Paint wood with Mournfang Brown basecoat, drag thin lines of a darker brown (Rhinox Hide) along the grain direction, then highlight with Baneblade Brown. Add knots with small dark circles. The grain lines create the wood illusion.
Wood is one of the most commonly needed textures in miniature painting. From shield faces and weapon hafts to wagons, boats, siege equipment, and terrain, wood appears on models across every Warhammer faction. Despite its ubiquity, many painters struggle with wood — producing flat brown surfaces that look more like chocolate than timber. The key to convincing wood is understanding that real wood is not a uniform colour but a complex pattern of grain lines, knots, and colour variations that give it character and texture. Once you understand how to paint these features, wood becomes one of the most satisfying textures to render on a miniature.
The good news is that wood texture is forgiving. Unlike faces or gemstones, where small mistakes are immediately obvious, wood is inherently irregular. Real wood has uneven grain, random knots, colour patches, and weathering marks. This means that “mistakes” in your painting — wobbly lines, uneven colour, accidental splashes — often enhance the wood effect rather than ruining it. Wood is one of the most beginner-friendly advanced techniques because imperfection is your friend.
Understanding Wood Grain
Before picking up a brush, take a moment to look at real wood. Whether it is a cutting board, a door frame, or a piece of furniture, observe how the grain runs in parallel lines along the length of the wood. These grain lines are not perfectly straight — they curve gently, split around knots, and vary in thickness. The colour between the grain lines is lighter than the lines themselves, creating a natural striped pattern that is the signature of wood.
On a miniature, you need to decide which direction the grain runs before you start painting. For a weapon haft or staff, the grain runs along the length. For a shield face, it depends on how the shield is constructed — planked shields have horizontal grain (with visible plank edges), while single-piece shields have grain running from top to bottom. For terrain pieces like fences, floors, and walls, the grain follows the longest dimension of each piece of timber.
Step-by-Step: Basic Wood Texture
Step 1 — Basecoat with a mid-tone brown. Apply a solid, even coat of Mournfang Brown (or equivalent mid-brown). This is the “average” colour of your wood — the final result will be both lighter and darker than this base, so choose a middle value. For lighter wood (pine, birch), use Baneblade Brown or Zandri Dust as your base. For darker wood (oak, walnut), use Rhinox Hide or Dryad Bark.
Step 2 — Apply a wash. Cover the entire wood surface with Agrax Earthshade. This settles into recesses and naturally darkens the wood, creating depth and shadow. Allow the wash to dry completely before proceeding — touching wet wash will disturb the pigment and create tide marks.
Step 3 — Paint grain lines. Using a fine brush and Rhinox Hide (or any brown that is noticeably darker than your base), paint thin lines along the grain direction. These lines should be: (a) roughly parallel but not perfectly so; (b) varying in thickness — some thin, some thicker; (c) occasionally splitting or merging; (d) running the full length of the wood piece. Do not paint too many lines — three to five visible grain lines on a shield-sized surface is usually sufficient. More can look busy and cluttered.
Step 4 — Add knots. Knots are the circular marks where branches once grew. Paint one or two knots on larger wood surfaces by making a small dark circle (2-3mm at most) with your dark brown, then painting a few short curved lines radiating outward from the circle — these represent the grain flowing around the knot. Do not overdo knots — one or two per surface is plenty.
Step 5 — Highlight the grain. Using Baneblade Brown (or a lighter brown than your base), paint thin lines between your dark grain lines. These highlights represent the lighter wood between the darker grain. Again, keep them roughly parallel to the grain direction and vary their thickness. The contrast between dark grain lines and light highlights is what creates the visual illusion of wood texture.
Step 6 — Edge highlight. Apply a final light drybrush or edge highlight of Ushabti Bone or Karak Stone to the sharpest edges of the wood — the edges of a shield, the end of a staff, the corners of planks. This suggests wear and aging where the wood’s surface has been worn down to expose lighter underlying material.
Advanced Wood Techniques
Weathered wood: For old, weathered wood (shipwrecks, abandoned buildings, ancient siege equipment), add a thin grey-blue glaze (Fenrisian Grey heavily thinned) over the finished wood. This simulates the silver-grey colour that untreated wood develops after prolonged exposure to the elements. Apply selectively — the most exposed surfaces weather fastest, while sheltered areas retain their original brown colour.
Fresh-cut wood: Newly cut wood is lighter and more yellow than aged wood. Use Zamesi Desert or Averland Sunset as your base instead of brown, with a Seraphim Sepia wash instead of Agrax Earthshade. The grain lines should be subtler — use a slightly darker yellow rather than dark brown.
Charred wood: For burned or fire-damaged wood, apply increasing amounts of black toward the charred areas, transitioning from normal wood through dark brown to pure black. At the boundary between burned and unburned wood, add a thin line of orange or red to suggest smouldering embers. This effect works particularly well on Chaos siege equipment and destruction-themed terrain.
Painted or varnished wood: Many shield faces, doors, and military equipment in the Warhammer world would have been painted or varnished. Paint the wood normally, then apply your chosen colour (red, blue, heraldic colours) over the top with slight transparency, allowing the grain to show through subtly. Add paint chips and wear marks by painting small patches of the underlying wood colour through the paint layer.
Wood Texture for Different Factions
The style of wood you paint should reflect the faction it belongs to:
Empire / Cities of Sigmar: Clean, well-maintained wood. Medium brown with visible but not excessive grain. Shields and equipment should look cared for — these are civilised armies with supply chains and maintenance routines.
Orruk / Ork: Rough, splintery, poorly maintained wood. Heavy grain, lots of knots, uneven colour. Add splinters (thin lines of light brown at broken edges) and nail holes (small dark dots where crude iron nails have been driven through). Ork wood should look like it was ripped from a fence and nailed to a choppa.
Skaven: Damp, rotting wood. Dark brown base with green-tinged washes (Biel-Tan Green thinned heavily over Agrax Earthshade). Add spots of Nurgle’s Rot or Nurglings Green in recesses to suggest fungal growth. Skaven wood should look like it has been in a sewer for decades.
Undead / Nighthaunt: Grey, dead wood. Use Mechanicus Standard Grey as your base instead of brown, with Nuln Oil wash and light grey highlights. Dead wood has lost its warm brown tones and become cold and ashen. This creates an appropriately lifeless feel for undead models.
Sylvaneth: Living wood. Paint the wood normally but add green tints and small leaf details at edges and joints. Sylvaneth wood is not dead timber — it is still alive and growing. Veins of green running through the wood grain, small shoots or leaves at the ends of branches, and a generally warmer, more vibrant brown all communicate that this wood is a living part of the model.
Common Wood Painting Mistakes
Grain lines too straight: Perfectly straight, evenly spaced grain lines look artificial. Real grain curves, splits, and varies in thickness. Relax your hand and let the brush wobble slightly — the imperfection makes it look more natural.
Too many grain lines: Over-painting the grain creates a busy, cluttered surface that reads as “painted lines” rather than “wood.” Three to five visible grain lines on a shield-sized surface is usually the right amount. Less is more.
Wrong direction: Grain that runs perpendicular to the length of a plank or staff looks wrong because it contradicts how wood is actually used. Always run the grain along the longest dimension of the wood piece.
Uniform colour: A flat, uniform brown does not read as wood — it reads as “painted brown.” Wood needs variation: darker grain lines, lighter areas between them, occasional knots, and subtle colour differences across the surface. Even a simple basecoat + wash + highlight sequence creates enough variation to be convincing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fastest way to paint wood?
The fastest acceptable method is: Mournfang Brown basecoat, Agrax Earthshade wash, Baneblade Brown drybrush. This takes about two minutes per surface and produces a result that is clearly recognisable as wood. It lacks the fine grain detail of the full technique but is perfectly serviceable for gaming standard miniatures and terrain.
Can I use Contrast paints for wood?
Yes. Wyldwood Contrast paint over a Wraithbone undercoat produces an instant wood effect. The Contrast paint naturally creates dark recesses and light raised areas that approximate grain. For better results, paint a few dark grain lines over the dried Contrast paint with Rhinox Hide.
How do I paint tiny wood details like arrow shafts?
For very small wood details, simplify the technique. A Mournfang Brown base with an Agrax wash and a single highlight line of Baneblade Brown along one edge is sufficient. At this scale, the viewer’s brain fills in the detail — you just need to suggest “wood” with the right colour values.
Should I paint wood before or after assembling the model?
It depends on accessibility. If the wood detail is easily reachable after assembly (a shield face, a staff), paint after assembly for consistent colour matching. If the wood is partly hidden by other components (a crossbow stock behind an arm, a wagon bed beneath a canopy), paint it as a sub-assembly before final construction.
Do I need to paint grain lines if the wood is already sculpted?
Usually not. If the model has sculpted grain, a mid-brown basecoat, an Agrax Earthshade wash and a light drybrush of Baneblade Brown will pick it out for you. Freehand grain lines are mainly for smooth wooden surfaces, such as plain shield faces or flat planks, where there’s no texture for the wash and drybrush to catch.
How do I paint wood on terrain quickly?
Use a big drybrush. Basecoat the wood in a mid-brown, wash it all with Agrax Earthshade, then drybrush with a lighter brown and finish with a very light drybrush of a bone colour on the edges. Vary the base colour slightly from plank to plank so it doesn’t look uniform. Large terrain pieces suit a brown spray primer to save even more time.