How to Paint Flames and Fire

This tutorial explains how to paint flames and fire.  The fire in the tutorial is on a sconce found on the top of a Space Marine backpack.  This tutorial can be used on flames of any type.

After priming the miniatures, paint the flames white.  This gives the yellow a nice and bright base to go over.  If you use a dark base, the yellow will have a hard time covering it up.

Use a light yellow for the next coat, such as Sun Yellow or Bad Moon Yellow.  This represents the hottest parts of the fire and will be seen in the deepest recesses.

A medium to dark yellow is next, such as Golden Yellow.  Leave the lighter yellow in the recesses.

Orange is next, and should be applied to the flame tendrils.  The pointy parts of the flames are the coolest, so they are painted darker than the deepest parts, which are hottest.

I found that the contrast between the yellow and orange was too strong, so I blended yellow with orange and painted the borders between the yellow and orange to ease the transition.

After the orange is blended, I painted Blood Red on the tendrils of the flames.  Leave an outline of orange in the recesses, and try to follow the shape of the flames with the red.  

A darker red, such as Scab Red or Khorne Red is used on the further tips of the flames.  Again, leave the lighter red visible and make sure to leave the lighter colors in the recesses.

The darkest red is mixed with black and painted on the tips of the flames.  

Pure black is painted on the very tips of the flames to suggest soot and smoke beginning to emerge from the flames.  I also took yellow and made tiny flecks in some of the recesses to suggest embers.

Finally, the sconce is painted black to finish off the torch.