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Merry Malifaux Festivities Everyone!. We received many entries this time around, and all of them are bang up entries! All 14 entries are now in the gallery and waiting for your vote.

Now it's crunch time. Time for you to decide our winner.

If you want to refresh yourself about what the theme of the Painting Challenge was, you can refresh your memory here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/489513.page

A special thanks to our sponsors over at Wyrd Miniatures, for their very generous prize support. Lets take a look at the prizes one more time.
First Prize:
Hanging Tree (2012 GenCon Special Edition Nightmare Model, $80 Dollar Value)
Santana Ortega (Henchmen Exclusive Special Edition Model, Model was only given to Wyrd's Volunteers during the late summer 2012, get it here now! $150 Dollar Value)

Second Prize:
Mei Fang and the Rail Crew Box Set (New Arcanists/10 Thunders Masters Master, Plastic starter box, $40 Dollar Value)
Miss Terious (2012 GenCon Special Edition Model, $40 Dollar Value)
Master/Sidekick Puppet Wars sprue (contains 8 plastic puppets, not for sale yet)

Third Prize:
Master/Sidekick Puppet Wars sprue (contains 8 plastic puppets, not for sale yet)
Misaki, The Thunder Box Set (New 10 Thunders Master, Plastic starter box, $40 Dollar Value)

Make sure to visit the Wyrd's site to check out all of their awesome miniatures.


Public Voting lasts for 5 days. You can vote for all your favorite entries. Vote for as many or as few entries as you like!

The winner will then be announced a few days later, chosen from amongst the top 5 entries by a hand-picked panel of Dakka Painting Challenge judges.

All submissions are presented anonymously, so that no favorites can be played (so please do not post which image is yours, or you will be disqualified).

Remember that you can click on any of these images to get a better view of them (and zoom) in the dakka gallery.

You can vote for all your favorite entries. Vote for as many or as few entries as you like!

Now onto the pictures:
Entrant #1 - Crooked Man, Have a Crooked Christmas by rifles66


Entrant #2 - Dreamer and Lord Chompy Bits, Holy Night, Source Light by spiralingcadaver


Entrant #3 - Dreamer and Lord Chompy Bits, How Lord Chompy Stole Christmas by xeth1313


Entrant #4 - Lady Justice, Avatar of Balance by anarchysince88


Entrant #5, Molly Squidpidge, Merry Molly Meandering Through the Marshes During Malmas by Darios


Entrant #6 - Storm from Snow Storm, Selling Snow to a Snow Storm by Absolutionis


Entrant #7 - Nicodem, Avatar of Decay, A Horde of Zombies Under the Tree This Year! by tombking2537


Entrant #8 - Miss Terious, A Miss Terious Gift Giver by Benhur


Entrant #9 - NIcodem, The Undertaker, Bah Humbug! by shaun417


Entrant #10 - Sonnia Criid, A Fiery Lass on a Cold Day by martin74


Entrant #11 - The Judge, On a Cold Winter's Day by Vearun


Entrant #12 - Alp, Santa's Little Helper by Tychron


Entrant #13 - Miss Terious, Who's under the Mistletoe? by Bacms


Entrant #14 - Various Wyrd Kitbash (Orphanage base insert, spirits, Boy from Nightmare Edition Teddy), You're not Santa! by Virukpl


Entrant #15 - Papa Loco, Feliz Navidad! by virtualonmars

#2 Is awesome, VERY well done, kudos to whoever did this!
I also love #3 and #14 for the christmas theme! Great work guys, and the other entries are also a a very hight standard!

WoW! Nice selection of models

So many great entries! I love number nine. Very nice touch with the E. Scrooge tombstone.

Well, seems pretty clear by now who's gonna make it to the fab five ^^

I put a vote for 2 and 8. 8 though, thats awesome, so much little details in it. But I will admit, ALL the entrants are pretty awesome, good work guys and gals!

 Darios wrote:
Well, seems pretty clear by now who's gonna make it to the fab five ^^

Yep and I am actually surprised with it. My top five would be for pure painting:
Entrant #2 - Dreamer and Lord Chompy Bits, Holy Night, Source Light -> Theme and painting just breathtaking
Entrant #9 - NIcodem, The Undertaker, Bah Humbug! -> Really good quality painting and really clever way of incorporating a christmas touch kudos to you
Entrant #13 - Miss Terious, Who's under the Mistletoe? -> Good painting overal but just a small christmas touch

For the Christmas theme:
Entrant #8 - Miss Terious, A Miss Terious Gift Giver -> Really incredible amount of stuff in there, I guess probably printing and decals used on the boxes and books. But somehow let down on the painting side
Entrant #14 - Various Wyrd Kitbash (Orphanage base insert, spirits, Boy from Nightmare Edition Teddy), You're not Santa! -> Pretty awesome scene which I think it is being a bit let down for a dark picture making hard to know what is going on

How I would rank this it's a pretty different story. Number 2 is probably my favourite but from that point on...I am glad I am not one of the judges because this is gonna hard to decide

It should be noted, the artist behind "you're not Santa!" used florescent/glowy paint on the spirit, but glad you guys are liking the entries!

 Alfndrate wrote:
It should be noted, the artist behind "you're not Santa!" used florescent/glowy paint on the spirit, but glad you guys are liking the entries!

Definitely don't think the glowy paint shows any less skill-- I find anything like those terrible to work with, so am actually more impressed that it looked that nice.

Mmm very nice models. My vote goes to #8, second #9 and 3rd #13. #14 somewhere there as well.

here is my analysis on the favorites up to now analyzing holiday theme (HT), painting (P) and set up (S).

#2.
HT: Almost nothing.
P: yes I know it look like a great work but it is not. It is just OK. What make it look so great is the light effect that seams to come from the light post. However a deep analysis on the image make it clear that such light effect is not painted but mainly simulated with a real light source during the photography. Take a look how the light source is not the same in all images (i.e the light on the face of the the lord Chompy is different in several of the pictures).
S: Extraordinary. The best in this aspect.

#3
HT: I lie it, it is an elaborated theme clearly made for this competition.
P: Pretty poor
S: none

#5
HT: Unfortunately none
P: great painting job.I love her
S: Nice base but not as elaborated as others

#8
HT: the best one bu far. Pretty elaborated, a lot of details and even conversion of the original model to make it look according to the holidays theme.
P: Great painting skills there. Unfortunately the picture is not as good as the rest and the painting quality is harder to notice. But if you look on the details all the paint transitions are just great!
S: AWESOME!!!!!!!! million of details, great scene and sculpting. I particularly love the water effect and the feeling of deepness. I assume you used resin?

#9
HT: Simple but very smart, I love it!!!
P: Great painting job, specially on the gravestone!!!
S: Very nice but much simpler than #2, 8 or 14.

#11
HT: none
P: Average, not impress at all
S: none

#13
HT: Almost none, I bet the owner didn't wanna waste a model modifying it for the contest
P: Simply the best one!!!! Amazing painting job dude!!!!
S: none

#14
HT: None, well we have to push it too hard to make it holidays related. The most related part is the name of the model.
P: Very good painting job. Among the best.
S: Great set up, very funny in deed. My second favorite in this category.

Well is gonna be hard to be a judge!!! there may be different winners depending which aspect they evaluate.

Congratulations anyway to all the people taking part of the contest. You did great jobs.

Idk about the lighting manipulation on the holy night one. Look at the walls near the little girl, lighting on dreamer and the stairs. Its consistent across the board.

 Alfndrate wrote:
Idk about the lighting manipulation on the holy night one. Look at the walls near the little girl, lighting on dreamer and the stairs. Its consistent across the board.

I also can't make what it is saying. It seems to be pretty consistent. Even if it is just a light effect it seem to be kept constant across all the pictures. The only one I could fault is the right image at the top that seems darker than the rest and the top of the leg seems a bit more illuminated. But you can see the face of the kid still illuminated so it is probably just an effect of the image processing. Also in the close ups you can see the yellow painted. My question would actually be how the well do you get time to build and pain so much stuff in under a month

#2 because hot damn does it look badass
# 13 cuz lol

 Bacms wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:
Idk about the lighting manipulation on the holy night one. Look at the walls near the little girl, lighting on dreamer and the stairs. Its consistent across the board.

I also can't make what it is saying. It seems to be pretty consistent. Even if it is just a light effect it seem to be kept constant across all the pictures. The only one I could fault is the right image at the top that seems darker than the rest and the top of the leg seems a bit more illuminated. But you can see the face of the kid still illuminated so it is probably just an effect of the image processing. Also in the close ups you can see the yellow painted. My question would actually be how the well do you get time to build and pain so much stuff in under a month

I get several hours of painting time a weeknight, even if you paint 2 hours, that still gives you 60 in the span of a month.

Whoops, missed this one. Voted. Nice work everyone and good luck!

#12 is my favorite!

 Bacms wrote:

 Darios wrote:
Well, seems pretty clear by now who's gonna make it to the fab five ^^

Yep and I am actually surprised with it.

Me too, I thought there were some shoe-ins which aren't in the top 5, and some which I would have never guessed...

yeah same here tough there has been some amazing shifting in the votes since i posted last time Oo

@ AstryB: Nice writeup... would like to see more like them!

If the vote were to end right now, we'd have a tie breaker for that #5 spot, Entrants #3 and 4 are tied at 53 votes.

 Alfndrate wrote:
If the vote were to end right now, we'd have a tie breaker for that #5 spot, Entrants #3 and 4 are tied at 53 votes.

Things have actually being changing quite a lot since yesterday. Is this going to make the first page of dakka? Guess that way you could attract more people

well 3 more days... let's see what surprises are ahead ^^

 Bacms wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:
If the vote were to end right now, we'd have a tie breaker for that #5 spot, Entrants #3 and 4 are tied at 53 votes.

Things have actually being changing quite a lot since yesterday. Is this going to make the first page of dakka? Guess that way you could attract more people

I know Lego posted about it on the Dakka facebook page, I'll see if I can't PM yak about this thread

#12 is so rad!

I'm just here to update you guys on the fact that we have a little over 7 hours left in the voting!

Why are votes still coming in? I thought the polls had closed?

So the voting is over and the 5 finalist are here.
Even when my favorite is there I have the feeling that something went wrong with the spirit of the contest. In the original post is was clear that it was not only a painting contest but special emphasis was given to Christmas related entries. This point was not mention in the voting post what could be the reason why some of the clear holidays related models are out of the 5.

Now we end up having 5 model from where 2 have no Christmas theme at all (and 2 only a little bit) while others such as 3, 9 and 14 (Clearly Christmas related) are out. I kind of feel sorry for such entries since these people put extra effort and imagination to make their models fit the topic and now end up having models modified for the contest that is gonna be ridiculous to used them for the game due to the holiday theme. Is hard to imagine entry 3 on a table of a Western base game...

I guess there were a lot of "Friends" voting here and paying no attention to the spirit of the contest...

Something similar is observe if we only consider the painting skills. Entries 4 and 11 in the final? seriously? And some excellent minis, such as 9 and 14, are out!!!

Well let see what happens now....

AstryB wrote:
So the voting is over and the 5 finalist are here.
Even when my favorite is there I have the feeling that something went wrong with the spirit of the contest.

Definitely agree with this.

In the original post is was clear that it was not only a painting contest but special emphasis was given to Christmas related entries. This point was not mention in the voting post what could be the reason why some of the clear holidays related models are out of the 5.

This was definitely ambiguous--the original text :

• (optional but recommended) Dress your model up in the best holiday theme that you can. This could be a holiday tree, a santa themed suit, or a snowball fight. If it fits in with the holidays or the winter season, it's more than welcome! You certainly do not have to include this holiday theme on your model if you don't want to, however we will be encouraging voters and judges to take this bonus theme into consideration, so let the yule tide wash over you and get into the spirit!

It ambiguously stated that it should be taken into consideration and was optional, no mention of weighing or degree, though it is explicitly not necessary. (Personally, I took this as a sign to add something but no need to go overboard --probably weighing the scores 70:30, paint job:theme. In contrast, you seem to have thought it meant that theme and execution were weighed evenly if not favoring theme over paint job... Again, rather ambiguous)

It wasn't repeated in the poll, though, which I just now noticed. I don't know if that was an oversight or a lack of emphasis, or just an expectation that people would check the original thread.

Now we end up having 5 model from where 2 have no Christmas theme at all (and 2 only a little bit)

See above ambiguity.

while others such as 3, 9 and 14 (Clearly Christmas related) are out.

Again, see ambiguity. Personally, I was expecting 9 to be a definite contender, as it was a nice balance of theme and technical skill.

I kind of feel sorry for such entries since these people put extra effort and imagination to make their models fit the topic and now end up having models modified for the contest that is gonna be ridiculous to used them for the game due to the holiday theme. Is hard to imagine entry 3 on a table of a Western base game...

This is probably why it was optional. If the contest had said "do the wackiest christmas theme you can!" I likely would have avoided it unless I thought I had something really appropriate. Similarly, I feel it was a risk that paid off in the case of 8 (I feel the theme carried it more than the paint job), but that's it: a risk.

I guess there were a lot of "Friends" voting here and paying no attention to the spirit of the contest...

Yeah. Not feeling great about that.

Something similar is observe if we only consider the painting skills. Entries 4 and 11 in the final? seriously? And some excellent minis, such as 9 and 14, are out!!!

Again, yeah. I assumed that at least 4/5 of the top contestants would have both at least a strong painting skill and at least a basic but intentioned element of the christmas theme (again, assuming varying degrees of "extra credit")... I felt like the "snowy base" was a rather weak attempt at this in a few entries.

Well let see what happens now....

Yep, the top are all in a pretty narrow margin of difference-- time to see if judges react against the vote or confirm it.

@spiralingcadaver

Yep you are right about the "optional" of the theme. But I personally appreciate all these entries that at least put some effort on that aspect. At the end of the day the contest is name "Merry Malifaux Festivities!" so the entries should represent that, at least a little bit...

@AstryB
As one of the contestants, but not one of the ones you have mentioned, I agree with your comments.
I was also disappointed when the deadline was extended after I had submitted my entry.
We were offered the chance to 'keep tweeking' but I felt it put those that had planned and managed their projects at a disadvantage to those who would not have completed by the original deadline.
In addition entries #2 and #3 have more than one mini in the photo despite the rules stating the entries should include only one.
This was the first time I have entered a DakkaDakka painting competition and, due to the shifting deadline and the elements you have highlighted, probably the last.

AstryB, I agree, however, this again gets in to the realm of subjectivity. I'd argue that the only entry that actually showed absolutely no nod to theme was the Justice model (not to single it out, but, well, it's the exception).

Every other one had holiday theme--
--three entries had some very minimal holiday element (name, background).
--three entries had some basic winter theme
--four had a subtle holiday theme
--four were explicitly and thoroughly holiday-themed

That's actually a very even spread-- 4(including Justice),3,4,4

Of course, this is with my subjective scale, but I think that entrants had a fairly even spread of what they thought of the theme. You're entitled to your opinion, but, just putting that out there to consider


Automatically Appended Next Post:

rifles66 wrote:
@AstryB
As one of the contestants, but not one of the ones you have mentioned, I agree with your comments.
I was also disappointed when the deadline was extended after I had submitted my entry.
We were offered the chance to 'keep tweeking' but I felt it put those that had planned and managed their projects at a disadvantage to those who would not have completed by the original deadline.
This was the first time I have entered a DakkaDakka painting competition and, due to the shifting deadline and the elements you have highlighted, probably the last.

I completely feel for you-- I also was disappointed about the extension, which I learned of after shooting my mini. I doubt it'll be my last entry here, but I'll probably need to think about it because of the issues seen here, instead of jumping on it like I did with this one.