Orcs in Old Night

I've talked a bit about orcs before. For whatever reason, I kind of like orcs, but I'm always tinkering just a little bit with how I present them. This post is still more or less the last word on orcs (and goblins) in Shadow of Old Night. I have two YouTube videos on them too, but they add very little that the post doesn't; in fact, one of them is literally me reading that post and adding more images from my AI orc collection or my Hero Forge models to the mix.

https://youtu.be/f5GENXzbPn8?si=WOPomPN5rpWaoSLp

https://youtu.be/L4Ol5SBAB7g?si=yw_JFxiih4seXpvZ

I've made some minor updates to some of those images since that post and those videos, especially the Hero Forge ones, but that's just minor cosmetic improvement, not substantive change. 

I didn't want to give all of them the same face, which even with face customizer ends up being a real problem in Hero Forge sometimes, so I've started looking for shortcuts to make more orcs that look like orcs but don't just use the orc face. One of the things I've done is use the orc face but try to modify the nose a bit and use a bit of other modifications to give them a little bit of variation, but still look very orc-like. 

The following is my attempt to combine the new ape model with a few orc elements; I replaced the hairy body with a normal one, and put the orc nose on an ape, and a different hair style. I used just the basic orc theme as a shortcut, but then modified some of the colors from my library of colors. I'd say this is a pretty good example of a "typical" orc male; maybe I'll go update a few of my example orc characters to show this. Maybe. I like the look of this guy.

And not every orc needs to be scowling all the time. Maybe I can make one who's more cocky, and happy-go-lucky.

Here's an old and outdated early attempt to make an orc in Hero Forge that matched my orcs, but I've updated him at least a little, using some of the same elements.

I will say that the first one is probably a bit too green for my taste. I like my orcs to be more khaki; they're green, but it's a very brownish, more realistic green. They're not bright like aspen leaves.

I made this orc laborer; probably the most likely encounter with an orc in the Three Realms that most will have... other than the pirates on the Darkling Sea which actually make a major component of the Darkness In the Hill Country 5x5 Front. This is heavily based on the quick and dirty profile face image I made above, but expanded and remade to be a whole character. Also, he's got a serious face, but less overtly scowling.