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OK, helping out last minute here, so forgive any mistakes. You know the drill by now anyway. If you notice anything wrong, or want to add a title, let me know.

As always, you can vote for as many or as few entries as you like, for any reason. Quality of paintwork, the effort on show, the interpretation of the theme or anything else that catches your eye. Feedback in this thread or on the entrants’ blog/gallery pages is also very welcome, and many of the images here link through to the Dakka gallery if you want to rate them over there as well.

Nevelon: Banners


queen_annes_revenge:


DrGiggles:

MobileSuitRandom:


Captain Brown: Rhino


monkeytroll: Circus Barker, CIrque de Terreur (Slaanesh cult)


Turaxa:


Pariah Press: Administratum Scribes


ZergSmasher: Tom Bombadil and his wife, Goldberry:



CancelledApocalypse: Eldar Ghost Drones


Viterbi: Rouge Trader, Navigator, Squat


JamesY:


JoshInJapan: Wrenchmouth and its handlers


MacPhail: Simulacra Imperialis


vejut:


Jamie Shred: Townsfolk


Deadshot: Blood Raven Command


sockwithaticket:


Chris56: Espern with pets


Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll: Pandemic fighters


Freya:


Tim 121_RVC: Night Goblin Musician



Ezki:


maxwin: Apothecary

So much good stuff this time, could easily have gone down the list ticking each entry. I've restricted myself to five votes this time, however.

@Nevelon thanks for helping out. You appear to have maxwin and Turaxa each in twice, though.

I agree, I know the standard is normally high, but this month was exceptional. I can only apologise to a number of people who would normally give a vote at that standard, but I didn’t want to vote for half the field!

Massive thanks to Nevelon for sorting this, and mighty quick too! And yeah, this is a killer month in terms of quality, some amazing ! work from newcomers and regulars alike.

Oof, had to go through the list like four times to whittle it down to five votes, so many fun entries ...

Wow. What a great list of models. Took me some time to decide on who was getting my vote.

Did DV8's entry photo not show for anyone else?

416_SpaceWolves wrote:
Wow. What a great list of models. Took me some time to decide on who was getting my vote.

Did DV8's entry photo not show for anyone else?

It shows for me. It is hosted on another site, so that might be an issue.

http://spacewithinspace.net/archive/ddakka_plog/2020/06-30-20_Imperial_Agents.jpg

Such amazing entries!

Never limit your votes! If someone deserves one, give them one.

 feltmonkey wrote:
Never limit your votes! If someone deserves one, give them one.

Yeah, I'll start doing this next round, too, don't know why I stuck to 5 votes when in the end this feels more arbitrary than dishing out a dozen or so ^^

Amazing month...I usually vote for about 1/3 of entries, it's impossible for me to only give 5 votes, just too many quality minis..

Thanks to Nevelon for stepping in!

I aim for 5 votes. I go over a lot. Some months more then others.

Glad to help out.

Good work Nev. So many good entries, and I have definitely gone over the normal three votes I give to around 10.

Thanks to those who voted for the zebras, much appreciated.

Voted!

So many! so good.

Nevelon wrote:

416_SpaceWolves wrote:
Wow. What a great list of models. Took me some time to decide on who was getting my vote.

Did DV8's entry photo not show for anyone else?

It shows for me. It is hosted on another site, so that might be an issue.

http://spacewithinspace.net/archive/ddakka_plog/2020/06-30-20_Imperial_Agents.jpg

Ah yes. Must be my work computer. (Not that... I'm on here at work...)

feltmonkey wrote:Never limit your votes! If someone deserves one, give them one.

I did not know I could vote more than once. Darn.

 feltmonkey wrote:
Never limit your votes! If someone deserves one, give them one.

Everyone deserves a vote for all the time and effort they put in each month, but if I did that all my votes would be pointless. And if everyone did that, there'd be no point voting, full stop. I've got to cut off somewhere, much as it pains me to...

Still, great work everyone this month, and huge thanks to Paradigm for all the work you do and to Nevelon for stepping in at the last minute. Hope you're doing okay, Para.

Get well soon Para and thanks to Nevelon for stepping up!

And like CancelledApocalypse I limit myself because otherwise we wouldn't really need a voting. I think it goes without saying that everyone participating and finishing is a winner, because the backlog gets smaller

So without further ado here a my faves of this month:

JamesY: Zebras... need I say more? The skin of them looks really great. The only thing which would make this entry better, would be a spot color on the armour, but that's just personal taste.

JoshInJapan: Very nice work on the details and a very fitting color scheme, muted but not dull.

MacPhail: You should get the vote alone for using Simulacra as the plural for Simulacrum . I really like your color scheme and you did great with the bare head, the extra work shows. What would help the helmeted model a bit more would be something on the scroll (either a decal from the new transfer sheet or some freehand, I use a 0.05 mm fineliner and just dot a bit) and maybe paint the hinges of the simulacrum in another metal color to differentiate them (he says and ponders if he did it on his own model ).

vejut: For the sheer insanity of those models and a very fitting bright colored paintjob.

Ezki: Orcs have always had great sculpts and the Weirdnob Shaman is one of the best. Your take on the magic smoke is excellent as is his far away gaze communicating with Gork (or Mork).

feltmonkey: That paintjob is spot on and you really managed to bring the life out in his eyes. And he looks so menacing, one wonders if he didn't actually shoot first

DV8: Lovely work on all those lovely sculpts and I really need that Artel M Posessed model, the old metal one holds no candle against it.

CancelledApocalypse - I like the Black/blue heads and the freehand symbols. I've also never seen those before and novel models do catch my attention.

JamesY - Didn't know I needed to see Chaos zebras, but here we are. The stripes seem really neatly applied and painting black on grey or white without noticeable flaws is not easy.

JoshInJapan - Well painted and I really like the coherence of the muted palette.

MidgetGems - that's a funny looking Ork. The subtleness of the black armour gradation is great and I'm a sucker for that sort of sandstone colour on the icon

Feltmonkey - the most vibrant paint job of the round for mine and typically well done.

Modock - extremely high quality painting and really impressed with the base vegetation looking naturalistic.

DV8 - the great quality we expect. That Artel demonhost's skin tone is perfect. Really like the bounty hunter's overall scheme with the off white and turquoise. Freehand on the Enforcer shield is enviable.

@sockwithaticket Thanks for the nice comment, just wish I'd had a better camera to take pictures. Had to use my crappy phone camera and it washed out all the shading and highlighting, unfortunately. I've bought myself a new camera this month, so hopefully that'll mean better pics from now on.

My votes went to:

DV8 - spectacular results as always, vibrant colours and beautiful highlighting.
Modock - again, superb as always, it's always so difficult to split you and DV8.
Feltmonkey - that Greedo is just ace, I love the beautifully done skin and eyes, and the clothing is done so well it really looks like fabric. And he's just such a fun character.
sockwithaticket - I absolutely love the soft shading on this piece and the pallid and subtle skin tones, plus the eye lenses are done just perfectly imo. My only minor criticism - could you have done some kind of text or print on the scroll/purity seals?
queen_annes_revenge - my absolute favourite this month, from the glowing gun barrels, to the rusty scrap base, to the beautifully done nmm on the armour, but mostly because of the superb work on the head and face to really bring the extreme expression alive.

Again, well done all!

CancelledApocalypse wrote:
@sockwithaticket Thanks for the nice comment, just wish I'd had a better camera to take pictures. Had to use my crappy phone camera and it washed out all the shading and highlighting, unfortunately. I've bought myself a new camera this month, so hopefully that'll mean better pics from now on.

sockwithaticket - I absolutely love the soft shading on this piece and the pallid and subtle skin tones, plus the eye lenses are done just perfectly imo. My only minor criticism - could you have done some kind of text or print on the scroll/purity seals?

Goodness knows I'm not in much of a position to advise about photos, I end up taking loads before getting ones that resemble how I see the model with my naked eye, but the lighting is as important as the equipment.

Thank you, for your kind words. I was afraid the skin might be a bit too washed out to show the shading by getting it bright enough to properly light everything else. It's a quirk of mine that I don't put scrawl on any of my seals. I'm not sure why, I just prefer it. The scroll is actually a deliberate decision based on the device that is the servitor's arm rather than a continuation of that quirk. I see it as something that rolls the scroll up rather than down as it's worked on, then it can be torn off and deposited in its bag, so it's currently the start of a new piece of parchment.

The standard this month was very high, so many great entries! I like that this theme brought out many miniatures depicting characters other than front-line troops, for me they're often the most interesting.
Mentioned in dispatches:

Queen_annes_revenge: Beautiful NMM and a nicely done rusty base.

Monkeytroll: A really distinctive conversion, and colourful. Like Inq28 on skittles!

Viterbi: I like the unifying colour scheme applied differently across the three models, and the Squat's ginger beard is great.

JamesY: Painting the marauders' ponies as zebras is inspired, and works really well with the bronze armour.

Sockwithaticket: A very smooth paint job. Which range is this figure from?

Chris56: Fantastic diorama. Nice OSL and the backdrop is really good.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll: You made board game figures look good!

Maxwin: This is really good. Excellent, smooth white and good close-up images.

DV8: Excellent, especially the shading on the turquoise cloth, the skin tones and the NMM on the ladies' armour.

Thanks, Turaxa. It's from Anvil Industry's Daughters of the Burning Rose line.

Far too many fantastic entries on display this month. I usually vote for 3-5 entries but gave out 7 votes this month.

Thanks for the votes and comments, all.

Nevelon - Nice neat job on the banners, and thanks for stepping up and posting the voting thread.

queen_annes_revenge - Fantastic work. The gradient on the blue is excellent, as is the freehand. It's a really nice piece overall.

DrGiggles - I like the rusty, weathered look on the metal.

MobileSuitRandom - I like how you've done the orange, and the subtle touches like the veins on the side of the psycher's head.

Captain Brown - Very neat, clean, and bold work.

monkeytroll - A very cool and interesting model. I really like how you've done the tiling on the floor.

Turaxa - I like the stuff like the symbols on the knees and how colourful he is. Your paint is possibly a bit thick in places. A tip when painting white it to use a light grey or ivory instead. You can then go over it with thinned white of you like.

Pariah Press - I like the tone of blue-black you've used, and the details on the scrolls and the symbols on the robes. I'm not sure about the bases, they look a bit strange with the stones just on top of the green-painted base. maybe you could paint the top of the base a dark brown and then have the stones on top, with the rims still green?

ZergSmasher - Nice flavourful Lord of the Rings minis. Goldberry looks great.

CancelledApocalypse - What you've done with the transition from black to light blue and the runes adds a really eyecatching touch to these models. They look very cool.

Viterbi - A nice little set of minis. Two Blackstone Fortress, one Necromunda, right? The Squat is my favorite paintjob of the three, but the transfer on the psycher's scroll came out very well.

JamesY - The zebra stripes are a genius idea. They add a point of interest to the minis and draw the eye.

JoshInJapan - Understated, but very neat and detailed work. Very nice.

MacPhail - Rather less understated. Bold greens and in your face bronze. Very solid stuff overall, and they will look fantastic on the table.

vejut - I like the face of the heavily-armed bunny rabbit.

Jamie Shred - Lovely bold work. Weirdly sinister. Perservere with the eyes - you're getting the hang of it, and it adds something.

Deadshot - Really clean work. Some of your best I've seen, I reckon.

sockwithaticket - Very good stuff. Super-neat, very well shaded and highlighted, and really atmospheric. Great work.

Chris56 - Super bold and colourful, packed with contrast and detail, and nice freehand on the scroll and cloak.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll - Very thematic, and topical! I have Pandemic Legacy unstarted on my board game shelf, and I occasionally think about playing it but, you know... It's a bit too real at the moment. You've done a nice job on these minis.

Freya - Great work! You've got a really individual style here, with the bold black lining and the colourful, high contrast look.

Tim 121_RVC - Good, bold, colourful work. The base is excellent.

Ezki - Great stuff. Nice transitions, and a very cool effect on the smoke.

maxwin - Very neat, and with an absolute ton of cool details. Excellent work.

Warpig1815 - I like the snazzy designs on the helmet and shoulders! It's 3D printed, isn't it? Unfortunately, you can see the lines from the printing, and where the mini has lost detail. As I say, nice painting though.

JustALittleOrkish - Great freehand banner, with a nice message for the times. I love the chapter symbol too. What does it say on the back of the banner?

Power Elephant - A lovely red tone, and nice work on the nmm gold. The face is very good too.

Midget Gems - Good clean work on the armour, and the red cloth looks good too.

Jadenim - These are great. A really grimey feel to the whole thing. I'm not sure I'd want to undergo any kind of medical procedure there.

Maharg - Your work is always super clean, and this is no exception. The green gem is very nice. Classy work.

Modock - As we've come to expect, really great. Super blends, incredibly precise painting. Lovely.

Paradigm - Very little precision to the painting here, but it all comes together in a really interesting way. It's like expressionist mini painting, and I rather like it. It looks great from slightly further away because all the light values are correct and the colours are interesting.

DV8 - Super eye-catching, stunning, spectacular work. I can't really say much more.

Ms07b3 - Good stuff, very neat and nicely done. Lots of lovely touches like the scratches on the marine's armour and the other guy's fancy trousers.

Great work everyone! See you next month.

 feltmonkey wrote:

Paradigm - Very little precision to the painting here, but it all comes together in a really interesting way. It's like expressionist mini painting, and I rather like it. It looks great from slightly further away because all the light values are correct and the colours are interesting

'impressionist'...That's a a kinder word than I'd use for it! I fully admit it's a mess of an entry and it's certainly not something I'm proud of,just a way not to break the streak. Done in about 90 mins on the night of the round closing as a last resort while my eyesight went to hell, it was never going to be anything close to good. What baffles ,e is that there's only a 1% difference between how this is polling versus the mini I entered the month before that I consider some of my best work ever...

Hopefully I can get back on some semblance of form with this month's entry, which I'm far happier with.

 Paradigm wrote:

 feltmonkey wrote:

Paradigm - Very little precision to the painting here, but it all comes together in a really interesting way. It's like expressionist mini painting, and I rather like it. It looks great from slightly further away because all the light values are correct and the colours are interesting

'impressionist'...That's a a kinder word than I'd use for it! I fully admit it's a mess of an entry and it's certainly not something I'm proud of,just a way not to break the streak. Done in about 90 mins on the night of the round closing as a last resort while my eyesight went to hell, it was never going to be anything close to good. What baffles ,e is that there's only a 1% difference between how this is polling versus the mini I entered the month before that I consider some of my best work ever...

Hopefully I can get back on some semblance of form with this month's entry, which I'm far happier with.

I was being genuine. I can understand that you might not be happy with it, and I can see that you were struggling with your eyesight. I wish you all the best with that, by the way. I hope you can get it sorted. Having said that, I maintain that it does have a certain something. It genuinely does remind me of impressionist and expressionist painting, a bit. I think I did mean impressionism more than expressionism, actually. Paintings by Monet look completely different depending on how far from them you are. View one of his paintings from far enough away, and it looks photo-realistic because of his mastery of light. I'm not comparing you to Monet, by the way, before you get a massive ego. I found it interesting how if you blur your eyes or view your mini from further away than you usually would, it actually looks really good. You don't see the lack of precision, and instead see the highlights being in the right places and the interesting colours. I wondered if I was going mad, so I asked my wife what she thought. Her first reaction was, like you said, that it's very messily painted. I told her to look from the other side of the room or take her galsses off and she agreed that it actually starts to look rather good. I know that "if you look at it from far enough away it looks nice" is hardly the grandest of complements, but I think partly due to the unfortunate circumstances, you've actually created something quite interesting. Remember, the whole impressionist movement was arguably influenced by the paintings Turner created later in his life when he was losing his sight and just painted these abstract, swirling representations of the way he could see light and vague shapes.

I haven't started anything this month. Well, actually I did start something but it was too ambitious in terms of the number of minis it consisted of and I've lost all faith in it. I've really lost my mojo for the last few months as life and money worries have made painting less of an escape than it previously was. It's not lockdown, particularly - I painted lots at the start of lockdown. It's something else that I need to put my finger on. Perhaps I just need to cancel my subscription to World of Warcraft.

Haha, fair enough! Certainly wasn't objecting to the comment at all, just adding some context. (the eyesight is a mixed bag by the way.. Saw a doc, turns out it's worse than I though it was right now but in theory, fixable in the long run as the cause is simple, if unusually severe at my age... so we'll see, pun absolutely intended ).

Now I'm wondering if there's any merit to shooting for that sort of style deliberately, perhaps on a larger model or bust where you've got a bit more of a 'canvas'. I'm planning to do some comic book character busts at some point soon, they might be good candidates for it. Art history/theory is not really my thing, but I may well do some research on the theory and techniques behind the movement...

Hope you can get some motivation for this month at the last minute! Good luck.

The other place it might work is something like a Tau Ghostkeel or Eldar tank, giving the effect of a holofield, rather than the super detailed “star field” paint jobs that seem to be the fashion?

Thanks for the feedback Feltmonkey, i will continue attempting eyes and do feel like they are getting more consistent now. Hmm wonder if the new primaris captain comes with an eye ball option

Many thanks for the feed back Feltmonkey and thanks to everyone who voted