ImpendingDuff is back with a painting tutorial in his quick tip series on how to paint fire with just your brush- check out how to do it!
ImpendingDuff may be somewhat new here, but he’s been doing this for a while now. Both his YouTube and Twitch channels have great painting tutorials and are definitely worth checking out. Duff has put together a solid tutorial for getting your fire effects looking great without much effort. This is part of his new quick tips series, which focuses on one or two small things each time to improve your painting game. Check it out!
How To Paint Fire With a Brush: ImpendingDuff Painting Tutorial
He recorded this a while ago on his Patreon but has recently released it. So, he will be using the older Monument Hobbies paints, but we’ll be referring to the new Fluorescents for this video. Let’s get into it!
Step 1:
He starts by basing the whole thing in a warm yellow, such as p3 Heartfire. Then, he takes Golden Yellow from Monument and starts working it near the bottom of the model. You want a good, consistent layer here. Remember, fire is the hottest at the source, meaning it needs to be lighter near the middle, and you go darker the higher up the flame you go.
Step 2:
Next up, he takes Monument Hobbies Orange and basecoat all the way out to the final edges of the flames. Think of this as opposite highlighting. Just be sure to thin your paint down some here to give you a decent layer, but also transition into the other colors. You want to do a few passes to blend the colors together.
Step 3:
Now it’s time to bring the red tones in; he’s using Bold Pyrrole Red for this. Again, he thins this down and does more of a basecoat even closer to the edges of the flame than before. To blend the colors, he thins it down to almost a glaze and smooths out the hard lines. He always glazes out and does as many passes as needed to smooth the transitions out.
Step 4:
Now, he goes to Coal Black, but he goes only on the tips of the flames. You don’t really see this in a real fire, but it represents where the flame has cooled off. Be careful here, as overdoing the black is where you can mess the flames up. However, if you overdo it, you go back with the red to glaze and transition it in either way. You don’t glaze the black; pull the red into the black.
Step 5:
Now it’s time for the brightest spot in the flame; he uses Pale Yellow for this. He thins this down a lot, barely any pigment left. He glazes in about 80% of the valley surfaces at the bottom of the flames.
Painting Fire- Finished Model:
The one on the left is painted with a brush, and the one on the right is with an airbrush. As you can see, this takes more time but gives you a pretty stunning look!
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!
