Learn how to paint Orks with great saturated colors in this painting tutorial from Wyatt at Jack of Clubs Painting.
Jack of Clubs Painting is a regular here and today he’s giving us some advice on quickly getting your own Orks ready to throw down. This is part 1 of a multi-part series to get some awesome Orks. Today he focuses on the armor and skin.
Follow along with the video for a detailed tutorial to get these minis done fast! Or you can use our notes to check out all the highlights.
How to Paint Orks Fast: Jack of Clubs Tutorial
The end result for these awesome saturated reds and greens, let’s see how he does it. Again, this is only part 1, so we’ll be finishing this guy up in another video.
Priming
Start with a green primer over the entire model, including the armor. Then hit the entire thing with a Synylrez Brown Primer over all the green. Just make sure to get good coverage but not get a build-up in any one spot. Just to note, he does this stage with the airbrush.
Airbrushing the Skin
You can use any dark green you want for this stage, but he uses the Pro Acryl Dark Green because that is his favorite. He uses the airbrush to gently coat all the exposed skin on the mini. Don’t worry too much about hitting the armor, because we’ll airbrush that later. Then use the remnants of the darker green and add some bright yellow-green and do a quick highlight of all the skin.
This is the in-between highlight so you don’t have to go too crazy. Just make sure to not hit the underneaths of the mini to keep depth. Next, for the skin, do a highlight of just the Bright yellow-green and hit another highlight of the exposed edges. Lastly, add a little white to the mix, and do the final pop highlights of the highest edges of the skin. Just try to add a little warm fleshy tone here to give it a more realistic feel.
Airbrushing the Armor
Mix the Pro Acryl Burnt Red and Dark Purple in a 50/50 mix. This will be more purple than red, but that’s what he wants. Use the brush and cover all the armor in a really good base coat. Then take the Burnt Red in your airbrush and start hitting broad highlights on all the armor.
This is going to be a radial highlight in all the central parts of the armor. Just be sure to keep the PSI lower here to not get too much excessive spray. Hit every plate individually and get decent coverage here. Next, he goes to a Bright Red and hits some smaller pop highlights on the insides of the armor plates. He keeps the PSI even lower here. You will get some overspray, but he’ll show us how to fix that in the next step.
Cleaning up the Mini
Thin out the mid-tone you used for the skin here with some water. This is going to be thin so you’ll need to do a couple of strokes here with a brush. After every couple of steps, make sure to dry out the paint on the mini with a fan or an empty airbrush. Just hit the skin in a couple of passes without going too fast.
This will actually turn into a cool detail with this method. This technique is a little tricky to understand if you haven’t done it, but just be patient and do as many layers you need until it looks right. It’s not a basecoat, so you don’t want too much paint to apply in any stroke.
With that, the Ork is looking very great without too much effort! Be sure to tune into part two to see how he finishes this mini! If you want to learn more from Wyatt’s insight, watch the full video to learn how to paint Orks! And if you love his work, check out more of his painting tips here.
Follow along with the latest from Jack of Clubs on YouTube or LIVE on Twitch four nights a week!
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
