Painting greenskin - my way

After a couple of failed atempts - and now, with quite a few bottles of paint involved - I have a green skin recipe that I really like. This is what an orc looks like in my world.
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Miniatures - My tabletop gaming journey - I am by no means a miniature painting expert, or a crafting wiz. On the contrary - these videos are a collection of my initial miniature experiences. Most of the time, what you see, is me trying something for the first time. I hope these videos might be of inspirational use. Oh, and a certain basic knowledge in irony might be required by the viewer.
Follow me on instagram for regular hobby updates - @52miniatures

[@mikepeters8132]

the colour palette of the to camera narration is immaculately curated to the subject. truly cinematic quality.

[@52Miniatures]

Well thank you Mike!

[@yuvrajahluwalia1132]

you are the most and easily the best underatted miniuature painting channel

[@52Miniatures]

Thank you Y, I appreciate it :)

[@KimHarderFog]

You're crazy skilled. Both the skin and the facial details is absolutely splending. Great idea of mixing other colors into the "main" color, such that it doesn't become a monotone whole.

[@52Miniatures]

Tack Kim! Yes, just what I was after. I’m real pleased with the tones, now I just need to get me an army to paint :)

[@ericsiemens5486]

I have seen and watched so many videos over the years. I have to say the way you lay out your videos and the way you paint is excellent. Your easy to follow and understand. You take your time approach things in a manor that is delightful and almost entrancing. I've watched a lot and I mean a lot of videos and I haven't seen any of yours until yesterday. But I can't stop you do an amazing job and your orcs are by far my favorite very good job.

[@52Miniatures]

Well thank you Eric, this means a lot to hear. Hope the future videos will continue to inspire.

[@markbradley3440]

They don't use lotion 😂 really enjoy watching actually painting the mini's. absolutely brilliant video - entertaining and I learnt a lot! Great work, thank you 👍

[@52Miniatures]

I’m glad you enjoyed it Mark! And glad to here there was some tips to pick up as well :) have a lovely weekend!

[@slimjimkirky86]

Fantastic work! From greenskins to sickly servants of Slaanesh...they're all supposed to look organic. Your carefully applied gradients and imperfections really bring them to life!

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks Jim! Just now working on a new "orc skin" video. Should be up in a few weeks :)

[@christopherpeery7436]

This is so refreshing to see compared to the really bright green skin i see everywhere lol

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks C! I'm "revisiting" this a little at the moment. So more Orc skin will be painted :)

[@clockworkpanda8]

Im hooked on these videos

[@52Miniatures]

Great to hear :) 👍

[@AnZsDad1973]

Thanks for showing that detailed shot of the back. Personally, I think that it looks fantastic even up close. I find that many times a more "precise" gradient fade up close looks artificial even when the artist is going for realistic, but your style seems to lean into it looking like artwork. To my mind this makes it faster, maybe more forgiving, and helps those of us who are struggling to feel like we are improving. And now I'm inspired to paint some frog soldier minis in one of my games!

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks Richard! I appreciate it. Now.. frog soldiers.. that sounds awfully fun. What's the game?

[@bumblingbongo7969]

Amazing content yet another great source of entertainment, laffs and oooh infos love it!

[@52Miniatures]

Well thank you B! I appreciate it

[@WayOfHaQodesh]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaagh! Very nice ork skin tutorial. Orks in Warhammer Fantasy was my first ever army and first minis collection and army.

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks W!

[@stephanecotnoir6334]

Wow i love the way you paint your greenskins, really amazing results

[@52Miniatures]

Thank you very much!

[@Ilidan1985]

My fav green for orks is Olive Green from Vallejo Model Color range and then for highlights mix of olive green + yellow green :D I also used blues in shadows (ultramarine blue). Great job!

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks I! I miss my greenskins, but I'm planning a revisit of sorts :)

[@allenbenningfield3865]

I love this skin tone. I have never liked the pink human flesh colors a lot of people accent orcs with. I have already done a deep purple for shadows. I am going to try this out now. Bravo.

[@52Miniatures]

Lovely A, thank you and good luck.

[@tomaveryta]

Should’ve 100% left that guy with a giant overbite 😂😂 cracking vid mate, really enjoying your content

[@52Miniatures]

😂

[@zramirez5471]

Maybe I'm crazy but I REALLY want to see you do some glaze work; I've seen some guys doing it, but your technical interest in the effect paired with your dedication or "integrity to the process" really makes your videos a different level of painting

[@52Miniatures]

Thank you Ramirez, I’ve been using some kind of glazing more and more. But still feel like I’m practicing :)

[@jponeill2151]

Love your style. Big fan of turquoise, so adding a bit of blue is a great idea. I tend to be really lazy and use washes over a base coat and layer up with minimal highlights. I like to mix up my base colours though. Orcs, like humans, aren't all the same colour. I've even used Japanese Uniform Green as a base before now.. just to mix it up. Goblins are always lighter and bighter but maybe my bloodbowl gobbos might get a blue wash.. 🤔

[@leestoop5739]

Another great video. I really appreciate the thorough and coherent way you explain your process. Great job!

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks Lee, I’m glad you like it. 👋

[@mrarma123]

inspired sat here thinking about the amount of human skin i would paint with human skin tone + shade + brighter human skin tone lol

[@52Miniatures]

He he :) Orks deserve a nice treatment or they bite your finger off.

[@Mikey__R]

@@52Miniatures or at the least, they nibble the bristles of your brush

[@zamo9660]

This is beyond tabletop quality paintjobs! To be there after that few time painting (arround a year) just demonstrates either you are extremely talented or you get to learn fast. It's quite a trait to be a proficient learner... Adding an extra color to what you are working on is the natural step to achieve the next level in painting and IMHO it's more important than to have smooth blendings. Paint strokes add "fake" texture wich is good after all. To know which color is fitting the one you are working on, having a color wheel is the easiest option. Good choices are any of the 2 colors adjacent (in the chart) to the one you are using or directly the opposite. In example I get to use green to shade my magenta, purple on yellow's shadows, etc. It brings color depth and visual information. The more is going on (subtle, of course) the more "meat" your eyes can sink their "teeth" if it makes any sense. To the guy in the comments saying "this is amazing, I'll just add blue to my highlights" just a quick advice: it works in his minis cause they already have blue on them if they hadn't that wouldn't work so well, so take into account having the highlight hue you want to add elsewhere too so it's all tied up together 🤓 Concerning to the minis themselves I can't find much to be improved (now that's a compliment,😍). If I was to go crazy with them I would give the dude missing its jaw armour piece a good row of sculpted lower gum and teeth to avoid a flawed look. This hobby is back and forth and sometimes it takes a painted kit to realise what you missed in your kitbash. Ears can also be improved (I don't think it's worth the time and effort considering the results) simulating transparency. Ears being thin tissue have light going thru so a change of hue and light there would be a nice touch. Again, won't do this unless it was a display piece. My only real advice here should be not to go so far painting a part of the mini: going half way in my opinion works better so you can tackle other parts and take a step back to look the whole. How does your skin interacts with your armour colour? Based on that you can more precisely adjust how much you have to darken or highlight a color con consider it completed. Say, it brings contrast into consideration. Awesome job, you showed that a mini can look it's best throwing some love, care and time into the work, things anyone can do, no need to be the world's #1 painter 🤘great job. They look surprisingly better than what I had seen on your insta. May that was a test piece? Would also like to know how you set of 'paint green skin' worked and if it affected your decisions about how to paint these. I bet it did. Kind regards!

[@52Miniatures]

Hey Javier! I think I'm a bit of a fast learner.. but I think my main trait that benifits me is patience... One of the biggest benefits of starting all of this with buying the Soul Wars box was painting all those minis. Just working up the motoric and basic painting knowledge. After that having this youtube helps a lot. I put myself in new situations and try a lot of new things out. I think that speeds up progress. Thanks for the great compliments! The guy without the jaw armour is going to get his armour back. I ended up priming that seperat.. Interesting thought with the ears! I like it! As you say, maybe not on these fellows but definitley need to give it a try. I agree with you about not going so far, I've had that problem with other minis. Painting all the skin and then once the rest is painted - all the skin looked dark and dull. Especialy on black primed minis. In this case its a bit of a youtube issue. I have a bit of a weird plan for the armour and want to make a seperate video about that. But what you are mentioning might be worth a video in itself :) And on that note... the paint set... lets just say I had issues. I was going to mention them in this video but it was just to much information. So I recorded all that (ranting) seperatley and that will be next weeks video. But yes, all the greens here are from that set. Now color wheel. That is on my "to buy" list. Thanks for all the healthy comments Javier. I very much apreciate you input and knowlege.

[@danielaskew6057]

Loving your work! I'm painting some orks for blood bowl atm so this video is very inspiring

[@52Miniatures]

Great to hear Daniel! Thanks

[@dandaly8747]

Good stuff, just jumped in this again after 20yr, been doing mostly Kits...wanted a new challenge, Great Information and sharing your techniques.

[@52Miniatures]

Welcome back to the Hobby Dan, and welcome to the Channel :)

[@kaylieboyt2715]

I really enjoyed this video and how you've gone about painting the different tone with the green to add interest. How you've explained and executed the scheme was really informative. 👍

[@52Miniatures]

Thank you K, I appreciate this kind of feedback.

[@harmen4750]

Love the way they look! Very unique looking greenskin!

[@52Miniatures]

Awesome! Im happy with how they turned out :)

[@garyjenson8262]

Thank you. This gives me a lot of ideas on my escher kymerix model. Which is kind of a hot mess as models go.

[@philippecombelles9447]

Nice video once again. Really nice paint jobs on those orcs, we can see that you took your time to do a fine job. I like the fact that you took the time to study a bit the color theory as well as the idea of not doing skin just one colour. Skin is really a lot of different tone and that's why your result is as nice as it is. Finally, great job on those eyes, they are really well done. Congrats and I'll be glad to see more of those orcs later.

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks Philippe. I think you are right.. and a lot of times when we paint "human" skin, there is a lot of different shades going.. and in comes the orc and just gets the green.. I would also like to paint more orcs, I just have not quite figured out for what purpose. I have realized that I don't think I want to do any army.. but maybe for some other game completely... we'll see..

[@philippecombelles9447]

@@52Miniatures yeah I totally understand. I initially bought the start collecting chaos space marine in 40k just because they looked nice to paint. But I haven't finished event my first guy and I already want to buy other thing just to paint, not even for playing like the sylvaneth (tree guys if I remember correctly) in age of sigmar.

[@michaelcoull8590]

Just rewatching this Ork mini-series and wanted to say I really love this series in particular - taking a squad or warband (no idea what the correct term is) from kitbashing through to finished models and hearing your thought process on every step. As someone else said, don't worry about the rambling - for me, I much prefer the conversational tone and slower pace of these videos to some of the more fast-paced, "energetic" painting videos out there!

[@52Miniatures]

I'm glad to hear it Michael, thank you. This was a fun project. I hope to do something similar with some of the new Stormcast and Orcs.

[@sarainy9775]

One way I have heard this painting technique described, of lots of lines, is 'painterly strokes' and I think that is really fitting for what you are doing here. Great results!

[@52Miniatures]

Okay! Never heard that, but sounds nice :) I like doing this... pretty much do it all the time. It’s like adding highlights & at the same time adding texture. I like it.

[@richardadams429]

Dont worry about the "lines" on the skin.. i think of Orks as bodybuilders and the muscle should/would have striations. in my opinion the close up picture of the lines really shows a good approximation of realistic muscle. great job sir! "IM NOT A PRO BUT TRY IT TIP": getting pictures of super jacked body builders (without the excessive tan) under good lighting and applying a green filter (for orks) and red (for daemons) for example really helped me understand how to paint/highlight skin over muscle. im still not very good at replicating it but now i understand more..

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks Richard, that's a very good idea!

[@n3r0n3]

wow fabulous I have quite a few goblins to paint and I'll definitely go for this too adding some blue as well.. I have always used pink to highlight greenskin but never thought about blue which is much more original

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks Federico! I’m glad to hear that you will try it out. Let me know how it goes! Have a lovely weekend.

[@Xarmeister]

Great video! Thanks for sharing your process.

[@52Miniatures]

My pleasure. Thanks for checking it out 👋

[@j453]

Oh wow, when you did that close up of the skin, really cool style there. Very Van Gogh. I like it👍👍👍👍

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks J! That's a lovely compliment right there :)

[@michaelpeter3392]

Just discovered you channel. Amazing work and video-quality I have to say :) Thx for the inspiration, I will stay for sure.

[@52Miniatures]

Thank you Michael, and welcome to the channel :)

[@zilavymarek]

I have to say, I just enjoy you speaking :D

[@52Miniatures]

Well thanks Marek :)

[@mrarma123]

literally bro its satisfying hahah

[@edwardwhite1652]

I am really enjoying slowly going through your backlog of videos after Miniac's recommendation. I currently have some Orks I am planning to paint with purple skin, so am now thinking rather than dark purple, purple and bright purple/pink I will need to think of some other colours to put in there. As others have said, actually quite inspiring. Thank you.

[@52Miniatures]

Sound like some lovely orcs! Magenta is a favourite orc related colour in my mind :)

[@VincBej]

I have two things to say about this video:) First I really liked this way of painting green skin.The blue hues fit my tastes much better than the red ones that are more common, and the rough/textured skin effect is really cool. I'll definitely be using something similar at some point Secondly, thank you for always making sure to emphasize that this is only your way of doing whatever it is you're doing, that there is no right way to hobby, and that everyone should just do what they prefer!

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks again Vinc. I’m kind of trying to push this quite a bit. The whole point of a hobby, any hobby, is in my eyes that it is our own thing. Something we do for our own fun, peace of mind.. whatever. We KZbinrs should inspire “this works for me”, give tips that are free to use if so wanted... but not say that there is a right or a wrong way.

[@VincBej]

I really agree. With all the amazing stuff available to us on the internet, it's so easy to forget that the best way to do something in this hobby is actually exactly the way that makes us happy :)

[@sshim950]

This is really cool, thanks for making/sharing!

[@52Miniatures]

My pleasure and thanks for checking it out :)

[@13Robzilla]

Another great video, thank you for sharing. Those eyes are spot on, I would say primal as opposed to fierce. Either way awesome and thanks again.

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks Rob, I’ve almost finished them now, and primal is an excellent description of the overall outcome as well :)

[@johanneshermansson7630]

Is Livery Green a Romeo and Juliet reference? Nice one Vallejo.

[@52Miniatures]

Who knows? it really is bright though :)

[@LockwoodsWorkshop]

Gorgeous tones.

[@52Miniatures]

Thank you Lance! 🙏

[@vitaemecha]

Love all your vids I have seen so far, so much information and so much to learn from whilst seeing that you are also learning, You are so humble yet so talented. Also: If GW orcs are fungus, does that mean a Chaos Orc would worship Quorn?

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks James! And - hur hur hur for the Quorn 😂

[@lordhogwash8393]

I decided recently to incorporate different green tones through my greenskins, to better show a little diversity

[@52Miniatures]

A fine thing :) I'm doing the same at the moment.

[@ODonnchadhaBrian]

Excellent video as usual. It would be interesting to know what brushes you are using (in future videos).

[@52Miniatures]

I'm a bit of a wild one there.. heh.. I'm still trying out brushes. Pretty much every time I need to buy a new brush I try to pick a different brand from before. Generally (and at the moment) I like natural hair brushes. They are more expensive, but I feel they last longer.. so in the end, not that expensive. My favourites so far are the W&N series 7 size 0 (not the miniature version).

[@ODonnchadhaBrian]

@@52Miniatures cool, thanks.

[@stevedeschenes9199]

hello, i just find your channel and i really like your way, nice work.

[@52Miniatures]

Thank you Steve 👍

[@philgee486]

Loved this, greenskins are not my bag, I don't like GW style orcs at all, I'm for LotR Uruks, more a distortion of elf/human in the face, and I paint them in pallid skintones with exaggerated shadows and lots of facepaint. BUT I loved your bluegreen skin, really it's green skin avoiding yellower greens or mixing in yellow for the highlights, but then adding in lots of fine texturing lines across the surface in desaturated blues. The tourquise was the only vibrant one and you used that as a glaze instead to wake up the blues you'd already laid down. It's wonderfully textural skin and a joy to look at. Nice work, on the bodies and wonderful faces. I've got some supermutants to repaint for fallout wasteland warfare now I've seen what you've achieved.

[@52Miniatures]

Glad to hear it A, thank you. I thought.. we put a lot off effort in to "humanoid" skin... orcs just get the green. They should be treated equal. I think in the end, if I was doing a lot of orcs, I would probably do some totally different tones as well. Like some brown, red, white, all blue...

[@klumaverik]

Im working on finding my different tones for skin out of just green, black, and white. Its really hard to not go too far one way or the other Ohhh i just saw the thumb trick. Lol

[@52Miniatures]

Thumb trick is good! Also, if you go to far.. you can always go back :)

[@DirtyMiniatures]

You sound like a swede who has lived in the uk for 14 years, working in a pr-company or . Great video as always!

[@52Miniatures]

He he. Thanks! My past is shrouded in mystery 😂 Fortunately I never worked at a pr firm, unfortunately never lived in the uk. Did a few years behind a bar (not behind bars) in Australia at one point.

[@highlordalcadizakyr1479]

the blue is not subtle enough for my tasting but never the less they turned out very cool :D

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks, I was going for a lot of blue. I think also when the rest of the armour is painted, it'l blend in nicely because that is going to be pretty saturated as well.

[@pvrhye]

I guess they're supposed to be moss. Maybe if I had orcs I would reference moss. (Bias: I love moss)

[@52Miniatures]

Moss is a very nice thing. Good reference!

[@coalitionofrob436]

Your laid back and slightly irreverent commentary is a nice change from most other videos. I think it draws the viewer in, as if in a conversation.

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks C!

[@myhobbychannel1292]

I like your tutorial, but if i was you, i Will glaze ower the skin with the blue so IT Will Get a tint of blue

[@grandadsartspace5805]

And you don't think that you are a great painter , think again my friend you have a real talent keep up the great work you are encouraging us all to reach out to create better paint jobs

[@52Miniatures]

Well thank you very much. Your comment made my day. I’m glad to hear that my work is encouraging. Awesome stuff! :)

[@brumbz513]

Helpful video again, so important not to skip over the fact there were failed attempts, thanks! And congrats on hitting 1k subs, only the beginning for you i think. Oh and your Patreon link needs fixing!

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks a lot Phil! The Patreon link, I've tried to check whats up with that. I think it's the right link. But it only leads to a error page... kindov strange.

[@brumbz513]

@@52Miniatures Working now!

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks for the alert 🚨

[@MrStatistx]

Great painting scheme aside: Are the chestplates from the minis optional or is that also kitbash? Talking about the Brutes all having armor on their chest in the GW pictures, but yours don't and I like that way more, just want to figure out if that is going to take a lot of work. Edit: I see that it's covered in the Kitbash video, which I'm going to watch next. Gonna leave the comment for the youtube algorythm :)

[@52Miniatures]

🙏

[@Holger87]

Why are you using so many game colours instead of the matter model colours, when you love a matt finish? Are there no similar tones in model colour range? I want to try your approach on some egyptian fantasy crocodil warriors, but a bit more grey 🐊

[@52Miniatures]

Hey N, I usually buy different brand of paint, to try out. When doing this video, I had just gotten a few Game Colours. Regarding the matte finish, I always varnish at the end, with a very matte varnish. That said, I nowadays pretty much mainly use Scale75 paints.

[@properhandsome]

Your subs have exploded in a month what’s your secret!

[@zamo9660]

Putting together great content and uploading vids on regular basis (his upload rate also "exploded" lately, most likely due to how's the world going lately).

[@52Miniatures]

I’m hoping it’s got something to do with the videos :)

[@closerlookbooks]

Are these GW figures?

[@52Miniatures]

Yes Steven. "Orruk Brutes"

[@klumaverik]

Can anyone fact check the statement orks don't use lotion?

[@52Miniatures]

Squig juice?

[@sudonickx]

wait a minute... you're telling me orcs don't moisturize?

[@52Miniatures]

Maybe involuntarily? I'm guessing foe gore can be moisturizing?