Hi all

For a long time, my go-to Orc skin tone colour was a Vallejo dark grey, drybrushed up to a GW Codex grey, maybe with a flesh wash in there. The result looked inhuman, monstrous and quite effective.

However, I got (and later sold) a whole whack of Hobbit Goblins, and the Hobbit Goblin paints (which I kept). I painted a number of plastic Orcs with similar flesh tones to the "Goblin Town" style Goblins which was also quite effective.

So, now I am trying to decide what to paint my "last" 24 plastic Orcs with. Should I continue the "Hobbit" style pale skin tones, or return to the older grey style?

What have others here found effective? I am going for something cinematic, so I am steering away from the Warhammer/Hildebrant green tones.

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Dreaming of getting back to painting...any month now.

Mine are all shades of green. Not super original, I know, but the green contrasts really nicely with the red Morannon robes and also the yellow brown I chose for my wargs. (My guests complain about dark colours on the display cabinet models.)

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"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock." -Will Rogers

Orcs supposedly have black blood, so from a biological standpoint it makes sense for them to be grey or black-skinned. That's how they were described in the books iirc.

Personally, I use a wide variety of skin tones. All of my Uruk-hai are dark reddish brown like the official GW scheme. Goblins are greenish like the film. Morannon and standard Orcs vary a ton.

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Gondor: 2339pts
Rohan: 1318pts
Dwarves: 2482pts
Elves: 1091pts
Mordor: 2305pts
Isengard: 1762pts
Moria: 1463pts
Evil Men: 381pts

I havent done this yet, but I'm going to paint their skin tones based on area they are from. Mordor, dol guldor, maranon, cirith ungol, etc.