seems to be all the rage in painting these days. I had tried to use Thomas's tricks of speed painting from Miniature Mentor on him with a good airbrush base laid down, and then heavily pigmented washes, but it failed horribly. So went back to my normal painting/wet blending style instead.

I think it came out a bit fake in the end, but at the same time showed me a different style to play with, and the layering and transitions on the skin were better than I could have hoped!

What I was not expecting ( but I should have ) was a very big reaction from the German forum Brushbrothers & Sisters who have immediately began to provide me feedback on where I can improve this model. It is a great little community that really is looking at how to improve each members painting ( even me the ignorant foreigner who seems to invade their forum from time to time :) ).

Some of the most immediate comments are to deeper the shadows. Especially on the lower parts as the light source is missing now that all parts look the same. Also to add some more variations to the skin tones where it might be a bit more rough? Or something to that effect. So with this information, this bad boy is actually going back onto the painting table. Not sure if I will be able to re-submit it afterwards to the contest, but I will be working on it and another in a bit more fashion to try to improve what is considered to be a good base to start from.

Harsh comments, but honestly, great to hear at times! More so if I really want to improve myself to the level that can actually compete in such contests.

Anyways, here is a shot of it from the back before I go and enjoy the weekend!

Last new entry will be shown on Monday.. and again it is in a different style to the rest. I like variety.. what can I say :)