How to Paint GOLD: FAST! Warhammer Fundamentals

IT'S TIME! Level up your Gold painting, with 3 simple, fast and effective methods for painting gold, perfect for your Warhammer 40k, and Warhammer AOS/ miniature painting in general.
In this tutorial not only do we show you how to paint gold 3 ways, we also demonstrate how to combine them for showcase models (optional).
All of these techniques can be mixed up, so you can paint any gold you want, in a way that suits your taste and style, so, if you've ever wondered how to paint gold you should be able to adapt perfectly using these painting tips, in order to achieve incredible results fast!
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
1:27 Retributor Base Coat
3:37 Chaos Black Base Coat
7:46 Dark Silver Base Coat
13:03 Customize your Gold
17:12 Finished and Outro
How to Paint Dark Angels: Drybrush your edge-highlights?! • How to paint DARK ANGE...
How to Paint Black Templars: Black Power armour, UNLOCKED! • How to Paint BLACK TEM...
How to Paint Spacewolves: Stipple AMAZING depth into power-armour! • Space Wolves Painting ...
How to Paint Salamanders: Customisable Green Power Armour! • How to paint Salamande...
In this video Byron’s using the Artis Opus Series D Drybrushing set. These high-quality brushes are perfectly designed for stippling, smudging, drybrushing, buffing, and even edge-highlighting. store.artis-opus.com/collecti...
Series S - The perfect point, the ideal everyday brush: store.artis-opus.com/collecti...
Series M - Shorter heads for precision detailing: store.artis-opus.com/collecti...
Series D Brush set: store.artis-opus.com/collecti...
XL Series D: store.artis-opus.com/collecti...
Accessories (brush racks, cleaner, pallets): store.artis-opus.com/
How to Paint Space Wolves Part 1 (Space Wolves Blue Armoured Vehicles): • Artis Opus Series D - ...
What is our dampening pad (the pot we dip our brush in for drybrushing), and how does it work?:
How to Paint a Tank ('Turquoise Rhino'): • How to Paint a Space M... How to Drybrush Black armour in 10 minutes: • PAINT BLACK ARMOUR LIK...
'Synthwave' Thermal colour Scheme Necrons: • How to paint Necrons -... Drybrush flawless glowing terrain in 20 mins ('Ghost wall'): • Drybrush Striking Glow...
How to Paint a Star Wars AAT: • How to paint: AAT Batt...
Music: Bensounds
#ArtisOpus #SeriesD #Drybrushing

[@dave27allen]

Just tried applying the doobull brown/ xereus purple wash over air brushed gold. Removed excess with a q tip. Amazed!

[@ArtisOpus]

:D It's cheating, right? Glad it went well!

[@danielangevine1346]

solid tips and really cool to see them side by side

[@ArtisOpus]

Glad you like them! Thanks so much!😊

[@ExhibitedDrip]

Seriously! Do you have no mercy for my wallet. I am still building sisters. But now you're making me want Custodes exclusively for this! Just like I also want Nugle exclusively for their paint tutorial... absolutely killing it with the videos! 😍

[@mikey_vengenz]

Dammit....

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks very much dude! Our apologies to your wallet, blame GW for the consistently gorgeous minis 😅

[@xxjj4082]

Simply Amazing work, WOW!! That's the color I was looking for to do on my "Bones Army", Tomb Kings!!!

[@AsteroidWrangler]

So, a thought about fundamentals, something I've played around with along the lines of gold: bronzes. Especially since "bronze" as a metallic color means almost everything from "slightly brownish gold" to "metallic black-green" depending on patina. Fun bonus recipe I found: GW Balthazar Gold with a strong blue-green wash over it ended up with a surprisingly successful bronze. It was just something I did a test swatch with, but could be fun to play around with.

[@ArtisOpus]

I love bronze and I love patinas! We'll get to this one at some point probably once we've covered cloth and fabric. Thanks so much for your comment James 🤩

[@BMacAttack]

This is great! What awesome techniques to keep in our back pocket. Looking forward to more fundamentals.

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks so much Bryan!

[@S2uBuGaming]

Excellent video again Byron. I will definitely be trying this on my space wolves aquillas and other gold parts. Best painting tutorials around

[@ArtisOpus]

Much appreciated buddy

[@patrickball-stonejunction3177]

I see why you said I'd love your upcoming video after I got excited with the cassandora yellow trick for gold last time, really like the different golds you've done here and the yellow filter on silver is brilliant! And again, I really like that you show and discuss mistakes or things you'd do differently in hindsight, it's a really helpful part of your videos that not enough channels include since they want to look perfect first time every time. It just helps to show painting minis is a process and not everything goes according to plan but its virtually always fixable. Anyway, think these golds would look amazing on Custodes models from GW so I'd love see you have a crack at them at some point!

[@ArtisOpus]

Hey Patrick! They are on the power-armour list (which somehow is still growing, rather than shrinking :D) I'm looking forward to them when I do, Knights will hopefully be the next shiny minis to get the metallic-treatment. Thanks for the kind words, they really are appreciated, the channel is here to help people learn!

[@simonleach6632]

wow, first time I might actually catch a premier! gonna have to find something to paint gold now!

[@ArtisOpus]

[@szymonbedkowski8213]

Good work. Keep this series up!

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks dude, the fundamentals are going down well, I don't think they're going anywhere! :)

[@stephens7889]

Thank you these 3 way tutorials are so good keep up the great work

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks so much Stephen! I am glad, we think they're very good for teaching 😊

[@gustafregnstrom2409]

Really good results, cant wait to try it out! :)

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks so much Gustaf! Don't forget to share your progress with us 😊

[@Eberious]

Loving the gold using Casandora yellow, went and bought the paints I needed and tested it. Great stuff. shall be using this going forward. thanks.

[@ArtisOpus]

You're most welcome, dude! It's definitely a bit of a hack, enjoy!😊🤞

[@Eberious]

@@ArtisOpus Mine turned out quite bright, so toned it down with some nuln oil and a reikland flesh shade. looking sweet.

[@Clockworkwraith]

Same.

[@shanejackson2062]

On the one hand, I want to throw out all of the Custodes I've done so far. On the other hand, the gold boys I paint in future are getting purple shading in the recesses 😍

[@jostonpowell1346]

Might start doing my metallics this way for now on by painting silver then layering washes or filters for representing gold/bronze

[@ArtisOpus]

It's magic dude, thoroughly recommended!

[@chucklamb3496]

Awesome Effect!

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks so much Chuck!!! ❤

[@chrisbernshausen5091]

Soooooo looking forward to this 😍

[@ArtisOpus]

Did you enjoy it? 😊

[@chrisbernshausen5091]

@@ArtisOpus Sure did!!!

[@patorabe2734]

Dark silver method gives insane results for me, i didnt know what to do with my yellow ink before this video!

[@ArtisOpus]

Glad I could help! :D

[@mikeellis4253]

Mind blown changing how I paint gold now

[@ArtisOpus]

Super pleased to hear buddy!

[@thejellyranger7679]

Ayyy, very nice.

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks so much buddy!

[@13Robzilla]

I would love to see more on (for lack of a better word) directional way you use with your dry brushing. The rolling technique in a previous video just made things click, this more so. That how to paint Necron (or any other alien) metal you sniped in all subtle on the third shield like Tyler Durden doing his night job was beautiful.

[@ArtisOpus]

Haaa, hopefully we're not giving out too many subliminal cucumbers :D. It'll definitely feature loads, we're going ot return to some big vehicles soon... they just take a lot longer to paint and edit, so are difficult to squeeze into the schedule, they're great for demonstrating it on :)

[@sheaoleary9412]

Love the old English gold look, I'm gonna try the silver based shield I think

[@ArtisOpus]

Thanks so much dude! Don't forget to share your progress with us 😊

[@cavemanworkshop]

Great technique - to use the Cassandora Yellow as a filter to get the “gold” tint! I wonder how a Badger Ghost tint, or Citadel Contrast yellow would work 🤔...

[@ArtisOpus]

Very similarly dude. You just have to dilute according to desired finish/strength 😊 Thank you so much for the support!

[@rntankie4922]

How do matey, will try to catch this one on time, should help with painting Dorn. Sad to hear that D size is still not out for delivery yet, but suppose that good new for the companies orders. Keep up the great videos and products. Best Regards BaBa

[@ArtisOpus]

Hey bud, resupply drops this week, the joys of Corona19 production delays. Oh well, at least everyone's realised how fulfilling buying GW's self-isolation kits is in times of woe, we're here to help people make their escapism mens super-shiny! :D

[@Jpierantozzi]

Mate your technics are amazing. I really appreciate your high quality videos! Question, you apply your part by part to your Miniature or when they are fully assembled?

[@ArtisOpus]

Cheers! Entirely depends on the miniature. Some make it easier than others😊

[@bevanwilson8820]

hmmm. To repaint my tyranids all in gold or not to... Love the golds. Also love you showing your mistakes and your learning process. Makes me want to grab some shields and do some experimenting! I have some grey knights I haven't decided how to paint yet. I might try out a combination of these schemes for them! (probably not gold haha)

[@ArtisOpus]

Grey knights haven't come up yet, we should really give them some love! Tyranids are one of those armies where someone's probably made gold work somehow... they are wide open in terms of possibilities!

[@bevanwilson8820]

@@ArtisOpus so true! do GK's tho. I love the daemon world bases some people come up with for them. so cooool

[@GrimmSkald]

I would like you to do some on painting bone. I always have some trouble with it.

[@ArtisOpus]

This has been requested a lot so I am certainly covering it in the near future. Stay tuned 👀😊

[@Peterjameslewis69]

This video alone got me to spend over £100 on products from yourselves. Looking forward to attempting to gain similar resutls.

[@ArtisOpus]

Thank you so much for your support, Peter! I'm sure it'll open up the same magical moments of realisation that I see when I do demos for people, it's such a fun, fast, and organic technique :). If you have any issues/questions just let us know, and we'll sort you out :) (On another video ideally, YT isn't great for ongoing conversation notifications!). Good luck dude, sure you'll have loads of fun, thanks again!

[@superspecky4eyes]

Watching your videos makes me feel much better about my reliance on dry brushing. I can get much better/natural/interesting highlights by dry brushing brush compared to layering/edging.. but for some reason, I always feel bad about it. :(

[@ArtisOpus]

😊It a legit technique, dude.. like anything else it's about using the right technique and tools for the job. This is all I (and I think anyone else) should worry about!

[@gentlemani9150]

really interesting to see! to me atleast, the best gold is achieved through silver base coat haha! neevr expected that tbh

[@ArtisOpus]

Strange the things that experimentation pulls up! :)

[@ffoeg]

fun stuff

[@ArtisOpus]

^_^ Glad you liked it!

[@gregleventhal3226]

This is great, love the silver base method, could you add the cassandora yellow with an airbrush to get an even application?

[@ArtisOpus]

Absolutely, Greg! Any type of filter is fine, one thing to be aware of is that thinners and airbrushing can result in a more matte finish, so involving a little of a satin finish product (vallejo's glaze medium, for example) can be a sensible counter... you can also just drybrush your final highlight, too :)

[@egiljo72]

Fabolous tutorial as always 👍 Dry brushing is so under rated by the community. It looks (for me) much more natural than the GM edge highlight method.

[@ArtisOpus]

Absolutely dude. I think due to its history it got written off as a beginners technique (completely unfairly)... not to mention it's also fast, easy and fun 😊 Thank you so much!

[@andrewdavey85]

Do you have a list of all the paints you used? Amazing effects!

[@mattpollock4868]

Would LOVE to see a comparison of metallic and non metallic gold on a Sanguinary guard or Sanguinor (Blood Angel fan obviously 😉)

[@ArtisOpus]

Great idea! But that's a really big ask😅I'll need to triple my NMM speed! Will definitely do something with TMM gold on minis in the near future as I've got plenty of experience with getting good results fast😊

[@shanmtek12000]

Oh if love to see the silver to gold shield with a contrast paint.. 🤔

[@ArtisOpus]

This could 100% be done!

[@MaskedRiderChris]

That last one was fascinating, and I'll have to try it some time. What kind of palette is that you're using?

[@ArtisOpus]

Hey dude, glad you enjoyed it! I'm using one of our texture pallets :) store.artis-opus.com/collections/series-d-drybrushing

[@ep1kone]

Need to buy some xereus paint now! I’d love to see you push this filter over silver concept more, like dragon scales in various tints with washes and tints. I have a red and a blue dragon I need to do, (amd some matching dragon princes considering it’s supposed to be dragonscale armour) and playing around with contrast paints over silver vs the more laborious washing/tinting, though it certainly allows more control. Need to do some tests on the texture palette :)

[@ArtisOpus]

This is 100% going to be a theme for a future video... whether it's organic or armour based! I love working with metallics, and you can do so many layers without building up physical texture :)

[@milesfox49]

you probably dont give a shit but does any of you know a trick to log back into an Instagram account..? I stupidly forgot my login password. I love any assistance you can give me!

[@suttonmatthew1142]

@Miles Fox instablaster ;)

[@milesfox49]

@Sutton Matthew thanks for your reply. I found the site thru google and I'm trying it out atm. I see it takes a while so I will get back to you later with my results.

[@milesfox49]

@Sutton Matthew DAMN IT ACTUALLY WORKED! I just got access to my ig account details after roughly 40 mins of using the site. I had to pay 15 $ but for sure worth it :O Thank you so much you saved my account !

[@midamulti-tool]

Reminder all set I'll see you in 23 hours

[@ArtisOpus]

Perfect, see you there, bud!

[@ht9538]

Can’t wait, any plans to do a TMM Custodes? The models lend themselves well to Drybrushing

[@ArtisOpus]

Hey dude, this is getting asked a lot, we definitely will at some point... the only question now is what type/method of gold would we use? :D

[@Evilsmurf1976]

@@ArtisOpus would love to see how to do gold like this www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-IE/Legio-Custodes-Coronus-Grav-carrier?Warhammer+Community&Post&FW-Feb3

[@pugmandude3053]

So should I base coat a gray or a brown color when I am going to do metallic paints

[@bftbg79]

What is that sand stuff you have at the top of the screen? The bowl you dip your brush into before you hit the back of your hand with? Do you clean your series D with sand or something?

[@benbaker1283]

If I was to want to have a dark green tinge instead of purple for the no-gold technique, is there a particular paint you’d recommend?

[@xxxeleshnornxxx]

Well will try the third setup for the sanguinary guard wish me luck since im not as good as you :D

[@ArtisOpus]

How'd it go dude? :)

[@xxxeleshnornxxx]

@@ArtisOpus not good :/ i dont have enought skills to make the same pattern as you do

[@marclavergne3899]

What about 3 ways to do skin tones? Would be good to use stuff like the large range of AoS models that have large flesh surfaces

[@ArtisOpus]

Hey Marc, we'll do this in the future. In the meanwhile you should know that I have a Gargant on my desk... Just sayn' 😊

[@MF-kv8cn]

hey when it comes to painting metallics when the metallic paint is thinned too much the pigment separates, and if it's applied straight from the pot it's too thick and will obscure details, what's the best way to thin metallics? Vallejo Model Air metallics don't need thinning, but what do you do for the other paints which need to be thinned? Thank you for the response and any advice yo can provide.

[@malakim1773]

I have a recommendation for you guys. I like the sort of sickly plaguebearer flesh contrast type green for the skin of my gloomspite gitz and since they don't like the sun and primarily operate during the night, how would I get the effect of them being lit from moonlight instead of sunlight using more of a softer, more blue-ish(?) feel to it. I think the black robes tutorial you did would be perfect for them too. Bonus pointz for a squig hopper

[@ArtisOpus]

Very subtle soft drybrushing with blue-whites would be the way to achieve this at an army level. I am not sure at a display level though😊

[@malakim1773]

@@ArtisOpus sounds like a new video idea eh? ;)

[@evelynlamoy8483]

Im doing up some emperor's children with their pre-heresy color scheme, gold and purple. But without any gold paints, I'm pretty limited to the silver with yellow filter meathod you used. I'm just worried that the brush control needed to paint just the trim on the armour is going to be super hard for me. I tried a sample with a similar meathod earlier, using a yellowy-brown wash, the seraphim sepia, and A) it pulled into crevices way to much, and B) it just made it look like brown dingy stuff over silvery metal, so I think I'm going to have to use my cheaper yellow paint and thin the fuck out of it with acrylic medium.

[@ArtisOpus]

Hey Evelyn, you either need Iyanden yellow contrast or Casandora yellow shade from Citadel. Use a small brush and carefully dab on the areas you're looking at using your brush side on, do not try and follow the details with your brush going in the same direction as they are. You need to approach it as edge highlighting, this will drastically increase your control. Using a strong colour will completely change the end result and not require multiple passes. Good luck!😊🤞

[@MrTpimms]

Cider is in the fridge ready Byron!

[@ArtisOpus]

Cheers dude 🍻

[@teoiny1]

Metallic paints are very tough on brushes, do you need to do anything extra to maintain the drybrush? I have been wary of using mine for metallics.

[@ArtisOpus]

Hey Eoin, I tend to use separate brushes for metallics (you've seen I painted the ends of some of my brushes in black) - this is more to avoid contamination. Metallics are fine because our technique doesn't encourage penetrating the bristles. Just make sure to remove excess regularly while painting and use the dampening pad as we do normally in all our videos.

[@7bootzy]

I'm sure this has been asked a ton, but what is the mat you're using as a palette?

[@ArtisOpus]

It's our texture palette bud 😊 You can have a look here: store.artis-opus.com/collections/popular-products/products/xl-texture-pallet-graffiti-preorder

[@UnwoundAttic38]

For the yellow filter would using Tamiya Clear Yellow (X-24) work?

[@ArtisOpus]

Absolutely, dude! It will end up pretty shiny but that may be what you're going for if not you can always use a matte varnish. Be aware of pulling 😊

[@caffin999]

Can you use the xereus purple and black wash straight over the retributor armour base? I love that end result but wondering if you can get close to that more quickly.

[@ArtisOpus]

Absolutely, dude. With great results, too!

[@caffin999]

@@ArtisOpus thanks for replying! Your videos are great by the way. They are helping so much I felt the need to buy a load of your brushes haha!

[@gregleventhal3226]

Could you apply the base layer (Doombull & Retributor) of the Chaos Black method with an airbrush? I'm doing a whole squad of Sanguinary Guard and I'm wondering if the metallic paint would work if thinned down for use in the airbrush?

[@ArtisOpus]

100% you could. Retributor is actually one of GW's best airbrushing paints in my opinion and this combination works incredibly well😊

[@gregleventhal3226]

@@ArtisOpus Perfect, I'll give it a try!

[@jmc7034]

😍

[@ArtisOpus]

^_^

[@adambeck4797]

Where do you get the shields from? Would love to have some to experiment on.

[@ArtisOpus]

Games workshop Stormcast eternals, they have so many good options!

[@adambeck4797]

@@ArtisOpus thanks, I just realised I have loads of those exact ones spare. Lots of random stuff on Etsy as well. Great videos, by the way, really helped my dry brushing.

[@seancook49]

How would you do silver armor with a blue tint using this technique

[@mikeellis4253]

Yeah it would be nice to see ways to paint silver in the way he did this video

[@ArtisOpus]

You can mix blue ink into every stage (just a little) and finish with pure silver for highlights. Or do it exactly like this with a light blue wash at the end, again you can repeat the last highlight with pure silver 😊

[@Bar7log]

What are Series D Brush made of? Synthetic? Kolinsky?

[@ArtisOpus]

They're made of Kolinsky hairs😊

[@jacksonzhere00]

Do you have a silver and steel tutorial?

[@ArtisOpus]

We don't have a specific silver one, but we've done a lot of metallics - check the recent SF bases one for my favourites, or the SF terrain. I will cover silver speifically some point soon, however it'll be exactly the same methods/very close :)

[@jacksonzhere00]

@@ArtisOpus awesome ty I really want to master my metallics bc eldar gets challenging.... lots of curves

[@PattyIce93]

I hate painting gold over black, this is amazing

[@ArtisOpus]

:D Man, we've got you sorted then! Did it help? Let me know in a future video, YT isn't great at ongoing conversation notifications

[@PattyIce93]

@@ArtisOpus will do! Works great. Just started some chaos space marines and did a test model last night. Made the gold over brown looks smooth and covered really well. Thanks for the videos!

[@MrJordwalk]

For the Retributor-based shield... What are the ratios of Doombull and Xereus in that mixture?

[@ArtisOpus]

Really doesn't matter too much bud, just go until you feel it has a nice subtle warmth to it :)

[@MrJordwalk]

@@ArtisOpus Also, did you add another gold to the highlight mix that you drybrushed on?

[@ArtisOpus]

Nope, just a touch of silver :)

[@MrJordwalk]

@@ArtisOpus Oh, okay. It looked like the pot you dipped your brush into was a different shade of gold, but it was just Retributor?

[@SamOnMaui]

What is that thing you're putting your paint on? What is it? Do you have a video explaining it and how it works?

[@ArtisOpus]

Hey Sam, it's our texture palette you can find it here: store.artis-opus.com/collections/popular-products/products/xl-texture-pallet-graffiti-preorder We don't yet have a video. In short: it is for testing your paint before you put it on the model so it reduces mistakes, ensures a perfect finish, and gives opportunities for learning about colours, like you saw in this video 😊 Let us know if you have any more questions!

[@SamOnMaui]

@@ArtisOpus a video would be a good way to explain it. What is the texturing for?

[@MegaHitman1987]

What is the background music?

[@ArtisOpus]

It's from a free artist called bensounds :)

[@mythopaints3278]

What shield piece is that and where can I get it?

[@mikey_vengenz]

It's the shields from Stormcast Sequitors.

[@ArtisOpus]

Mikey V correct 👌🏼

[@gythreenan]

I know this is old, but what is that palette board you are using?

[@ArtisOpus]

Hey buddy, it's our XL texture palette, since then we've redesigned it, and also offer an upscaled XXL, which you can see covering my desk in our latest video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpTYp5tjeNuJq5o Both can be found here, we ship worldwide :) store.artis-opus.com/collections/series-d-drybrushing

[@gythreenan]

Great thank you!

[@sikfreeze]

Do we need to wait for the paint to dry between each layer?

[@ArtisOpus]

We do, but this method is super-quick drying, all except any washes

[@sikfreeze]

@@ArtisOpus Thanks for the reply. Your works are absolutely amazing, by the way

[@tidusleung5957]

How to paint red metal??

[@ArtisOpus]

Fantastic suggestion!

[@abenitez09]

How to paint skins pleasee 🙏🙏

[@ArtisOpus]

Yes, yes... soon 👀

[@westonbarney3737]

Citadel metallic paints are notoriously bad. Would love to see this and other metallics using another line of "better" paints. Example: ProAcryl or Vallejo Metal Color. Cheers.

[@ArtisOpus]

I've chosen incredible metallics here IMO Weston, Retributor stands out as one of the best gold paints I have ever used! Same for the Silver from Vallejo. I'll definitely be covering VMC and ProAcryl in the near future though, I've heard good things :)

[@ArynCrinn]

The regular Citadel metallics are pretty bad... the more expensive white lid metallics (e.g. Retributor Armour, Stormhost Silver) are a noticeable improvement. That being said, I would still personally stick to the Scalecolor and Vallejo Metal Color metallics. I haven't tried any ProAcryl yet... though I do have some coming in the next month or so.

[@ger5956]

Like and comment to appease the almighty algorithm

[@BarringtonDailey]

Please can you make these shorter? It only takes 10 mins to explain what you need to do.

[@ArtisOpus]

Hi Barrington, not covering 3 different techniques and how to combine them, you can just watch whichever method you prefer, and it'll end up 10mins long :)