Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Paradigm is still recovering from his eye inflection so I'm running the voting for this months Challenge.

Without further ado its time to vote for the winners of January's round, which tasked entrants with painting up something "Not as clumsy or random". We're looking for models toting weaponry or equipment that requires precision, elegance and skill over brute force. From battlefield commanders to bounty hunters, nameless champions to renowned figures. There's a fantastic set of entries here to pick from.

As usual, please feel free to vote for as many entries as you like, for any reason, be that the quality of the paintwork, the effort on show, the approach to the theme or anything else that catches your eye. Likewise, you're encouraged to leave some feedback for the entrants if you wish, and many of the images link through to the Dakka gallery if you want to cast a vote there.

The Entrants:

Captain Brown - Squad of Storm Troopers from the 144th Company.


Llamahead - Inquisitor Valeria


Jamie Shred - Corvo from Dishonored


Yorkright - Jain Zar


Blooddragon1981 – Vampire Lord


queen_annes_revenge - Inquisitor Eisenhorn


DV8 - Necropolis Stalkers


LordMcAllister - Tech Priest Enginseer


Nevelon – Deathwatch Terminator Veterans


Deadshot - Brother Lorian, Champion of the Blood Raven's Fifth Company


Vejut - Adventurers


Bschwi1 – Skeleton Warrior


Spetex – Ork Painboy


dukeofbeer - Oniwaban, Elite Ninja


MacPhail – Trio of Assassins


Viterbi - Ghor Half-Horn


Chris56 - Stormcast Sequitor


Excommunicatus – Dark Eldar Kabalite Warriors


Arkanid - Jackal Alphus


Modock - Zondnautika, transformer bike


MobileSuitRandom - Shadowspear Eliminator Sarge


Maharg - Dark Elf Assassin


Feltmonkey - Lelith Hesperax and a Lhamaean


Jadenim - Escher gang, "The Slaying Sirens":


Rybrook – Space Marine Scouts


bantha_beast - Umbra Legate


Keezus – Asha


Midget Gems - Ork Traktor Kannon


Sockwithaticket – Elf Archer


Paradigm – Imperial Scout Trooper

Thanks for sorting this! Big hand for Midget Gems, everyone!

Thanks Para, hope you/your eye is feeling better.

If I've made any mistakes please let me know and ill correct it asap,

Is mentioning who we voted for the done thing, or no?

 Excommunicatus wrote:
Is mentioning who we voted for the done thing, or no?

Absolutely; comments and feedback absolutely encouraged.

So, while all the entries are fantastic of course, voting for everyone is pointless so I went with my top-5.

In no particular order, Queen Anne's Revenge, dv8, Yorkright, Captain Brown and Spetex.

Top work, chaps and chapesses.

My votes went to....
DV8 awesome work as always love the swords in particular
QAR love the freehand on the cloak
Modock really vibrant colour scheme, love it
Keezus love the skin tones and overall colour scheme, fits the theme really well too
Paradigm love how dirty he is, fantastic work considering you only spent like two days on it.

 Excommunicatus wrote:
Is mentioning who we voted for the done thing, or no?

Its entirely up to the person, you can tell people who you voted for or keep it to yourself.

What we do encourage is to leave comments about peoples work (generally positive ones unless someone has specifically asked for feedback). Some people even go so far as to comment on every entry, which is lovely when they do. We have a nice community around this challenge

And in line with the above I am always happy to receive feedback good or bad. Best way to improve in an artistic field such as this is by hearing others opinions on your work.

The competition is tighter than ever, really cool entries across the board.



OK, let's get to it:

queen_annes_revenge - overall great painting and the blending it top notch, also nice work on the freehand. That base is golden, I love it!

DV8 - extremely clean with a perfect finish! The swords are amazing and the bases just fit like a glove. The only thing I feel could need a bit of a touch up
are the cloaks, they are a bit flat...a bit of edge highlights would go a long way. All in all great entry and one of my favourite.

Chris56 - smooth and neat paint job. Nice touch with the freehand.

Feltmonkey - I really like the color scheme especially the blue vest / armor, nice color transitions as well.

Jadenim - very bold bright colors ( I'm a sucker for bright color schemes) plus nice highlighting on top.

Keezus - I wasn't expecting this, it hit me like a bus! Amazing piece.... great color scheme with clean blends and the face is just beautiful.
Another one of my favourites, really great stuff.

Midget Gems - funny little piece with nice weathering.

Sockwithaticket - very clean and smooth paint job. Nice uniform and muted palette.

Paradigm - how the hell did you manage to paint, finish a sniper half blind and that fast...unbelievable. Your paranormal abilities aside, I really like the atmosphere It gives.



That's it from me and thanks To Para and MG for keeping the legacy alive. See ya In the last challenge.

Lots of great stuff! Congrats to everyone who got their entries completed!

My top 3 (no particular order), with some thoughts:

QAR - Inquisitor Eisenhorn
- I think there needs to be some continuance between the basing and the model; it feels like he's just sitting on top, and not really integrated into the scene. I also think he's set too far back on the base; a more central/forward position would help balance out how much of the base is at the front and overpowering from some angles compared to the back of the model.

Modock - Zondnautika
- Amazing execution as always. I just think you should clean up the base edge and sand the top surface down (the striations from the roller are visible). But otherwise, great piece!

Keezus - Asha
- Technical execution is great, and the face is lovely. Hair color is a great attention piece, but I wish it was a little more saturated. I also feel like the highlights on the body don't match the highlights on the head (there's a left-bias on the face and hair, but the rest of the body is strongly top-down).

 DV8 wrote:
Lots of great stuff! Congrats to everyone who got their entries completed!

My top 3 (no particular order), with some thoughts:

QAR - Inquisitor Eisenhorn
- I think there needs to be some continuance between the basing and the model; it feels like he's just sitting on top, and not really integrated into the scene. I also think he's set too far back on the base; a more central/forward position would help balance out how much of the base is at the front and overpowering from some angles compared to the back of the model.

.

Thanks! I know what you mean. I tried to tie him into the base with the empty shell casings scattered around his feet. Not sure if you can really see them in the photos.

 Modock wrote:
*snip*
DV8 - extremely clean with a perfect finish! The swords are amazing and the bases just fit like a glove. The only thing I feel could need a bit of a touch up
are the cloaks, they are a bit flat...a bit of edge highlights would go a long way. All in all great entry and one of my favourite.
*snip*

Yea for sure, I get what you mean. I think the photo does wash out a bit of the contrast, but I couldn't quite nail the exposure without mucking up some of the other parts. I also probably went a little too heavy on the weathering powders near the bottom, which brings up the value of the cloak overall to something quite similar top to bottom. :/ merp, I will def keep it in mind for future Stalkers!

 Modock wrote:
The competition is tighter than ever, really cool entries across the board.

Feltmonkey - I really like the color scheme especially the blue vest / armor, nice color transitions as well.

Thanks, Modock!

On to the comments.

Captain Brown - Good clean painting, a really solid job and a great-looking squad.

Llamahead - I like the colours. There are a couple of things you could do to take it up a notch. The easiest thing is to paint the rim of the base, probably black. It creates a nice "frame" for the miniature. Secondly, consider the finish. Everything looks glossy - did you use a gloss varnish, or is it a dip of some sort? The gloss looks cool on the black, makes it look like shiny leather or PVC, but looks a bit strange on some other areas such as the cloak. You can get matte medium from Vallejo, and you could just brush that onto the areas that shouldn't be glossy. I hope you don't mind me giving unsolicited advice! I like what you've done generally, just thinking of ways to go that bit further.

Jamie Shred - I like your style of painting - those bold unblended highlights, like cel-shading. Corvo looks really cool, you've done a great job. Where did you get the mini, by the way? I love Dishonoured, and might have to get one myself!

Yorkright - Yasss, welcome to the Jain Zaar club! What a superb model it is. Really nice clean painting as well. I painted Jain Zaar last month, and if you compare the two, you can really see where I accidentally melted the ribbons while drying paint on her with a hairdryer. The ribbons drooped before my eyes, and I never really got them back to the same position. I'm claiming it was a form of conversion.

Blooddragon1981 - Good clean, eyecatching work. The base is awesome.

queen_annes_revenge - Quality stuff as always QAR. The freehand is amazing, you've got a real knack for that.

DV8 - More quality. I love the bold colours and the way you've done the transitions on the blades.

LordMcAllister - Nice painting here, you've hit every detail on this mini. I really like the axe blade, and also how you've tied it into the base with the dust on his boots and cloak.

Nevelon - Nice clean painting and a really solid smooth basecoat. I'm still not a fan of the metallic green, but you have over 200,000 minis painted using that for the swords so please don't let me lead you into changing them all now!

Deadshot - Nice clean solid painting. The gold has come out really nicely here.

Vejut - What's going on? Only one of them is an animal. Nice bright colours, and there are some nice touches here - the green cloak on the fox woman, and the face of the guy with the bow particularly.

Bschwi1 - It's kind of difficult to judge from just the one picture, but this looks decent. I'd guess that the wood is contrast paint - if so, which one is it?

Spetex - A classic model, and a solid paintjob. Good highlighting on the skin.

dukeofbeer - Nice colour scheme. I really like the pattern you've painted on the dress/pantaloons (it's difficult to tell which they are)

MacPhail - I'm saying this a lot this month, but good solid stuff. I like how you've got the tuft of orange grass on each base to tie them together as a squad, and to add visual interest.

Viterbi - That's a really cool model. Where's it from? You've done a great job on him, too.

Chris56 - Nice work on the armour and the hammerhead. The glowing gem looks very cool too. I wonder if the statue head could have done with a light drybrush of a light grey or cream to give it a really stonelike appearance?

Excommunicatus - A bold colour scheme very nicely executed. They'll make for an eyecatching army.

Arkanid - A cool model, and nicely painted. The colour scheme does end up making it look very brown/green. maybe you could have made the red sticks a touch more vivid?

Modock - Great work as always. Such a cool, clean sci-fi aesthetic, and so appropriate for Infinity.

MobileSuitRandom - Nice detailed painting. I like how you've done the gun. The freehand on the cloak is a cool touch.

Maharg - Very nice indeed! The cloak is spectacular. The pose on that model is nuts.

Jadenim - Lovely work. The one with the big headdress particularly. I love the makeup and facepaint you've given her.

Rybrook - Good solid scouts. Clicking through to the larger pic, I can really see the effort put in on the faces. Really strong solid colours, too.

bantha_beast - Gorgeous painting, and a very cool and sinister finished piece. I really like how the ice-blue blade contrasts with the muted red. Really nice.

Keezus - Great work, Very clean painting and super-smooth blends. Very nicely done.

Midget Gems - What I like here is the narrative. The goblin at the front really shouldn't have turned his back on his obviously dozy colleague, who is clearly about to cause some kind of disaster with that hammer of his and blow the pair of them up.

Sockwithaticket - Nice solid painting, but I really like the huge cartoon eyes! The flowers on the base are a nice splash of colour, and the cloak is done really well.

Paradigm - I'm so glad you were able to enter something, not just to keep the streak going, but because it's my favorite entry of the month. It's dripping with atmosphere. The weathering and the base make it look utterly real. Really fantastic work! And done while half blind! Sickening.

See you next month, guys! I thought of something to do for this month, but I have completely forgotten what it was going to be. I can't enter something until I remember what I was going to do.

Thanks for the kind words for my Stormtrooper, Jamie, Modock and Felt! Glad the atmosphere comes across in the base and weathering, I was definitely trying to imbue a fairly simple model/paint scheme with a bit more character through those areas (with the added side effect that mud and blaster scoring make great cover for sloppy half-sighted blending! )

Funny how the entry I paint last minute when I can't see is tracking to be one of my strongest scores of the year! Hopefully that's not all sympathy votes!

There are so much great work here, so I think you all deserve a vote! (even though I had to choose around 10 of you, sry!)
I'm not the best at giving feedback, but I will give it a try:

Paradigm - I'm impressed with how good your model looks, when I know how little time you had, and your blurry vision. Great work!

Queen_Annes_Revenge - Very well painted, and I really love how you use so many different colors, and make them look so good together. It's very inspiring!

Viterbi - A natural looking beastman is never wrong, and its well painted. I like it!

Feltmonkey - I love the colors you have used, aswell as the nicely painted highlights. I think they turned out very nice, you did a great job with the greenstuff!


And also a thanks to Feltmonkey for your feedback.

Arkanid - A cool model, and nicely painted. The colour scheme does end up making it look very brown/green. maybe you could have made the red sticks a touch more vivid?

The colour-scheme used for my Genestealer Cults are very much inspired by the greens of a jungle, and I wanted it to look like camouflage, so I can understand what you mean by it looking very brown/green! But I do agree with you, now as you mention it, those explosive-sticks could use some more vivid red! I will keep that in mind the next time I paint them, and maybe I can sneak in some other colors somewhere?

Thanks for the feedback Feltmonkey the model is from W Artel miniatures, came across them in the news and rumours section of this forum. They also do a really nice Geralt of Tibia and Eredin set.

Thanks, Arkanid. You can still see some of the holes I couldn't fill, but hopefully they don't look totally out of place.

I get that you're doing jungle camo, that's a cool idea. A few spot colours can make all the difference, even if it's just a rifle lens or a pair of goggles.

Edit - thanks, Jamie. I'll look them up.

feltmonkey wrote:

Viterbi - That's a really cool model. Where's it from? You've done a great job on him, too.

Thanks feltmonkey and as always amazed that you're giving feedback to every mini The model is Forgeworld and a beastman bounty hunter from Necromunda, but he'll sub as a tempestor prime in my kill team and 40k games.

Arkanid wrote:There are so much great work here, so I think you all deserve a vote! (even though I had to choose around 10 of you, sry!)
I'm not the best at giving feedback, but I will give it a try:

Viterbi - A natural looking beastman is never wrong, and its well painted. I like it!

Thanks Arkanid!

I'm voting on 5 entries (don't know how I decided to do it this way, but it stuck) and this time, I'm gonna do a little comment, why I chose them. Here are my unordered Top 5:

Yorkright: Doing bone-colored armor that looks really clean is no small feat, but you managed it. The mini has the perfect balance between graceful and evil and your paintjob adds to that.

DV88: I love how the dust crept along their legs to tie them to the base and the extra work of converting the flags on their backs really paid of to complement their look; add to that the superb swords and you got a great looking unit.

Vejut: I really dig the bold colors, the unusual minis and looking at the pictures, you really get a feeling that this group already had amazing adventures and will be going to have some more.

Maharg: I love that model and you did a wonderful job with the grey cloak and especially the purple armor.

Paradigm: This is in no way a pity vote, because making a stromtrooper, A STROMTROOPER look menacing, efficient and having good aim is a big feat in itself He looks really good and I can only echo the others, pulling that off without being able to really see is impressive and makes one just a little jealous

Choosing was hard, there are so many cool entries every month and Im already excited for all your final bosses!

All of these entries are great to look at. I hope I can muster the wits (and the time) to take part in this challenge... until then, I enjoy your workings.

Keep it up and amaze us! Thanks to you all...

Thanks Feltmonkey and Jamie Shred for the comment.

 DV8 wrote:


Modock - Zondnautika
- Amazing execution as always. I just think you should clean up the base edge and sand the top surface down (the striations from the roller are visible). But otherwise, great piece!

Thank you, I think those streaks on texture rollers are meant to be that way, but like you said It would be better, looked nicer, to sand them. It's even harder to blend on a streaky surface.

 Modock wrote:
Thank you, I think those streaks on texture rollers are meant to be that way, but like you said It would be better, looked nicer, to sand them. It's even harder to blend on a streaky surface.

I don't think so; you see the same striations on all of GSW's rollers. I think it's a result of some 3d-printing in their process. I have their cobblestone, ancient ruins, small bricks, and their industrial rollers and they all have the same annoying little striations (it's the most noticeable in industrial and ruins, less so in the cobblestone and bricks because of the scale/size of the details).

Hmm, I have like 5 rollers but I haven't put much attention to the upper surface...I'm gonna check all of them. You got me thinking.

qar - I commented during the WIP stages on the coat lining, it's lovely and the freehand on the back alone warrants a vote. One of my own little quirks when voting is to be swayed by the type of model entered, I like something a bit unusal and 54mm Inq models certainly fit that bill.

LordMcAllister - I really like the worn beige/khaki of the Priest's robes

Nevelon - I know from wearying experience how much of a pain in the ass straight line highlights on black can be. There's very little forgiveness, errors are laid bare even with a dark grey. Kudos for keeping it neat and tidy pretty much all over.

Mocock - that's an excellent job. Blends which retain smooth transition and high contrast (something I definitely struggle with and am envious of!). Again, it's something a little bit different and I appreciate the effort put into the base as well as the figure.

Feltmonkey - utmost sympathy for battling with failcast (I will call it that forever), if it's any consolation they turned out well. I particularly like Lilith's ginger bonce.

Keezus - that's amazing, kind of like cell shading with added depth.

Midget - I thought this round was about a lack of clumsiness or randomness? The level of weathering you've achieved here is spot on. Clearly seen some use, but very much functional.

Paradigm - that would be a legit entry even without the caveats attached.


Modock and Feltmonkey, I appreciate your positive comments. Felt, yeah, the eyes are crazy big on the sculpt, makes it a lot easier to actually paint an eyeball in there!

Guys thanks for all your votes and encouraging words.
I'm slowly coming back to the hobby.
I need to improve those pictures as either they are bit blurry or bit dull, that is why it's hard for me to show the real colours and paintjob.

Thank you for the votes and the encouraging words! Jain Zar is a beautiful model and I really wanted to do it justice. There is always inspirational work to be found in the monthly challenge, thanks Para for setting this up I hope your eye is getting better.

We got winners! Taking the top three spots is a very high-scoring round, we have...

In third, Keezus with Asha


In second, Modock, with Zondnautika, transformer bike


And out in front, Queen_annes_revenge with Inquisitor Eisenhorn








Cingrats to all, and thanks once again to Midget Gems for setting up the poll. See you all next month for the grand finale!

Grats to all the winners! Amazing work all around.

Specially worth noting that the half-blind, last minute Paradigm tied for 4th. Proving the endurance and consistency to deliver quality goods despite any adversity.

Congratulations to the winners and everyone else that entered, really high quality across the board.

Congrats Keezus, Modock, and Queen Anne fabulous painting on those 3 entries

I ran out of time to comment on everyone's entry but was great to see so many enter this challenge I'll get the league table updated ASAP.

Thanks for the comments Felt and Sock, yeah I manged to get my hands on those grots so thought I'd start using them, they are nice models. I'm claiming its not Clumsy due to its autohit rules