I always start with "these are just objective holding trash units let's do a squad quick" and end with all the edge highlighting and building a biome realistic diorama with foraged rocks and fake plants on each base
@@StDomBz I am right there with you I tend to always land at edge highlighting. The issue i have with this video is that he is trying to compare it to slap chop and entirely missed the mark. Anything involving edge highlighting is in a different leage from an accesibilty point of view. Everyone already knows it isn't the highest quality its there to help beginners and those not skilled at painting get more painted mini's on the table. I agree with the teeter totter / scale analogy and maybe for his skill set he has found that happy medium but those that like and utilize slap chop are in a different playground than him.
Honestly, whenever that happens to me, I know that the project is working for me and is enjoyable. It means that, while starting with an approach that produces quick results, I'm starting to get comfortable enough to go the extra mile to make something look good instead of "only" finishing it to a quick TT standard.
i think it was a decent explained video but it is too well explained like a dictionary or the bible where you have to reread it a couple times n slow down on what hes saying at certain steps and dont forget to keep that knowledge in a step by step way i suppose. all im yappin abt is to rewatch the vid a couple times and really take in step 1 and 2 then go forward n remember everything idk im yappin now.
This isn’t entry level, but it sure is a very efficient way to go from average painter to another level. He’s basically teaching techniques to greatly simplify getting high-end results. Quick and easy are very relative terms!
for someone like me, painting all those layers carefully will take ten times as long as sticking on some contrast/speedpaint and tidying it up. A similar effect to this could be achieved quickly by applying some colourful washes over the base layers. yet, i really liked your previous paint jobs using undershading and they also seemed quicker - i especially preferred suck cut and slapchop 2.0
Same for me. Layering of any degree is torture, but I also acknowledge I'm not painting for the same reasons Jon is painting. I just want painted stuff on the table, I'm not looking at growing or improving as a painter. It's a means to an end and Slap Chop is by far the path of least resistance to get what I'm looking for. I appreciate that he's constantly exploring and evolving these techniques, though.
@@Kelann08 I think that is the disconnect for a lot of these professional painters and some people who paint models. This isn't my career, and is only tangentially my hobby. I'm not particularly looking to improve, at least not in the way he is. I just want very clear and set processes to give me decent results.
@@yutt I actually find your comment quite interesting, because I'd say it's just as much you who might be disconnected to who this video is meant for. If painting is a low priority hobby where you don't even want to improve, then this kind of content probably aren't meant for you. No offense meant, it's fine you value your own hobby as fits your life. This is not a "how is the absolutely easiest way to paint for someone who does not actually care much" video. It's a video for people who actually like painting, but want a different approach, maybe for a secondary army (which just happens to be the case for me). It's a way to find a new approach, or maybe an alternative to the almost impossible style of GW box art. I just think maybe you judge the content based on your own situation, not realising that you're not actually the target audience for this method of painting. You absolutely do need to be a "professional painter" for this. Quite the opposite, this is very much within the reach of a hobby painter, but it does obviously require you to care about painting and try to improve somewhat.
That’s quite an interesting - and very good looking - method. I would love to see you paint ten Termagants, and try to actually stop at a “tabletop ready” stage. It would give a good idea of how viable it is as an army painting technique.
So this method doesn’t take only two steps, it’s not easy nor carefree, it actually requires skill to be painted to a good standard, it requires an airbrush… what dies it have to do with slap chop?
@@oogiesmuncher Rofl. I thought the same. My Method is slapshop, seal so it doesnt re-activate, then put on extra acrylics if I want to(not that you need to with slipchop but the point is you get a solid base slapchop model and can add extra details if it makes sense to.
Most important things I've learned watching this video: More in shadow - thinner paint More in highlight - thicker paint Deepest shadow - ignore When another surface meets another - leave a line in between unpainted
This does look like a interesting and expandable method. I'd like to see a video that builds on this. i.e. "How to decide the under-colour for my Smash Chop" that kind of thing.
The best part about slap chop is that the system tells you when you're done. There's no second guessing or overworking an area. All these slap chop but with extra steps systems lack this
Ninjon's projects and ideas always seem goofy at first, and always end up looking incredible. There's always a point where I think "that will look terrible" and one where I'm like "well, that's pretty great actually".
This is not a beginner tutorial but rather a new reworking of an already cool idea, that makes it cooler still. This tutorial assumes much knowledge and brush control that you just won't have if you just started so if that's your situation, do you best, you'll get there. Practice makes perfect folks 👍
I just wanted to drop a comment that I absolutely love your channel. I enjoy the tips and also the philosophy of just enjoying the process. Additionally, your camera presence is great and you articulate your concepts very well. Keep up the good work!
Thanks. Im glad you finished with quick summary of the method. You used more steps for your bad boy so i.was getting confused. But smash chop seems not so hard over all and pretty flexible. I think ill try it some day ;)
Your airbrushed base coat is a more controlled version of the “Murray method “ the Table Top Time produces, both methods produce an awesome aesthetic, just one is controlled and the other is chaotically controlled
Murray is a mad man when it comes with the vibrant undercoat sprays... "for this grim dark Black Templar I'm going to start with an aerosol base spray of Magenta and purple" ....Murray...wtf you doing? Ten minutes later....Murray that's the best goddam thing I've ever seen
Murray here. Honestly Craftworld Studios is a serious inspiration for painting in that way, I would be remiss not to tip my hat to them. Thanks for the words, though! Ninjon has really made it his own here, it looks fantastic!
@@SpontaneousSquiggle Craftworld Studios use a lot of traditional art techniques in their painting! If you look up underpainting in oil painting, you can get a good idea of this art theory. The original Slap Chop method is painting the model in a method called grisaille and then working in the colours up from there.
I was bored of painting my tyranids in the same old boring method and you just inspired me to try this and actually improve. As you say in the video as great and tabletop ready as slap chop is, it's not quite the challenge, but this? This is fantastic, so eye-catching and honestly looks a ton of fun. Thanks bud!
I restarted painting after 30 years thanks to Ninjon videos - the first attempt should go in the trascan but the positive attitude of his videos and tutorials keep me on the grind! Thanks Jon!
I like this, but it still seems kinda complicated and airbrush-reliant for speed painting. Here's how I'd simplify it: 1. Base coat white. You can do the zenithal stuff if you want. 2. Contrast paint your shadow color over the whole model. Skip the multi-color thing, unless you really have a good idea for it; for Tyranids, maybe the carapace and the rest can be separate colors, but not necessary. 3. Proceed with the midtone the same way as seen in the video. Having the same colors for all the shadows will tie everything nicely together. 4. (Optional) Grab a drybrush and just go over all the most important bits: for Tyranids, this should mainly be the carapace, you can do that all with one color easily. 5. Finish off by doing any important details. This way you cut out all the tedious edge highlight work. You also don't need an airbrush to lay down the shadow colors with decent transitions; though I suppose you could maybe do that by blending the contrast paints too.
I get why some might say this isn’t really a quick way of painting models, and I could agree to a certain degree. However, this is a very quick and easy way to get these specific results. Key point is that this teaches techniques that will help you get a high quality result in a reliable way, that can be done efficiently for an entire army. It’s a quick and easy way to get this quality, not the quickest way to paint a model. It’s all about learning a method and mindset that will greatly improve you’re skills overall.
I won’t lie Jon, I’ve been sitting on a BIG back log of these pesky bugs for a long time now, but I haven’t been able to settle on a colour scheme that I can be happy with. After watching your video however you’ve persuaded me with that beautiful voice of yours, I feel more motivated than ever with your technique to finally tackle my bug problem. I’d just like to say thank you and keep doing an amazing job, look forward to see what you come up with next.
If every video you made from now on was just using this scheme on a new mini each video, I would watch every single one all the way through multiple times, 10/10 no notes.
@@TehWhitt having done something similar on a death guard I can say the effect looks great on mechanical models. All those cool undertones show through on panel lines and joints creating a really cool "energized" effect with bright colors and super interesting shadows with slightly darker ones.
My favorite part of all these slapchop downgrades is the use of an airbrush most people don't own, but it doesn't mention the airbrush at the start of the video or in the title
I don’t think this would be even remotely quick for a lot of people. That’s pretty precise brush work. Only reason ninjon can do it quickly is because he is a pro
As someone who loves bright colours, I loved watching this video, Jon, and seeing how those colours were initially 'smashed' onto the model at the start, then even as you applied the neutral colours that I usually reserve for only the essential details that really need them to look right, it was fascinating to see how they were still glowing through from underneath, still very much visible and present. This video and this method has made me look at those neutral colours in a new light (sorry, not sorry for the pun) and I am really looking forward to finding the right model to trying it out on! I also can't leave a comment without mentioning your excellent teaching chops (oops, another pun), as in every video you manage to consistently convery so much information in such a short amount of time in such an easy to understand way, always hitting just the right tone (there's another one!) - you never talk down to your audience, nor do you treat them/us as if we already have a high level of expertise. This is why novices like myself and my 18 yr old daughter keep coming back to watch and learn! Speaking of my kid, while on holiday this summer in the Loire Valley (we live in Brittany so it wasn't that far to go), we visited la Musée de l'Art Moderne et Fontevraud, a National Monument of France, it has a large collection, including paintings and sculptures. It was absolutely fascinating as each piece was accompanied by a detailed explanation of how and why it was painted or sculpted, and what was the aim of the artist, and so on. There were some paintings that were painted as miniatures that were so small yet so incredibly detailed, I'm sure most of us from the hobby would have been impressed by the sheer level of skill involved. There was also a temporary exhibition of Rembrandrant's etchings - I hadn't even known much about his side of his work before this visit - and you could buy a plastic magnifying glass for 50 centimes - well worth it! - that allowed you to examine each one in more detail. As many weren't much larger than a RU-vid thumbnail, this was an essential piece of equipment and I suggest that it may be useful to sell these or give them out at shows like Adepticon and WarhammerFest for use when viewing the Golden Demon cabinets? They're exactly the same as those found in the boardgame MicroMacro:Crime City, by the war, for those that are familiar with it :-) But the main reason that I'm writing about the visit is to tell you that while my kid and I did spend hours enjoying the incredible art by some of the best European artists of the early 20th Century, I also have to admit that we also spent much of that time carefully examining their paint strokes, and their use of light and shade, how an artist used a single highlight in a painting that was almost completely browns and blacks to convey light and movement. We looked at how they used colours or negative space or didn't apply any paint to their canvas in an area to make use of negative space... Even when looking at paintings that we really didn't like at all, we were often still able to learn something from the skill of the artist and see something that we could take home and apply to our miniature painting. My kid went back to the gîte (house) where we were staying and was painting every spare minute that she had! Now she's converted her boyfriend to the hobby and he's just bought his first set of GW minis to paint, managing to flip the usual script :-D Take that, haters!
Looks good! I was a little surprised to see 26 (?) bottles of paint/pigments on the table at the end. That seems like a lot! (I know how fond you are of paints). I wonder... do I use this many paints on my projects? I'm going to lay them out at the end like this and see.
I have a large collection of paints and find I don't use some of the colours because I just blend my own colours most of the time. I'd be curious to see how I compare in total number of paints used
Created a better looking version of slap chop, uses airbrush. Slapchop is popular because it doesn't need anything other than a brush and paint. This is a nice model but painting basecoats with an airbrush will almost always produce better results
I don't see where this ''Smah Chop'' thing is revolutionary in anything or different from classical miniature painting ? 1 - Airbrush basecoat/Underpainting. 2 - Layering of different parts. 3 - Highlighting those areas with the same colour or lighter tone. 4 - Edge highlight important parts or those you want. 5 - Glaze/Wash other parts to bring everything together. It's the basic method, with a rebranding to make it look ''COOL'' and get traction on videos. Still, the model looks very nice !
Starting to think Jon can read my mind. Every time I hit a hobby roadblock in how I want to paint something Jon comes out with a video with exactly what I’m looking for. It’s both amazing and terrifying…
I love this super colorful method of painting! Can you show us how this can be done for a more human-looking model where there's a good amount of skin? I'd be curious how that'd work out too! Thanks!!
Nids are definitely one of the cases where brighter recesses make sense, on the plating that it. I nature the newer materials will be the brightest and then dull over time so the more exposed edges would be darker.
Honestly, the whole summer of every RU-vidr demonstrating the "all new" (it isn't) revolutionary (not that either) b**ch slap method, I was about ready to give up painting. Thank you for improving on it! I LIKE Smash Chop. Very orky.
The big down side for xynothol highlights is that it tends to look washed out. With this method I feel like it’s more lively than slapchop. Awesome job
It is fast! - Takes out an airbrush. Uhuh, thank you, but no thank you. Cleaning airbrush inbetween paints, unpacking my filtered painting booth, taking out a compressor, cleaning an airbrush after I painted mini... Nope.
Stipple with drybrush or other big brush. you can do a rough glaze/layer at the edge where the colors meet. The second layer with desaturated colors will and can hide most crimes ;)
I think this suffers in one of the aspects that make slap chop often so effective. Whilst the different parts are shaded, the body itself doesn't throw shadow (which the zenithal highlight normally creates). Bc of that there is very little contrast in brightness... The model gets the "awesome pain job on the toy" kinda look . Still an awesome paintjob tho! I also think this could be mitigated by spraying the colours directional like light sources, maybe even with the brighter ones from above.
Everyone is trying to get even a fraction of the notoriety that slapchop has garnered. It is so popular for a reason. It is easy and accessible for everyone. When you start adding more and more technical stuff it becomes locked behind certain things be it tools (airguns), or skill (years of painting).
This seems like a neat way to piant. It’s a little to complicated for a beginner though and therefore not a substitute to slapchop in the effort/result ratio 🤷♂️
This is such a brilliant video. And I can't wait to try to paint just like you've demonstrated in this video. But I am really challenged in trying to visualise how to do this with the colours that I want to use
This was a great watch, thanks! I think a video talking through how you picked out those undertone colors and why you placed them where you did would be awesome and go a long way towards applying this method to other color schemes. For example my current Tyranids army scheme has a dark brown/black skin tone w/ brighter carapace colors (Hive Fleet Kronos) so I'm not sure what my undertones would be.
@Ninjon This is a really awesome idea, it would be great to see a video exploring those starting colours, like why did you choose red purple and pink. Also looking at different results you can achieve on non organic Vs organic models with the same technique... votan Vs nids or space marines and orcs... really love these technique style tutorials rather than simple here's how I paint a lictor recipes.
Great video! But my god how does he paint so fast? Jon will be like "and this highlight step took about 15 minutes" and it would probably take me well over an hour lol.
Probably the fact he has a TON of experience painting minis, just from making all of these videos. After all, if you are very practised and experienced in doing something, you will be MUCH faster than someone who has less experience and practise than you.
i've never been able to get into the "speedpaint" stuff that a lot of people have been doing. slapchop just looked lazy to me, but it's their minis, just not my style. but this actually seems like something i would try, because it's not the "drybrush and then use contrasts for everything" method. loved the colored shadow zones that actually made it look more alive
so this is a great way to get that "Grim Dark" look as the creases and the folds look more like the untouched and original unsoiled parts of the unit. Giving a glimpse of what was this units original design and color before having to partake in this hell of a war torn world. I LIKE IT!
Dude i saw your undercoating videos and I knew- this is the way. The Rabbit Samurai in particular- it occurred to me that shadows are not black, they are just dark. Why not undercoat with a color in mind as opposed to just throwing color over black primer? Great work, thanks!
You posted this just in time. I've wanted to begin painting my Sylvaneth army for a couple weeks now, and I just couldn't start because I didn't know exactly how to achieve the result I want. I think this video just gave me the answer. Thanks for posting this, I'll try Smash Chop soon!
Great video, and a great result. But I do have a question as a result. (How) would this work on a human(oid) mini? The bright colours are perfect as an 'undercoat' for alien creatures, but (how) does it translate to less pronounced colours in humans or orks? Maybe a could topic for a future smash chop video? Edit: I see now that I am not the only one to ask this question. Sorry about the repetition.
What i love most about your YT Chanel is your Origin Story! ;) Aaaaand your are a quiet the inspiring miniatures painter. I have to say that i really got better after paying more attention and use some of the concepts you talk about. Edit: And you are funny. A Joe-Pesci-in-Goodfellas-kind-of-funny!
Thanks for sharing that! I really like the idea of this approach, It looks like it really popped on the ridges of the carapace. I bet it would really bring out some contrast on something with feathered wings as well
Thanks again for your videos. As D&D painter, I really enjoy the range of techniques you're showing lately. Cause Im not painting an army Im painting an endless stream of minis. None of them the same look or style.
Hey, great video - you're a highlight to my RU-vid feed! Could you talk us through how you selected your smash colours? Would love to understand what your thought process was.
