Probably Not the Worst Chainmail Tutorial Ever

Full transcript of the video

Does the world need another tutorial on how to paint chainmail? I’ll leave you to ponder that.

Step 1: Broadsword Silver Base

Jumping in with Broadsword Silver speed paint on the weapons, helmets, and chainmail. Painting this was actually really nostalgic—it’s been a while since I’ve painted flat-out regular chainmail. Back in the day, everything had chainmail on it.

One thing about Broadsword Silver: while it’s sitting on the palette, you have to continuously stir it or you’ll lose the metallic pigment and get this purplish-blue color instead. The outcome is also pretty dark, so it’s great as a first coat if you want bright chainmail, but it needs work on top.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I remembered the Reaper Mini paint set that came with a giant rat and a knight. The recommendation was to paint the model black and overbrush silver—not even dry brush, just overbrush. Back then, that was hard. I didn’t have the brush control to dry brush silver without getting black in the recesses.

They never told you about washes either. You could just make a black wash and go over your silver and be fine. Chainmail was one of my first big victories as a painter. Then I went through the stage of painting every individual chain link to prove I could, before realizing a wash looks almost as good.

I also remembered Dr. Faust’s Painting Clinic—the first painting website I ever stumbled upon. Without that site, I wouldn’t have really learned to paint. He’s still making content on Facebook.

Step 2: Silver Dry Brush

Coming in with Vallejo Air Silver—a very bright silver. Tried and true dry brushing. The important thing isn’t just taking paint off the brush—you’re working the paint into the bristles so you can hit from multiple angles and still deposit pigment.

I’m still thinking about where light would hit, following the zenithal highlight. Brighter areas get multiple passes, darker areas just once. This also takes that purplish color out of the speed paint.

Step 3: Molotow Liquid Chrome

Magic in a bottle. It comes out looking like molten chrome. Very easy to overdo it, so I’m careful. Hit the shield boss with it, added some scratches, stippling with very little pigment. Just the top half to reinforce the shine.

For the axe, a thick edge highlight on the sharp edge makes it truly glint on the tabletop—it catches people’s eyes like it’s shining in the sun. Then a normal edge highlight on the upper half.

On the helmet, sloppy scratchy-style edge highlights hitting all the rivets and hard edges. Then stippling the chainmail itself along the ridges and raised parts that would catch the light. Being careful not to put chrome in the holes between links.

Results

Maybe an hour to do all the metal for all these guys. Very happy with the result. Tomorrow we’ll continue with the rest of the painting.