Painting checkered patterns Options

[Slate]

I know this sounds dumb, but what's the best way to paint black and white checkered patterns on orks and ork vehicles? Do you prime the area white or black? Do you draw out a grid first (and with what?), or go at it freehand? I'm new to orks (but not painting), and have never tried this before. Any suggestions welcome

[The Red Ork]

I do it free hand, looks more orky. On my foot orks I actually just dot it with a detail brush, its small enough it looks checkered

also I do it with a black undercoat, with the white area painted gray then white

[jackdoud]

Page 68 of the codex has instructions for checks. If you don't have the codex the same technique is pretty much repeated in these threads:

http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=37028
http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=48826
http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=36046
http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=37562

[Slate]

Thanks guys!

I'm new to orks and so don't have the codex yet, but will check out the tutorial when I do. In the meantime, what you've provided here is great.

[Foffgrot]

One thing that I do that haven't been mentioned in the previous thread is that I always black-line my checkers to make them pop out more.

I previously used the GW tutorial-style, but found that when painting really small checks the checks become uneven-sized (white checks becomes smaller than black due to the lines) and have thus abandoned it. Have not tried the marker-style checks.

I paint a large black swath where I'd want my checkers, then fill in with white squares but leave a bit of black around the edge. Usually I have to do a second pass with white/black since my hand's not as steady as it once were.

[Agatheron]

Curiously enough the method for painting checks in the newer codex is near opposite to the one in the previous codex. The previous codex had you paint an entire area white, then draw the grid for the checks with black (or a black technical pen) and then fill them in with black. Works very well.

Since I started using an airbrush, I create checks on vehicles by cutting 3mm vinyl masking tape and arranging it in a checked pattern, and then airbrush Deneb stone and then skull white. Sometimes I dab masking fluid on it with a sponge before airbrushing to get the chips right... or use the so-called "hairspray" method to get a natural chipped look.

However, the above method doesn't work well for figures.

[Deimos]

I did this (Tutorial) How To Paint Black And White Squares On Ork Vehicles (Part 1and 2) on my Blog

http://uniteallaction.blogspot.com/2011/06...-and-white.html

[iPaint]

Here's how I painted my Goff checks.

White on Black for Goffs



Yellow on Red for Evil Sunz


And my process:


Step 1: Apply base coat (in this case, it started out black since I was doing Goffs)
Step 2: Apply Dheneb Stone in streaked lines, maintaining a checkered pattern, and varying the edges ever so slightly between the white and black parts of the checkered pattern. Paint all the checks in the same direction, parallel to each other, and using a rather small detail brush (depending on check size, I like small checks personally). You want a majority covering for this part, say 90-95 of the checkered pattern, with maybe a little black showing through on the white parts.
Step 3: Apply White in streaked lines, this time shooting for about 75% coverage on top of the Dheneb Stone. Again, parallel, small, even streaks to create that "painted on" look. Coloring "outside the lines" can add some variety to the pattern, just remember, all things in moderation.
Step 4: Come back in with Black and add a few dabs/streaks across the white pattern checks to create a worn paint look. Sponge technique could also work, but be sure you have just a little bit of paint on the sponge, and dab lightly.
Step 5: Apply a metal highlight color across all the panels, using a small detail brush, as well as old drybrushes with very little paint on them. Keep your brush strokes as straight as you can to imply a one-pass scrape, say where something metal had been dragged across the surface. wearing down the paint. Small dots also work to create worn patches. Experiment here, this is all extra from here on out depending on how crazy you want to get.

Finally, apply any further highlights/shading/weathering you like.

HTH

~iPaint