That's dissapointing CM Dante. I really like your hyper-realistic painting technique; by that I mean that you not only cram a ton of detail into the models, but the painting makes them look realistic and not necessary like "look at me! I'm painted so bright you can see every stroke!"

I agree with migs, I don't think a change of style is necessary. I'm sorry if you already addressed this but I wasn't sure how big your entry was. I think the reason migs' Rosenthorn Now was such a huge hit was its amazing scenery and eclectic models that just caught your eye. I feel like a couple blood pact of different styles (one with a chainaxe, another with a big gun), maybe some chained up mutant, etc etc...I guess what I'm getting up is putting in a submission of a squad that's full of character and I'm sure it'll catch the judges eye, after which point a bit of a *sharper* look at hte models will produce a much better response.

Just my opinion and all, I think your models are fantastic so I'd hate to see you change your style because of poor judging.

Dante, please don't change your style on account of one inconsiderate judge.
Rather, to ease your doubts, reread this topic and see the judgement by your peers...
Seeing that many of the notables in GW are also historical wargamers and scale modellers in their spare time, they'll know quality when they see it.

And remember: paint for yourself first. If you paint to please others, but are unhappy with it yourself, their praise will feel meaningless anyway.

Thanks for the comments guys. I think as Migs summed up perfectly to me that I was commenting purely out of emotional frustration rather than logic and of course you are all right, it's better to paint for yourself first. Just my competitive nature getting the better of me I guess.

Here's a couple of pics of the Ork nob I entered in the "open" competition. Not my best but still worthy of a finalist place I felt.





Cheers,

Dante

You are a very good painter (and modeller). Competitions in any form of art is at best a very shady bussiness. Prizes are fun, but artistry should be done because of the love to the expression. To me it is obvious that you love your craft.

I totally agree with Mellon, the most important thing is the superb quality of your work and the obvious passion and talent you put into your painting.

I have often read through Golden Daemon brochures and thought that the earlier cut work is much better than the finalists. You are always victim to current trends and fashions, especially in GW's case. Always the finalists are often those that focus on a new codex release for example.

Keep your style as what it is, because ultimately your style is exactly that, yours. It's what makes your work unique and special to you. Don't change that just to win trophies, a picture speaks a thousand words, more so than a piece of metal.

Gundam-Mecha wrote:I totally agree with Mellon, the most important thing is the superb quality of your work and the obvious passion and talent you put into your painting.

I have often read through Golden Daemon brochures and thought that the earlier cut work is much better than the finalists. You are always victim to current trends and fashions, especially in GW's case. Always the finalists are often those that focus on a new codex release for example.

Keep your style as what it is, because ultimately your style is exactly that, yours. It's what makes your work unique and special to you. Don't change that just to win trophies, a picture speaks a thousand words, more so than a piece of metal.

Couldn't have said it better.

sA

Nice Orks there Dante.

I have been working on some myself. Goff Orks. They look pretty good.

I'm 100% in consensus with the others, and I think I'm still under the opinion that your entries don't lack painting skill, but perhaps some "bling."

The ork I think is a fair example: it's fantastically painted, but in the end it doesn't look as impressive as a bigger model, say a head ork or something. Basically I'm going with the "bigger is better" premise. Not a criticism on your work, just my opinion on how entries are selected when the quality of painting in the competition is similar.

Simply said, stupid judge your stuff is ace in my books. Keep it up.

Painting comps are a hard thing do to the subjectivness there are so many times I look at the golden deamons and think hoe 3rdd place should have won first or the first cut was much better , but thats my outlook a judge should have a guidline to go by but if they use gamers to judge the subjectiveness is even worse .

That is a dead sexy trooper there man. Rest assured I am going to be picking up some of your skin paints of choice for my own projects (I am not thrilled with GW ad Vallejo skin tones either).

I feel you on the judging thing too. I have had a few competitions where I was inclined to disagree with the decisions, but as others have said, sometimes it is just a question on taste, and yours may we be more refined than most!

YYYEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!
its so good 2 see someone else thats interested in blood pact...

good luck with the green stuffing...im not much of a greenstuffer so i use trimmed fantasy goblin heads from warhammer

iv seen good conversions using brettonian men at arms as a base cos they have trench coats and bowl helmets which fits the blood pact fluff - mix a few in among your other pacters for the ww1 type look.

if you have the budget the forgeworld autoguns from the renegade upgrades add some interesting variant weaponry

/Users/fraser2/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Modified/2009/Roll 4/CIMG0363.JPG

heres my first attempt at the pact - the mask does look a bit out of proportion on this model but it looks good on others
(and yes, he does have a sword but it kept falling off)

Im also working on an AT83 but no pics yet =(

Good luck

I've just read through this blog and I love it, your sculpting is superb and your painting is beautiful.

The dark and gritty look truly suits guardsmen of any faction and your conversion work has added a lot of extra character to them.

I think I need to find out more about this =I=munda thing.

Keep up the good work, oh and small updates but often is an awesome way to go btw.

WOW,

I just really love the character of the models, and the way that they Have that really brutal look...

How exactly did you get the metal to look that good?

Keep up the great work, and I look forwards to seeing more.

How do you mean in regards to the metal? On the blood pact or the ork?

On the BP it's a base of boltgun mixed with a bit off black, then boltgun highlight, then mithril highlight (2 thin layers) then a black/devlan ink wash and then re-apply highlights as necessary.

Cheers,

Dante

This is wonderful stuff can't wait to see more.

CMDante wrote:Hmmm well that was disappointing!

Made the first cut and then was dumped out by what I felt was very poor judging. The chap judging barely glanced at my entries before writing them off and (in my opinion) all the mini's left in the final cut were stark highlighted, gaudy bright coloured and poor blends and transitions.

I think my dark gritty style didn't do me any favours since my entries were some of the only ones there in that style. That and the fact the judge thought I had entered a barely converted bog standard trooper.

Ach maybe I'm just being bitter but think its time to re-evaluate my style for competition entries, think they might need to be a bit more stark and high contrast to stand out?

Cheers,

Dante

Hey Dante,

Cheer up fella, painting comps are horribly subjective. The judge will have his own biases and opinions of what constitutes a 'winner' That is part of the reason why panel judging is used in Golden Demon Oz.

However I too get pissed off with 'painting' comps all the time. Generally the most obviously 'converted' wins. I have seen badly converted, unhighlighted figures beat out 8 stages of shade+highlight models. Simply due to the conversions being so bad that they stick out like bollocks and scream 'look at me.' Whilst the latter has been extensively converted but blended seamlessly [a la your Blood Pact Trooper]
At that point it is not a 'painting' comp, but rather a 'conversion' one.

Also the dark scheme of your trooper is obviously less noticeable in a dark enviroment [Hall, Hobby Store, etc] than a garish colour scheme. I honestly do not know how to remedy this... part of the reason why I chose to paint an entire Tau army white i guess... ;-)

Keep going, your work is phenomenal and we all appreciate you sharing it.

Lovely Stuff
Great job keep it up!!

You are very good at painting faces

This is the first I've seen the thread - I usually keep more to the RelicNews P&M Forums, but followed over here via mention of your 'Pacters out on the internet.

Excellent conversion work and beautiful, gritty painting. I'd likewise chime in in that for a solid presentation (after hopefully adding a few more bodies to the group) that what you've got going on here doesn't need changing in the least. Basing, painting, and concept are all well-represented and live up to Abnett's depictions, I think.

I have often read through Golden Daemon brochures and thought that the earlier cut work is much better than the finalists. You are always victim to current trends and fashions, especially in GW's case. Always the finalists are often those that focus on a new codex release for example.

Keep your style as what it is, because ultimately your style is exactly that, yours. It's what makes your work unique and special to you. Don't change that just to win trophies, a picture speaks a thousand words, more so than a piece of metal.

I'm hoping the same applies over in the UK, but I wouldn't say that US judges (at least the past two years in the Chicago Demons) are biased against the gritty, realistic approach. That's mostly the way I paint, although people often tell me I have a very "clean" painting style also, which I'm still trying to figure out.

For what it's worth, more or less gritty and dirty figures are capable of winning something:


I'm also of the impression that the finalists are fairly representative of a better standard quality-wise than the First Cut entries (at least from what I can see of other people's figures the past two years in Chicago, although I'm personally boggled that mine have won awards/recognition, having seen other entries firsthand.) By and large, the majority of figures do not photograph well and are not necessarily representative of how they look in the Golden Demon competition themselves, although I'm to understand that they've somewhat tweaked their assessment process for figures this year, if not photography.

That Skaven was on a Blog here sometime ago wasn't it?

I think I also saw it on Warseer. I'm glad it won something, I always thought it was a very impressive peice!

CMDante, why have you stop updated this blog? I just love the blood pact conversions and if I would have the talent in both sculpting and painting like you I would happy.
Your are truly an artist.
Buckle up Dante, I want to see more Blood pact boys!

Have a nice day!Q0rbin

What head did he use for the first test trooper and how did he do the body armor?

That's one hell of a necropost.