Tutorial: How to paint tanned skin

Continuing with “Skin Tones” week, here comes yet another tutorial. This time I’ll show you how I paint tanned skin with Warpaints from The Army Painter, so enjoy!

This tutorial assumes you know the basic grips of painting Warhammer miniatures. Step-by-step I explain all the paints and techniques I used. I have a rather eclectic paint collection, so when I use a paint that is not from Games Workshop (or out of production), I’ll try to provide you with suitable alternatives from the current Citadel paint range [in brackets]. However, if you want to achieve exactly the same result as shown, I recommend expanding your paint collection. You’ll find a list of all the paints used in this tutorial at the end of the post.

How to paint tanned skin

Basecoat the skin with Tanned Flesh from The Army Painter [or Ratskin Flesh]. I’m using the corresponding colour from their D&D range in case you’re wondering.

Wash the skin with Darkoath Flesh. The result will be quite dark, so in hindsight, I’d recommend using Flesh Wash from The Army Painter or their new Strong Skin Wash from their Skin Tones paint set instead.

Next, layer the skin with Tanned Flesh [or Ratskin Flesh], omitting the recesses.

Mix Tanned Flesh with Barbarian Flesh from the Warpaints range about 1:1 [or use Bestigor Flesh] and build up a soft highlight with two thin coats, picking out the musculature and facial features.

Apply a final highlight by mixing Barbarian Flesh 1:1 with Flayed One Flesh [or with Corpse Pale from the Warpaints range, which is a perfect alternative] and highlight only the most prominent facial features, elbows and knuckles. Instead of mixing, you can also use Ungor Flesh.

The two models on the right have also been painted using this recipe for tanned skin:

Paints you will need for this tutorial:

If you need to expand your paint collection to follow the tutorial, check out our partner stores Wayland Games and Element Games, which offer an amazing range of paints at a discount.

Looking for a way to paint a lighter Caucasian skintone? Then check out the following tutorial:

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If so, leave a comment or reaction below, and if you got any questions, leave them here so I can answer them for you.