MOAR ORCS!

Hello friends and fellow hobbyists,

recently I shared an article showing the Orc Champion V1 by GT Studio Creations. In this article, I want to quickly cover his two siblings, the Orc Champion V2 and the Orc Female Champion.

Not a lot of companies sell female orcs. I think that this is because most universes in which orcs live, orcs are created or spawned, so they don't have a need for female orcs. Now the GT Studio Creations' orcs have a lot in common with the Warhammer orcs. Both in looks and in the fact that they do have female orcs.

The GT Studio Creations' female orcs aren't just females but also fierce warriors who fight alongside with their male counterparts. There are orc female queens, champions, warriors and wolf riders. They are, however, a little bit smaller and less bulky compared to the male orcs.

The cast of this Orc Female Warrior is super clean! There was a little flash on the weapon and I had to clean up the resin vents but other than that there were no issues to fix or moldlines to remove.

The Orc Champion V2 had some mold lines on the hammer and also some gaps where the arms connect to the body, but nothing a little putty and a quick scrape with a sharp blade won't fix. It is still a very imposing looking orc!

The Orc Champion V1 and the V2 are based on the same figure. Basically, the two models only have different arms and a different head, but the changes are significant enough to change the entire stance of the mini. And when I say mini, I don't really mean mini, because this bad boy is 60mm high, while in the 1/48 scale range.

I really like the Orc Champion V2 because of his collar. I was building a base for the V1 champion, but changed my plans and will use the V2 for this base instead! The fact that the two miniatures have the same legs and torso makes this easy!

I guess that concludes this article. For now, I have nothing more to say about these figures.

I will continue working on my vampire creature bust, Kahl-Agul, by Karol Rudyk and I need to find him a good plinth to display him on when he is done.

Until next time!

Orc Champion v1 by GT Studio Creations

Hi fellow hobbyists!

In this short article, I want to show you the first orc champion by GT Studio Creations. They started a Kickstarter early 2017 to make amazing orc models, and they delivered! They have a ton of male orcs, female orcs, and goblins. I was lured to their orc champions, which are basically orcs on steroids. These champions tower over their orc brethren.

the ungodly lovechild of the incredible hulk
and a god of chaos

Sadly I only found out about them just after their Kickstarter ended, but they let me buy 2 champions. These models, from the 1/48 scale range, are over 60mm high! Even better, they got even larger models available, 100mm as a display model! Both champions are based on the same legs and torso, so the version 2 champion basically only has a head and arms swap. However, the change is significant enough to make it look like a unique miniature.

the orc champion v2

The only "problems" I found with this miniature is that there is a gap where the arms connect to the shoulder that really needs to be filled and the "skirt" is one massive piece of resin. Looking at it from the front or back isn't a problem, but there are some angles where this really stands out.

design choices... this mini was made
to be produced in plastic but changed
to resin. 

As I mentioned I'm also getting the champion version 2 and apparently I'm also getting the female champion. I'm looking forward to checking those out as well! Next on my list from the models from GT Creation Studio are the orc warlords. These models have really cool armor and some massive weapons that make them look fierce on both a gaming table and a display base!

All and all I'm really happy about this model. The skirt is a small thorn in my eye but maybe I can fix it. The casting quality is really good and so is the sculpt and the details. There are some gaps that need to be filled but nothing a little putty can't fix!

sorry for the fuzzy photo, but you can clearly
see the gap between the shoulder and the arm

Thank you guys for reading! Check out Fausto and GT Studio Creations on Facebook or on their website if you are looking for more information about their orcs!

I hope to see you all next time!

Tribal orc

Hi everybody,

In this article, I would like to show off my recently finished tribal orc. Officially, this is the first bust I painted that I consider being finished! 😜

I used a combination of acrylic paint and oil paints. It was the first time for me using oil paint like this and I must say that I really enjoyed using it and it made painting highlights on the skin a lot easier! The oil paints I used are the AMMO Oilbrushers. These have a nailpolish style bottle with a in-bottle applicator.

The bust is sculpted by Olivier Bouchet as an academic orc bust. I painted him for skin tone practice and to get out of my comfort zone. He is painted to be partially in darkness with directional highlights.

Academic orc bust with dark skin and white war paint

Light side of the orc with more warpaint
patterns on his shoulder

The blue "shadows" on the shadow side are
just to create something interesting to 
look at

If you guys would like to see work in progress pictures in a step-by-step article, also showing the techniques I used to paint him, please let me know in the comments!

See you next time and keep on painting!

Gürmuz, the barbarian + academic bust review

Hi, everybody and welcome back!

Lately, I got more busts then I am able to paint but I want to at least, show them to you all and share my opinion about them.

Warning, brace yourself for a long one!

My latest acquisition is Gürmiz, by Hera Models. I got this bust during their anniversary event, so it came as a pack with the academic orc bust and got a nice discount. The bust is sculpted by Raul Garcia Latorre and it is based on the concept art of Victor Guerra.

Sadly, the anniversary sale has ended and everything went back to their normal prices. This means that Gürmuz, a limited edition bust, sells for €50 and that the academic orc bust can be bought for €27. (or your regional equivalent)

Let's do this unboxing! I will start with the smaller but not less impressive academic orc bust.

Safely packaged in a hard cardboard container

The bust is about 5cm tall and it depicts a part of the naked torso and scarred face of Gürmuz. It is cast in a nice dark resin and doesn't require any clean up. It is designed for practice and made in a way to make it as easy as possible for the painter to start painting. I can imagine this being a great bust to use for workshops.

Frontal view of this beautiful sculpt!

Truly a face only a mother can love

Semi-profile pic of his good side

To see a sped-up example video on how to paint it check this video by DiegueteStudio.
If you want to buy the Academic orc bust for yourself click this link. The price is €27 plus shipping.

Now on to the full bust!

Gürmuz, the barbarian is a limited edition bust with a total of only 125 copies available. Because it is a limited edition bust, it comes with some extra's in the box, like a certificate of authenticity, a special poker card, and a sticker.

There is no backstory available for Gürmuz, the barbarian. The only things I am able to tell is that he kind of looks like Azog, the white orc, from the movie The Hobbit, but without the scars. His armor is sophisticated for an orc. His shoulder pauldron seems to be made of layered leather, his garment is lined with a fur collar and he wears a decorative torq necklace around his neck.

The whole figure comes in two pieces, the full model plus his upper teeth. I think the teeth were taken out for ease of removing the bust from the mold without breaking them off. It comes in a hard cardboard box protected by thick layers of foam. This model also comes with a showcase base (a diagonally cut, circular plinth) 

The base is also safely packed in the foam

The cast is what I've come to expect from Hera Models, superb! There are no mold lines on the model that require cleaning up and the details are super crisp! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Without teeth, he's even uglier! 

Oh... My... God... check those stitches! 

Just look at all those lovely different textures to paint!

As you can see that is one sexy looking orc! Wait that is a weird sentence... But it is a beautiful bust! 

He is currently still available, although I don't know how many copies there are left. If you want him, follow this link to pick him up! It will cost you €50 but it is most definitely worth it! 

So if you made it this far, thank you for bearing with me! Haha. There were a lot of pictures and a lot of things I wanted to say about these busts.

If you are new at painting busts, I recommend picking up this (or any other) an academic bust. They are usually a bit cheaper than a full bust and it makes for great practice to get used to the scale and how to build up volume by using shadows, mid-tones, and highlights! 

That's it for this article! If you got this bust and if you painted it up, feel free to link to your work in the comment section! I'd love to see your work!

I want to thank you for reading and I hope I will see you all next time! 

WIP - Orgrim Doomhammer bust

Hello, painting friends!

Today I want to share a quick 'Work In Progress' post about my orc bust.

I did a review of this bust in this article a couple of months ago and I was very excited to work on it! To make it look more alive I wanted to create a certain atmosphere to set a theme. In this case, I want to paint him like he is standing in the darkness, near a campfire. This means one side should be dark and the other side should be lit by the fire, almost having to paint OSL (object source lighting) on the fire lit side.

Frontal view of the model

Shadow side of the model

I hope you like this quick WIP post. If you do and want to see more WIP articles in the future, be sure to let me know in the comments!

As from today, I'll be away to Marocco for a week. I do have another SMC loot review planned for Monday. If all goes well this will be automatically published on Monday morning.

I will see you all with a new article in about 10 days!

Bye!

For the horde!

Hello wonderful guys and girls,

I am sorry for my absence, but I had a bunch of stuff going on after moving house. Still a lot of chores that needed to be done, so not a lot of time for painting or other hobby related stuff.

I do want to share something cool I recently got, in the wake of the movie Warcraft: The beginning.

Intro

There where two sculptors I follow on Facebook that where working on some very interesting busts.

The first bust I found was sculpted by the well known and very talented Joaquin Palacios, sculptor of the Crystal Brush 2016 award winning piece Garrosh. The piece is 55mm tall and consists of 7 pieces, depicting a nameless orc with a resemblance to warchief Durotan.

As you can see, it is a very detailed, beautiful piece. It is currently available for pre-order till the 15th of July. The pre-order price is €38 + shipping. After the 15th of July the price for this bust will be €40. Contact freemansculptures@hotmail.com to order or for more information.

The second sculptor, Przemyslaw Szymczyk, made two busts based on the orcs in the film. One 58mm bust called Commander Baldum with similarities to Orgrim Doomhammer and one 70mm sized bust called Overlord Hard'al that depicts Durotan.

click to expand

Both busts are incredibly detailed and have a lot of character. The 70mm bust consists of 2 pieces. Durotan is being sold for €34,99 (pre-order price) and Orgrim can be bought for €29,99. For more information or to order contact areswarforge@gmail.com.

I had a hard choice to make. As you can see all these busts are beautiful and will be a joy to paint. Eventually it was the expression in the faces that tipped the scales. I ordered the busts from Ares Warforge and received them a couple of days later.

Review

I would like to start with the packaging. I received the busts in a box with styrofoam 'cheeto's'. This doesn't allow the figures to move inside and damage each other. While everything got to me fine and in perfect condition, some individual packaging (blister pack or ziploc bag) with some sort of inspirational art for the buyer, is something Ares Warforge could maybe improve on in the future.

Moving on to the busts. The busts did have a little flash and Overlord Hard'al has small mold lines running over his shoulders. Nothing fine sandpaper and some putty can fix though!

click to expand

the busts are very detailed and the skin, hair and teeth all have a really nice texture to them. There is a separate piece for the necklace with tusks or claws hanging from them. They are probably from a bear he killed with his bare hands!

I couldn't detect any mold lines on the 58mm sculpt of Commander Baldum. Only on the underside of the bust could I detect mold lines. The perfectionists under us will want to sand that away, but it would be OK to leave it. (Who am I kidding? We are all perfectionists in this hobby!)
There was a little bit of flash (or casting vents) underneath his beard and under the claws of the pelt he is wearing over his shoulder. A sharp knife made quick work of that. This might be my favorite figure due to the expression on his face. He looks agitated! A true orc!

As you can see all these busts are stunning and I can't wait to start painting them! Currently I am trying to plan out how to paint them and to get the required materials. Once they are done (if ever) I will share the results with you!

If you are interested in getting these busts for yourself be sure to use the contact information provided in the intro part of this article or look them up on Facebook!

For now thank you for reading. Feel free to leave a comment below with questions or suggestions. You can also click the 'Join this site' button on the right side column to subscribe to my blog or share this article with your friends. Thanks in advance!

I hope to see you next time but for now, happy painting!