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The challenge's annual Halloween round returns for another smorgasbord of spooky! This month, entrants set about working on a fantastic array of frightening entries, including multiple Mortarions, creatures from the maniacal to the malign, and the makings of a truly terrifying Monster Mash!

And now it's time to pick a winner. As usual, vote for as many entries as you like for any reason you like, be that paint or conversion work, suitability to the theme, ambition or effort or anything else that catches your eye. Voting will run for 5 days!

The entrants:

Nevelon: Hexwraiths


Midget Gems: Batork and Robin/Only Fools and Orkses




u971: Necron Scarab Swarms


Elbows: Demon Prince


TheDraconicLord: Carver (Malifaux)


Lord_Ghazghkull: Tyranid Dimachaeron


n1ceguypaul: Verminlord, Morngul and Wraith


Modock: Blood Warriors of Khorne


electriceve: Mortarion


Power Elephant: Cthullu


Drummernathan: Mortarion


SirDonald: Servo-Skulls


Gulgog TufToof: Ork Freeboota


Moolet: Boss Snikrot


Verviedi: Cyborg


Kustomer D: Ork Boy



ZergSmasher: Poxwalkers


Martinof: Death Company Dreadnought


Paradigm: Wight King


Chris56: Witch


biggie_reg: Halloween Grots


vejut: Displacer Beast


Ustrello: Inquisitor Greyfax


Llamahead: Zombie Troll


KernelTerror: Possessed Dark Mechanicus Archmagos


ZoBo: Tree Monster


DanceofSlaneesh: Poxwalkers


ZenBadger: Mhorgoth The Faceless


Keezus: Zombie Girl


Feltmonkey: Mandrakes


Metal_Man: Monster Mash!

Wow, sure was a great selection of spooky entries this month! Here are the five I voted for this time:
electriceve: This is a scheme I've never seen on Mortarion before, and that is awesome! A little inspiration never hurts when I've got my own Morty that needs paint.
Verviedi: That is one scary looking cyborg robot...thing. Not something I'd want to run into, well, any time at all, really.
Paradigm: You nailed the theme for sure! That is one scary dude!
Ustrello: I love the Greyfax model, and you really did a nice job on it!
keezus: That creepy little zombie girl looks like she came straight out of a horror movie, which is great! Very characterful model, executed flawlessly.

Everyone should be proud of their entries this month. There were a lot of off-the-wall creative ones, which is always great. Special shout out as always to Paradigm for running these challenges. Keep up the good work everyone, and I'll see you all in the November challenge.

Voted for a handful - some nice entries this year. I voted for one Mortarion, and the Pumpkin fella and the Zombie girl.

I voted for electriceve's Mortarion. I really liked the face and the wings. But, it was the old death guard scheme which made him really stand out. The eavy metal team version look's a bit boring when comparing the two.

Man the competition is hard, not even a pity vote this time

Gotta say this time Chris56 entry grabbed me the most, lots of detail, cool face in the tree, nice looking bricks, the green glowing part, and of course, great painted figures. Just great!

I voted for quite a few entries, but the best ones (IMHO) were Elbows' daemon prince, KernelTerror's archmagos and Feltmonkey's mandrakes.

Thanks, Emberlord (and everyone else who has voted for me!)

I'm going to comment on everyone's entries, I think. Partly because I can't remember who I voted for...

Nevelon - Great work, really on the theme too. I like the ghostly blue of the Skeletons, and it's very clever how you've repeated this shade on the ghostly flames on the end of the scythes.

Midget Gems - Back to the comedy entries for you, and a really great one. That Batork (goblin?) in particular is full of character. I like how they're beating up some of your previous entries.

u971 - A sinister little swarm of technobugs. You wouldn't want them crawling up your trouser leg. The bases are my favorite part, I like the toxic streams.

Elbows - A pretty scary-looking mini! I like the splatter work, and the liberal application of gore. I think some of the wash has pooled in a weird way on the wings, but it doesn't really detract from the model. The face is the standout area for me.

TheDraconicLord - Excellent! The use of an LED is a brilliant idea for a pumpkinhead, backed up by a nice paintjob.

Lord_Ghazghkull - Another one that makes you recoil from the screen (in a good way!) Really alien-looking, and the gory chest area is properly gross.

n1ceguypaul - A selection of scary stuff here too. The verminlord looks really great, and the other two monstrosities are simple but effective. The thing with the long arms and bloody maw is my favorite. Nightmare fuel.

Modock - Another great entry from you. Smooth blends, lovely highlighting and shading. I really like how you've done the metallics - the little touches of purple on the bronze works very well.

electriceve - The runaway leader, and a great job, very impressive. The wings and the flames are my favorite parts. You can tell from my entry that I can't paint flames! I hope you'll stick around in the challenge month on month.

Power Elephant - That's a fun little miniature. I'm not sure Cthullu gets called fun very often. The contrast of pink and green is very nice.

Drummernathan - Another cool Mortarian. It's a shame you didn't get him finished to your satisfaction in time, but it still looks good. I like the mottled wings.

SirDonald - I like these. Servo-skulls are such an interesting part of the 40K lore, so kudos for doing them. I think the bases could do with some kind of wash on them or something.

Gulgog TufToof - A cool mini. The freehand skull on his back is great. Much better photos this month, too!

Moolet - Woah, very nice! Lovely brushwork throughout, particularly on areas like the weapons and the subtly highlingting on the black armour. There's a lot to like here, but my favorite parts are the warpaint on his face and the exquisite work on the eye lens.

Verviedi - Really cool. Is it a kitbash? The bronze tone you've got on the chest is just great. Plus a guest appearence from Eric the half a space marine on the base.

Kustomer D - Now that is a great scenic base. The miniature is very characterful as well. Unfortunately the photos are pretty over-exposed, so you lose a lot of the detail.

ZergSmasher - A nice grim squad of poxies. They look slimey and gross, as they should. I think you could do more highlighting on them to really make them pop.

Martinof - A nice tabletop dreadnought with some nice neat detailing. I think you're losing votes for kind of ignoring the theme though.

Paradigm - Lovely stuff. You know what I'm going to say - Grimdark. The cloak is a really nice contrast, but I thin the back of it works a bit better than the front - that level of lightness. The front goes so light compared to the rest of the miniature that it draws the eye away from everything else at first glance. It's still amazing though.

Chris56 - Your little dioramas are one of the things I really look forward to seeing very month in these threads, and this is a particularly great one. There's so much great stuff going on that for me to list my favorite bits would mean listing everything about it. I'm going to list some anyway, as I think people have missed stuff, otherwise it would have more votes, I reckon! So: The witches face, the tentacles coming from the basket, the lovely work on the tiles, The weird liquid in the ladle - it all rewards to viewer who really takes the time to look at it. Like with the face, the most detailed part of the whole thing, you wouldn't see that when you first look at it, from above, but it's like a reward if you take the time to pick it up and look at it, I imagine. My favorite entry this month.

biggie_reg - You have to love grots with pumpkins on their heads! Did you sculpt the pumpkins?

vejut - Cool tentacle cat. Nice work on the purple highlights on the tentacles.

Ustrello - A nice GW-style Greyfax. Good neat work. Did you use some sort of filter on the photos? It looks a bit like we're viewing her through a fog.

Llamahead - Haha what on earth is that? Great mini. I like how you've painted him with the unhealthy-looking greens and browns, but one tip would be to try to push the highlights on the face to draw the eye there.

KernelTerror - A really great, totally mad-looking conversion. Really weird, very 40K, and a really nice job.

ZoBo - Looks like a fairly simple method (although I bet those firey bits all over her were a pain!) but really effective.

DanceofSlaneesh - A very vibrant choice of green! Some nice highlighting on areas such as the sword. You maybe could have done more with the base.

ZenBadger - I really like this. The light effects are great!

Keezus - A really characterful mini, and I think you've really captures it too. The zombie skintone is great.

Metal_Man - A great little squad of oddballs. Is one of the The Blob from the movie? I would have liked more photos of them individually.

Great work everyone! See you next month.

Interesting pieces, quite a few entries which captured the theme perfectly.

let's get to it.

electriceve: i gotta say I'm not too fond of Mortarion but you did a great job on him. The wings take the spotlight, cool transition, well done.
Moolet: amazing paint job you pulled off. The face is just priceless. The precision is there mate, !
Paradigm: perfectly on theme with the style to back it up. Nice touch with the ethereal cloak, fits like a glove.
Chris: off the bat my favourite entry for this month. Spot on the theme with exceptional execution. A sea of details on the witch, the tree,
spider web, free hand skull on the spider, great blends on the bricks, so on and so forth. Pure awesomeness!
Keezus: again great fit for the theme. Great personality I mean dead... creepy little zombie girl. The skin tone is just perfect! You have a way
with the flesh man. Great stuff!
Feltmonkey: as I said before those Mandrakes look fabulous. I love the colour scheme you picked for them. I especially like the ghostly
blends on their body and the eyes.

I also voted for Elbows, n1ceguypaul, Martinof and I forgot...

Thank you Feltmonkey for the comment, thanks to people who supported my entry and to Paradigm for everything.
Till next time.

Re: Feltmonkey

Nearly everything I do is a conversion of some sort. This month’s model is a Sydonian Dragoon servitor head, Ruststalker body, Cawl’s chest tentacle, Skitarii backpack, and Sydonian Dragoon T-Rex arm.

And thank you very much

I really enjoyed and found Chris56's entry to be fitting. While I enjoy GW miniatures, this was really a category of creativity and should be treated as so when judged !

To make up for my lack of participation on the WIP thread I'll copy Felt and do a review of all the entries.

thanks for commenting on everyone's work Feltmonkey

Nevelon - A good entry, its easy to overlook but I really like the bases as well, load of detail like little flowers in there.

Midget Gems - I had fun making them, could have been better with more time.

u971 - The sheels have a good colour and the water/sludge works very well on the base.

Elbows - A very good gory miniature for Halloween, the blood splatter looks great against the pale skin.

TheDraconicLord - I really like that you added some LEDS into the eyes, your get a vote from me for doing something creative.

Lord_Ghazghkull - Pretty scary looking model, the green body mixed with the purple and bone works very well.

n1ceguypaul - The verminlord came out very well, it fits in really well with the scenery you took the photos in

Modock - Colour transition is brilliant as always, its such a nice looking blue.

electriceve - That entry really is rather superb, the wings are great and to do it all without an airburst shows you have a real talent.

Power Elephant - That's a freaky little guys, the eyes work very well and the pink to green change is well thought out

Drummernathan - It was very cool to see so many Mortarion models in this month, The armour is done very well and this entry definitely deserves a lot more votes.

SirDonald - From a giant entry last month to a tiny entry this one, Well done on the skulls

Gulgog TufToof - You must be getting quite a collection of custom models now, the peg/bone leg is fun.

Moolet - I really like how you have modified and painted this model, when I was looking at it Team Fortress 2 jumped into my head (Demoman maybe?),

Verviedi - Its a cool model, I like the pose and the recent kill

Kustomer D - Very inventive with the base, the Ork looks very kitted out for an all out Dakka assault

ZergSmasher - . You have a nice tone on the flesh, photos seem quite dark so I can't really make out the base or lower torso sections

Martinof - Cool dreadnaught and looks quite close to Mootlet's from last month (which is a good thing since he is a very good painter)

Paradigm - Really good colours, the really light part of the cloak does initially draw your eye to that part of the model

Chris56 - A Lovely scene with looks of little bits to it which I love. Great work again Chris, you are fast becoming one of my favourite painting comp challengers due to the complete scenes you give us every month

biggie_reg - For your first time with GS great work, who doesn't like a pumpkin headed grot?

vejut - The purple has come out well, if you had made more of the green eyes it would have been a great contrast.

Ustrello - The metal on the model has come out very well, The inquisitor would have her work cut out hunting all the monsters in this thread

Llamahead - That's so Chaosy that its hard for me to tell what it is a times. it looks very slimy.

KernelTerror - I'm really impressed you managed to finish that model, very cool work and looks particular terrifying.

ZoBo - interesting model with a cool effect on the skin, it looks quite a big model?

DanceofSlaneesh - Great work on the boils, they look pretty disgusting.

ZenBadger - The light balls and the effect you have put on them make it a nice model.

Keezus - Really good work, I hate freaky little girls in horror films. The skin is a lovely shade of putrid.

Feltmonkey - Your cloth work is always flawless. Fantastic paint job.

Metal_Man - You look like you have put in a lot of effort but I think the photo has let you down, its so hard to see any of the detail you have put into the models.

I've not been very interactive this month so I've tried to make up for it with loads of comments.

Thanks everyone for their comments on my work in this thread and the entry thread I really appreciate the feedback.

Anyhow comments for everyone:

Nevelon: I must admit I’ve sneaked a peak at your image gallery a couple for times as i love the pictures of the games you play. They look so good with nice balanced armies with mixtures of units and seeing your painting entries in them is really nice. I think your move away from painting ultramarines with this entry really shows off your eye for colourschemes and i think these are the best I’ve seen you do. I think you’ve chosen a brave colour palette and done it a great service. Congratulations, this is definitely one of my favourite entries.

Midgetgems: Once again pure awesomeness. You’ve captured the characters very well and the month would be a much duller places without your genius. I’ve no idea how you convert these models so well, I have issues with just changing a models weapon. I think the painting is good but it isn’t the best you can do. I’m mightily impressed by the bat symbol on the grots chest though. I can’t help but hear them saying ‘pow’ and ‘zapp’ with David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst’s voices. By the way, if you want a nice easier way to highlight black try german grey by Vallejo. I’m in love with it, as i may have mentioned on occasion, and keep finding excuses to use it, Modock also gives it a good endorsement.

U971: very neatly done on some very cool bases. A hard model to make stand out but i think you’ve done a very solid job on these little bugs.

Elbows: a great paint job that looks like it’s mostly be done with washes. It’s a great palette as you have tied it in well with the nurgle colours yet given it a way to stand out from the rest. Bravo.

TheDraconicLord: I’ve seen so many attempts at doing lighting and it just falling flat but this is done so well and with a great paint job too. You’ve captured the colour of pumpkins perfectly and the chequered patches add some nice detailed touches.

Lod_Ghazghull: I think your pictures don’t show this off to its full glory. The bone carapace looks excellent in the first image but in subsequent ones I can’t see the detail. The bone/chitin, pea green and the purple/reds all look to be done well and I’m still deciding on how well they work together. It will look great on the tabletop!

N1ceguypaul: No idea why but i didn’t see this one till now. The verminlord looks brilliant with beautifully worked horns. The poisoned axe looks great too and really deserves a close up =) I love your Morngul too, so well done. Its the right balance of the amount of gore contrasting so well with the ghostly colour of the rest.

Modock: I’d pay good money to sit you down with you and pick your brain about the techniques you use for some of you metallics. One of the first entries you did was a orc riding a boar and i marvelled at the metals then but these seem a notch above that too. The other thing is your inspired choice in which direction and how to highlight different plates, which is something i struggle with. Couple with your fine eye for detail and immaculate blends mean I’m blown away time and again. Congratulations on these.

Electriceve: nice take on Mortarion. Personally I’m not a fan of the model as my eye often finds it difficult to settle on all the details but you’ve conquered that well with your choice of palette. The brushwork is very good and your decision on colour combinations works well together so this deserves to do well this month.

Power elephant: Cool little Cthulu mini and a really eye catching paintjob. The transition between lime green and pink is incredibly well done and hypnotic eyes finish it off really well. Congratulations.

Drummernathan: Awesome Mortarion. I think the colour and the variation in the wings is beautiful. I’d love to know how you can make his brown wings such an interesting colour to look at. His robes look grubby and lice ridden and his scythe blade cracked and well used. Nice attention to detail and some very well painted green armour giving it a nice matt feel whilst bringing out the details.

SirDonald: lots of fine detail painting there but unfortunately being so small they haven’t seemed to photo well. I like the addition of the yellow/black striped pole and you’ve done a good job of keeping the lines straight given the scale!

Gulgog: another of my favourites this month. Your conversions are always excellent and i love to derive inspiration from them. (Before i was exposed to yours and midgets conversions everymonth i never bother!) Your painting is improving in my opinion and the texture you’ve given to the wooden pole, the peg leg and the stump are great and of course it wouldn’t be complete without at least one freehand skull! Your uses of gold on this model give a lot of character and really make him scream freeboota.

Moolet: No weathering to tie with the base, the desaturated reds are highlighted poorly and without attention to light source and scars on the cheek look as if they were done to cover up accidently getting some black on his cheek (this is mostly true actually lol!). The blades do look pretty cool though, but that’s only because you cheat using german grey (everyone, you must buy it.. now!).

Verviedi: What a cool conversion. I’m trying to figure out how you did his main body brown. Is it dark brown highlighted up and then given an edge highlight of silvers or is it silver toned down then the edge highlight. Either way i love the look and I’m going to try to emulate it soon. Very nice entry. The dead half of the marine leaving a trail through the earth is a great touch and just icing on the cake.

Kustomer D: The epitome of the phrase dakkadakka i think. I like your skin colours and variations in the metallics used. The head on shot is my favourite as you’ve chosen the right head for him! Very nicely done, putting a lot of work into his ‘base’ is also to be highly commended!

Zergsmasher: Great poxwalkers. You’ve got a great flesh colour going, well great for some rotting nurgle flesh husks, not the colour i want to see in my own cheeks. You’ve managed to keep that same slime/mould feel continuing onto the metallic parts. I think a bit more lighting or perhaps just a bit of brightening up in photoscape would do wonders for the images.

Martinof: Brilliant dread. A few other angles would be great to see though. The black is edge highlighted well and the claws look brilliant. You seem to do your bases almost identically to mine! Awesome. Nice paintjob on a model I’m intimately acquainted with! Those claws deserve a close up picture too though.

Paradigm: when you posted this in the entry thread i tried to find some time to make some comments but work was just too busy! (i do all my dakka time in breaks during work). I love your usual paint jobs but i think this is a notch higher again. You convey the theme perfectly; the balance of drab to bright colour is perfect. The choice of palette again is just beautiful. The metals are varied and interesting and stunningly realistic. The highlights are convincingly done to give the impression of a light source just to his front. For me this is my joint top vote this month without a doubt. Some of the subtlety you’ve put into this is the very best quality.

Chris 56: a beautiful diorama. It’s full of colour with a choice of palette for the witch and spider to convey a dark theme whilst not just relying on dark colours. All the small details are beautifully done and well placed throughout the piece. As someone else already mentioned the brickwork really finishes the image perfectly.

Biggie_reg: Halloween grots... lol. Brilliant. The pumpkin heads a really well done with my favourite part being the little patches of mold. A very clever and well executed touch. If you were to play these against me I’d have to impose a -1ld on all my troops who are in line of sight of them.

Vejut: A brilliant likeness to the image i have in my head of a displacer beast, (i think the image I have is from the 3rd ed monster manual, maybe 2nd ed). The colours are great and the subtle tints and satin sheen to the flesh are all perfect. You’ve made the model look interesting which can be hard on model that doesn’t seem to have too many details to help you out.

Ustrello: An incredibly steampunk looking greyfax (more so than most versions). I really like the tones you’ve given the metallics with a muted robe. The red hat looks a little out of place but i think that adds to the model drawing the eye there. Really stunning work, those metallics...

KernelTerror: This conversion is great but unfortunately the lighting in the images don’t help present it. The script in the book looks great and the axe blade is very cool. I think you’ve done a great job of the eyes too but again i don’t think the images do justice to your work.

ZoBo: another of my favourite painters and you’ve applied yourself to this model very well. I think you’ve done a great job giving the impression of a glowing burning ember beneath the skin and ashen charcoal at the surface. i.e. she looks like the perfect cooking temperature for a charcoal BBQ! Adding the hotter glowing hands breaks up that glowing embers beautifully with hints of a white hot heat behind the eyes and the in the mouth. Great work, i’d love to know what red/oranges you used. (a wash made of weathering pigments perhaps?)

DanceofSlannesh Such a fantastic colour scheme. I find that so many beautifully painted armies can look a bit non-descript/dull on a battlefield from across the table so i love it when people go for something visually striking (also like Nevelon’s entry this month). The colours are visually jarring in a good way that makes you pay attention. The you’ve chosen nice neutral tones for the all the non green areas to ensure there isn’t a nasty clash of saturated colours. Great palette and great highlights. I’m not sure what your plans for a base are but I think you will need to give some careful thought to complement your colour scheme.

Zenbadger: Cool mini with some very well thought out highlights. The subtle hints of purple colours to his robes are beautifully executed. You’ve a real knack for giving it a feel of realistic lighting.

Keezus: When i first took a look at this i thought, hmm pretty good. But when i spent time looking it really impresses me more and more. The pastel colours you often use for your painting are wonderful and you’ve really given this mini so much character. The use of greys to desaturate the palette makes it appear as if she is straight out of an apocalyptic zombie movie. Then you add spashes of colour for her exposed flesh. On any other scheme the shades of red used wouldn’t leap out but you make it work so well with the colours you’ve used. And the unholy paleness of her eyes finishes her off perfectly. This really is a great work of art and my other favourite for this month. May i ask how you did the yellow/grey transition? Base in grey and work your way up or did you apply a series of grey filters/light washes?

Feltmonkey: Again another visually stunning entry, the light blues look so well done and contrast really well with the neutral robes. Entering one of these would be great but a whole squad is very impressive. You’ve given these minis real life with expert choices in palette and beautiful metallics and freaky blue skin/runes.

Metal_Man: and there I thought you’d be entering an imperator class titan this month. A very cool selection of minis but my favourite by far is the gelatinous cube. To get something like this visually interesting and quite honestly this disgusting is brilliant. Very nicely done!

Re: Moolet

It’s two thin coats of Warplock Bronze, with two coats of Agrax Earthshade over it. I added the highlight over the first coat of Agrax, and then washed it again to dull down the brilliant silver.

Again, thank you to all commenters

feltmonkey wrote:ZoBo - Looks like a fairly simple method (although I bet those firey bits all over her were a pain!) but really effective.

Midget Gems wrote:ZoBo - interesting model with a cool effect on the skin, it looks quite a big model?

Moolet wrote:ZoBo: another of my favourite painters and you’ve applied yourself to this model very well. I think you’ve done a great job giving the impression of a glowing burning ember beneath the skin and ashen charcoal at the surface. i.e. she looks like the perfect cooking temperature for a charcoal BBQ! Adding the hotter glowing hands breaks up that glowing embers beautifully with hints of a white hot heat behind the eyes and the in the mouth. Great work, i’d love to know what red/oranges you used. (a wash made of weathering pigments perhaps?)

thanks guys ...it's a "Treewalker" from Creature Caster - they do a whole range of gorgeous large models (treewalker's about 6" tall), quite a few of them are very "feminine" though, so if that puts you off then YMMV, but great quality and detail overall though...great counts-as models for all your assorted greater daemons and whatnot ....anyway, I picked up this treewalker off ebay, mostly pre-assembled, but in a pretty rough state...the previous owner hadn't bothered with a lot of the cleanup work, and really slathered on the glue...so it took a fair bit of prep to save it...and then, I didn't really know what to actually do with it...I don't play/collect sylvaneth or anything like that, so it was kinda just a 1-off oddball for me...I decided I needed a bit of a painting-style break from working on salamanders primaris marines, so I decided to paint her up for the challenge

I've painted quite a lot of freehand flame designs before, and heat-stained metal, glowing energy weapons and whatnot...but I've never really painted something actually burning like that before, so it was fun to try something new again - it was also really quite quick and easy!....I started with the old zenithal primer job, black all over, then white from a high angle...although, really, I would've been far better off just going with straight white...wasn't really thinking at that point ...then an all-over basecoat of a real bright pink-orange mix (I was using JoSonja brand artists acrylics - about half'n'half "Vermillion" and "Brilliant Magenta", with a little white added) - screamer pink and troll slayer orange should be close enough to what I used...so, all-over basecoat of that, then to really brighten up the recesses (again, should've just used white primer), I added a little more white to that mix, and thinned it out to a milky wash, and just slathered it on...left that for an eternity to dry, then started with the ashy charcoal phase...drybrushing! - an all-over drybrush of black, pretty heavy, but making sure to leave a good amount of little glowy pink bits showing everywhere...then I think I used mechanicus standard grey? - some medium-dark tone grey...drybrushed that all over, a bit lighter than the black...and then a light highlight all-over drybrush of ulthuan grey...done - oh, then the eyes/mouth were a mix of yriel yellow with a little evil sunz scarlet mixed in, then layered into the centre with more yriel yellow, then ushabti bone in the centre - hands were the same colours, but basically just glazed over the ashy undercoat

 Moolet wrote:
Keezus: When i first took a look at this i thought, hmm pretty good. But when i spent time looking it really impresses me more and more. The pastel colours you often use for your painting are wonderful and you’ve really given this mini so much character. The use of greys to desaturate the palette makes it appear as if she is straight out of an apocalyptic zombie movie. Then you add spashes of colour for her exposed flesh. On any other scheme the shades of red used wouldn’t leap out but you make it work so well with the colours you’ve used. And the unholy paleness of her eyes finishes her off perfectly. This really is a great work of art and my other favourite for this month. May i ask how you did the yellow/grey transition? Base in grey and work your way up or did you apply a series of grey filters/light washes?

Thanks for the kind words. The model was primed in white. The shading on the yellow dress started as a purple/green mix (PP Beaten Purple, PP Gnarl's Green), to get a muddy purplish tone that I used for the darkest skin shadows. I used the same on the dress initially, but it was way too dark (had to rescue it by overpainting the dark areas with Ivory and then rebasing in midtone. (GW Dorn Yellow). By happy accident, mixing the shade tone with midtone with a 90% midtone, 10% shade gave a strange muddy lilac. Tonally, it wasn't too different from the midtone, but the purple tone makes it stand out as a shade. The shadows were then painted directly into the recesses, and then just smoothed it into the midtone using layered transitions.

Thanks for the compliments! I wish I had a better way of taking the photos to show them off better, but it's what I have right now. I liked working with the green stuff, but definitely need more practice/better tools. The other entrants were awesome, especially thedraconiclord, moolet, and midget gems. I'll keep participating as much as I can to get just as good.

More than one comment on how dark my photos were, I see. I was afraid of them ending up whitewashed and too bright, so I used a lower brightness setting on my camera. I guess I shouldn't have. I don't know much about how to edit photos, so that's why I never do anything with mine. Maybe I should learn.

Wow, kudos to you three (Feltmonkey, Mgems and Moolet) for commenting on all entries! Big thanks for the kind words.

Moolet, I paint metalics very much like I paint any other normal colour. For a base colour I start by mixing flat paint with a metalic
paint (silver + flat black, gold + dark brown, copper + dark redish brown) and then adding more flat paint for shadows till they are
completely flat. For highlighting I just add pure metalic and thats it.

Votes this month to:

Nevelon: As others have said, lovely colour balancing there, the red and blue really compliment each other nicely!

Midget Gems: Because just look at them! Orks as sitcom characters as comic book heroes! Reference-ception at its finest!

electriceve: Given that I'm not a huge fan of the Mortarion model, the fact this entry is one of my favourites is a definite testament to your paintjob. The classic DG scheme definitely does him a lot of favours over the green-on-green-on-green GW studio job.

Drummernathan: Somewhat ironically given what I just said, this version really works for me. It's the GW look but somehow you've added in a ton of texture and grit that the studio job lacks. The rusty metals and brown,insectoid wings do wonders for the scheme.

Moolet: If I remember rightly, this is a kitbash, so the fact he totally evokes the feel of the actual model is quite the achievement, I definitely wouldn't mistake it for anyone other than Snikrot.

Chris56: As always, your little vignettes are a highlight of the month.Your mastery of colour theory and application continues to inspire and impress!

ZoBo: Sublime texture work! It's rare to see a such a true-to-life texture applied so vividly to

ZenBadger: Excellent use of a minimalist palette, the cold colours and sharp highlights really make the model pop!



Thanks for anyone who voted/commented on my Wight King, I really tried to push myself with him and (at least last time I checked) he was doing a lot better in the poll than my previous few entries that were a bit phoned in. It's definitely encouraging myself to keep experimenting and pushing myself over the next few months.

Wow! I am humbled! Thanks for all the love guys and gals!
Even without being able to get him fully finished to my standards and photographed properly I still think I either broke or am tied for my highest votes I’ve yet to receive for a month! Thank you all. A few short responses to some comments.

Re: Moolet: thanks man! I definitely put a lot of heart into this guy and am glad it went noticed! Have always preferred a “cleaner” matte look with my death Guard but I figured since this is the big bad, I had to give him a good amount of grime!
Also I’m not a fan of the studio job on the wings or the lighter tones and his wings just screamed “big leathery bug wings” to me so I went with my best effort at portraying that. I primed the whole model with the death Guard green spray to start but for the wings I put down my first layer of baneblade brown, then used some old school flesh wash, then a layer of agrax earthshade, picked out the veins with a very yellow brown then did a recessed shade of druchii violet on the tops of the veins and nuln oil on the bottoms. Then used a piece of carrying case foam to “sponge” on some dryad bark and baneblade brown to give it that mottled look and finally picked out all the bumps in the veins with pallid wych flesh! Super pleased with how they came out and felt it fits super well with the green and copper theme I have going for my whole deathguard force!

Re: Paradigm: thanks for the compliment man! Means a lot! I definitely try to be somewhat unique from the GW scheme for my deathguard(hence copper over brass, grimey/grungy cloth, etc.) And I just stuck with what I have already going for my deathguard force and feel it worked super well with Morty here!
Also like I mentioned his wings just screamed “big mottled bug wings” to me and I’m super please with how well it actually worked!

Thanks to those who commented on everyone’s work, I know from experience that it takes a lot of time, but this competition as an informal “design review” is a great way to get better.

Moolet: my inspiration to start converting my minis was SJM’s orks. If you haven’t seen them, definitely check out his gallery here on Dakka (sort oldest to most recent to jump straight to the orks).

Great work again this month everyone, keep painting and submitting!

Thanks a lot to all the entrants for such a collection of awesome models, to Paradigm for the organizing, and to anyone who deemed my chaos spaghetti plate worthy of a vote/comment !
That was my first entry and I'll definitely do more of these challenges...
@Moolet : Regarding the pictures, somehow I already suspected it but thanks a lot for making this issue clear, you are motivating me to setup a proper photo boot. I think the main issue is too much light from above and not enough from the front...Plus the current setup won't event let me take pictures of titans ^^.

I put waaay less time, effort and ambition this month than the last, but somehow managed to get more votes. Maybe this month I'll get the hang of this.

WINNERS!

In third place this month, Feltmonkey's Dark Eldar Mandrakes














Taking a close-fought second, Modock's Blood Warriors









And the winner this month, first-time entrant electriceve with Mortarion!







Congratulations to you three and thanks as always to everyone who entered, encouraged and left feedback (especially the Big Damn Heroes who left comments on every single entries! Above and beyond, guys). See you all next month for Hold The Line!

Well deserved congrats to the top finishers. The Mortarion is really a great piece with nice color choices, and Modock's quality is great as usual.

Thanks to the blokes who voted for me. You gave me hope that I might eke out a tie for third place... ;-)

Blimey, didn't expect that on my first go! Thank you so much to those who voted for my Mortarion This challenge really motivated me to get him finished! There was a great standard all round and loads of great entries. Sadly I can't join in next month but I'll want to the month after! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for the next theme.

Grats to the winners!

Also, thanks for those who voted for me, and the commentary. I think this was one of my better months, and the results at the polls back that up.

Oddly, I seem to do better with Death then my other entries. I guess I need to spend more time dabbling in the dark arts...

Thanks guys! Congrats to Electric Eve and Modock, and to everyone who entered.

Congrats Felt, Modock and electriceve and all who finished, I always like the Oct challenge for fun entries

 keezus wrote:
You gave me hope that I might eke out a tie for third place... ;-)

Yeah I was rooting for you to get 3rd and so close, still you are in some very good company with that number of votes.

Table updated

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/732117.page#9481149

Congrats to Feltmonkey and Electriceve and to all other entrants for some great effort!
Huge thanks to people who voted for my warriors.

See you all very shortly.