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Thanks a lot for the support guys! Yeah I'll see if I can get a few other angles up for you to see. Also [Some comments that i shall make are that the barrel and muzle brake look a little large, the muzle brake especially looks almost comedic but i understand that you are replicating the T2 sniper rifle from the Cataran] If you look at the unpainted one you will see its actually quite proportioned. Its mainly the angle making it look that way

 Victor.Drellings wrote:
Did anyone else use this as a good excuse to start playing Infinity? I bought myself a Shasvastii expeditionary force starter box today! Just waiting on my new paint set to arrive.

Pretty sweet model OldQueen, welcome to Dakka!

I had decided to start Infinity just before the contest was announced, so it was serendipitous in my case.

 bbb wrote:

 Victor.Drellings wrote:
Did anyone else use this as a good excuse to start playing Infinity? I bought myself a Shasvastii expeditionary force starter box today! Just waiting on my new paint set to arrive.

Pretty sweet model OldQueen, welcome to Dakka!

I had decided to start Infinity just before the contest was announced, so it was serendipitous in my case.

Nice what army did you decide to start? I was set on the PanO shock army simply because I liked the models in the kit and the future additions i could pick up, but in the end i couldn't resist my inner urge to paint slimy awesome aliens!

Well, I know which ones I like!
Those ones, to me, both look good and meet the brief really well, and could be snapshots from the Paradiso conflict.

 Victor.Drellings wrote:

 bbb wrote:

 Victor.Drellings wrote:
Did anyone else use this as a good excuse to start playing Infinity? I bought myself a Shasvastii expeditionary force starter box today! Just waiting on my new paint set to arrive.

Pretty sweet model OldQueen, welcome to Dakka!

I had decided to start Infinity just before the contest was announced, so it was serendipitous in my case.

Nice what army did you decide to start? I was set on the PanO shock army simply because I liked the models in the kit and the future additions i could pick up, but in the end i couldn't resist my inner urge to paint slimy awesome aliens!

I went for Ariadna. After looking over everything I felt like it was the faction with the most models that I liked. There's some really nice models in every faction, but I liked a lot of what Ariadna had to offer.

 bbb wrote:

 Victor.Drellings wrote:

 bbb wrote:

 Victor.Drellings wrote:
Did anyone else use this as a good excuse to start playing Infinity? I bought myself a Shasvastii expeditionary force starter box today! Just waiting on my new paint set to arrive.

Pretty sweet model OldQueen, welcome to Dakka!

I had decided to start Infinity just before the contest was announced, so it was serendipitous in my case.

Nice what army did you decide to start? I was set on the PanO shock army simply because I liked the models in the kit and the future additions i could pick up, but in the end i couldn't resist my inner urge to paint slimy awesome aliens!

I went for Ariadna. After looking over everything I felt like it was the faction with the most models that I liked. There's some really nice models in every faction, but I liked a lot of what Ariadna had to offer.

I like the highlander stuff from Ariadna a lot some sweet models there.

Whoops, voting was open a little longer than planned (due to me being out and about on the 4th of July weekend here in the US), but I don't think that's a major issue.

We have our top 5 vote-getters locked in and will be back in a few days with the finalists in order decided by the private finals judges...stay tuned and watch this spot!

Just a quick update:

The winners will be announced on July 12th. Sorry for the delay!

A big thank you to everyone for their entries and to everyone else who cheered them on and voted. Although the official voting is over please take the time to vote on the images in the Gallery as well. If you go back to the first post in this thread, all of the entrants names have been added to their entry pictures, so you can finally give props to the amazing creators of these pieces.

Also, If you want to refresh your memory about the theme of this Challenge, you can follow this link back to the original thread.

So without further adieu, here are the winners! Remember that you can click on any of the images below to get a better view of them (and zoom) in the dakka gallery:


FIRST PLACE

The private voting for this final 5 was quite crazy. Many of the top 5 finalists were spectacularly painted, but didn't really seem to have embraced the theme of the contest all that much (really modeling the environmental hazards of Paradiso). Our first and 2nd place winners were separated by just a single judge's vote. But in the end, being the only entry in the final 5 that really put an emphasis on theme (and a great job at that) just tipped the balance towards our first place winner:

Entry 9 - Victor.Drellings - Ariadna Para-Commando




SECOND PLACE

Second place went to our overall top public vote-getter. A truly impressive piece of painting featuring great colors and lovely directional lighting!

Entry 7 - Raqui - Yu Jing Sun Tze 2.0



THIRD PLACE

Third through fifth places were also all incredibly close, with all 3 being within 3 judges votes of each other. But our third place winner was well deserved, with a very distinctive palate of colors.

Entry 13 - Albreck - Combined Army Treitak Spec-Ops



FOURTH PLACE

Fourth place has a very naturalistic, nicely shaded color palate and a little nod to the challenge theme on its base.

Entry 12 - Estetioeslaostia - Haqqislam Ghulam Infantry




FIFTH PLACE

Fifth place is another amazing, dynamic paint job, with striking contrasts.

Entry 5 - bou - PanOceania Jotum



JUDGE'S CHOICE

The judge's choice award is reserved for the best entry that didn't make the top 5 public finalists (and therefore wasn't eligible to win 1st through 5th). In this case, there was one entry that was both amazingly painted AND did a fantastic job of embracing the theme of the challenge.

Entry 3 - junex - Yu Jing Keisotsu Butai



-------


So congrats again to all the winners! Please either send a PM to Casey's Law or an email to the dakkapaintingchallenge@dakkadakka.com to coordinate getting your prize.


And of course, thanks again to our amazing sponsors!

I'm super psyched ! Number 3 was my favorite entry within a matter of seconds of the original thread going up

Just in time for my birthday too! (the 15th )

Thanks for holding the competition and grats to everyone the top 5.

First place was my favorite, congrats to them!

Congratulations to everyone for entering, to the winners and especially to Victor.Drellings!

Apparently I didn't put up much of a fight (if any?) this time around. I suspect/(naively) hope that the main cause was photography and composition - hence I have spent additional time putting together an alternative entry that might provide a better basis for critique. I would really appreciate any and all constructive criticism that will assist me in performing better in the future. I've created a thread (including an alternative entry pic) for this purpose here: Arakasi's Dakka Painting Challenge Entry - What went wrong?. I'll leave my excuses for my Infinity blog...

Again - congratulations to all of the entrants, oh and of course the sponsors and organisers!

Hope to see you all (and put up a better showing) in the next one!

Catchya!

 Arakasi wrote:
Congratulations to everyone for entering, to the winners and especially to Victor.Drellings!

Apparently I didn't put up much of a fight (if any?) this time around. I suspect/(naively) hope that the main cause was photography and composition - hence I have spent additional time putting together an alternative entry that might provide a better basis for critique. I would really appreciate any and all constructive criticism that will assist me in performing better in the future. I've created a thread (including an alternative entry pic) for this purpose here: Arakasi's Dakka Painting Challenge Entry - What went wrong?. I'll leave my excuses for my Infinity blog...

Again - congratulations to all of the entrants, oh and of course the sponsors and organisers!

Hope to see you all (and put up a better showing) in the next one!

Catchya!

I think your entry was pretty amazing, but often I think people try to smoosh too many pics together. Really I think if you had just stuck with the main pic, and then the two bigger ones you included at the top the overall composition would have come across much better.

Also, the theme this challenge was a bit odd. It was Casey's first time running a challenge, and normally I give people advice about how to present the theme, etc, but my unfamiliarity with Infinity meant that I didn't catch kind of how nebulous the challenge theme was...I had thought it was basically a 'jungle theme' but I now realize (after the challenge started) that Paradiso encompasses really any type of dangerous terrain.

That was pretty much a mistake...the challenge theme should have been more clear and focused but because it wasn't you see that people who entered and the people who publicly voted didn't necessarily see the theme as a major deal.

I think if the theme had very clearly been defined as needing to include jungle elements, then entries like yours (and the judge's choice winner) would likely have scored much better in the public voting.

But anyway, overall all the prize winners are incredibly deserving and we got a great selection of beautiful entries.

Congratulations to our winners! You all did an amazing job on your entries! As yak said, get in touch with me so we can organise your prizes!

As yak has already mentioned, the voting was especially close this year and although the public poll was clearer the judges felt that all of the entries were much closer realistically. From our perspective there was very little in it between the top 5 and all of the other entries. If you missed out on placing this time don't be deterred in future, you should all be extremely proud of your entries! I was personally amazed at the quality and would have struggled to have picked a top 5 without the public voting.

I hope everyone enjoyed the competition!

Loved to compete. Also there were amazing entries like the keisotsu that deserved more.

Mine, by the way, lacks on the basing as my original idea was to create a larger base to put the miniature on for the competition, but i ran out of time sadly :( My fault!

As it has been said above, congratulations to the winners and everyone that put an effort on their entries! And thanks to the sponsors!

This was a difficult choice, the models that were more faithful to the rules of the competition and had better base had a somewhat lower painted, or photos are not very good. On the other side the bases were not worked (mine for example).

To be honest, for me the best was the 10, I am surprised you did not enter the top 5. Besides I don't consider myself worthy of the fourth ... I had to paint very fast for the exams, I think the only thing that was at the level of competition in my miniature was the face.

It may be that one is always critical of his work, don't know. Anyway thank you all, and congratulations ^ _ ^ both the winners and the participants, they were all great entries.


PD: Sorry for my bad use of your language.

This must have been incredibly difficult for the judges - they're all really great entries. The blending on the cloak by Raqui is especially well done, as well as the pallette by Bou.

Congratulations, Victor.Drellings!

Well, my 4th from last finish gives me a nice big target to shoot for next time I enter a Dakka painting comp. I'm just happy I was able to complete my entry so I could compete.

I too was going to have a larger base that more fit the jungle theme, but I ran out of time.

I chose the para-commando because it most closely resembled a Catachan jungle fighter and painted it to kind of match that. Also, just to be silly, I painted it only using my Citadel paints that I got when I first entered the hobby in the mid-90s.

Lovely competition once again.

Congrats to the other contestants, whether they get a prize or not, since it was a great contest!

As a recomendation for the next one, I would allow bigger images. Not much bigger, but 800x1000 or 1000x800 is a bit small for some figures. Take that Neko for example. Besides, I think they were shown even smaller in the topic.

Nevertheless, thanks to Casey's Law for putting up this contest again! And Yakface, of course

See you in the next one!

Well I just scraped into 2nd last, but I didn't hold particularly high hopes for this first competition next time dakka, next time...

Congratulations on the winners!

Anyone one up for a thorough constructive criticism posts on this one?

 heartserenade wrote:
Congratulations on the winners!

Anyone one up for a thorough constructive criticism posts on this one?

I'm always down for feedback.

Congratulations for this great contest. It was my first time in something like this and I have enjoyed it a lot.

I didn´t think that I could win nothing because of the lack of bassing that my miniature have because of time problems, but thank you for the votes and the critics I really appreciate it.

I like that keisotsu so much that I would like to know how his base has been done, because it is amazing.

Like some other has said, sorry if my english is not propertly use.

I love all the paradiso themed work on the 2nd, 3rd 4th and 5th place entries!

Well, i'm gonna be the first to make my analysis of the entries:

Entry 1 - Clean and simple colour scheme, but maybe too simple. The white is too flat, it needs some depth, although white is quite a hard colour to shade. The photo is fairly good

Entry 2 - The thing I didn't like about this one was the amount of colours chosen. Purple, yellow, white, red, green, blue, gold, silver... i think you should narrow your palette to get a nicer overall look. Photos are quite good.

Entry 3 - I really really love this one. It should have been in the top 5 without any doubt. The camo pattern is perfect and the colour palette is awesome. I would have tried to get more contrast on the miniature to make it stand out a bit more over the scene.

Entry 4 - The model is pretty clean but a bit flat. It needs more work on the shadow areas to gain some contrast.

Entry 5 - This is mine. I was in a rush to finish this one and that's why the black looks a bit flat. If I had had more time I would have added som scrathes here and there to add detail, but instead I tried the SENMM on the ammo clips. Snowy base becaus in Paradiso there is also mountains and poles, not just forest

Enty 6 - The colour scheme is nice (EVA-01, right? xD) but the paint looks too thick and the outlines are too big. Also that picture showing the foot it's a bit weird

Entry 7 - Gorgeous model. Nice colour scheme, nice blendings. I would only try to get more contrast in the face, but the overall look is awesome. 2nd position well deserved

Entry 8 - The painting is really smooth, nice blendings and a simple but effective colour scheme. Maybe the scenic base is a bit simple, and the plants on the back do not blend well.

Entry 9 - The idea of the scene is quite nice, and the camo pattern in the trousers is pretty neat. In my opinion it lacks contrast, to help the model stand out a bit more. Brighter light areas, darker shadow areas, and some outlining would improve the whole scene.

Entry 10 - Another one that should have made it to the top 5. Awesome blendings, nice scheme, cool idea (turning the Akrylat Kanone into a camera... you rock dude!). The base is awesome too. This is one of the examples of a miniature that didn't make it through because the picture was too small.

Entry 11 - The colours are nice, but it's too flat. It needs outlinings all over the mini to define the diferent parts of the clothes, visor, strips...

Entry 12 - Awesome face work (even though in the first picture the colours seems weird, in the other ones its awesome) Great detail and nice overall look. I would try to add some clearer highlights in areas like the rifle.

Entry 13 - Lovely colourful scheme. Nice contrast, nice blendings and nice outlining too.

Entry 14 - The colours are too flat. There's a nice try at NMM in the mine he's holding, but the rest of the miniature needs more contrast.

Enty 15 - The idea of the meeting between Achilles and an Oniwaban is cool, but the scene is quite poor. The grass and the trees look too artificial, and the painting on the miniatures looks a bit flat.

Entry 16 - Nice work on the scenic base, but the photo was not your best. The ones you posted on the other thread were way better. Maybe bikes were not the best choice for a jungle scene, but the overall look is quit cool.

Entry 17 - Nice base, good colour scheme and the camo is quite good too. It just needs more contrast on places like the face and chest, since it looks too flat.

Entry 18 - Another enty that needed better and bigger pictures. The base is awesome but I would have added some closer photo of the miniature itself.

Entry 19 - It's ok in general, but it needs outlining all over the miniature. The base is quite good, and fits well with the model.

And that's all. It's not a deep analysis, but I hope it can give some ideas on how to improve

Cheers!

Bou

9 and 3 were two of my choices based on the theme and how well they were done.

A lot of the entries were just a model painted up without any particular reference to the theme, which is a shame.

Well, basically Campaign: Paradiso takes place everywhere. Jungles, spaceships, even a train station (more or less). Paradiso is not an exclusively selvatic planet.

It was something a few people talked about in the other topic, and it makes sense. That's why some of us chose not to pick the forest/jungle theme.

congrats to the winners!!!

i had fun painting my mini, but the photos really let me down...
i have wanted an excuse to paint the paint the female Para-Commando since i bought her years ago...
i had fun doing the traditional woodland camo, since i'd only done desert and urban before...
this was also my first time sculpting a snake, which was cool...

i'll be back in the Showcase forum with better pics soon...

see you all again next year...

cheers
jah

 bou wrote:
Well, basically Campaign: Paradiso takes place everywhere. Jungles, spaceships, even a train station (more or less). Paradiso is not an exclusively selvatic planet.

It was something a few people talked about in the other topic, and it makes sense. That's why some of us chose not to pick the forest/jungle theme.

Don't get me wrong, I would have been happy for models to have been based in pretty much any setting, however most of them didn't really reflect the theme of "treacherous terrain" to me and were just a painted model.

The Rules wrote:Entries must focus on the miniatures but in the theme of 'Campaign: Paradiso' you must include the treacherous terrain too! This is a chance to let your imagination run wild, anything from a soldier wearing camouflage to an elaborate diorama base is allowed.

Congratulations to all who entered, specially the top 5!

My personal favorite to win was entry no. 3, but that's just me, go figure.

My next favorite was no. 9, so I was happy it won. IMO, a tighter composition of the base would have some improvement.

Raqui wrote:
...I like that keisotsu so much that I would like to know how his base has been done, because it is amazing....

I think this is referring to my entry, if yes read on...if not you can stop reading now.

Figure was mounted on it's gaming base which was then mounted on a display plinth. Plinth was carved in several places, using a Dremel, to add interest. Glued on roots and bark plus the usual PVA glue + soil/sand mix.
The plants were hand-cut from acrylic paper (commercial wet palette paper), reinforced with a coat or two of matte medium, then some sloppy wet blending for the colors. They were then glued on the base using superglue. The grasses and tree leaves were commercial basing products.

Thanks for all the kind words regarding my entry. I really appreciate it!

edit:
- I agree, contrast is still one of the many things I need to work on.