How to Paint a Battle-Ready Chaos Warrior

I have been painting Warhammer miniatures since I was eleven years old. From the beginning to the present I have found painting these miniatures to be relaxing, therapeutic, and a total blast! I hope this basic tutorial can get others on the wave of calming and fun art projects! Now grab those brushes, assemble your paints, and get ready to storm the battlefield with your shiny and stylish chaos warriors!

All supplies are available at Games-workshop.com

Brushes (brushes used in tutorial are citadel brand, though any brand will do):

- Medium Layer Brush

- Medium Shade Brush

- Small Layer Brush

- Medium Base Brush

- Small Dry Brush

Paints:

- Chaos Black

- Mechanicus Standard Grey

- Mournfang Brown

- Leadbelcher

- Abaddon Black

- Mephiston Red

- Rakarth Flesh

- Balthasar Gold

- Reikland Fleshshade

- Nuln Oil

- Carroburg Crimson

- Agrax Earthshade

- Stormvermin Fur

- Eshin Grey

- Runefang Steel

- Evil Sunz Scarlet

- Pallid Wych Flesh

- Blood for the Blood God!

Other Materials:

- Water pot (Any cup or mug will do)

- Pallet pad

- Piece of tissue or napkin

To begin, find a space with proper airflow to spray your model with Chaos Black spray. I recommend getting a piece of cardboard to place the model on, allowing you to cover any surfaces you don't want paint on, reducing the risk of backspray.

Shake your spray can for about two minutes. This will allow the spray to come out in its full color and avoid any splotches on the model.

Spray every part of the model, make sure not to leave any grey areas of plastic. Pay Special attention to cover any recess details tucked around the model.

Once you have finished spraying, allow the model 15-20 minutes to dry.

Paints used:

- Abaddon Black

- Nuln Oil

- Eshin Grey

First up, We're going to be painting the black metal armor details on the chaos warrior.

Start with a coat Abaddon Black all over the model, focusing on bits with armor plating, such as the shield, helmet, and chest. Make sure to give your paint pot a good shake before applying paint to your brush. Using our medium base brush, get a dab of paint loaded on the brush, using your pallet to control the amount you have loaded. Also be sure to dip the tip of your brush in water, this will allow the paint to thin a bit, making for a smoother coating. Remember, we be be a bit rough with this step as most of the model is yet to be painted, prioritize getting the desired areas covered. Give the paint about 2 minutes to dry.

Once the paint is dry, we're ready to apply a shade of Nuln Oil across all of the areas you have just painted black. Using the medium shade brush, load the brush with a touch of Nuln Oil and use your pallet to control the load of your brush. You may notice Nuln Oil is very watery compared to Abaddon black, that is normal as it is a shade paint. The runny nature of shades makes controlling the load with the pallet extra important. Once you have applied the shade across the black armor, let it dry for about 15 minutes.

The final step for the black armor will be a basic edge highlight. Grab your small layer brush and your pot of Eshin. Apply a small amount of Eshin Grey to your brush, following the same method of load control as the previous steps. Drag your brush along any ridges or raised areas of the armor as well as the edges of the plates. Be careful not to get any grey on the shaded middle sections of the armor. If you make any mistakes, just paint over them with Abaddon black and try again!

With the highlight complete we are ready to move on to the next largest detail, the cloak.

Paints Used:

- Mephiston Red

- Carroburg Crimson

- Evil Sunz Scarlet

In this step, we'll begin with a base layer of Mephiston Red over the entire cloak. Using our medium base brush, load up some red, apply it to the pallet, thin down with a touch of water, and begin applying to the cloak. Be careful to avoid painting red on any black armor you've already painted. Once again, allow the paint about 2 minutes to dry.

Once the cloak is dry, we're ready to move onto shading and for this we're going to use Carroburg Crimson. Have your medium shade brush handy and load it with a good amount of paint, using the pallet to control the load. Apply the shade all over the cloak. If you notice any shade patches pooling up inside of the details, use your brush to soak up the excess and spread it evenly across the model. Once you're finished, give the paint about 15-20 minutes to dry.

To finish off the cloak we're going to highlight it with Evil Sunz Scarlet using drybrushing. To start, grab your small drybrush and dip the very end in Evil Sunz Scarlet, we don't need a lot of paint for this section so make sure only the very edge has paint. Next, take your brush and repeatedly dab it onto a piece of tissue. Continue dabbing until almost no paint shows up on the tissue. With this done, run your brush in light, repeated strokes along the cloak, letting the color build up on the raised areas of the cloak.

Now that the drybrush is complete, we are ready to move on to the silver metallic areas.

Paints used:

- Leadbelcher

- Nuln Oil

- Runefang Steel

To begin with the silver areas, pick out areas such as the sword, breastplate, and knee guards and with our medium base and layer brushes do a layer of Leadbelcher in the same manner as the previous base coats. Alternate brush sizes in relation to the size of the detail, using the layer brush for smaller details and the base brush for larger ones. As always, allow the base roughly 2 minutes to dry before moving on.

With the Leadbelcher dry, we're now ready to shade the silver, for this we're going to be using Nuln Oil. Grab your medium shade brush, load it up and get it thinned down, and apply it to all the silver. Once again make sure to watch for any pooling as we don't want to clog any details. Once that step is complete, allow the shade 15-20 minutes to dry.

With the shade dry, it's time to add some edge to all that silver. Using your small layer brush, load a small dab of Runefang steel, thinning it down with water and applying to the pallet. Once your paint is thinned, gently run your brush along the edges of all of the silver, such as the blade of the sword and point of the breastplate.

Now that the highlight is applied, the silver is complete! At this point, I recommend changing out your water pot as the metallic paint flakes tend to linger in the water and could contaminate your other paints. Once that's done, we're going to move on to the gold details!

Paints used:

- Balthasar Gold

- Reikland Fleshshade

- Runefang Steel

To start the gold details, load up your medium layer brush with Balthasar Gold in the same manner as we have used for the silver base. Once loaded, apply to all the areas we want to be gold, such as the shield design and trinkets around the armor.

Once that's dry, we're ready to shade the gold with Reikland Fleshshade. Seeing as most of the gold details are rather small, we'll be using our medium layer brush for shading. Same rules of shading apply despite the different brush. Once you have all the gold shaded, give it anywhere from 15-20 minutes to dry.

Once that's dry, we're going to add a bit of shine to go with our gold's new depth. Using our small layer brush loaded with a tiny bit of thinned Runefang Steel, we will apply a touch of silver towards the tip of the golden areas.

Shiny! With that the gold is complete. Before moving on to the fur on the cloak, I recommend changing the water once again. Wouldn't want gold flakes in those fabulous fur colors after all!

Paints used:

- Mournfang Brown

- Agrax Earthshade

- Stormvermin Fur

We'll begin by using our medium layer brush loaded and thinned with Mournfang Brown to apply a base to all the fur areas. Be sure to try and avoid painting over the cloak or any other nearby details we've painted so far. Once applied, give the fur around 2 minutes to dry.

Once dried, we're ready to shade the fur with Agrax Earthshade. Using our medium layer brush, carefully apply the shade while making sure to avoid pooling in the details. Once finished, let the shade dry for about 15-20 minutes.

Our final step for the fur is a drybrush of Stormvermin Fur applied to the upper-middle section of the fur. Using our small drybrush as before, dip the very tip into the paint and dab repeatedly on a napkin. Make rapid light brush strokes on the area we want covered, working to build that layer up over time.

And now with that drybrush applied, the fur is complete! Now lets get into our final section with the leather and tan details.

Paints used:

- Mechanicus Standard Grey

- Rakarth Flesh

- Nuln Oil

- Agrax Earthshade

- Pallid Wych Flesh

- Blood for the Blood God!

Starting off, we'll use Mechanicus Standard Grey for the boot leather as well as the bear claws. We'll be using our medium and small layer brushes respectively for this step and the same brush loading technique as we've been using!

Next, using our small layer brush loaded up with Rakarth Flesh, we will be base coating all of the leather straps around the model. Additionally, base coat parts such as the horns and the bear paw on the cloak in the same color. Let both base coats dry for 2 minutes.

Once the coat is dry, apply a shade of Nuln Oil on the grey leather, and Agrax Earthshade on the tan leather using your small layer brush. Be sure your brush is clean before transitioning shades. Let the shadess dry for 15-20 minutes.

Once the shades have dried, the final step is highlighting the leather. We'll be using our small layer brush for this step. Loading the brush lightly, apply Pallid Wych Flesh to the edges and raised areas of all the leather.

With the final highlight done the model is complete! However, I thought it would be fun to throw in a bonus step for added effect! Using Blood for the Blood God! add some blood splatter to that sword using your medium layer brush. This is a technical paint, no watering down required, however, it is still a good idea to use your pallet to control the amount on your brush. Once you're loaded up, paint the splotches in a way that looks natural.

Well that does it for this painting tutorial. Our chaos warrior is looking fierce and ready to pillage in the name of the dark gods! I hope this tutorial was helpful, thanks for joining me!