Truth be told, lost of people in the miniatures tabletop gaming hobby hate painting minis — or are at least intimidated by it. When I got into WH40K in the late 90s, I loathed painting so much I subbed out a few units to professional painters. I felt kind of guilty about it, but I sure loved having really nice minis to play with. But as I got better at it and fielded armies that I'd painted all myself, the feeling was too good to deny. This egged me on to practice more and get better at it. Now, painting is my happy place, something I find deeply relaxing, meditative, and rewarding.
Given this common struggle among gamers, there are all sorts of paint lines and techniques designed to make painting easier and more stress free. Recently, Games Workshop's Contrast Paint and Army Painter's Speed Paint have entered the market. In response to these new "liquid talent" products, painting techniques have been developed by hobbyists to make the most of them.
One such technique is slapchop. Basically, you prime the model black, drybrush it light gray followed by a dusting drybrush of white, and then paint over this with Contrast or Speed Paint.
The slapchop technique has been a revelation to many, allowing them to finally fall in love with this part of the hobby. One such gamer is Jon of Miniature Hobbyist. In this video, he shows how the slapchop technique inspired him to break down and finally build the ambitious Warhammer 40,000 chess board he's wanted to make for 2 years.
Here's a tutorial on the slapchop technique:
[H/t Sean Bohan]
