Sticky thread in the P&M forum.

Sad that I am going to have to wait til I get home to look and vote - phone is not really up to it

Wish they put it on the front page so that more people will vote.

Great idea, I will ask in the P&M section thread..

I think they have done that previously for other painting comps?

heartserenade wrote:Wish they put it on the front page so that more people will vote.

Patience is a virtue!

It takes a little work to get the front page post up correctly (its there now). But its also the dead of night on a Sunday for much of the world, which is a pretty slow time for Dakka. There will be plenty more votes rolling in for the next 5 days.

Pft, everyone should live in a proper time zone!

yakface wrote:
Guys,

Please do not freak out if your WIP picture isn't perfect. Inquisitor Lewis simply said the best way to take a WIP pic is in front of something with a date on it, not that this is the only way a WIP pic would be accepted.

Again, the whole point of requiring a WIP pic is to make it a tiny bit harder for someone to just steal a pic of a fully painted model off the internet and submit it as their own work. Yes, WIPs can be faked and yes you can easily find WIP shots of finished models on the net as well, but frankly there's no real way to make an online competition this way 100% secure. We're just trying to add the thinnest layer of protection against fraud (and counting on people hopefully spotting stolen pics if they do ever get submitted).

So yeah, don't fret. Take a WIP pic and if you forgot to take a WIP pic then take a pic of your model in front of something current and that will be good enough. If you're concerned about the WIP then write an email explaining the situation to the contest email address and all will be fine.

Relax and enjoy!

This is what I did .... my but my entry was not selected. Best of luck to all those whose entries got in...good job.

It might be worth while getting in touch with them again in case there was some kind of mistake?

My WIP was just a pic of the unpainted model (with no newspaper, computer in the background with Dakka on it etc.) and my model was entered.

I already sent a PM.

there are entries anyway that would outclass mine. I just thought that it would be cool (as i just started Infinity) to get one of my models entered in a competition.

Gah... my initial pass through of "who I want to vote for" was 11 entries...

Pointblank wrote:I already sent a PM.

there are entries anyway that would outclass mine. I just thought that it would be cool (as i just started Infinity) to get one of my models entered in a competition.

I notice there are now 42 entries, so did yours get in? Mine was totally outclassed as well, I was just going for the pity 'awwww he must be new' vote

I think I voted for about 15 of them in any case, some great stuff in there!

Okay, I think I wouldn't be able to eat well for the next couple of days because of the excitement...

heartserenade wrote:Okay, I think I wouldn't be able to eat well for the next couple of days because of the excitement...

Well if you win but you die out of hunger.... they can send the prize to me.

Pacific wrote:
I was just going for the pity 'awwww he must be new' vote

I think I got one of those Feels good.
And now I know just how much better everyone else is at painting

The CF wrote:

Pacific wrote:
I was just going for the pity 'awwww he must be new' vote

I think I got one of those Feels good.
And now I know just how much better everyone else is at painting

Are you kidding me..I was going for the ULTIMATE WIN!...1st 2nd and 3rd place simultaneously!....Then im like ...crap who am i kidding... i'll just join for the sake of participation.....and...uh... world peace.

So are we allowed to reveal our entries now?

I guess so...voting is done anyway but don't take my word for it.

Mine is not in the top 5 so I guess I could post it now in other forums. It is obvious what my entry is anyway... duh.

I had quite good hopes of mine doing reasonably well before I saw some of the awesome entries other people made

I look forward to being able to post my entry - I think we might have to wait until the final 5 are selected though.

SilverMK2 wrote:I had quite good hopes of mine doing reasonably well before I saw some of the awesome entries other people made

I look forward to being able to post my entry - I think we might have to wait until the final 5 are selected though.

I believe that has already happened. The 5 highest voted entries are selected for further judging by some secret jury.

It's a shame that the Yuan-Yuan didn't even make it to the top 5. It was easily the best painted model of all, and it was pretty exciting as well (more than some of the finalists at least). There were many more models that I would've liked to see higher up. The Myrmidon Officer or whatever looked prety exciting, but the photo was so busy that no detail was discernable. It's possible to see some detail when you zoom in, but it's too pixelated to judge how well the paint was applied (I'm guessing that it looks good, though). My pick for the winners has to be Saladin, Securiate and Tokusetsu Butai.

The last one is definitely my favourite out of those 3. Nice coulours and details, cool base, cool model.

The Saladin... I honestly don't see the magic. It has some very well blended parts (inner thigh weaving, chest piece), but overall it's not as impressive as many other pieces. Some parts even look sloppy. Really boring base as well. I think it can compete with mine almost when it comes to most uninspired base.

The Securiate. I don't like the model, but this guy somehow made it look very appealing. I agree with some of the comments that it looks more like a diorama than a single model, but it features some nice coulours and looks fairly well-painted.

Well I didn't finish bottom but I was closer than I'd have liked. Felt my pic really let me down, as it became apparent it was so small broken down into multiples as it was, the fact I did the faction symbol was barely visable.

Also had to agree with my scheme issues, it and its buddies have since been touched up and a colour has been replaced that makes them look one hundred times better in my eyes.

Although I was going for a deliberate colour clash anyways due to the anime stylings.

As I'm in the bottom five, I see no point in waiting to reveal who mine was, so this was me.



I was happy with it, oh and the bottom pic has been moded purple, as that is the colour change. I used 'paint' to test it here at work, liked it alot and then applied it to her and the rest when i got home, looks a lot better. Obviously not that bright though.

I agree with the thick paint comments from endtranmission as well. Normally I thin my paints, but I think in the mad rush, I skipped simple stuff like that and its hurt me a lot.

Will take shots of her and her three companions and update my Infinity thread tomorrow.

Inanimate wrote:

SilverMK2 wrote:I had quite good hopes of mine doing reasonably well before I saw some of the awesome entries other people made

I look forward to being able to post my entry - I think we might have to wait until the final 5 are selected though.

I believe that has already happened. The 5 highest voted entries are selected for further judging by some secret jury.

Sorry, I meant that the finalists had been chosen between to give a 1st, 2nd and 3rd

Think you've done an awesome job on that paintjob Morathi's Darkest Sin! Really nice, bright colours. TBH my own criticism is a personal thing in that I don't really like the model. When I look at it, I can't help but think about that Zelda game on the 3DO

Here is my entry, I think a poor half-assed photo didn't help my efforts. Also, the colour scheme and general paintjob

My was the Sin-Eater. You know, the



... I still have a lot to learn, but this competition was rather educating at least!

This is mine:

My Nomad Prowler (entry #2):

Here's mine
I expected 0 votes, so that's 1000000000000 times better than expected =D
Comments and tips wanted =)
I'm looking at you EndTransmission, help me achieve ''more contrast and study of where light fall'' =)

All well done, and all make excellent additions to your Infinity armies!

Pacific wrote:
Here is my entry, I think a poor half-assed photo didn't help my efforts. Also, the colour scheme and general paintjob

My entry was the Myrmidon Spitfire, who has already been stripped alongside of the rest of my Myrmidons.

I quoted you because I really think that the poor photo is what held my entry back; but the color scheme for my ALEPH is definitely a fairly dark one so that makes it a smidge more difficult to really accentuate anything.

On a side note, did folks get why the word Chaos was on her leg, or did they think I was trying to make a play on the 40K meme?

Just wondering.

I'll just go ahead and post mine as well.
Entry #35: Combined Army Skiávoros

That is AWESOME!

Not sure how I missed it/overlooked it until just now.

Seriously though - well done indeed!

Do you have any more pictures of your painted stuff you can share?

Alpharius wrote:That is AWESOME!

Not sure how I missed it/overlooked it until just now.

Seriously though - well done indeed!

Do you have any more pictures of your painted stuff you can share?

Not really. I have some pictures of a Necron character in my gallery, and some really bad pictures (looks less washed out and the blues are brighter IRL) of a Canoptek Spyder here (not finished, lacks some OSL): http://imgur.com/a/GrFOO#0

The Necrons aren't up to the same standard as I'm going to paint my CA for obvious reasons. Imagine using NMM on a 2000 pt army... I'm re-doing my Space Marines for the fiftyeleventh time now (I'm starting to like the look of them finally), so I'm going to start posting some of that as well in a while. I think I might go with NMM on them though. This was the first time trying it out, and it wasn't horribly difficult to get a decent result. So yeah, I'm juggling a lot at the same time, and as a consequence, nothing gets finished. Even though I'm not everly fond of contests, they do make me finish my stuff (for better or worse), so perhaps I need to participate in some more.

If you're hypothetically in the top 5, is it okay to reveal your entry.

You know, speaking hypothetically.

also, inanimate that is an awesome paintjob. Can't believe I missed that either.

In that hypothetical situation, I think I'd wait. Best not to give the judges any possible reason to disqualify you.

I would probably wait mate, I think the results will be up tomorrow in any case.

Don't worry Pacific, it's just hypothetical.


Just a curious observation on my part: I noticed that most of those who got high votes are at the first 20, and entries that I think would've placed higher (namely 28,35 and 39) were placed lower. So it got me thinking: has the number of entries affected the likeliness you'll get a vote based on how you were placed on the list? Maybe after the first twenty entries one sees it can only absorb so much information. Has anyone who has studied human attention span or whatever chime in? Obviously this is a layman speaking, but I'm just curious.

heartserenade wrote:Can't believe I missed that either.

My entry was obviously TO camouflaged to give you guys a fighting chance, but it backfired in my face.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

heartserenade wrote:Don't worry Pacific, it's just hypothetical.


Just a curious observation on my part: I noticed that most of those who got high votes are at the first 20, and entries that I think would've placed higher (namely 28,35 and 39) were placed lower. So it got me thinking: has the number of entries affected the likeliness you'll get a vote based on how you were placed on the list? Maybe after the first twenty entries one sees it can only absorb so much information. Has anyone who has studied human attention span or whatever chime in? Obviously this is a layman speaking, but I'm just curious.

I definitely think that being placed higher up has a lot to do with getting more attention from casual observers, but that couldn't have resulted in too many extra votes. The Oniwaban was #28 in the list and still got 126 votes, which I think is pretty much what it deserves. I think it's mainly a coincidence. But then again, you guys mentioning you didn't even notice my entry makes me wonder...

No idea, Aura's was 36, and apart from the washed out look the camera did on the cream leggings, and the fact you can't make out the arabian details she has on the leather, I thought it would have placed higher.

Like I said the voting thread, the one thing we have really learned from this, is we need a better camera, better light, and possably a better bacground.

Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:Like I said the voting thread, the one thing we have really learned from this, is we need a better camera, better light, and possably a better bacground.

Which is why I encourage everyone to enter - no one seems capable of learning this from previous competitions (myself included) - only by participating

I think I should do a tutorial:

How to Befriend a Professional Photographer and Convince Them It's a Good Idea to Take Photos of Your Work.


Seriously, I had photography classes in college and I still suck at it. If you know you suck at taking photos and you don't have the time to learn how to, having a friend/significant other/relative who knows photography more than you do really helps.

BTW - I guessed your entry incorrectly (it has been claimed by someone else) - so now I don't know if I beat you or not! I guess I only have another day to wait...

Well, to paraphrase a Dirty Harry quote:

I know what you're thinking. "Did he/she got more votes than me or not?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is Dakka Dakka, the most popular miniature wargaming forum in the world, and would show to everyone that I have beaten you, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

I'm still not 100% on my guess on your entry, so I also don't know if I have beaten you. We shall see, my friend... We shall see... *cue ominous music*


Unless your entry is Saladin, in which case you have beaten everyone hands down.

Mine is Señor Massacre... painted up like a Phantom from Mass Effect.

Humanity first!

That one was one of my favourites, loved the vivid colours on it!

Here's mine:



Tough competition! Im proud of this miniature but I think some paint chipping would have helped, and more detail on the base. But interesting that the Saladin has almost no detail on the base but is the top voted fig. Go figure!

I wonder if people become fickle when voting? Like, viewing something as an extremely detailed base as a gimmick, and therefore not vote for something minor that sets them off?

At any rate I'm gonna base a nomads force around this guy, with this color scheme. I was also trying some more experimental techniques such as weathering powders and a oil glaze over the red, which I got some comments on. Personally, I love the way it looks and I want to deviate from the standard Eavy Metal techniques.

Damn Cave, thats a nice model. Seeing that painted up makes me want it over the Szalamandra... outright wicked.

I'm one of those guys who doesn't like fancy bases on painting comps. Yours is simple, fits the model, and doesn't distract. Perfect. Same with Saladin. Nice and simple, the painting on the model should be the focus.

@Pacific - Thanks chief, I really liked your Jan. The greens were vibrant and the painting was nice and clean. I hope you put that effort into the rest of your Haqq, that army will be amazing!

Mine was the Knight of Montessa with the dodgy sword. I couldn't get a theme I like with it so gave up on that part a little It was very gratifying to see so many entries after all the work that went into getting this slice of forum.

That's a beautiful mini Cave_Dweller. It helps that the mini (IMO!) is one of the coolest in the game, but you've done a great job with it!
Can I ask how you did the yellow markings on the legs, and the cat on the arm? That's a really nice touch!

The voting business is a funny old thing. I didn't really see anything gimmicky, other than perhaps the mongoose on the base of one mini. I think the Saladin was probably easiest for most non-Infinity players to identify with, and as others have said it was a long list of entries. I wrote down all the numbers I voted for and went back to it to enter the votes, but how many people would bother with that? Far more likely that most people just scrolled down to the first one that looked like a professional job/photo, and said "that'll do".

This one was mine .... I knew that there would be entries that would surely outclass mine so i just added the fire to at least make it interesting and perhaps unique. I only did this for 2 days...I even thought it was disqualified or something for not making it to the selection initially. I was supposed to submit it collage type when i realized that I didn't have a program to compile the pics.

It was true about one comment on my source of light and rendition of shadows...but like I said the addition of the fire was a last minute thing and I didn't want to repaint the highlights and shadows anymore.




My goal now is to improve my painting skills to make it as clean and smooth as the others.

Pacific wrote:That's a beautiful mini Cave_Dweller. It helps that the mini (IMO!) is one of the coolest in the game, but you've done a great job with it!
Can I ask how you did the yellow markings on the legs, and the cat on the arm? That's a really nice touch!

The voting business is a funny old thing. I didn't really see anything gimmicky, other than perhaps the mongoose on the base of one mini. I think the Saladin was probably easiest for most non-Infinity players to identify with, and as others have said it was a long list of entries. I wrote down all the numbers I voted for and went back to it to enter the votes, but how many people would bother with that? Far more likely that most people just scrolled down to the first one that looked like a professional job/photo, and said "that'll do".

Hey thanks. The markings are decals from various other kits I've saved up. The cat is from a tamiya M1A1 Abrams kit, and the yellow markings are from an old ass Votoms armored trooper Japanese mech kit.

Your jannisary looks good, like those smooth greens on the shoulder pads.

@pointblank - That Mini was a lot of fun. I actually just painted up my own Naffatun the other night. I definitely liked the flames on the base.

Pointblank wrote:I was supposed to submit it collage type when i realized that I didn't have a program to compile the pics.

Next time I can help you with that. I'm a graphic designer by trade so I have all the relevant programs one would need to do montages and stuff. I can't take good photos, though: you're on your own on that one!

But there, if you need to do montages don't hesitate to ask. I don't know if it's allowed for contests though but for minis to be put on your gallery I would be happy to edit the photos and such.

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:@pointblank - That Mini was a lot of fun. I actually just painted up my own Naffatun the other night. I definitely liked the flames on the base.

Thanks! My initial plan was to make a snow camo Naffatun with melting Ice on the base....but since I only decided to join the last 2 days before the deadline, I didn't think i could pull it off...so just went with the fire which was simpler...but now i glad I did coz it looks more dramatic.

heartserenade wrote:

Pointblank wrote:I was supposed to submit it collage type when i realized that I didn't have a program to compile the pics.

Next time I can help you with that. I'm a graphic designer by trade so I have all the relevant programs one would need to do montages and stuff. I can't take good photos, though: you're on your own on that one!

But there, if you need to do montages don't hesitate to ask. I don't know if it's allowed for contests though but for minis to be put on your gallery I would be happy to edit the photos and such.

Thanks bro...will keep that in mind.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

Cave_Dweller wrote:Here's mine:


Tough competition! Im proud of this miniature but I think some paint chipping would have helped, and more detail on the base. But interesting that the Saladin has almost no detail on the base but is the top voted fig. Go figure!

I wonder if people become fickle when voting? Like, viewing something as an extremely detailed base as a gimmick, and therefore not vote for something minor that sets them off?

At any rate I'm gonna base a nomads force around this guy, with this color scheme. I was also trying some more experimental techniques such as weathering powders and a oil glaze over the red, which I got some comments on. Personally, I love the way it looks and I want to deviate from the standard Eavy Metal techniques.

Your models is actually painted very cool...If im playing nomads im getting me one of those.

For me ...with the Saladin...it's the face.....i couldn't paint me that face if i was given 20 Salandins with 20 tries.

Pointblank wrote:
Thanks! My initial plan was to make a snow camo Naffatun with melting Ice on the base....but since I only decided to join the last 2 days before the deadline, I didn't think i could pull it off...so just went with the fire which was simpler...but now i glad I did coz it looks more dramatic.

I like that idea. I typically have snow on the bases of my guys, but I figure I'll leave it off of the two Naffatuns I have... snow wouldn't stand a chance around them!

I actually just now posted the one I painted up over the weeked on my plog.

Mine's the second Myrmidon Officer (#40, I think), which actually got the fewest votes of any! Do I get a wooden spoon? Or a donation to the Buy Ian A Lightbox Fund?

Lightboxes are pretty easy to make. I just made mine with white Gina cloth, bristol board, some glue gun and extra foam boards. The lights I use are desktop lamps and such. I believe there's a lot of very helpful tutorials out there how to make cheap lightboxes. Having a nice camera, on the other hand...

You can make a lightbox pretty easy but if your unwiling ebay has a good one for 30 quid.

On topic, hopefully there will be another one of these so I can maybe enter my Scots.

Saladin certainly one of the best looking models out them all

Its a little late now guys but I really wish you could have waited to post and talk about your entries, and again I wish you would have done so in the official thread (here's the link if you want to check out the winners):

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/90/449488.page#4307785


The reason for this is fairly simple: There's a limited time frame where people are interested to come check out the painting challenge winners and during that time people are more interested in hearing anything about the entries...what you did that worked or didn't work, etc. So its great to have all that conversation in that main thread, and similarly there's a reason I like to hold off posting the user names for each entry until the winners are announced: because it builds a little bit of anticipation and then when we have winners announced everyone can gather in that thread, talk about who did what, etc, etc, etc.

So its no huge deal, but please in the future try to hold off talking about your entries until after the winners are announced for the challenge. I know everybody wants to talk about their entries so its hard to wait, but there is a reason behind the rhyme.


Anyway, thanks again for all the great entries!


Oh, and there's literally no reason you shouldn't be able to either buy or make a lightbox or equivalent. Check out my article about the myths of mini photography here:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Debunking_the_Myths_of_Miniature_Photography

This is my entry, the Nomad Hellcat with HMG. I had this model prepared and primed before the contest and that was the reason for selecting it. I went with plan to make the Nomad's colors nice and harmonious and then have the weapons and base bring some contrast to the entry, which worked up to certain level. I paid attention to getting smooth blending and nice color transitions. The base was made to balance the fig as the original pose is looking too much down for my taste and the new base was done to fix this.

In the end I'm quite pleased with both the end result and my place in the results. It would have been nice to get some free hand mixed in the wings or other armored areas, but I didn't have time to try it out. Without it the fig doesn't have the pop that would be required to place in a competition with this level of entries.

thank for your votes - critics


i'm happy to have joined but i'm really sorry for the overall result. I have received some bad comments so i can't say it's a good or bad work.
Maybe the photo was taken too much near, dunno what hasn't worked.
I tried to use a "soft" painting style but it seems to be too much blurred.
She also has lot of little gems i did but they are too small to be seen. A real shame.
Sorry and good job to all

zoddozoddo wrote:
thank for your votes - critics


i'm happy to have joined but i'm really sorry for the overall result. I have received some bad comments so i can't say it's a good or bad work.
Maybe the photo was taken too much near, dunno what hasn't worked.
I tried to use a "soft" painting style but it seems to be too much blurred.
She also has lot of little gems i did but they are too small to be seen. A real shame.
Sorry and good job to all

First off, again I really wish you guys would post your commentary and any additional pics in the official thread instead of here (hint, hint ):

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/90/449488.page#4307785


But as for your entry, I don't think 4th place in public voting and mere percentage points away from being 3rd place in judged voting in a field of 42 entries is anything to be ashamed of!

I think part of painting in a challenge like this is to realize the limitations of the medium and play to those strengths. I think the models that finished above you tended to have more stark colors that really accentuate the model even in photographed form, whereas although I imagine your model is terrifically blended if I could see it in real life, is just not something I can truly appreciate given the photos we have to work with.

Obviously in a perfect world we could allow a bunch of really high quality pictures for every entry, but the reality is that to allow a multitude of entrants and to allow everyone's entry to be voted on in a single thread then we need to restrict everybody to a single photo. So knowing that, its kind of something you can plan for and work into your design process if your goal is really to focus on winning.

The only other thing that I can say as being someone who did some of the final judging is that overall I personally don't think the colors you chose for the model: the main turquoise vs. purple didn't really compliment each other in a pleasing fashion to my eye and the little muted red & green sections didn't really help this problem out.

I think that's always something you have to worry about when the two main colors on the model aren't specifically complimentary colors for each other.

So I do think your photo was a good size and distance from your model, although it does seem like maybe it could have been lit perhaps slightly better, although at the end of the day for me as I said before the color choices would have made it really hard for me to pick as my top choice no matter what the photos looked like.

thank you very much, really impressive comment. I appreciate this.
You 100% right about the colours.

zoddozoddo wrote:i'm happy to have joined but i'm really sorry for the overall result. I have received some bad comments so i can't say it's a good or bad work.
Maybe the photo was taken too much near, dunno what hasn't worked.
I tried to use a "soft" painting style but it seems to be too much blurred.
She also has lot of little gems i did but they are too small to be seen. A real shame.
Sorry and good job to all

At least you made it into the top 10 and actually placed 4th, so don't whine! Obviously enough people liked your entry, so just go with it.

I'm not a huge fan of the model or the colours you used together, but I can appreciate the technical skill involved. The painting is a bit 'soft', so the natural shadows interfere with your own shading and gives the impression that you barely did anything from certain angles. I think a better light source and a better photograph would have helped.

OK guys you heard Yakface, just post in the main thread in the News section now please!

ooops sorry didn't read the message bout posting in the main thread. Will do...


Well here's a few angles of my entry. The fact is I didn't intent to participate until the last minute so I only really put about 6 hours of work on this at the most. I concentrated mostly on the face,hair and tartan, which i honestly think looked better before I added the stripes. Contrary to one comment, there are a number of levels of highlighting done on the hair. The one thing I didn't have too much time to address was the sword, which I would have preferred to airbrush a nice gradient onto. I'll be doing that soon. Thanks for those that voted for it and for the positive comments made by the users who wrote there breakdowns.