15 mm Orc Army

[ken]

Hey Guys
Its been a very long time since I've been on here. I've just recently gotten back into gaming, but I have have very little money and time so I thought now would be the best time to give paper minis a try

I started these with mighty armies in mind, 15mm fantasy mass combat. Though I'm thinking that they will work well for Song of Armies and Hordes.

I simplified some detail and plan on using bright colors so they won't be too dark at 15mm. The idea is to have 3-4 figures per base.

Right now I love to get some feedback on them from more experienced designers and modelers.



The top row is a Standard Bearer, Warlord, and Shaman
The second row are Black Orcs
The third row are Warriors
The fourth row are Archers
The fifth row are Wolf Riders and Goblin Warriors

Thanks
Ken

[Dryw the Harper]

Cool Orcs. I'd like them full sized, please.

Dryw the Harper

[old squirmydad]

I like the line art, I do think the wolves should be bigger though.

[Tommygun]

I think they are great.
For what it is worth, one thing I like to do with a new design is print a test page and put it on the wall then stand back a few paces and look at it.
I think you get a better idea of what it will look like on the table this way than just looking at it on the computer screen.

[Reivaj]

I like them !! ;D , You might do them also in 30 mm

[nikloveland]

Yeah, those are really nice!

Oct 28, 2010 14:59:44 GMT -9 Dryw the Harper said:

I'd like them full sized, please.

Dryw the Harper

I never worked at McDonald's but I just gotta:
Do you mean super-sized...

[Dominic]

They look good, although I second Dryw's request . It's probably easier to do them in "full size" and scale them down than the other way around.

[Two foot Tom]

Wow! they are nice! i work with 15mm metal miniatures quite alot and they let you have some brilliant mass battles. Nice one mate

[ken]

Thanks for the kind words.

I'll probably revisit these and make a 30mm warband for Song of Blades and Heroes after I get them done. If I do I definatly want to add more detail and character to each.

For now though, I got the backs done for the command.

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.



I'm hoping to have these guys inked, colored and a test build done this weekend.

[Parduz]

I like these orcs a lot. They have a very "game company with lavyers" feel (i'm not a miniature gamer, but i always liked the look of that old fantasy orcs).

Think about adding details: they're getting colors, highlights and shadows, you may find that more details becomes blurry on the table.

Anyway, i can't wait to see them finished.

[labrat]

Oh dude!

These are looking sweet! I can't wait to get my hands on these awesome orcs.

As far as critiques I will offer only a couple of things. Some 3/4 views on some of the heads would be good. I don't think it has to be on all of them, but if you put it in on a few it helps to make a 2d model look a little less 2d.

Another thing that I learned in doing my last model set (many thanks to Parduz and others), is that adding a little perspective to the shields also helps with this. And when you do the emblems for the shields have them at an angle so that it appears as if the shield has some weight to it. I did mine straight on on my foot soldiers the first time around and tilting the emblems and giving the shields some perspective made a significant difference.

Again these guys look awesome, and I am very excited to see the finished work on them. Keep it up!

[hedley]

I waiting for Them !! ;D Go on with your work!!!!!

[ken]

It took me awhile but I got the first color done. ;D



I've printed it out and I think it looks pretty good, but then I've been staring at it for at least 12 hours over the last two days.

I may bump the green up to a brighter color.

What do you guys think?

[Parduz]

It's really nice!
You may not know this, but i'm that person that draws nothing but that always have something to critique on other artists drawing

As you're asking for them.....
1) Why the grass behind the leg? You may have your reasons, but i think it will be nicer without it and with the OneMonk standard "black tab" under the feet... Basing the miniature as it is can be tricky, 'cause there's no tabs to glue it to the base.

2) It have some lighting inconsistency: all armour "plates" are lighten from the bottom, while arms and hands receives light from the top-left.
Also the weapon "wood part" lighting is "reversed" (light comes from the right only for it, the handle is lighten from the left).

3) I'd make the black line of the head more thick, to make it "pop out" from the torso, and i will add some shadow under the head and on the chainmail part to add some "3D" to the whole mini.

[tonsha]

These are great figures, Ken!

I'm personally glad that you chose black outlines for the figure parts rather than a darker shade of the part colour. Figures just look 'crisp' when printed out with black outlines.

Parduz has some valid comments, but you've got to be careful about 'Gold Plating', I reckon. It entirely depends on what you're focusing on.

The real test (from my point of view) is to print the figure out to the relevant scale, hold it at arm's length, and decide whether it looks OK or not. You can squint a bit too if you like.

If it looks 'OK' it will probably do.

Still: take Parduz's comments on board - they are valid comments after all - and have a think.

15mm should be less detailed than 30mm, but I would encourage doing 30mm figures (but that's just me being selfish for SBH!)

DaveA

[ken]

parduz-

Thank you. Its always nice to get a second set of eyes looking at a project.

I put the grass there so that they would be easier to flat base. I intended these to be used at 15mm with 3-4 figures per base. Tabs would have made that really hard.

I agree that I need to put a thicker line around the head. It does kinda blend in a bit. Maybe a shadow under the chin.

I shaded it in a way that is very similar to the way I paint minis, so lighting is not super reallistic. Now that you point it out, the shading on the axe handle is starting to bug me.

[labrat]

Good old Parduz. You can always count on him to point you in the right direction. I speak from experience. Taking his advice is always worthwhile even if it may have to wait til the next set comes along.

[ciabs]

really love this set, but I'd second the possibility to have simple onemonk-style black tabs on the feet, so that it keeps continuity with most of the stuff both on the site and on the whole paper minis market

apart from that, can't wait for a finished set to download

[enpeze]

I really love this ork and also support the black tab movement. There are different basing methods and the black tab is one of the most universal which caters almost every basing system.

[Sirrob01]

Ken not sure if you want try a chainmail texture:

www.imageafter.com/image.php?image=b21tabus1238.jpg
or
www.imageafter.com/image.php?image=b21tabus1190.jpg

Id increase the contrast and brightness in photoshop before importing to inkscape if you want to use it

select the image and shape you want to clip it to and use object>>set>clip (although I think you've already found it ).

[ken]

I got the standard bearer done tonight.



I'm hoping to have the Black Orcs done this weekend, then I'll post up aome build photos.

[labrat]

Looking Nice. I can't wait to get the whole set.

Hey I took one of those chainmail images you posted Sirrob01 and I made it into a repeating pattern with seamless edges. If you are using photoshop you can open up this image, hit ctrl+A to select the whole image, and then on the menu bar go to edit>define pattern. Now you can use your paintbucket to fill an area with the chainmail pattern. Just make sure your paintbucket is set to pattern instead of foreground, and select the chainmail pattern.



Not sure how to do it in other programs.

Oh and I also support the black tab movement. Maybe we should sign a petition.

[old squirmydad]

Standard Bearer is looking good, you might want to bump up the contrast on him to help the textures 'pop'.

[ken]

Thanks for the chainmail pattern Labrat. I'm gonna give it a try tonight and see how I like it.

For the way I want to base this set, black tabs just won't work. Once I have the set done though, If people like them enough, I'll go back through and make a set with the tabs for everyone.

For my test builds, flat basing with a bead of superglue on the bottom edge of the figure works really well, and I've only been printing on plain paper. Once the full set is done I'm gonna print on matte photo paper and flat base with mat board and magnet strips under that. I think that it should look really good.

[kiladecus]

As far as I'm concerned, enough of the people here (including myself) LOVE these guys.

Throw them on the black tabs, and give us a download link!

I can see hoardes of these guys swarming all over my gaming terrain in my mind right now!

Nice work!

[ken]

I made some more progress today. At this rate I might get the full set done before the end of the year.

[ken]

And a couple of test build photos.





I'm really excited about the way these guys look. I think they may need a thicker border around the backs, other than that they lined up well and cut suprisingly easy.

I can't wait to see a table full of these guys.

[Dryw the Harper]

Very Cool. I vote for black tabs and full scale.
;D
Dryw the Harper

[ken]

I will do a set with black tabs. I've got it set up to do that pretty easy, along with 30mm versions. Just gotta be patient and let me get the full 15mm set done. ;D

[labrat]

Those guys rock! Nice work Ken. They are so good that everyone here on the forum is chomping at the bit to get them. Including me. ;D