The Albino

Looking good Laney. If you are experimenting with this one have you thought about using some different colors in the shading? A mix of purple or red in the deepest parts of the shadow would make the pale albino skin really pop.

I saw a 'Eavy Metal model... they used BLUE for shading! I tried to reproduce it... Epic Fail for me! For the next pic... can you put one of your 'normal' Orks? Maybe will help to see the minty green better.

I told you... the tone seems impossible to make! I tried for MONTHS. My model is a minty green turd. Yes, unfinished! HAHAHAH! I suck!

Mordheimer wrote:

Yes, unfinished! HAHAHAH! I suck!

All your models are unfinished!

What tone are you looking for Mord? Im assuming an albinoish ork but is there a model you have seen with a similar color out there you can post for referance?

I swear I posted about this, just this morning. Anyway... Photos round 2 with an ork 'ard boy for comparison...




Cheers Laney

I have to agree with the violet/red-violet wash to make the skin pop but so far it looks great!

While the very pale green does look cool, it looks more like he's suffering from Dutch Elm Disease than Albinoism. The shadows for an Albino would be a pinkish purple/violet.

The tone I was looking was... arrrgggghhhh!!!!! Hard to explain. Should look white when by itself, pale gree among orks. I can't be of much help... I can't think with those many shades!

Laney: WOW! Besides the other Ork looks WAY better. Mine looked like baby puke mustard! (... and yes, that is a color!)

Mordheimer wrote:

Laney: WOW! Besides the other Ork looks WAY better. Mine looked like baby puke mustard! (... and yes, that is a color!)

I think Arachas' car has that color, or maybe more of a baby puke pea color...

Anyway, great works as always Laney, I really like the bust. I still think a whiteish ork is always going to look 'wrong' though, but I'd love for you to prove me wrong

Well, you almost like me --- really good modelling but medium-horrible painting (I mean ork skin at first... ) joke.
But frankly -- modelling much MUCH better than paintings

Laney wrote:

Thanks zeeL - I'm just hoping I can get the painting to the right standard

You want ART level of painting ? its heavy.... comlicate ... needs some education and lots of energy)

If you prefer tabletop \ game level (most of GW paintings what we see in books, & especially on official store)
- you may advance wery quick (as me ! but I am too boring when paint... )

Needs just right colours and right BRUSHES of different shape. (not cheap and not expense and not 'cool firm' -- but exactly suitable for miniatures & acryl)
Just go directly to ART SHOP and ask (I mean shop for painters, designers, sculptors etc)

I prefer made from synhtetic one russian firm ("Chernaya Rechka" = means 'Black River'),
but 'GW drybrush' brush - also very good & forever need.
--> http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat470016a&prodId=prod20029a
gw set of brushes - its just like burn the money!
For it price I can buy like a box of 70 brushes!


Paints - on yor taste. Vallejo one of the best in the world.

But GW have really good metallics colors.

(What else may I add to help you ? )

I think I paint to a decent tabletop standard - base, shade, highlight plus some gubbins. (In my opinion even the basic GW models in their codexes are way above that standard - and the official store models are hugely variable - the ones painted at my local GW store, with the exception of those borrowed from the local golden demon winner, look like they've been painted by monkeys. Whereas the shop in the next town has some ace painting going on.

Art level is all well and good - but I simply don't have the time (or the inclination) for that level of perfection. This is my second ork ever - first is in the pic next to him (and an albino at that - so a significant challenge for me). So far the bust is an experiment - but I have a plan for the main model (the purple/pink red wash was a great idea - but truly sucked on the main model - thanks for trying guys). I'm going with Mordheimer's original concept of green with orks, white on his own - I think I can do that, but it needs a simpler approach.

I'm happy with GW brushes (or rather I was until they changed them). The cost is only a little more than the local art shop (and they're there on the counter ready to pick up!). Vallejo is more hassle for me to get (though the few I have are good), again GW, some humbrol acrylics and one or two taimya are fine for my level of painting. Don't get me wrong, I wish to improve - but the tools I already have are plenty good enough for that currently.

What I really need is feedback on the painting styles that I am using or how to develop those skills. The bust was a colour test, from which I got a good dark red and chipped white, a hideous chalky skin tone, which didn't work and not to overdo the rust! (so I did learn something).

Cheers Laney

Laney wrote:

I think I paint to a decent tabletop standard - base, shade, highlight plus some gubbins.

Sorry to disagree with you, but you DO NOT paint to table top standard. I would place your stuff on a par with my own, AND I have won competitions. A basic table top mini is done sans shading, highlighting, & little details like eyes...an erstwhile friend either did a mustache or a mouth, but not both . At the risk of insulting the monkey, the monkey painted minis are table top quality...probably of the better sort, most achieve a sloppy form of surrealism.

On the albino skin: an actual albino's skin isn't white. It has no pigmentation whatsoever; it's translucent allowing the muscles veins, et al to be seen in muted tone. It's a VERY difficult effect to capture.

Hi Laney. What I have found when doing whites/ near white colors is that they are extremely hard to do with dry brushing. For me it always seems to end up chalky that way. What I do instead is to paint my base color of white/ offwhite and use washes. Its easier to use thinned down washes sometimes (specially with pure white). I then hand paint my highlights without dry brushing. Its alittle more time consuming but provides more control. If you are careful with the washes and do them thinned the touch up back to white will be minimal or not required. Hope that helps.

Deafnala: Thanks Deaf - that is a huge compliment. You're right of course on the whole albino skin look thing - I suppose I'm looking for an albino look, without the full scale realism (a bit like 28mm camo, doesn't really look like full scale camo - but it works for the eye). I'm part way through painting the actual model - skin half done - I may try some pale purple in the shading mix and see how that goes - give it another shot.

DoomOnYou72: Thanks: Superb advice, which I've already started to apply to the model (looks much better than the first go!).

I'll post a pic or two soon

Cheers Laney
Damn you Mordheimer! I thought this would be easy to achieve (damn my arrogance too!)

EDIT: Here's some pics of the skin tone (not albino - but whitish on his own and greenish with the regular ork - I hope). Mord - is this ok?





The skin recipe (GW colours) was...
Chaos Black undercoat
Gretchin Green basecoat
Layered with Rotting Flesh
Washed with a very thin mix of Leviathan Purple and Thraka Green
Layered with Rotting Flesh
Layered with 1:1 Rotting Flesh:Skull White
Layered with 2:6 Rotting Flesh: Skull White
Washed with (very) thinned mix of the the previous layer and half Thraka Green

Leave it before I ruin it! Not a proper albino - but hopefully good enough for Da White Wun!

All i am going to say is i agree with deafnala.
As i have seen nearly all of your models up close and every time i see a model my jaw drops with amazement, are you sure your a science teacher and not secretly an art teacher?
Such models wich you havent posted on here like my eldar exarch which i keep at home and that ice dire avenger leader also some of your space marines which you take more care over for a story type of model look imense and you need a reality check you arent just good at painting and modeling your are very verty good at painting and modeling.

http://www.miniwargaming.com/content/qQxtuUQVxVMG


CHECK THIS OUT THIS IS THE ELDAR EXARCH THAT LANEY DID FOR ME AND THE PICTURE QUALITY DOESNT DO IT ANY FAVOURS

thanks w-o-t-w

Thats looking great Laney. I think it is a definant improvement over the first attempt. The flesh tone should contrast nicely with the rest of the model when it is done. As for not being a proper albono dont worry about that it...it looks like a proper albino and when the rest of the model is done it will complete that perception. One thing to remember with gaming models vs. like say scale models is that there is a balance between looking good looking real. There are alot of techniques (NMM, OSL, contrast, etc.) that can look cool and trick the eyes into thinking its right but when you actually break down the details you can see that they are wrong. Its all about perception.

Ta Doom, good advice again.

Just a quick note about the GW monkeys at the store. They have a new guy at the store local to me and his work is exceptional (credit where its due) so I'll be stealing ideas from him in the future (the new Death Company Dread he painted was ace as was the Hell Pit abomination). I also put some of my IG Varangian Gamma Commando miniatures into the competition there - so it'll be interesting to see how they do (There's even a little OSL on those models).

Cheers Laney

Colonel Prius wrote:

Mordheimer wrote:

Laney: WOW! Besides the other Ork looks WAY better. Mine looked like baby puke mustard! (... and yes, that is a color!)

I think Arachas' car has that color, or maybe more of a baby puke pea color...

Anyway, great works as always Laney, I really like the bust. I still think a whiteish ork is always going to look 'wrong' though, but I'd love for you to prove me wrong

Screw you! You don't get to bash me: you don't even HAVE a car!

But yes, it's... a wrong color of green. ;D

Laney: I've always thought your modelling is better than your painting... but you gotta keep in mind you model INSANELY well. Hence your painting is automatically of a high standard, as well. I love that Albino skintone. In fact, I love all your Orks (especially the camo one, I couldn't replicate that scheme at all).

Cheers Arachas, no doubt painting is a very difficult skill to master, just gonna keep practising. I plan (unless Mordheimer tell me otherwise) to paint a camo scheme on the Albino and photograph it for that tutorial I promised you ages ago (If I can remember the recipe)!

WOTW: The youtube clip made me blush . Glad you liked it. I'd actually been wondering if you wanted a new model exarch/officer for your squad to add to LGWs ace scorpion model.

I do occasionally walk on the rainbow side!

Cheers Laney

W-o-t-W: Cool video! You should make it its own post... hint!

Laney: With all due respect. The day you paint ANYTHING table-top standard, that will be the day I will FINISH painting at least two colors ALL my models. You and DeafNala are cut from the same cloth... you both are awesome painters (using different styles!) Shut up and stop making me envious!

About the model? HAHAH! I take the crappy one too! HAHAHAH! This one is MUCH better! My Albino color was a 38 out of a 100, I would say your 'crappy' one was a 86 and this one a 4,385 (yes, still out of 100!) Looks awesome! The recipe looks complicated to figure out (easy to follow...) and makes me wonder how the hell you though about it. I mean... WOW!!!! The deconstruction of colors... AMAZING!

Do I like it for the model? DUH!!! Yes, I agree with DeafNala that an "albino" is not white but someone missing pigmentation. As a matter of fact, I think he means Hermansky-Pudlak Albinism, which is the specific rare form that produces people to look like...





BTW, the largest population in the WORLD of Hermansky-Pudlak Albinism is in Puerto Rico! As a matter of fact, it is so common in the Island that WE think this is the only kind of albinos. Was I surprised when I moved to the USA! Either we are really lucky/unlucky (beating such mathematical odds) OR we are a bunch of inbred bastards... no! Don't answer that!

The fact that The Albino has a 'shade' of green is PERFECT!!! I mean, if you look at him alone, he looks greenish... very Orkish. But when you look at him among other Ork, he definitely looks weird... almost white! Using this, this would make the IG commanders see him as an albino Ork. I think is perfect.

Question... how you plan to paint the eyes? Traditionally, I paint my 'normal' orks with the sclera (white part of the eyes) red, and the pupil yellow. Makes the ork look alien and evil. The Albino should be different, but don't know how. What do you think?

Cheers Mord. On the colours - it was advice from Doom and reading too many eavy metal articles (gradually mixing lighter blended shades) which gave me the final recipe. I've looked on the web and people who've done this before have either ignored the problem or gone for pink. I thought about blue, purple, pure white or even green. But, I reckon a darker pink with a pale pink or yellow pupil will look right. Anyone got any other thoughts?

Ta Laney

The new Albino coloration may not be perfect, but it comes close enough...DON'T MESS WITH IT!

@Mordheimer: thanks for some interesting info. In the USA most Albinos hail from the rural South, especially Louisiana. The gene that controls its occurrence is dominant; so, in areas where there is a limited gene pool or where in-breeding is acceptable it becomes a common thing. Louisiana also leads the nation in leprosy for the same reason.

Edit: Laney: Albinos have red eyes.

DeafNala wrote:

Edit: Laney: Albinos have red eyes.

You mean HUMAN albinos? What about ORK albinos?

Love the model as it stands in the last post, a great little piece. The pose is excellent as I've mentioned before and I absolutely love the idea of having a hero 'bust'. I'm definitely considering trying my hand at making one for any character who shows his worth!

As for the painting - I think it is spot on. From the photographs the 'albino-ism' looks great and it is clear as to why this particular Ork has been so readily identified by Imperial combat analysts. The difference between Human and Ork physiology should be reason enough for the differences between the colour of albinos. Add to that the different types of Human albino (and therefore, presumably, also variant Ork albinos) and you've got more than enough support for your chosen method.

Both 'eye'deas (sorry, sorry, sorry) would work well - pink is realistic whilst yellow might fit better with the Ork side of things. It might be useful to tone the colours down, so that they don't become too dominant in the white face - maybe mix in some Bleached Bone?

Congrats again on a great piece.

Pinkish sclera with blueish pupils... weird, but could work.