Any alternatives to painting traditional flames?

[Lathe Biosas]

I've been thinking of building a Salamanders Space Marine force, but I fail miserably when painting fire/flames. 

 

Any suggestions on alternative paint schemes for all the flame patterns that decorate Vulkan He'stan and his noble pyromaniac friends?

[Grotsmasha]

You could try the molten lava look? Underpaint on reds/orange/yellow, and then cover with very dark grey / black irregular blocks

[Madao]

Have you tried contrast paints? Paint the flame white and use yellow and orange/red contrasts to wet blend the colour OR just drybrush orange on the white and then apply only yellow contrast over the whole flame. While the first option can give you a better looking flames, the second one gives you OSL for free

[Firedrake Cordova]

Is this any help?

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 04:51 PM by Firedrake Cordova

[Lathe Biosas]

Thanks for the advice. Wet Blending and other advanced techniques are difficult for me.

 

I'm more of a base and wash kinda guy. But I'm trying to get better...

[Madao]

1 minute ago, Lathe Biosas said:

Thanks for the advice. Wet Blending and other advanced techniques are difficult for me.

 

I'm more of a base and wash kinda guy. But I'm trying to get better...

Wet blending is easy enough for me to use with contrast paints. Just put a blob of red paint on the top of the fire, quickly rinse and dry the brush, load yellow paint and start painting from the bottom of the flame. Once you get to the red paint, just go on - it will mix with the yellow on your brush. From that point just go back and forth with the brush between these two colours and they will mix nicely and make a proper gradient transition (avoid going into the recesses at that point, as it will darken the spots which should be brightest). You are aiming at something like here:

[Firedrake Cordova]

1 hour ago, Lathe Biosas said:

Wet Blending and other advanced techniques are difficult for me

What about dry-brushing?  

[Lathe Biosas]

3 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

What about dry-brushing?  

 

No time like the present to learn.

 

Of all the chapters, why did I have to like the Salamanders?

[Firedrake Cordova]

Thankfully, drybrushing is easy to learn - it always used to be looked down upon as a "beginner technique", which is a bit unfair, really.

 

Whilst the Artis Opus brushes are nice, there's other effective options - Army Painter's Masterclass Drybrush set are essentially the same, as are Artify's, but you can also use makeup brushes. GW make "flat" drybrushes which give you the option of using a narrow or broad stroke with the same brush. Or, you can use old and worn out brushes (do not use nice pointy brushes- it will ruin them). 

 

The main thing is to make sure that you get enough paint off of the brush, so only a little is deposited on the raised parts.

Edited Sunday at 09:46 AM by Firedrake Cordova

[LameBeard]

If you are worried about painting actual flames, I think the solution is: cut them off. I’m always a bit sceptical of modelled smoke/fire/fumes … grumble grumble … we didn’t have them in my day.  There is no shame in being a Salamander without a brazier stuck on your jump pack. 
 

if you are worried about painting flame markings, then remember, a little goes a long way.  Decals may be an option for a big space.

 

Otherwise the trick is to choose a panel that can be black.  First paint a sort of rainbow: yellow stripe at the bottom, then orange, then red at the top.  Then take your black and paint the negative space between the flames.  See the knee pad here (ignore the not very Salamanders green)

 

 

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

On 11/14/2025 at 9:33 PM, Lathe Biosas said:

I've been thinking of building a Salamanders Space Marine force, but I fail miserably when painting fire/flames. 

 

Any suggestions on alternative paint schemes for all the flame patterns that decorate Vulkan He'stan and his noble pyromaniac friends?

It´s just a practice thing. You need to make sure the tip of the flame is not too thick as it will look like a tentacle. After a few attempts you should have figured it out. Here is an example of Bad Moonz flames on my Stompa:

 

https://ibb.co/album/XSxDMh