Clever Techniques & Ideas

Slapchop usually means a black undercoat, a white drybrush, then transparent colour over the top. In this video, Mike from TableTopReady, a self-confessed traditional painter, gives it a proper go and tweaks it. He starts from any undercoat colour, adds a shade for the shadows, drybrushes the highlights, then shows two ways to add colour without burying all that pre-shading: contrast paints, or regular acrylics thinned with twice the usual water. Comparing Orks and Space Marines shows which kinds of miniature the technique really suits.

Slapchop fans and sceptics alike: has it earned a place in your painting, or do you stick to building colours up the traditional way?

Here's a different way to think about shading. Resourceful Miniatures blocks in his basecoats, covers the whole model in a fairly thick oil wash, then waits 30 minutes to an hour before cleaning it back. A torn-up makeup sponge lifts the oil off the raised areas, a barely damp cotton bud with solvent picks out highlights exactly where he wants them, and a clean dry brush smooths any grainy transitions. Because oils stay workable for so long, you can push the paint around and undo mistakes without the stress of acrylics drying on you. You end up with deep recesses and an all-over filter in one go.

Anyone tried oils on their minis yet? Did you find them freeing, or a bit too slow to dry?