ImpendingDuff is here to up our painting skills with a quick tutorial on how to paint fire with an airbrush- check it out!
ImpendingDuff may be somewhat new here, but he’s actually been doing this for a while now. He’s got great painting tutorials and is definitely worth checking out.
This week he has a solid tutorial for anyone looking to get their flames looking awesome. This is part of his new quick tips series, which focuses on one or two small things each time to up your painting game.
How to Paint Fire With an Airbrush: ImpendingDuff Painting Tutorial
He’s going to start with a white undercoat, and if you can’t tell by the title, he’ll be doing this all with the airbrush (minus a few steps). Let’s see how to do it!
Step 1:
He starts with P3 Heart Stone and loads it into the airbrush. He just does the whole piece with this, but in very thin layers. Next, he switches to Pure Yellow from Monument and starts to highlight this from the center out. Be sure to go from the center! As the outside will be colder than the center.
Step 2:
Next, break out the Transparent Orange. He tries to do this in a halo from the top around the edges of the flames. Including all the edges, he uses a more transparent color here, you can use a more solid color, but he doesn’t like it as much.
Then he goes to Transparent Red and does an even lighter highlight in the same way as before.
Step 3:
Now it’s time for the Transparent Black, he goes to the tinges of the flames. He just kisses the very peaks of the fire here. This isn’t really a realistic color for fire, but it looks good and is really an artistic choice.
He also feathers it down from the very peak. He then just barely kisses into the red.
Step 4:
Now he switches to the brush. He puts just a single drop of white ink onto his palette and waters it down. He then just slowly puts this into the crevices at the bottom of the flame, where it would be the hottest. Next, he puts pale yellow onto his wet palette in a watered-down manner.
He mixes this into the white areas from before and transitions that from the white. It might look a little strong right now, but it will soften once it dries.
Finished Piece
It’s really that simple! You get a great-looking flame without too much hassle.
If you liked this feature, be sure to check out his channel for more great tutorials!
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
