Dakka Unofficial Painting Challenge: Year One Retrospective!

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**Paradigm**

The first year of the Unofficial Painting Challenge here on Dakka is over! The results are in, the League has been updated one last time, and now, I ust want to invite you all to take a look back over the past 12 months of challenges and celebrate the huge amounts of fantastic entries, the progress so many of you have made and the community spirit that has coalesced around the challenge greater than anything I expected when I started all this!

To kick things off, the League itself! We had a whopping 127 entrants, and the full League Table can be seen here. but I want to give a special congratulations to the top five entrants:

1st: Januine on 71 points
2nd: Midget Gems on 27 points
3rd: Talys on 26 points
4th: SJM on 26 points (tied with Talys on Points and on Highest Placing, Talys takes 3rd as he entered more Challenges)
5th: Kustomer D

Big round of internet applause for those chaps, and also to Nevelon for being the only entrant to enter and complete all 12 challenges (other than myself, and I kind of have to!

)

Next, I have compiled a Hall of Fame, all the winning entries from each month. Some fantastic stuff on display here, please do pick out your favourites (I decided against a formal poll, but leave a comment!)

March 2015 - Space Marines

Spoiler:

April 2015 - Veterans

Spoiler:

May 2015 - Fast and Furious

Spoiler:

June 2015 - Some Kind of Monster

Spoiler:

July 2015 - Sneaky

Spoiler:

August 2015 - Rise of the Machines!

Spoiler:

September 2015 - Never Tell Me The Odds

Spoiler:

October 2015 - Trick or Treat?

Spoiler:

November 2015 - Princes of the Universe!

Spoiler:

December 2015- Open Challenge

Spoiler:

January 2016- Up Close and Personal

Spoiler:

February 2016- Size Matters Not

Spoiler:

What a fantastic collection of minis! Well deserved wins there throughout the year, and a true testament to the skill, range, ability and talent of the Dakka community!

What's more, I want to thanks and congratulate EVERYONE who entered any of these challenges, you've all done splendidly over the year and I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have, and that I'll see your names and some new ones in future challenges! Also, once again, a massive, massive thank you to TP^DC Deputy Manager for tirelessly managing the League table, and volunteering to do the same for the next year, and to Buttery Commissar, who kept the challenge going in the month where I simply didn't have time to run it!

Finally, an announcement: While this year's League has been for bragging rights and internet points, the next 12 months will have a prize at the end for the overall League winner! This year's winner, Januine, has kindly volunteered to paint a model for whoever takes the top spot this time next year, the idea being that each year, the winner will pass on the baton to their successor in the form of a painted mini. The exact details will be worked out closer to the time.

Anyway, that's me done for now, I'll be back later with a few shoutouts to specific members and entrants. In the mean time, please feel free to:
- discuss your favourite entries from the year
- Commend any entrants you think deserve the extra recognition for their improvement, quality of entries, committement to the challenges or whatever else
- Post your collected entries (I'd ask that you stick them in spoiler tags), so many of you have come a long way in the last year and it'll be great to get all that in one place!

**Moolet**

I only entered for the last couple of months but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It really pushed me to try and paint well. Thanks for organising it!

The variation in the style has entranced me. Congrats especially to those who stuck at it for the whole year. And of course congratulations to the winners! Well deserved!

**Nevelon**

Looking back there has been an amazing selection of work. It’s nice to see stuff from a wide variety of sources. Not just different GW armies, but other manufacturers. Also a wide number of styles. From crisp, clean polished looks, to gritty weathered. I know I probably should try, but I can’t bring myself to pick a favorite. So many good entries. Some of my monthly votes were because of how well the entry summed up the topic, even occasionally winning out over pieces that were technically done better.

For myself:

Spoiler:

This competition has helped me in a number of ways. It gently pushed me out of my comfort zone. I’ll admit to phoning in a few entries, but I tried to work in new things. Either techniques (such as the heat stress on the ven dread’s weapons, and the cloth effects on tabards and cloaks) or models I don’t normally work on (the nurgle champ, Oni) My photography has gotten a lot better as well. I use a light tent now, better digital tools, white balance, etc. I’m doing more freehand now, and while not perfect, it’s a major step up from my older attempts.

I also based everybody. That’s a major advance for me!

Looking back, I’m not very happy with 2/3 of my Eldar. The autarch and wraithlord are very “Meh". I do like the way the ranger turned out. (His squad mates were not entered into the competition, but I included them in his pic)
It was probably a mistake to go with the diorama-esque duel in “Never tell me the odds” While there are parts of the oni I like (the fire on the hand) overall I think she detracted from the good captain, who IMHO is the best thing I did all year.

I should probably stop rambling and go pick up a brush. It’s been a great year painting with all of you, and am looking forward to the next one!

--Nev

**Gulgog TufToof**

I'm pretty proud of my little lot:

Spoiler:

As I mentioned in another post, this competition is what made me stop lurking and start posting here on Dakka. I entered 6 of the competitions and enjoyed the heck out of the experience every time. It's simultaneously very humbling and inspiring to do these and I would encourage anyone who is on the fence to give it a try.

**Paradigm**

As promised, my own thoughts on the year as a participant rather than the organiser.

First off, a few shout-outs to various members for various reasons:

- Ustrello, TP^DC, Midget Gems, GulGof TufToof and Zergsmasher, I think you guys have really upped your respective games over the course of the challenges; pretty much everyone has, but your efforts definitely stand out because of the significant improvements and the consistency with which you enter and push yourselves, very impressive!

- Januine, Talys, Iechine, you've all produced entries over the year that have really, really inspired me, in terms of painting quality, presentation, creativity and general awesomeness, so thanks so much for entering and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the coming challenges, even if it does mean another top 3 spot is going to continue to elude me!

- Kustomer D and Midget Gems... consistently the most creative, hilarious and well-executed entries. I think if this were a conversion contest the two of you would absolutely storm it, even as an overall hobby challenge you've both entered hugely impressive pieces, definitely some of the funniest!

- Picking out a favourite entry of the year is tough, very tough... if push came to shove, I'd be between FearPeteySodes' DE Venom, Jan's Archmagos and Castellax or Gitsplitta's Monster Mash...

And to wrap up, my collected entries from the 12 months and a few thoughts on each. Again, please do do the same, I'd love to see your entries all in one place to look over once again!

Spoiler:

**KaptinBadrukk**

I only completed Challenges 1,3 and 10 (my intent was to enter most of them, but if something came up, I had to bow out).

In challenge 1, I got 1 vote (surprised I even got votes at all, considering it wasn't a multiple-choice poll and I didn't thin my paints).

In Challenge 3, I got 4 votes. I think I had improved a little bit.

In Challenge 10, I got 7 votes (I was surprised I got any at all, because I had to take the pictures with a bad camera).

For challenge 1, I did Captain Karlaen from Shield of Baal: Deathstorm.

For challenge 3, I did 3 Cardboard (yes, cardboard) Grot Tanks.

For challenge 10, I did a Flash Git.

I tried to enter an attack bike for Challenge 2, but my camera broke, and so I had to bow out because I didn't know when I was going to get a new one.

For challenge 7, I had to bow out because I didn't feel like painting.

For challenge 8, I was going to finish the model, but I forgot about it.

**sockwithaticket**

I really like this idea.

First of all I'd like to say a big thanks to Para, TPC and BC for keeping this thing going the year round. I used it as a spring board to reignite my interest in the hobby after a bit of power armour burnout + the reduced hobby time that came with starting a new job last May were causing me to waver a bit.

The different themes have prompted me to delve into the pile of non-space marine models (though some of those have been entered) that I'd accrued with the best of intentions, but never actually made a start on. My Malifaux stuff in particular had intimidated in me, but the contest got me to sack up and give it my best shot.

I don't seem to have enough time each month to do more than one infantry figure so my stuff probably never really grabs the attention in the way some of the multi-model or big model entries do, but I like to think I'm contributing something worthwhile. Some have been very kind with their words. Pleasantly surprised to find myself as high as 21 out 71 on the League Table.

I've found it interesting to see how diverse some people's talents are and how narrow the focus of others can be (I'll include myself in that, I only really do 'clean' paint jobs).

Anyway here's my entries plus a little commentary on each like Paradigm did with his.

Spoiler:

Roll on the next year of Challenges, I'll aim to compete each month this time.

**Midget Gems**

I've really enjoyed myself this year, sadly I missed the first few challenges, my friend mentioned he was going to enter and although I was very nervous about having my work publicly judged I entered as well. Its hard to imagine its gone this quick but also I can't remember working on the models I first entered so bit strange time wise. I've investigated loads of new information because of this challenge e.g. colour theory, light and photography

I got a proper camera in September and you can really see how better photos reflect the effort on the paint jobs and I think I was getting better at painting then too.

The favourite entry is Januine's Crimson Slaughter Chosen, I like how many little details there are and you can miss bits of it if your not paying attention. Out of the ones I created my Fav has got to be the Santa Ork, I had the idea in the back of my mind when I entered in May and kept writing bits down to keep a track off it all, so happy how it turned out, it is closely followed by the Star Wars Orks.

This year has been a pleasure so thanks to everyone here whose made it want it has become. I'll try to carry on the tradition of my strange creations. I never thought I'd even place in the top 3 let alone win a challenge and then even come 2nd overall, thank you to whoever voted for me. It is very humbling and inspiring to keep going.

Heres my entries

Group Shot

Spoiler:

and each one in turn with a little description

Spoiler:

**ZergSmasher**

Well, hard to believe we've been doing this comp for a year now! I'll chip in my entries through the months and let everyone gawk (or gape in horror!) at my attempts to paint minis.

Spoiler:

Well, there you have it, a year of painting challenges for me. I missed three of them, but maybe this year I'll get them all done! I posted a similar list in my P&M blog with all the pics from the comps except for the DW knights, so check that out if you want to see more pics of my entries (and the Stormsurge blog for more pics of that). Thanks for looking, and feel free to vote for the images in the gallery!

**Ustrello**

Thanks for the kind words para and for everyone that has had kind words or anything really in all of my past entries

Spoiler:

**TP^DC Deputy Manager**

Well, I finally got around to doing this. I've thrown a quick collage of my 7 completed entries together:

I can see a progression in these. Partly that is due to photographing the minis which I do feel is essential. Dodgy photos don't sell these creations.

Interestingly, the end of 2015/16 showed me what I am capable of, but I didn't have time to carry them through to completion:

But the start of 2016/17 has truly shown me that I have improved. It is due to these challenges that this has occurred and I am glad I got over my fear of being mocked and entered. I was so overwhelmed by the support of everyone and it is thanks to that kindness that I have been able to produce this, a model that I am truly proud of:

I really hope my 2016/17 collage blows the 2015/16 out of the water. I also hope it has 12 entries.

As a final note. One thing that I have noticed throughout this year is that the Dakka Gallery voting function is not being used very much. I have tried to vote for all the completed entries over the last few months if they are hosted on Dakka and I think it is a great way to let people know where their standard is. Can I encourage everyone else to try and do the same. I personally think this could help others improve their confidence in their painting skills, but I can't impose that practice on anyone and never would, but I hope people will at least consider doing so from time to time.

So now on to the next year of challenges, let it begin!