"What color (colour) do you paint Orcs and Goblins?" Topic

Hi All!

I am soon going to be starting painting Orcs and Goblins for Oathmark. I am looking to do them a la Tolkien, so how do you do yours? – in particular the flesh!

I have always painted mine in shades of brown/tan/dark flesh. Even greyish mixed with flesh. Tolkeinish? Figure if Frodo and Sam could pass as orcs for awhile, their skin could not be to far off.

I restored my collection of GW green-skins in 2018.

The big boys were repainted in earth tones, while the
"happy-meal" goblins were given a different shade of green.

Follow the link to view the before and after photos.
link

Concur completely with Saxondog. Tolkien describes various tribes of orcs as "black", "swarthy", or "sallow" – never as green.

Orcs – green
Goblins – mostly yellow, sometimes green

Olive green.

Because the Brothers Hildebrandt were never, ever wrong.

Orcs – Darker green

Goblins – Light green.

Works for me

I went with grey, while my goblins are green and my kobolds are brown. Mostly, I have to admit, to be ale to distinguish them on the table when I run D&D games.

Orcs painted yellow ochre with a wash of dark brown, but my space Orcs are yellowish green.

My old Minifigs Orcs and Goblins were green.

Everyone knows goblins are green.

All sorts, Ochre/ grey/ green although my latest Vendel Orcs are Orange leather,

Tally Ho!

I had an orc band for Mordheim once that were an orange-red colour. They were actually by nature a dull mustard-yellow but painted themselves red before battle due to their leader having a skin disorder that made him that colour. He was of course called Haemo-Goblin.

Red Leather / Orange Brown. My Gobbos and Orcs clearly share ancestry.

Matt black for my Tolkien orcs.

Goblin green for GW ones

I have some to do for notGW and not Lotr – they are too big to mix – and I haven't really decided yet for them. Maybe a Ruddy Brown.

Shades of brown for my Orcs and goblins.

Thanks

John

I do olive green, but I agree that darkish earth tones would be better Tolkien. Call it my concession to political correctness.

Pale green for the silly sort. (GW, HeroQuest)

With my not-LotR Copplestone "half orcs" (Uruk-hai), I've gone with a dull brick red.

Mostly green shades but the current goblins I'm working on are "oriental flesh" with a sepia wash.

If you want a Tolkien look Peter Jackson's movies are a good source of inspiration.

Fantasy goblins and orcs I've always painted in earth tones -- mainly shades of brown and ochre; for GW games, however, I've bowed to the voice of the masses and painted them shades of green. Fortunately, the difference in figure scale is such that the twain shall never meet.

I always considered Tim Kirk's Road to Minas Tirith the definitive interpreter of Tolkien, and all later efforts (Hildebrant, films) as well meaning but less accurate.

Mr Kirk's Orcs under full light were green. Mr. Kirk also depicted Orcs with brown or black skin but these were under dusky lighting conditions.

Tim Kirk Road to Minas Tirith

Tim Kirk Two Orcs

Tim Kirk Riders of Rohan (fighting Orcs)
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I do have some Games Workshop Goblins and Orcs painted by others with skin that is Citadel Goblin Green (a yellowish green). I shaded these with a stain of Burnt Umber or Raw Umber to get them into the olive range.

I use various shades of green and browns.

I have a large bodies Orc tribe painted in a red brown and a goblin tribe pained in a pale sand colour as they are desert goblins.

It is really up to you.

I do have Tolkien/Jackson style orces which I have painted in a very grey green.

I game in 15mm

I followed 1e AD&D Monster Manual for my Goblins: brick red(*), orange and dull mustard yellow. I ran with brick red skin because I really liked it. I really need to break mine up and re-paint some orange and yellow. I have 220 figures, all brick red, currently. If I break them up, I can have different tribes of different colors.

My Orcs, I just painted them olive drab. It worked. Cheers!

I agonized over this for a long time!!!!

What I would have gone with for goblins is orange to brick red, ie how described in 1e AD&D but my son wanted goblins to be green… Arg… but there is precedence for them to be green. Its not just from warhammer that they are green, but even some early AD&D stuff depicted them as green.

So what did I go with for goblins? Green- Mostly Hauser Lt Green from Deco art and some Aloe from Deco-art also. Ya I use craft paint, but I quite like the Deco Art paints.. give them a try! I give them a Kossite wash. ( oh.. Apple barrel, not so good, Delta is ok, Folk art is to thick!!, if you use craft paint, use Deco Art(Americana)).

Now for Orcs.. My son wanted them green also! I made my own color, using one or all of the following colors: Naples Yellow, Neutral grey, and raw sienna. I use just about every combination mixable with 2 or more of those colors, then they get a burnt umber or agrax type wash. I am quite satisfied with the colors I get for my orcs. Kind of a yellowish tanish color.

Now back to the goblins, I am considering painting another tribe of goblins having a orangish to brick red skin, I have painted a few, and at least at 15mm, I like them quite nice!!! Then we can have a battle with his green goblins vs my orange/brick red goblins

I do like the reddish orange skins for the goblins.. Hobgoblins have orangish skin, and then it make sense also for goblins as Hobgoblins are half-human half goblin.

So from what I can tell, Early AD&D Chainmail may have used colors to help distinguish races on the table, as models were limited, bna many human models were likely used just with different colored paints for the skins, so people would know what they were supposed to be!

Here is a link to some of my orcs how they are, and my goblins how I wanted them

TMP link

I've been told that Gary and friends gamed with mostly 40mm figures, not 25's! I agree, they had limited choices for fantasy figures, back in the early 1970's. We are absolutely spoiled for choices, today.

I am really agonizing about what to do with my 220+ brick red Goblins. I like the horde I have of them, primarily the same tribe, as they are all the same color. If I break them up by colors, then I lose the horde factor.

Gygax had some talent in color schemes and that is a fun thing to explore, for me. His vision of sizes of different races, is also fun to explore. His sizes listed in the various Monster Manuals, is fun to see in proper proportions, side by side in miniatures. Cheers!

Tolkien orcs? various dirty flesh tones. Earthy colors, tans, browns, ochres. Tolkien's descriptions of swarthy, sallow, black, bristly (like heavy stubble?), Frodo and Sam passed for orcs, at least if you didn't look at them closely.

For more fantastic orcs one look I quite like is to paint them cadmium lemon yellow, then wash them with green ink. It gives a nice yellow-green tone, with darker green in the shadows.

I also paint all my orcs in dark earth tones, browns, dark earth, latest Dark Wood Speed paint by army painter. Definitely not green which many use on GW orcs and goblins.

Sgt Slag, do not break them up, 3d print yourself 2 or 3 hundred more goblins and paint them up, then you can have a battle of the Goblins tribes

3D printing has a steep learning curve. Otherwise, I would have jumped into it a few years ago. I just don't have the time to learn a new 'hobby'…

If I'd had the desire, I would have bought more sets of Caesar Goblins, when they were available, to make additional hordes from different tribes of Goblins: yellow skinned, and orange skinned. I am running out of room in my storage shelves, for my fantasy armies, as well. My current Goblin horde is 220+ figures, total. LOL! Another 200+ in yellow skin, and another 200+ with orange skin?… Yikes! I need a bigger house to store them all!

I need to finish my Kobold army. They are around 70% completed. Then I can run my battles of the Wee Folk: Goblins, Kobolds, Gnomes, and Dwarves (Hill and Mountain tribes). This has been a desire of mine for many a year. Just need to push the Kobolds across the finish line, on my painting table… Cheers!