ToP Tip: The best gold & copper paints

Today, I have two quartets of metallic paints for you. One set consists of warm golds, perfect for Stormcast Eternals, Adeptus Custodes, or any golden details. The other set includes four reddish copper tones ranging from light to dark, perhaps an inspiration for painting the various infernal Skaven contraceptions in Age of Sigmar’s new Skaventide box.

Here on Tale of Painters and on my YouTube channel, I’m constantly testing out the latest paint ranges. However, only the finest colours from each range earn a spot in my rotation. I like to keep my options open and explore a variety of brands, cherry-picking the best paints and colours from each range.

My best paint picks for gold & copper

Recently, I have tested many paint ranges, including a lot of metallic paints, such as the new Vallejo Model Color range (review here) and the Warpaints Fanatic by The Army Painter (review here). Good metallic paints should be easy to apply, have good coverage, and contain fine metallic particles. Here are my favourite gold and copper tones summarised:

Here are my favourite rich golds:

• Pro Acryl Bright Gold
• Two Thin Coats Glistening Gold
• Warpaints Fanatic Bright Gold
• Citadel Colour Retributor Armour

Here too, I’ve linked the colours, feel free to use the links for your next hobby purchase to support our work.

These colours are perfect for copper with a red tint:

• Warpaints Fanatic Evil Chrome
• Two Thin Coats Overlord Brass
• Citadel Colour Balthasar Gold
• Citadel Colour Warplock Bronze

If you want to add these colours to your collection, a click on the links will take you to one of our partner shops.

Comparing colours with my digital swatches

The colour squares shown above are taken from my hand-painted colour swatches, which I have created for many paint ranges such as Citadel, Vallejo Game Color, Warpaints Fanatic, and Two Thin Coats. All of them are professional reproductions, hand-painted on plasticard and photographed under consistent, neutral lighting conditions, making them much more accurate and true to life than the manufacturers’ colour charts.

Additionally, my swatches are compatible with each other, allowing you to compare different paint ranges to find the best matches for tutorials from sources like White Dwarf or the Warhammer YouTube channel, or to convert your old colour schemes to paints from other manufacturers. You can find my swatches on my Patreon, either for a small donation in my shop or by becoming an Autarch tier member.

My paint range top list

And if you want to know what my current favourite paint ranges are, I’ve summarized my current recommendations for you in this post:

I hope my paint picks might be an inspiration for your next Warhammer or scale modelling project. Feel free to react and let me know in the comments about your staples for painting skin, or which colour groups you’d like me to put together next. Until next time, and happy hobbying!