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Misplaced my faith in you?? I'm totally shocked and I'm never going to talk to you again. Very DISSAPOINTED. I'M JOKING! Everything you produce is awesome. Its a shame about GD, but your stuff is just so awesome. I'm always exited when this thread is yellow in my subscribed list. KEEP CALM AND LIKE FINNAN'S PAINTING. That's what I say!

Damn thats a shame! I definitely think you deserved better, (i didnt see the other entries ofc but im sure you did!) but at least you made the cut with the wraithseer.

I totally understand what you mean about the judges being locked into one frame of mind, ive seen that a few times. It seems like if you arent painting ultra gritty realistic military techniques or super clean eavy metal style you dont get a second look.

Having browsed some pics of the other finalists I think its remarkable that you didn't place for your models. Not to disparage the other entries, which were obviously excellent but they were quite similar to each other. I think GD benefits from people putting their own stamp on it, as you have done-so don't be discouraged, the more who see that there are other ways to paint and think about painting the more everyone gets out of the hobby. Chin up!

"Keep Calm & Like Finnan's Painting"
Bwa-hahahahahahahaha!

Awesome Urien - I demand a t-shirt with that on it immediately!! I feel cheered up now ; )

The Golden Demon 2012 gang : )

...

A very impressive group of models.

... and yet apparently too Xeno (and therefore not to be trusted!) and colourful for the judges... ; )

 finnan wrote:
... and yet apparently too Xeno (and therefore not to be trusted!) and colourful for the judges... ; )

Can't blame them: I heard the =][= was about Sorry the eldar didn't get more love. I was rooting for you

Ooh, I do love a good GW conspiracy theory. Interesting that politics seem to be involved... always heard stories that GW and their entourage was just one big boys club.

Anyway, unlucky Finnan. I've never been to Games Day / Golden Demon, so I have no opinion as to whether you should give it another go.

Sorry to hear that Fin.

I think you're painting is great, and thanks for that group shot of what you entered, it's a great selection. As everyone else has said, hard luck. I hope you're not too discouraged, and hope you will enter GD in the future.

D

Greetings. I have been watching with interest for a while now. I am also returning from a long break from the hobby. (Children, deployment(s), career) And I want to tell you not to loose heart Finn. I think your work is awesome, and I may have some tips to pass along.

I myself asked at this years American Games Day what make a mini a Golden Daemon Winner as it does seem political at times.

1. When you think you have your light shading light enough go one or two shades lighter. Not actually whiter, but lighter or brighter, thus further deepening your effect.
2. Put the same amount of time into your basing as you have your figure. If you put 100 hours into a figure put at least 100 hours into the base.
(3. The last piece of advice was little or no airbrushing, but I don't need to tell you that one.)

Other advice was don't over weather or over damage a vehicle. Object source lighting is very trendy right now. So is mirror horizon effect. And water effects.


You have inspired me to start a blog for feedback as well.

So, Keep up the good work. I am inspired from your drive.
So have a cuppa and get back in there.

Tikibelly : )
Interesting tips there, especially the highlighting one. I did notice that the lighting in the Demon cabinets was very bright, and that would reinforce any shading/highlighting... I suppose the problem is that to get a true picture of how your mini would look at Games Day would be to have the same lighting levels at home as well...
I know basing is an area I really need to work on, and I suppose it's telling that the one I did go to town on was the one that got into the finals.
... the winner of the 40k Vehicle was weathered to within an inch of its life but if it's done WELL I suppose the results don't lie.

As ever, thanks for all the support. Still mulling things over...

your eldar are damn beautiful and dont let anyone else say otherwise!

I have been following your work since I first registered to dakka. Your work is outstanding, at no point let this result get you down. You WILL win a GD, all you have to do is keep trying.

If at first you do not succeed....

Criminal, those swords alone are works of art.
Don't give up and keep trying, hopefully you'll be the one to change the bias towards the Imperium.

Just looking at the models... awesome. Just awesome. I think, as said, you maybe should invest sometime in creating some really beautiful bases too. I don't know, maybe some really bright ice to contrast the fiery colours.

Take some time to let everything sink in and mull it over before making any rash decisions

Your work is always a pleasure to view, and while it's disappointing not to place, with some reflection I think you will find you are in a much better place now to attempt again should you so wish (and I hope so - even if for purely selfish reasons....)

Do not despair fin.

You didn’t win, but look on the bright side you entered and got through to the final in one section that’s more than 99% of people have achieved who are into the hobby.
Plus I can see 44 pages of praise and amazement at the quality of your painting skills.

If your still enjoying it, I say go for it, try again, work on what you think you could improve on.
And if after a couple of months you fancy working towards GD again with the same craftworld or something entirely different there are hundreds of people here who will give you all the encouragement you need.

If you don’t want to enter again but your still getting personal enjoyment from it keep going, as long as you keep putting updates on here (although my quality will never be as good as yours I have learnt alot from your blog - so cheers for that) you never know the feeling to enter may just grab you when you least expect it.

CoyoteCub

P.S If you want us to send "the boys" round to the judge’s houses it can be done for a nominal fee!!

Ah Finnan, I'm gutted that you didn't win anything, your models continue to inspire so don't loose heart. Honestly your blending is some of the best I've ever seen, I think its a shame the narrow-mindedness of the judges when it came to style might have hampered your efforts. Don't stop! we still all think your great here!!

Thank you all so much for the words of encouragement and support, it truly means a lot to me that I have a community to support me, and I hope I can keep up the good work and keep improving so that you continue to enjoy what I do

I think I've sulked and whinged enough, so I need to get on with it... I'm kinda thinking that the New Plan is actually part of the Old Plan... More thought, research and planning needs to go into this, but all I'll say at the moment is:
- pile of dead and chopped up daemons
- NMM (silver & gold - eep!)
- white-hot blue blades
- freehand heraldry and book pages
- converted banner

hmm...

Go Team Finnan!

 finnan wrote:

- pile of dead and chopped up daemons
- NMM (silver & gold - eep!)
- white-hot blue blades
- freehand heraldry and book pages
- converted banner

hmm...

Squats?

lol
not quite...

 finnan wrote:
lol
not quite...

lots of discussion between myself and Nerdfest tonight - I'm off to bed, but I'll fill you in tomorrow. Plans are afoot! Still at the early stages, and research and designing is needed, but an idea is forming...

Good Job man, now knock their socks off!

can't sleep, so... The (Cunning) Plan:

- Grey Knight(s) - at least one, maybe a squad, but not sure about that yet.
- Non-metallic golds and silvers for the armour (scaryscary)
- smooth shoulder pads so that I can get some freehand in on both of them
- a) good, solid heroic pose on top of a pile of dead Bloodletters
or
b) at the end of a sword stroke, lopping off a Bloodletter's head, with a spray of blood coming from the wound (I think that this idea would push it into the Duel category, but that might not be a bad thing)
- Bloodletters to contrast a deep red against the sliver/white of the armour.
- converted banner from a Forgeworld Rhino door

And that's the plan so far. Lots of thinking, researching and planning to be done first. I like the idea of the Bloodletter, but I want to have a good look into the other daemons before I make a final decision... Plaguebearers would also be good for a contrast between clean man-made and organic, but it might be too light and sickly (no pun intended lol)... or maybe Daemonettes for a male/female-ish contrast? I also wonder how well dead Bloodletters would fit on a 25mm base...

Thoughts?

I like the idea....actually, I like it a lot.

If you're using red as a spot color on the Grey Knight, then a plague bearer may be best, the red of the bloodletter pushing the level of red too high, maybe. I like the idea of mid-decapitation, perhaps with the head flying off, attached to the diorama with a trail of blood and gore... A good, solid heroic pose would work great as well, though bloodletter corpses won't fit too well on a 25mm base without some serious contortions.

I'm excited to see how this goes

just looked at the categories - Duel can go on up to 50mm bases, so that might be the way to go, just to give me room to have corpses strewn on it...

Excellent! The last enemy decapitated, falling among the bodies of his companions. The grey knight, of course, looking heroic.