Damn it's been a hard one to judge this year. So many cool entries. All the entries are great this year and every participant should be proud of what they have achieved. I've been agonising over 5 entries, and honestly every one would make a worthy winner, but eventually after much deliberation and looking at photos (and their various angles) I’ve had to cast my vote for Soul Seeker. I was just in the middle of voting last night when the site went down, so I thought it might be nice to take the time out and write a bit of response to the artists that really did it for me.
Soul Seeker. What can I say dude? This is simply stunning and a worthy winner. It looks like it could have been taken straight off the GW website or a White Dwarf! No mean feat! What I really love are the colours. The red and black are great together and have a washed out feel really whilst still remaining quite rich giving a feel of a weather worn aged wizard. The skin is done to perfection and the eyes are perfect. How did you do it? Then the little features are pretty much faultless. The graining on the wood is beautiful and the skulls and trophies have a great texture too. I’m struggling to find fault with it. Great job man, my hat comes off to you.
Whilst Soul Seeker took my vote there were four others battling it out and I wanted to give each of them a bit of (hopefully constructive) feedback too. There was honestly a cigarette paper between any one of them. So without further ado, I give you MY runners up and the source of my agonising. Each one of these guys gave us a truly stunning entry and my only wish is that I could cast more than one vote!
Axia What I loved about this was the simplicity of this whilst being stunningly painted. Firstly the bones are some of the best I have seen. They have such a rich depth to them and really look like they have seen a few too many stormy seas. I love the faded tatters of cloth and really think the your selection of colours complement each other beautifully. The wood on the flintlocks has a wonderful texture, something I know first hand is so hard to achieve and the gold has a lovely highly worn feel to it, particularly the addition of silver to really make it shine! Finally the base, you have to love the tufts! The only criticism I have is that the places like the face could have used a little more highlighting just to really define the great features of the sculpt. But really that is a tiny preference.
Bigcannon. Every year you deliver a truly amazing mini and this year was no exception. The red and gold are great colours and work really well together. The depth to the red is simply beautiful and the transitions from light to shadow are nice and smooth, a difficult skill to master! This is however surpassed by the NMM gold. I want your recipe good sir! The gold is sublime, and looks really realistic. The balance of light and shadow is great and the palette used really emphasises a burnished, almost worn gold feel. The other details are great. The bone and horn look old and weathered and I especially love the glowing blue of the eyes and the flame off his sword. Great job. If I had to make any criticism to the mini it would have to be the black areas. The colour just looks too flat in my opinion and could use some subtle highlights and use of glazing. This might also be the photo. All in all a simply stunning mini.
Dogmar: I love the natural colours and the limited palette. Working with a few colours is exceptionally challenging particularly when you're trying to achieve different colours and textures. Very well done. The NMM is simply stunning and I can really see a vast improvement from the Wood Elf those many months ago! The chequered area on the axe head is extremely well done and a nice touch. All in all superb. However the thing that swayed my vote to BC was the blending, whilst very good I felt that it could be a little smoother. I also felt that the leather could have used a little more weathering, but again this feels like a small niggle. All in all my friend, you have a fantastic mini of which you should be immensely proud of!
Finally Redarmy27. Firstly pal, I have to offer my condolences on the loss of your original piece. I’d have really liked to have seen that baby all painted up. What impressed me the most was how you overcame this set-back to produce an inspiring mini. You have a really great smooth style and I love to look at your work. This piece was no exception. Firstly the palette is wonderful. The colours work together really well. The green and the brown are nice natural colours and really suit the rustic, earthen nature of the mini. In addition to this, the use of lighting is fantastic! The atmosphere you have created, along with the conversion work really makes this model unique. The skin is a great colour but a little too undead for my liking. In my mind, a necromancer is the only truly living part of an undead host being a wizard who has succumbed to the dark arts. The base is stunning and the skulls look like they have been there for many years. Stuff out the garden is much underused and can really add a lot to a model. You’ve definitely gone all out on this one! All in all great job mate, you really made life hard for me!
Right at the start I took my hat off to Soul Seeker however I take my hat off to all of you. Not just those I’ve mentioned here but everyone who has taken part. This is the best standard I’ve seen and the decision who to vote for was really hard. Superb work guys, you should all be proud of your accomplishments! Keep painting folks.
Cheers
u_m
Some fantastic entries. Had to think a lot so i could decide which one to vote.
