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.
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?
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.
@@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.
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
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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 👍
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 TH-cam 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!
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 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!
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!
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 ;)
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!
Great video, which I'm appreciating way more watching it a second time with my own pile of tyranids to paint. Question: what would you change or evolve about this process now, given that it's almost a year old?
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.
Quick question: how long does it take to asses the model and planning the scheme - before execute the painting step? I assume that initial step can improve the execution speed. Thanks for showing another approach to paint.
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
Actually really want to try this out now with my nids, how would you implement contrast paints into this method since you usually need a white base coat for many of the colors?
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 🤷♂️
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.
this technique looks really rewarding. this reminds me of underpainting in traditional landscape painting, using the inverse color of what you want to finish with as a base to create rich dynamic shadows.
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
@@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.
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.
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!!
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.
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!
Nice method to get interesting effect, seems to require quite a bit more skill than slap chop though. Contrast paints got me back into painting after a 25+ year break, I have some great old models, tried slap chop for a bit, then back on traditional acrylics for more control, Im sucha slow painter though so now Im mixing the 2 and considering an airbrush :) Will probably use a bit of slap chop for my zombicide zombie horde
This is the third video Ninjon has put out where he passive-aggressively critiques the Slap Chop painting system, and then proceeds to push some alternative option that entirely misses the point by being neither fast or easy. Nothing wrong with preferring traditional mini painting methods but at a point it comes across as having a grudge.
@@vast9467 With normal slap chop it would have taken far less time. Prime black, drybrush, paint in your colors, optionally do extra highlights as a finishing touch. Simple, easy to execute, and fast; you can have even a complex mini tabletop ready in half an hour. Versus prime, zenithal highlight, airbrushing all those shadow color regions in, doing the base color layering, edge highlighting, touching up small details with further highlights and washes/glazes, then detailing the base. Ninjon's result with this approach is inarguably going to be much better than slap chop would have been, but it is also just missing the point.
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 just recently took a class that used a similar concept of color theroy where we painteded everything in shadow blue, everything the sun would have touched in tue past red and everything that was being hit by the light (from above) in yellow then painted over it with a thin coat of a random color we chose at the beginning of class. You have basically taken it a couple stepps futher by adding hilights and some more detail.
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
I figure you're familiar with it, but I've been loving what Murrey over at Tabletop Time has been doing, his "slap a bunch of vibrant spraypaint on it, then drybrush overtop" always seems like blasphemy, but ends up looking amazing!
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.
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 TH-cam feed! Could you talk us through how you selected your smash colours? Would love to understand what your thought process was.
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.
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
Definitely hitting on something here! Not sure if the application applies to every model, but something to use when the model has some internal glow, color that needs to show. I wonder what a 10 man of necron warriors would looks like?
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
Love this process and the finished look is amazing. Question though. How would you go about the process with a mini that had more varied details, would a cadian guardsmen follow same smashed color gradient or would you change something up?
@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.
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.
I dig the mini, and the colors on the tyranid, and the new smashity choppity, and the add, and the tip about two main bright colors blending a mini all together… definitely doing that right now lol
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
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 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.
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!
My hands aren't steady enough to do things like traditional layering or edge highlights anymore. But I do use a similar concept as a Slapchop adaption. Being able to pick a good base color and then just drybrush a bright highlight ahead of time for speedpaints/contrast paints gives me the closest I've come so far for edge highlights now and a shakey hand isn't much of a hinderance.
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Jon is always like “this is super fast and simple until I can’t help myself anymore and start my edge highlights.”
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
Lol i had this same thought soon as i seen the thumbnail 🤣
I fall to this too. Edge highlights really bring out details and colors. It's hard for me to skip
@@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.
First we start wit two little circles ... then add some guidelines ... and then we draw the entire owl. Simple
Yeah, real “draw the rest of the fucking owl” moment here
Absolute mood.
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.
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?
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.
i think we lost the point of slap chop and speed painting here
what, you mean the 7 extra steps of highlighting and base coating isnt fast?
right there with ya. this is more like standard airbrush painting method and calling it something new
@@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.
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
"Hi, it's Vince with Smash Chop. You're gonna be in a great mood all day, cause you're going to be smashing your troubles away."
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
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.
This is just painting. love you
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.
I am barely able to Slap Chop at this point. This looks like some kind of Masterclass disguised as an introduction.
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!
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
I thought of Marco Frisoni, who paints exactly this different colored method for limbs and body parts in many of his videos.
Hah glad I wasn’t the only one that thought of the Murray method
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.
So essentially it's "smash" colors together for an undercoat, and then give it a "pass" of layered paint. The "smash pass" method!
My BJJ instructor will be proud
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".
Again more and more fine art techniques are making their way into the hobby. Its great.
This is exactly like how fine artist and digital artists start their paintings. You are just creating undertones and cohesive theming!!!
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 👍
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 TH-cam 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!
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.
This is what I was just thinking about, how to intro Speedpaint as the basecoats
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!
"Not painting something takes way less time that painting it" - Ninjon 2023
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!
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 ;)
I have a feeling Opus could speed this up with wet dry-brushing on instead of careful meticulous work.
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!
Great video, which I'm appreciating way more watching it a second time with my own pile of tyranids to paint. Question: what would you change or evolve about this process now, given that it's almost a year old?
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.
1:02 Lichter? I hardly knew her!
Quick question: how long does it take to asses the model and planning the scheme - before execute the painting step?
I assume that initial step can improve the execution speed.
Thanks for showing another approach to paint.
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
Actually really want to try this out now with my nids, how would you implement contrast paints into this method since you usually need a white base coat for many of the colors?
Someone addresses this in another comment. From memory, base coat white, then use contrast or speed paint where Jon airbrushes colours
@@vee_tinymoosethank you really appreciated 🤘🤘
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 🤷♂️
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.
Holy cow, that's a super cool technique. Thank you Mr. Ninjon. I will try it on my bugs!
this technique looks really rewarding. this reminds me of underpainting in traditional landscape painting, using the inverse color of what you want to finish with as a base to create rich dynamic shadows.
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
If someone wants to spend more time on special models this could be cool but it won't replace slapchop 2.0
I would like to see an example of this system on a human model.
Or specifically a model that isn't necessarily biometric - Space Marine - Tank - Eldar walker thing
@@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.
How would this work on a space marine?
This is very Murray-like. That said it contains plenty of tidbits and details that make it seem even more approachable.
Ninjon paints Summoned Skull in attack position
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.
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!!
Really cool, just a little question, how do you get the pigment to stick to the base and not fall off everytime you give it a little tap ?
Really enjoying seeing this style progress over various videos - definitely looking to try it out!
Looks great! Would love to see how you approah it on something less organic, perhaps with armour and cloth.
I agree. I wonder how it would look on a space marine or an Orruck Brute.
Ninjon's mini : balance between quality and speed.
My mini : Slow as hell, looks horrendous.
Im really happy that I followed Jon from the beginning and get to see his journey and discoveries. Its very inspiring and really interesting.
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.
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!
Honestly at this point, just call it "Crash Ding Bang Boom" It'll have the same amount of meaning.
Schlepp Schlopp?
Nice method to get interesting effect, seems to require quite a bit more skill than slap chop though. Contrast paints got me back into painting after a 25+ year break, I have some great old models, tried slap chop for a bit, then back on traditional acrylics for more control, Im sucha slow painter though so now Im mixing the 2 and considering an airbrush :) Will probably use a bit of slap chop for my zombicide zombie horde
This is the third video Ninjon has put out where he passive-aggressively critiques the Slap Chop painting system, and then proceeds to push some alternative option that entirely misses the point by being neither fast or easy. Nothing wrong with preferring traditional mini painting methods but at a point it comes across as having a grudge.
@@Smathalgoth but he finished the model in like 2 hours??
@@vast9467 With normal slap chop it would have taken far less time. Prime black, drybrush, paint in your colors, optionally do extra highlights as a finishing touch. Simple, easy to execute, and fast; you can have even a complex mini tabletop ready in half an hour.
Versus prime, zenithal highlight, airbrushing all those shadow color regions in, doing the base color layering, edge highlighting, touching up small details with further highlights and washes/glazes, then detailing the base. Ninjon's result with this approach is inarguably going to be much better than slap chop would have been, but it is also just missing the point.
that was a very cool video (as always), however I strongly believe those tentacles are very elaborate mustach
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 will only be doing Snob Chop from now on. Sending all my plastic out to comission painters
Whatever technique you are using Ninjon you are a great painter. Thank you for sharing.
I just recently took a class that used a similar concept of color theroy where we painteded everything in shadow blue, everything the sun would have touched in tue past red and everything that was being hit by the light (from above) in yellow then painted over it with a thin coat of a random color we chose at the beginning of class. You have basically taken it a couple stepps futher by adding hilights and some more detail.
Thank you for promoting a painting technique that isn't hidden behind a product wall.
This looks amazing! I love the colours and your exploration over the process was top stuff
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
The final product looks amazing! I'm always learning something here.
Slapchop is easy, quick, and looks pretty good. The first step of this is get out your airbrush lol. Not sure who this is for.
Awesome!! Would this transfer well to something non organic as space marines or stormcast??
Bro I love your energy and sense of humor. Never change, my dude. Big fan, stay well.
I figure you're familiar with it, but I've been loving what Murrey over at Tabletop Time has been doing, his "slap a bunch of vibrant spraypaint on it, then drybrush overtop" always seems like blasphemy, but ends up looking amazing!
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 bluffing to use it as a selling point for his video tutorial? Almost like McDonald’s cheeseburgers don’t look like they do in their ads.
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.
@@punthebun to be fair you’re right, I’ve seen closer up pics and it definitely looked rushed in areas
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 TH-cam feed!
Could you talk us through how you selected your smash colours? Would love to understand what your thought process was.
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.
That end result looks absolutely stunning
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
I love the dichotomy of fast baseline and openness to layering ;)
thanks !
The bright shadows with dark base coat /layer looks amazing
I've got my 1st ever airbrush. I have some cheap eBay Nids. And now? Thanks to this, I've got some inspiration on techniques to practice. THANKS!
I did something like this for a lava dragon, once. Bright red and yellow base coat, then over with black in what was basically a heavy dry brush.
The AUDACITY to call the BEST scene of 28 WEEKS later.... 28 "DAYS" later, Jon I'm insulted. 😂Great video Jon, model turned out great as always.
Definitely hitting on something here! Not sure if the application applies to every model, but something to use when the model has some internal glow, color that needs to show. I wonder what a 10 man of necron warriors would looks like?
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
Love this process and the finished look is amazing. Question though. How would you go about the process with a mini that had more varied details, would a cadian guardsmen follow same smashed color gradient or would you change something up?
@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.
Agreed. How to select the shade colors would be a great video to see.
Amazing result. I've been in a hobby rut recently and this has inspired me to pick up a brush again. Thank you!
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.
Wow! Great video, I love this idea and look forward to trying it out. I am a slow painter so anything to increase productivity is welcome.
Very nice, the base colours give the mini a lot of life, good painting!
I dig the mini, and the colors on the tyranid, and the new smashity choppity, and the add, and the tip about two main bright colors blending a mini all together… definitely doing that right now lol
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
What kind of setup do you have for airbrushing as far as airflow around you? Do you wear a respirator? Do you use a fan/filter box?
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 ;)
You're clickbaity titles and premises get super old. I don't know why you lean on them when you're such a talented painter
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 really, really like how this model came out. Perfecto.
I'd love to see this technique demonstrated on a smaller unit model like a gaunt. What a fantastic method.
These models make me feel like dry brushing would be super beneficial
Cannot believe this method isn't called the NinJob.
With additional highlighting 'TimeSUCC'.
That finished model is absolutely fire my dude,
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!
My hands aren't steady enough to do things like traditional layering or edge highlights anymore. But I do use a similar concept as a Slapchop adaption. Being able to pick a good base color and then just drybrush a bright highlight ahead of time for speedpaints/contrast paints gives me the closest I've come so far for edge highlights now and a shakey hand isn't much of a hinderance.