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It's that time again to celebrate and display the finished entries into the Unofficial Monthly Painting Challenge here on Dakka! This time, get ready to run for your lives, scream in terror and hide behind the sofa as you pick your favourites from this huge array of monstrous beasties!

You can cast as many votes as you wish (3-5 is suggested, but feel free to use more or less) to highlight any entries you feel are worthy of extra recognition, be that for the effort in the piece, the improvement of the painter, the skilll on display or anything else you think deserves a mention. In addition, please feel free to leave any tips, comments or suggestions for the entrants either here or in their galleries and blogs, I'm sure it will be appreciated!

Once more, a big thanks to everyone who's taken part or offered words of encouragement along the way! Without further ado, the entrants into the June Painting Challenge, 'Some Kind of Monster!'

Nevelon: Nurgle Champion


Buttery Commissar: Kelpie


Januine: Chaos Space Marine Chosen



40k Pirate: Combat Servitor


Talys: Kastelan Robot


TP^DC Deputy Manager: Tyranid Zoanthrope and Genestealers


Kustomer D: Ork Warboss


Inspector #264: Screamer-Killer Carnifex


Ustrello: Death Riders of Krieg


ZergSmasher: Chaos Helbrute


Inflatable Love Badger: Necrons Canoptek Spyder


AUGmaniac: Arco-flagellant


GulGog TufToof: Ork Boy



Ratius: Tyranid Mawlock



SJM: Ork Meganob


Albinoork: Demon Prince Be'Lakor


Rollawaythestone: Tyranid Hive Tyrant


Sockwithaticket: Demonhost



Farseer Anath'lan: Interrogator-Chaplain Asmodai


Llamahead: Plague Elemental


Verviedi: Tau Crisis Suit


Red_Thirst: Culexis Assassin


kencotter: Spirit Hosts


Paradigm: Last Man Standing


Zoat: Chaos Sorcerer Lord


Mixer86: Imperial Knight


Eggs: Stone Trolls


Spuj: Tyranid Zoanthrope


Midget Gems: Ork Boss on Rhinox


SlavetoDorkness: Stone Troll


Timtheheirodule: Kroot Knarloc


Aldo: Stone Troll


Lots of entries this month, so let's get lots of votes to match over the next 5 days!

voted!

Vote cast, good luck everyone

Wow! Well done everyone!

After spending an entire cup of coffee feasting my eyes on this month's contribution my votes are cast. Special mentions to:

SJM - Simply fantastic level of grimy detail! Your Blanchitsu is strong indeed!

Paradigm - So 40k and very well executed!

Inflatable - Inspired modelling. Most scary model this month!

Ugh, just typed up a whole post commenting on the entries I voted for, hit 'vote' and (of course) lost it when the page reloaded!

Oh well, take 2:


SJM and Januine: it's not habit that keeps me voting for you guys, the consistency and quality of your entries blows me away each month!

Kustomer D: great conversion, great paintwork, great finished piece! SJM better watch out, if you keep this up you might son challenge him for the title of my favourite Ork converter on Dakka!

Rollawaythestone: Shame you couldn't get the base done, that would have secured your Tyrant as my favourite entry this month! Even without that, though, the skin and carapace are beautiful both on their own merits and in concert!

Slavetodarkness: paintwork, style, attention to details, full marks on everything!

Zoat: original concept meets great paintwork once again

Ustrello: you're improving month on month, these are fantastic!


There we go. More votes than I'd normally cast, but there's such a great array of talent on show here that I felt you all deserved a mention!

I had a lot of trouble narrowing down who I was voting for this month. So I just cast extra.

Buttery: The kelpie might not be the most horrific monster of the lot, the but water effects and shading deserved a vote.
Kustomer D: That buzzsaw arm.
Inspector #264: Retro screamer-killer. Monster from way back.
ILB: Tentacled robot death machine!
SJM: Just wow.
Albinoorc: Demons are nightmare fuel incarnate, well done.
Rollawaythestone: Alien flying monster.
Zoat: Unique, bizarre, and well painted. Very Chaos.
SlavetoDarkness: That troll is just amazing. A monster’s monster.

Zoat got mine this time. Love the concept and execution!

I try to only cast a single vote because if I didn't I'd just vote for them all! What a great lot of awesome painted up this month! If there's a Chaos God of miniature painting then we've certainly drawn their attention this month.

Para, one quibble, my name is Slave To DORKness.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. That model has sat glowering at me from my shelf for about 12 years! It's nice t get him done and into my display cabinet. It also marks a return to me painting consistently. I've been away from the hobby for a good while after losing interest in 40k.

So, what's next!

Oops! Sorry about that! That's what I get for speed reading!

Not sure I can fix it in the poll without messing up the results, but I'll change it in the post.

Meh, no worries. I've been called worse.

That was a hard decision!

I think this must be a new record for diorama entries, surely?

Well, my votes are in! Very tough to pick my 5 favorites, I think every entry probably deserved a vote. I picked:
Januine: That diorama with the Chosen just blew me away. How the hell do you do that kind of job in just a month, especially with a malfunction with your purity seal spray?
Talys: I love Kastelan Robots in general (almost makes me want to play Adeptus Mechanicus), and this one is pretty amazing!
Kustomer D: That is one fantastic Ork, I love it!
SJM: Yet another amazing Ork conversion, I definitely think the WAAAGH! was well represented this month!
Paradigm: That diorama is great, tells a great story even though its not moving!
As I said, I wanted to vote for everyone, so don't feel bad if I didn't pick you. This month may have been the best yet as far as quality of entries. Special shout out to Paradigm for having this contest, I certainly had fun participating and I'm looking forward to next month!

FYI: Para, it's an Arco-flagellant, not an Eversor

Votes cast. Well done everyone - quality of entries was through the roof. Comments in no particular order and about done I didn't vote for:
@Buttery - awesome execution, think your were battling yourself too much, that final piece is superb
@SJM - you are da ork!high quality amazing mini
@Para - You tipped me over the edge into buying Space Hulk off eBay with your dio, the marine was talked about a lot in your thread, but let's not forget how good the Broodlord is!
@40kpirate and @KustomerD - scratch built beauties, I bow to you skills
@lovebadger - that things creeps me out, you have executed that perfectly
@albinoork - your attention to detail astounds right down to the swamp base. Wonderful figure
@Rollaway - I wish that were mine. Nuff said shame about the base
@Sock - I don't know what that mini is, but it definitely scares me the colours are dark and then the flash of purple engances really well
@Zoat - If you think you can do better than that, I am astounded. Lovely choice of minis and the colour scheme was perfect
@Januine - I've called my mommy to tell her she was wrong. All along a superb project the choice of a death jester looking insanely down at the chaos marines was clever, because it suggests a different kind of monster which is far less obvious
@eggs - great to see a long held ambition realised, that shows through in the paint job. Great colour choices
@midgetgems - special mention of your conversion, clearly executing your vision was a challenge, but you did so admirably. Be proud of a great end product
@Slavetodorkness - details, details, it's all in the details! The bone on the floor and snacks on the belt are examples of the care taken in your execution. Your palette is perfect
@Timtheheirodule - this one was a personal pleasure to see. The Kroot get little attention but when they ride stuff on official models, it seems a bit like "man riding a pig". Those guys ARE NOT doing that! They're riding a great big scary beast and it will eat you and they will finish the job. Ie choice of monster awesome, conversion brilliant, paint job immaculate

All not mentioned- it's because my hand is getting tired. All entries are superb for their own reasons. I was amazed how painting minis I never really paid attention to in my cupboard challenged me to try a new technique in feathering and I've grown as a painter, I hope you all have too in your own way. WELL DONE TO ALL!

Amazing entries this month. Really enjoyed participating. I am a really slow painter, so this challenge has been great to get me motivated to paint stuff for my army. Thank you all for the compliments.

As everyone is saying, the quality of the entries is really excellent. Everyone who submitted something deserves some respect and praise. Great job everyone!

Edit: I don't even know that I can pick a favorite... luckily I can pick several!

Some amazing stuff in here! I particularly loved januine's diorama, and sjm's orky goodness.

Everyone should give themselves a pat on the back though. Feeling genuinely inspired after looking through all the entries.

A lot of really good entries again this month, well done everyone.

Its taken me about half and hour to decide who to vote for a nice dilemma to have

Many thanks for the positive comments! Much appreciated!

@TP^DC Deputy Manager - Make no mistake, this is my best work to date! If you refer to my comments about not being quite done when I posted the mini, the areas that still need work were skillfully hidden from view by a combination of choosing "good" angles for the shots and by using a slightly shorter depth of field than I normally use when shooting minis! That being said, I sure hope I can still improve...

zoat wrote:
Many thanks for the positive comments! Much appreciated!

@TP^DC Deputy Manager - Make no mistake, this is my best work to date! If you refer to my comments about not being quite done when I posted the mini, the areas that still need work were skillfully hidden from view by a combination of choosing "good" angles for the shots and by using a slightly shorter depth of field than I normally use when shooting minis! That being said, I sure hope I can still improve...

I return to my comment - if you think you can improve what could it have looked like??????? - *slumps to floor convulsing having been overwhelmed by thoughts of truly awesome models painted by Zoat*

Love your work, please keep pointing more for us all to admire

Thanks guys for your kind comments! I was very nervous about this one because it was two firsts: First time using an airbrush on a mini for anything other than priming (body: shading and highlight were all done by trying to angle that correctly) and the Vallejo water I've never used outside of catastrophic failure when I made a "vomiting" dragon in 2009.

Buttery Commissar - That Kelpie is really impressive, the transition from the underside shading to the highest skin tone especially.

januine - I gushed about yours in the progress thread. Quantity and quality.

Talys - a good job with what is definitely not one of my favourite models. The Dread shoulders definitely help make it look more imposing and

TP^DC Deputy Manager - love the retro 'nids, brings back fond memories and the midnight turquoise scheme looks good on them, it's different to many but it absolutely works.

By the way, mine's an OOP Daemonhost. Thanks for the compliment!

Ustrello - nice Death Riders, man, the feather work is particularly good.

Inflatable Love Badger - (can't believe I just typed that!) Very cool kitbash, reminds me of the squiddys from The Matrix.

SJM - holy moly, if I weren't an unshakeable astartes that monster would leave me all a-quiver. Love the gritty, realistic paint job.

Abinoork - one of the best Be'Lakor's I've seen. Lovely grey-scale skin.

Paradigm, it's somewhat fitting that our outstanding organiser contributes such a characterful and well-realised piece.

Zoat - not a nurgle fan by any stretch, but he's undeniably well painted.

Eggs - always loved those old school trolls, great skin tone.

Thx for all the kinds words folks. This was was such fun to do. You know when you are getting up earlier than usual to do some more painting, you're really loving what youre doing. Amazing entrires this month - folk are just going from strength to strength some of the stuff that realy jumped out at me......

@BC - loved that Kelpie from the get go and that you've really tried to try and do somethign different with. Trying out new things is always great and you defintely succeeded here
@TP - the dio is great; it really conveys 'monster' both through the action and the palette. I'm not much of a 'nid fan and a lot of the time and I think its the garish schemes. The dark sombre theme you achieved here works so much better......'seething masses'come to mind and really reminds me of the 'Aliens' movies...urrgghhhh creepy!!
@ - Kustomer D - the built up agression and ferocity you captured here is brillaint. Monster it certainly is
@ - ILB - this thing is downright creepy. Robots don't usually exude that by their very nature...this does. Again makes me thing of a horror movie and what's waiting in the darkness. fatastic
@Rollawaythestone - really nice job. the palette is subdued and really works for me. the size and pose convey an énd of level' boss monster to me. great job
@Para - this sends me right back. I had and used to play endlessy the 1st ed Space Hulk game and one of my favourites ever!! The vignette pretty much personifies every game at some point. lovely painjob and excellent choice of scene and action to actually represent what happens on those dark mysterious hulks.... love it

Great work everyone. what a great month it was. Can't wait to see what we'll all come up with for next month

Cheers all

(oh ps - really sorry about the weird/huge/hardtosee/awkward photos this month. Was trying out some new setting to try and combat the annoying Dakkagallery blur.....kinda arsed stuff up a bit )

Congratulations everyone, you did great!

I had a hard time picking 5, so ended up picking 6

Thanks so much for Mawzys vote. It actually means a serious lot VS the other work here
Cheers!

I'll second what Ratius said. Whoever voted for my little, badly photographed, slightly better painted guy deserves thanks with the guys I'm going against.

Talys, SJM and Albinoork - your entries are all on the Gallery homepage. Well done all!

Really has been all Thriller and no filler this month! Was sorely tempted to vote for everyone, but that seemed a little silly
Cheers for the nice comments guys, seem to have struck it lucky with the theme as been trying to make a mechanical horror army for awhile, so had plenty of models to pick from. Would love to type up individual positive feedback for everyone, but do most of this on my phone and excessive typing hurts my eyes :( need to invest in a new comp methinks.

bumping this up. Another great month

Thanks for the kind words and the votes everyone! This has been a great month for everyone, I will say though I should of entered a story in for my cavalry to help explain its terror factor.

Do it anyway!

Well, considering the extremely good competition this month I am very flattered that I've gotten a full 5 votes! That's four more than last time IIRC. Definitely makes me feel that I'm improving as a painter (and a photographer!).