Lets start with the best first, because I like to be different.
What. The. Fuck. This is absolutely incredible. Not only is it well built, sculpted (yes the marine with the power first out front is almost all custom), but it's also well painted to boot - utilizing NMM and splendid blends to great effect. If it's not at first obvious, this is a zero gravity diorama, with space marine corpses hovering instead of hitting the deck. The blood splatter is epic, though my one critique about the whole thing is the small droplets of blood next to the chaos marine getting punched look a little like red pins on the floor but hey we get the picture. This is based off of the book cover art from the Horus Heresy novel: Know No Fear.
I think it was perfectly done! If any readers could kindly pass me this gentleman's name that would be much appreciated because he definitely deserves some creds!
Onto Scifi Large.
Scifi Squad.
These Sisters of Battle were done by Kelly Kim. The classy guy that he is, Kelly almost always (from what I've seen) makes great use of display boards. They can be simple, like this one, or thematic, like the one he used on his Rhino, but all push the models that little tad further to show that the modeler truly cares about the ground their models walk on! Some nicely blended reds on these figures, as well as great facial features, a cool power sword and some free handed awesomeness on the banner. Great job over all Kelly!
Small Scale Category.
Some nice German Panzers here. I like the natural weathered look to them. Again no name for this guy unfortunately. Really, it's hard to make these models look any better than this guy did. Nice job all around, well deserved win.
Fantasy Large.
This category was debatable on who I thought would've taken it. The judges were talking about this Kraken that won, or a Nurgle Great Unclean One. I thought the Great Unclean One was okay, and this Kraken was a bit better, but I also thought there were a couple other entries that were nicer than both of these. A really nice LOTR Mordor Troll was in the case painted by Dave Clark (an old GW area manager) but I think had been entered already in a previous year at Immortal Brush. I really liked the paint job on it, but the judge didn't. It seems there are always incidents where perhaps personal preference comes in to play when judging and I think there may have been some of that here but theres no way to know for sure. The Kraken was pretty good, probably winning because of the weathering and scenic basing, but as far as technical painting goes there were atleast 3 other entries that I felt deserved the win. Either way, good job.
Fantasy Squad.
I saved the worst for last this time. What the fuck again. I think the judges were on crack for this one. Maybe the slime and penises on these Bile Thralls really captured the judge's attentions but this is just plain table top quality in my opinion. Did they not see my Bretonnian Knights? I didn't really want to ask why these won, because I knew I wouldn't like the answer, and I don't really like bragging or defending my own models but seriously this was a little bit of a kick in the pants. Perhaps the judges just don't like Bretonnians (maybe the color scheme isn't uniform enough? maybe my bases didn't have slime?) but my technical painting skill far surpassed these models. The skulls look like they're painted Bleached Bone and washed with Devlan Mud. The kaki colored bodies looked washed and drybrushed. I really don't get it.
Better luck next time for me, but there were some epic models here that I think everyone deserves to see. Cheers.
Thanks for the coverage, gotta say I agree a lot with some of your commentary. I suspect the main cause of issue was that maybe the painted items weren't removed from the display cases for closer examination? It looks like some of the more questionable winners were under direct light?
ReplyDeleteThe diorama and Leman Russ were done by Matthew Beavis ( http://heavensteeth.blogspot.ca/ ), and he documents their progress pretty well on his blog. Fantastic work.
ReplyDeleteAs for display stands, my philosophy is that some models need a bit of breathing room in order to stand out and be appreciated. While I wish I had the time to do up a really nice themed stand for every entry, I think even a simple black stand gives each model just enough "negative" space to do the job.
If I was to guess why Chad and Toren picked the Cryx models for the Fantasy wins, I'd say Chad's speech about valuing theme over technical skill explained it. Each judge has their particular biases, and Chad laid his out there for everyone to know afterwards. I believe Toren said something about really being easily impressed by freehand, which is why I think my Sisters of Battle eked out a win in it's catagory.
You never know what you'll be dealt when you don't know who will be judging, and Darren never announced who his judges would be ahead of time. I try to include a little bit of everything on my contest entries... a little bit of freehand showing off, some weathering for the people coming from a historical armour background, infuse a bit of back story if possible, while still showing as much technical proficiency as I can muster. Sometimes it works, and other times it doesn't, but if I've got a decent mix of all of the above, at least I have a shot at the final cut.
Having said all that, I have to admit that I didn't get a good look at the Fantasy entries... from my quick glance, I thought it might be the Kraken for the large catagory win (although I personally liked your Scibor bear a bit better). And I totally overlooked the Bile Thralls... they didn't jump out at me at first glance, but I hope to have a chance to have a closer look at them the next time I'm at the shop.
Thanks for the write up and kind words on the diorama, it's great to hear the positive reactions after you've spent two months staring at model wondering if it's all going to come together. I agree about the personal preference of the judges, as last year I spent ages painting crisp, sharp highlights on my large model entry and took the time afterward to ask what I could do to improve my painting. "Weathering" was the take home message and I spent many months playing around with pigments, washes, glazes etc. which has also helped my other painting skills as well.
ReplyDeleteI really love your style, and after seeing your previous work I could pick out the Daemon Prince as yours even before Kelly sent me your blog link. Did you paint the dwarf on the armoured bear? That was certainly a top contender for fantasy as well, can you tell me the model range?
I may make it across to Gottacon next year if I can keep the momentum going on some other projects, hope to catch up there. Cheers!