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Weathered Wood Tutorial

terrainbandit

Updated: Oct 13, 2024

I've had a few requests on how I paint weathered wood, so I've put this little tutorial together to help someone. I don't consider this to be the only way to paint weathered wood, it's just my way of doing it. There are loads of other ways of doing it, and I'm sure each way has its own valuable points.

For my terrain I try to use tester pots from the big diy stores (B&Q, Wickes, that type of store) as they are cheap and do a perfectly decent job. I wouldn't use them for miniature painting, or for very small pieces of terrain like, crates and barrels

The photos are from a recent Sarissa Precision building I'm putting together and converting, so you may not recognise some of the parts. Please bear this in mind as we go.

Step One - lay down a base colour. I'm using a chocolate brown colour, from memory I think it was actually called chocolate from Homebase. Apply this sparingly so you don't fill in the surface etching, you'll get a slightly patchy finish which will be fine, as no two pieces of wood are identical in colour. You'll see the knife in the picture, this is to run down the etching as you paint each side; this will help to keep it clear and help in the later steps. As you run the knife down you'll get a small ridge on either side of the etch, just brush this away.


Do the whole building and you'll end up with this..



Next step wash the areas you painted in the chocolate coloured paint. I use two acrylic inks from Daley Rowney, 4 drops of Burnt Umber, 1 drop black, and 10 drops of plain water. Mix them up in a small container (I use bottle tops) and apply sparingly.



You'll end up with this....



Next step is to build up the colour, first a dry brush of the chocolate colour, moving the brush longways to simulate the grain. Try not to go in downwards motions as this may show up..



Then dry brush again this time in a slightly lighter brown, moving the brush in the same direction...



You'll end up with this.....



Next step dry brush in a grey colour, this was called Slate from Wickes. Apply this very sparingly, you don't want harsh patches of grey showing.



Next step is to use another lighter brown (called Hazel from Wickes) but apply this with a small piece of irregularly shaped sponge, just tearing off a piece works for me. Again very sparingly so you don't get blobs of paint showing, it's just a subtle texture you're looking for.



Next step is to accentuate the etching. I use these black fine lining pens I got from WHSmith, but artists shops will also sell these. Just run the pen down the surface etching, helped if you cleared out the paint with the knife in the first step.



Next step is to simulate the weathered boards. I use the Slate colour, watered down so it applies easily, in irregular patterns on the top of the board. If I was painting clap boarding or siding I would paint this on the bottom edges of the board, as this is mostly where the weathering would show. Just remember you're trying to simulate weathering on a model that would be at table top height, approx. 600mm or 2 feet from your eye. Don't forget to do the corners of the building.




Next step is to paint the architectural parts of the building, window and door frames etc. I use this hazel colour from Wickes, but any lighter or contrasting colour will work.


Next step wash this with the same formula as before, 1 drop black, 4 drops burnt umber and 10 drops of water. Apply sparingly..



Next step dry brush the architectural parts with the Hazel colour to pick out the detail.



Next step, use the Slate colour to weather the edges of the architectural parts .



Next step painting the doors. I like to paint them in a different shade of brown to the rest of the building to make them stand out. You could paint them in the same browns as before or use a different colour, It's totally up to you. I think this is one of the only few places I've used a miniature paint on the building, flat brown from the Vallejo Model colour range.



Next step, wash the door in with the same formula as before.



Dry brush with the initial door colour you've chosen, then use the slate colour to simulate weathering.



The final step is to paint any balcony features, steps or boardwalks. Again you could use a different colour but I use the Hazel colour, and the chocolate colour on the timber boarding.



Wash in the same formula as before then dry brush back with the base colour you've chosen in the previous step.

Hopefully you'll end up with something that looks like this...



I hope this helped offer my way of painting weathered wood, even if you find it useful to use certain points, I'm just happy to share my methods.

I'm planning on tutorials for painting interiors and my brick painting method, so please feel free to check back in the future. If you have any questions please drop me a message via my contact page.

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