Ork Painboy [WIP - Bosspole, Medical Cylinder, Shoulder Armour, Back Strap and Scalpel]

Verdigris, rust and grime were the go-to effects for this particular painting session on the Ork Painboy. But most of all, this session gave me the chance to practice recreating a chipped paint effect. Use of a Kolinsky Sable brush was critical to the 'chipped paint process' which was applied to the bosspole and medical cylinder. Critical because it involves painting different layers into ever smaller areas while leaving some of the previous layers showing. A rewarding technique if it turns out right.   

Ork Painboy's Bosspole depicting the Bad Moons Clan colours

Chipped paint, verdigris, rust and grime ... because the ork's worth it

One obstacle I had to overcome was my perennial reluctance to dirty up an existing paint job. Many a times have I hesitated at the last minute and left a miniature looking incongruous; an undecided half clean half dirty look. An extremely silly habit that has taken a lot of effort to break. Even then, the grime (perhaps it's more of a dirty stain) that I applied using a wash was fairly muted. I remain torn between wanting the colours to show through and wanting to have a realistic dirtied-up look.  

Before being grimed (left) ... after being grimed (right)

Effects on the metal bits such as verdigris on the bronze spanner symbol as well as rust on the rhombus shaped 'teeth' and shoulder pads were done using Citadel technical paints. Note, however, the rough texture on the spanner which was a result of a very old pot of dried out metallic paint. I've had that pot since my first days in the miniature painting hobby many years ago. I guess the time has come to throw that away and get a new metallic basecoat paint for smoother results in the future.

Turquoise was the medical cylinder's colour of choice ... chipped paint and all

Medical cylinder is held tenuously to the ork's back by a small strip of cloth

Scalpel holds a brand new blade unlike the badly rusted metal of the shoulder armour

Choosing turquoise for the medical cylinder on the Ork Painboy's back was an easy choice mainly because of two reasons. Firstly, turquoise fits in seamlessly to the existing colour scheme. Secondly, turquoise seems to be a fairly popular colour for medical scrubs. Since the Painboy is technically a doctor, it made sense to use it for his medical cylinder. Every colour in a project has its raison d'être. 

Overall shot of the work-in-progress so far

There is one more main colour to be added to the overall colour scheme

With so many small details to paint my sanity can only be kept if I focused carefully on a few bits at a time. That might make for an overly long-drawn miniature project but I'm hoping it will be worth it in the end. At the very least it will help develop my patience during the painting process. Or I could just be kidding myself and looking for excuses to paint at a snail's pace. Either way, it'll still be fun!