I should warn you from the start, this is going to be an epically long post. Hopefully its interesting enough to hold your attention all the same. There’s some heartfelt parts at the end if that helps any.
I’m fresh off MMSI and I’m here to share my thoughts as a first time attendee. First off, it is quite a bit smaller than Adepticon as I expected. With that said, I think it is well run and has a really positive and laidback atmosphere. Essentially, there are vendors setup around the main hall which also has all of the miniatures on display. The miniatures are definitely the focus and I was impressed by how MMSI uses tables that are taller than average. That makes it so the miniatures are not too far from eye level as you walk around. The only downside I can see, which my wife immediately asked about when she heard about the setup, is how do they keep miniatures safe? It seems to be based on the honor system to me but hopefully nobody would try to damage or steal anything at the show. That would obviously be devastating if it happened to you.
MMSI uses a couple different categories as well. There are historical miniatures, fantasy miniatures (which is anything not historical), and ordnance which is basically airplanes, ships, artillery, and vehicles of any kind. Traditionally, I think MMSI has been historical focused over the years but I was pleasantly surprised that the fantasy entries seemed to be pretty close in number to historical entries.
One of the big differences between MMSI and your typical painting competition is the judging system. I mentioned this previously but I think its worth repeating that they follow a system where your exhibition gets whatever level award the judges feel it earned, no matter how good everyone else’s entries are. This is the complete opposite of Golden Demon which has a top 3 system and is very competitive as a result. I like MMSI’s system because it means people who exhibit are more likely to get some kind of recognition. This is important and makes people want to improve and keep participating in future exhibitions. Golden Demon is inevitably going to chew people up and spit them out because they enter once, twice, or even a few times, and get nothing for their efforts. I think the Open System is much better for our hobby and while there is room for both, as GW is a leader in miniatures, they should really consider tweaking their system more towards an Open System of some kind. It would engender a lot of goodwill and make people want to keep progressing in display painting instead of getting burned out by not receiving any recognition.
I didn’t attend the GD awards show but I felt like the MMSI one was well done and it felt much more congratulatory and laid back. I didn’t see many people who seemed disappointed or like they didn’t enjoy it which is again good for our hobby. I think the GD can make someone’s painting “career” but the intensity level is a lot higher as a result of that too.
I’ll sum up MMSI by saying, the audience skews older and the miniatures skew larger in scale. The Historical miniatures in particular are generally 75mm and up or busts. After attending two miniatures shows this year, my feeling is becoming more resolute that larger minis look better in shows. For example, I couldn’t even see the eyes on most of the Games Workshop miniatures where the larger ones weren’t too difficult. Its much easier to appreciate a good photo of a 32mm miniature than it is to see it in person and take in all of the details. I didn’t take a ton of pictures because of the lighting but I will link to the photos from this year’s show in a future update when they get posted online so you can see the overall quality at the show. Hopefully, you’ll see something of mine make it in there too!
Speaking of, let’s discuss my exhibition. I decided to bring my three most recent display projects. I also bought a cheap display stand off Amazon so that I’d have a nice way to display them. In a shameless publicity stunt, I also made a quick logo to promote my Instagram account. I got a grand total of zero new followers thus far so that went exceedingly well haha!
I didn’t chat with too many people there overall. Its kind of hard to know what people paint and if you’d have a common interest because historical minis are quite a bit different than fantasy and I paint at such a small scale compared to many of the other painters too. With that said, I did get praised by a few people and I saw a man in his 50’s or 60’s that took a picture of the Wrathmonger and he was tickled by the fact that I put so many skulls on the base. That was nice to see.
My concern once I setup my miniatures was the lighting. I can’t say it is really better than Golden Demon. The problem is that the lighting is on the ceiling and the ceiling is quite tall. So its bright in the room but still hard to see the miniatures well, particularly darker ones like mine. On Saturday, the awards day, I noticed that some entries had checkmarks on them but none of mine did. That made me worry a bit because I know at GD that stickers are everything in terms of results. By the time the awards started, I was talking myself into the fact that I probably didn’t win anything. I was questioning myself a bit and thinking how can I justify spending so much time on these projects and so on. That is the nature of anything creative. Its so easy to doubt yourself and sometimes its impossible to avoid.
Well, the awards show started with the lowest tier awards which is a Certificate of Merit, and then, Bronze, and then Silver, and Gold. I’m waiting as we move through these and by the time we get to Gold, I’m fully prepared for disappointment. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised when I was awarded Gold, the highest award I could receive, for the Knight-Judicator! As part of the judging system, the judges determine what is the best miniature in your exhibition and I wasn’t really sure which one they’d pick. I’m glad they picked the Knight-Judicator because it can’t be entered in GD and I think its a really top-notch mini. Its nice to get Gold on a gold mini as well.
In the end, finally winning an award didn’t fill me with joy like we might have anticipated as it doesn’t quite feel real. Of course, I’m honored to get this award and am relieved to be vindicated after working hard to push my abilities but at the same time, there has been plenty of disappointment along the way and the suspense at the awards show had convinced me that I was going to be foiled yet again. Its a lot to take in.
Truthfully, I think this is the challenge of creative endeavors. You almost have to be supremely confident in yourself even when surrounded by great talent. I don’t know that I’ve ever discussed this but I figure now is as good of time as any. I’ve always been creative. I was good at drawing, cartooning really at a precocious age (when I was in elementary school). I picked drawing back up in college and tried to get better at it. For better and worse, I’ve always been good at replicating other designs and characters instead of being able to draw new things myself. I’m also basically completely self-taught which might be part of why I ran into a wall eventually. Part of me wishes that I had pushed myself harder when I was younger to become a better artist. While it may sound funny, I used to think when I was still a kid that I’d never be able to get a job drawing. Its too hard, there aren’t enough jobs, I should do something practical, etc. I’d kill that kind of job now, let me tell you.
Later on in college and grad school, I studied creative writing, fiction to be more specific. I could write a long essay about that experience but I have no intentions of doing so here. The easiest way to put it is that I had some great professors who encouraged and helped me get better in a short amount of time as an undergrad. I had thought I wanted to be a lawyer until my Senior year of college when I realized that it wasn’t the right job for me. So I was in the unenviable position of trying to master something else in a really short amount of time and get into grad school. Somehow, I got good enough to get into grad school and start teaching which was something I was really interested in. Unfortunately, I didn’t get along that well with my creative writing professors in grad school and struggled to get good grades in their class. While I made mistakes and I own those, I think I was stuck working with people who weren’t that effective as teachers and squashed people as much as they helped them which is unfortunate all the way around. Ultimately, I left feeling both chewed up and spit out but also like I probably wasn’t as good at fiction writing as I needed to be too. The reality is that getting a book published by a real publisher (not self-published) is insanely difficult and not even really very financially rewarding unless it is an absolute runaway hit. As much as I wanted to publish a book one day, I knew it wasn’t going to happen for me and I’d hit a dead end creatively speaking. The only good thing that came from this is that I was able to teach for 5-6 years before the lack of health benefits and poverty-level wages become too much and I had to leave a profession I loved and was very good at behind.
Somehow I stumbled back into miniature painting around 2015 or 2016 when I was hitting a wall with drawing and fiction writing I’ve never looked back. I think I’m better at this hobby and I’m proud of that. I never expected it to happen but I’m grateful all the same. I should also mention that I never really won any tangible awards with my drawing or writing. For example, I remember trying to enter in a competition in the local newspaper in Cincinnati at a young age where the only reward was being published in said paper. My work wasn’t funny or clever or good enough which was disappointing even at a young age.
With all that said, I’m grateful for the support that regular commenters provide. Of course, some will say that I did the hard work to win an award and that is true but the reality is that when you are doing anything creative, you need a good support network to get through the disappointments and the self-doubts. I saw that time and time again in creative writing and I think its true with miniature painting too. If people don’t see your potential and encourage you to push your skills, you’re much more likely to give up. Its that encouragement and faith that others put in you that keeps you going. The community here could not be more supportive and while we all have different interests and hobby goals, I’m confident that I wouldn’t have won without the great group here and others I’ve been a part of such as the old CMON forums. This is especially true after feeling like a Golden Demon loser earlier this year. Thank you all very much and I’m hoping I’ve got a few more awards left in me to win!
Kuribo's Painting 
Jeff, that Gold is an achievement to be proud of I think! 🙂 Well done you! You do realise you are your worst critic don’t you! 😉
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Thank you, John! I do think if you can find the UK equivalent to MMSI, you should go. There was tons of WWII stuff there from infantry to vehicles. Plenty of other historical subjects too of course. Some pictures from the show have been released so I suppose you’ll get to see what I mean soon enough!
And of course! I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t a tough critic. I try to balance being hard on myself by being kind and patient with others too 🙂
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Congratulations on getting gold! 😀
It’s good to hear that you’ve earned an achievement for your hard work, and proves that you’ve got the technique to impress the judges with your miniature painting work.
I’ve never entered a miniature painting competition before (though I did one I two art comps in my teen years), though MMSI sounds like a better system of grading compared to Golden Daemon.
I’m currently painting a Knight-Judicator as a solo Astral Templar hunter for a WHQ character. I’ve still not attempted NMM painting, but I’ve somwhat cracked the technique for blended light and shadow.
What are your plans going forward with your painting projects? 🙂
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Thank you, mate! I really appreciate your kind words.
Unfortunately, Golden Demon seems more interested in crowning the best in a field full of talented people. I think it does a disservice to both the artists and Games Workshop but I’m sure they have their reasons why they do things the way they do.
That’s awesome on the Knight-Judicator. I hope you enjoy the mini, I think its a great one. It took me about 3 months to get the mini painted up so I don’t recommend doing so for gaming purposes 🙂 With that said, it is possible to paint NMM that doesn’t take so long so if it sounds like something you’d like to learn or try, I’d say go for it.
I’m starting to prep my first 75mm miniature so I may get going on that soon. I’m just about done with some Fallout terrain too so that will come first I imagine. Its the end of a year long project I’ve been chipping away at.
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Congrats on the award! That’s a really nice (and deserved!) reward for the work you put into these, really well done.
We have at least one open style painting competition locally but I’ve never entered, maybe I should try next year! I haven’t done display painting in years, but I have been painting a lot the last couple of years so hopefully picked up a few tricks along the way.
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Thanks, Nic! It is really nice when the hard work pays off for sure. I think you should give the Open Style competition a try. It seemed to me to be quite generous and people who entered things that I would maybe call high tabletop standard, still were rewarded with something. Having said that, I think you can do better tabletop standard that if you put your mind to it so I’d say if you’ve got the time, give it a shot and see what you can accomplish! That is more or less how I got here. I just keep trying to do a bit better on each mini and project!
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I think I might! I also had a look at some of the results from the one that just passed and some names I remember from my competition years cropped up, may be a good excuse to catch up with old friends!
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Definitely! I would like to get to know some other local painters more myself. Being a bit shy, I’m not the best at that sort of thing but I think Open System is a much better environment for striking up a conversation than say Golden Demon. I think this is just another reason to give it a go, mate! 🙂
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As John says, you are your worst critic! I think your previous varied interests is shown in your miniatures; your creative writing is shown in your dioramas that tell a story, your art is shown in your attention in color choices and attention to detail. I would be interested to see you use your art skills used in freehand on a shield or flag!
And of course, congrats on your gold, well deserved!
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I don’t deny it! I do think you’re right that past creative skills help me be better at this hobby. I do need to try and work on my freehand. Its a skill I really admire but I only work on it here and there. I’ll have to see if I can rectify that somehow in the future.
And most importantly, thank you for your support over the last few years!
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Congratulations. It was always a matter of time and choosing the right event and competition. GD is essentially for professionals in my opinion, something to aspire to but not to start with. I’m sure more awards will follow.
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Thank you, mate! I appreciate your insight about painting competitions over the last year as well. I would say that everything you’ve said has proven to be true which shows your wisdom 🙂
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Firstly very well done on the Gold, it was well earned with all the hard work you put in.
Artists of any kind, miniatures, traditional painting, they all tend to be their worst critics, as they strive for perfection, which they don’t feel they achieve ( I remember the criticisms you made on each of the pieces you entered) and that’s okay, as it can push you to try new things in the future.
I think you hit the nail on the head, the feedback and support of the community, can help drive you further forward, and any criticisms are constructive, and are often supported with ideas on how to improve it.
I leave you with a quote from Cool Runnings ” A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you don’t feel enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it ! “
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Thank you, Dave! I think you described art really well. There’s a lot of insecurity because you can’t measure yourself against others in a clear way. I personally don’t worry about that sort of thing too much but it can be hard to get away from that environment at the same time. I just try to focus on me and trying to do the best I can, especially with display projects.
A Cool Runnings quote will always go over well with me! I saw that one in theaters with my Dad and it is favorite childhood movie of mine. The sentiment of the quote is spot-on too!
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Congrats on the win. I had a similar experience to you the first time I had a short story published. Instead of encouraging me to do more, it was like a switch went off in my head. That was back in 2004 and even today I can’t explain why it had that effect.
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Thank you, Dave! I didn’t realize you have published short stories. That’s a wonderful accomplishment. I have served on one literary journal and so I feel like I have some exposure to how hard it can be to get published. Its not as easy or straightforward as people would probably expect!
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I was fortunate to be published at the first attempt, and I think that slowed down my next try.
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That is very lucky indeed! There’s something about being rejected in writing that is really hard to take. I think it is worse in some ways than painting competitions because you might get told no a lot before you hear yes.
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Congrats mate, you have earned that medal and should be proud of the acknowledgment from the judges. You should be proud of your achievements even without any medals because you have created some amazing art and inspired numerous people with what you publish on your blog. Your willingness to open up and share things with us is commendable.
I never had much artistic skill as a kid but I did want to write. Both my writing and artistic skills have improved over the years but not as much as I would have liked. I lack the discipline to really push my development so I respect your ability to continually improve yourself.
As an aside, I saw this post from Modiphius and thought of you…
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=143175.0;topicseen
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Thank you, mate. It is nice to get validation from people who didn’t know me as well. Everyone here does a great job of encouraging me but in a way, I think you all might be a bit biased at this point (in a good way!).
As competitive as miniature painting can be, I think writing is a lot worse. One thing that many people don’t know is that the American education system funnels people through college and graduate school so that there are MFA’s and PhD’s with creative writing backgrounds hitting the “market” every year. Its really hard to stand out in that kind of crowd. That is one thing I realized the hard way and why I stopped trying to write. In some ways, winning this medal is validation of that because it shows how far I’ve come with miniature painting. To have a full-time job, you really have to pick one or the other too. There just isn’t enough time to be excellent at both. I will always love writing though and I think its good for everyone to write in some way. That is probably why I enjoyed teaching so much as well.
Thank you for sharing that link! It is certainly intriguing. I like the idea behind the new game and that’s a smart system to borrow from. I may have to give up a current game to be able to make it work which is something I’ll have to ponder over once that actually comes out.
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The last thing I want to do is distract you from painting Fallout minis and terrain!
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You don’t have to worry, I would give up Hellboy or Prehistoric wargaming instead. This weekend’s update is looking like it will have some good Fallout content so hopefully you look forward to that.
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Congratulations! You got mad skills! And the story of getting there resonates a lot! Minus ever winning something, (or trying) and bumping into tons of jobs that could have been an artistic outlet, but felt more like prostitution.
And you are still teaching! You gave me, and many others, I read, a great insight in what it takes to create such art pieces on that level!
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Thank you, mate! I’m both glad and sorry to hear you’ve had similar experiences. Its hard to be creative and make money unfortunately. My job barely uses my creativity but it does provide steady income so it was a choice that I couldn’t turn down.
That is very kind of you to say! I don’t really set out to teach people but I’m glad that it helps others and it always makes me happy to know I’ve inspired others too.
Thank you for the follow on Instagram. I look forward to seeing your work on there (and here too of course)!
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Firstly, very well done on the award – hard earned and very much deserved. I know just what you mean about the positivity and enthusiasm of people commenting here too – of course you’re the one doing the work but we’re social animals and a bit of encouragement goes a long way to helping us achieve our best (so remember me when you start winning the big prize money!). Your cartoons are excellent and I’m sure you were a dab hand at the writing too. Keep up the good work!
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Thank you, mate! For me, when I’m working on one of these really long projects, hearing from others that they like where its heading is always motivating. You really need that to spend 1-3 months on a single miniature too. And you can certainly have a cut of my prize money which will probably never be much of anything unfortunately. Nobody paints because it is lucrative 🙂
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Congrats on the win mate that’s fantastic. As others have said we are our own worse critics. I consider myself a very confident bloke in most things that I do and my philosophy is “shy people miss out” and that usually comes down to self doubt. We can do anything and everything we want and we shouldn’t let anyone or anything stop us. It could all be over for any one of us tomorrow so live your best life today. Paint your minis, submit your stories, be creative, love what you do and never say die.
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Thanks, mate! I can sense your confidence from all the way across the pond 🙂 It is a good idea to be brave and step outside your comfort zone. I don’t do it as much as I should truthfully. Having said that, I couldn’t agree more on the we only have one life and you don’t know when it will end. I try in my own way to live life to its fullest and do as great of things with my time as I can too. I think it is kind of a punk rock way of thinking though I bet people outside of Punk would never guess that!
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Hehe well I can sense that you’re a bloody cool dude and I reckon you can do anything you put your mind to man.
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That’s very kind of you to say and the feeling is mutual!
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MMSI sounds like a nice change from Adepticon in a lot of ways. I wonder.. does the lean towards Historicals also shift the overall demographic to be a bit older and more …relaxed than something like Adepticon? Might be one of the reasons behind the lack of protective elements for models. That, and obviously what the venue has available – I imagine that trying to organise/move a ton of glass cabinets in as a smaller con organiser would be costly and difficult, so perhaps just out of their realistic scope as well?
I do like the different judging system. I stopped entering any kind of painting competitions decades ago because I figure “If I’m not going to win – and I won’t win – then why bother?” There was a time back in the 1990s when I really believe that I would have won a few Golden Demons, since the overall quality worldwide wasn’t as amazing as it is now, and because Games Day/GD AU was a 1-day-only event in Sydney (so a very limited pool) and I saw a friend’s Necromunda gang that won a trophy. And without being a dick, it was *pretty* rough…
Since then, the quality bar has raised much, much higher, and while I may be able to do well in a FLGS-level painting competition or a “best painted army”, I wouldn’t even be getting noticed in any more substantial comps, so why bother? (plus, I’m not generally looking for advice!)
I can’t see comps like GD or Crystal Brush changing their ways of running. They’re already established as the most prestigious big dogs with their established competitive scenes around them and the mindset that is part of that. They’re really not competitions that you enter if you want to learn or if you want feedback, despite whatever prize-winning Youtuber says in their channels (their experience will be very different to the average hobbyist anyway). GD and CB are comps that you enter if you want to WIN or be featured in WD/WHC. Apples for courses.
I agree that larger pieces do tend to look better and more impressive in some ways in person – it’s the nature of projecting further. Small miniatures come into their own when you’re really, really close. Reading the text on a space marine’s scroll is something we’re used to doing online, but IRL it’s something you need to lean in reeeeal close for.
Your display stand and sign look good, and the minis on top look okay as well. 😉 With the lighting, it’s never going to be “ideal” in these situations as you point out because unless *everything* is in a well-lit glass cabinet (out of financial/logistical reach for most events) then yep, you’re looking at cavernous event hall ceiling lights that are often a bit dim anyway.
And now, finally, despite everyone else opening with it – congratulations on scoring a Gold! I do think you’re still going in with too much of a “win” mentality which is setting you up for disappointment. Hoping is fine of course, but it does come across as a bit too intense. Try to care less and it’ll be really freeing – trust me on that!
When I was in high school, I aspired to be an artist, and then a commercial artist. I realised that I was probably not good enough to compete in that world eventually and my jobs and career took entirely different turns, much like yours and art became a more niche hobby in the miniature area. I’m ok with it in the end. I still get to pull out something surprising at work every so often to people’s surprise (most there think of me as “computer guy” – and even in 2023 it’s still a lot easer to just go with it than try to explain non-video gaming & minis).
Anyway, it looks like you’ve found a good locale for your painting to go into – so perhaps still enter the GD, but without a “win” mentality and aim at picking up a place (not always gold unless you’re aiming for disappointment and bad feels) at MMSI every year!
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That’s a good question, mate. Adepticon is probably mostly 20’s-50’s but most being in their 30’s and 40’s. MMSI is mostly 40’s-70’s. I was on the younger end of people who exhibited for sure. With the amount of models people exhibited, there’s no way that glass cases are an option so you’re spot on. I don’t know how they improve the lighting either. I think it probably is what it is.
I’ve heard stories about older GDs and I’ve seen older entries as well that support what you’re saying. Truthfully, I don’t think the GD trophies meant as much as they do now. They’re coveted because they’re nearly bloody impossible to win. There’s just so many people who are really good at display painting who enter nowadays. Entering this year really drove that reality home.
I may talk about this down the road but from everything I’ve heard, GW uses a “Who makes the least amount of mistakes” system for judging because it lets them sort through a lot of entries quickly which I totally get. I have a problem with the mentality that fosters but as I said, I should save that for a future article.
Thank you for the kind words and I appreciate where you’re coming from. I just want to keep getting better and keep improving. At the same time, I am starting to realize that there are limits to how much time I want to put into a project before calling it done so I’m trying to balance that as well.
Thank you for sharing your journey and I would have never guessed that you became a “computer guy”. I just assumed that was always your area of expertise professionally speaking. I probably wasn’t going to be a good enough artist to become a professional artist but I do wonder what I might have been if things had worked out differently. I imagine we all do that in some way or another 🙂 We can’t fully pursue all of our interests either. There just isn’t enough time in the day unfortunately.
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Yeah, the older crowd will be a bit more settled both in maturity and financially – especially the historical guys. Of course, these are generalities, but you’d be in more of a situation where kids are under control and most(!) people understand not to stick their greasy, disgusting, grabby hands on things!
I don’t know that a GD trophy meant *less* back in those days, because they were still pretty much considered the pinnacle as far as I recall, but there’s certainly a massively broadened reach with the mainstreaming of overall geek culture (for both better and worse) as well as a sharply raised skill level due to a larger number of painters (see the mainstreaming) a much easier flow of information (with the internet, online tutorials, and especially YouTube) and three decades of much improved hobby products (washes ready to go out of the bottle, wet palettes, easy paint handles, etc). So yeah, more people looking and competing for sure.
We’re now in a place where if you believe some people on the internet, “tabletop quality” today would win you a GD back then. I think that’s a bit of a stretch by the sort of people on social media who wouild give your Stormcast a 7.5 out of 10, but regardless, the median has certainly risen and the top has spiked.
The “mistakes” thing is interesting, but makes sense just in terms of context – needing to filter the masses as quickly as possible. I’d compare that to reading people’s application letters and CVs which is a thing at work occasionally – you skim them rather than read them at first, looking for mistakes so that you can cull the pile of applications down to a managable number as quickly as possible. Sure, you might miss someone great, but you can’t interview everyone so it’s on the applicant to make sure that they get the name of the workplace correct! So to on the entrant for the highly prestigious competition to make sure that there’s no grey primer still showing or that they remembered to highlight all of the feathers (or whatever).
Being in charge of the IT at my work is actually something that I kind of fell into by being the most competent person in the location, and having a full understanding of the main focus of the place which pure IT people can (and do) miss because of their narrower focus on IT efficiency (and whats easier/more efficient for them) rather than the smooth running of assets for the rest of the staff who perform the primary role there. I’ve just got an entirely new IT team (well two guys) who have started recently, and so while they’re both great, there are always “no, we do it this way here becauise XYZ” conversations. But I had those with the previous guy semi-regularly as well. 🙂
I’m ok with how it ended up, and while I didn’t get to be an artist, I also didn’t get to be an astronaut or soldier or archaeologist or forensic pathologist, either. Luckily there’s plenty of entertainment that lets us do those things vicariously, and art & painting gets to be something to reduce my stress rather than increase it via being a job that needs doing to pay for the power and food! 🙂
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Yes, that is well said on the older crowd. I appreciated their maturity at the show too. I saw some people on Instagram who won at GD this year acting like they scored a touchdown in the NFL. To me, it was not a good look… I probably could have explained what I meant with older GD winners better. Basically, I’m in total agreement and I’ve seen some older winners who probably painted at a high tabletop standard back then and I’ve seen what they’re doing now and its about the same. There’s zero shame in that, of course, I just think that someone who wins now is truly at the top of the painting game whereas older winners can vary more. I hope that makes sense and doesn’t sound too harsh! I absolutely respect the accomplishment no matter when it happened.
I can believe it on falling into IT. I’ve seen something similar to other places I’ve worked and while it surprised me at the time, I think it makes a lot of sense in hindsight. Sometimes someone sees the potential in the person who is already there and move them into that position later on (or they’re the last man standing sometimes too). Either way, it sounds like you have a pretty decent gig to me 🙂
I couldn’t agree more on painting being an escape and not a source of stress. I have zero interest in doing commissions for that reason. I can only paint for me and wherever my muse takes me 😀 Its not like painting pays that well anyway either!
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Well first off, congrats on the Gold award! That’s fabulous! From the photo of your work (nice job on the display stand and name tag too!), I would have picked the Adjudicator too. Now, I will say..GW minis kind of bore me. I’ve seen so many and they are all painted very similarly. But I still really like your Adjudicator regardless and it’s really well done. It’s the one GW mini, I wouldn’t mind looking at!! 😂
That being said, I’d love to see your take on a bust or some of the larger figures I saw at Reaper. Speaking of which, it’s time to earn my commission and state that the Reaper mini displays were also on high tables with black covers to further enhance the dramatic paint jobs of the stellar artists! Though they did have some minis stolen, which was extremely lame.
I’m glad you enjoyed MMSI and it sounds like a fun show to attend. I think GenCon is off the table for us next year. I’m still tempted to try and make ReaperCon again someday. This time around I know more of what questions I would ask and things l would do. I might just sit at the painting challenge tables the whole con, haha!
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Thanks, Brian! I can definitely see what the Knight-Judicator got the nod. I expected the Wrathmonger to get it but I think that the Stormcast is probably better overall. I’m glad the older thing I painted didn’t win because that would have been a bit discouraging 🙂 I hope GW doesn’t see your sentiment here on the website or they’ll never send me anything free to paint too haha!
Do you know the name of the Reaper larger figures? I’ll take a look at them, if so. Otherwise, I find navigating their website to be challenging! I can believe the setup at ReaperCon was the same. There really isn’t anything stopping someone from stealing stuff to be honest…
Sorry to hear about GenCon as I know you were looking forward to it. Due to your influence, I might just try to take a painting class at Adepticon in 2024 if I can get the money in order. Those classes aren’t cheap so hopefully they’re good!
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They did have several judges walking around when we visited the display area, but I don’t know if it was before or after the theft incident. I imagine if someone was crafty enough, it wouldn’t be hard either way. I only know of one large Reaper mini. And that was the mini bust I posted from the class. It’s actually not on there store yet unfortunately, because I was thinking about getting one for my wife since she expressed interest. They do have some large dragons and other stuff, but I think you’re referring to the other minis I saw which were not Reaper. Higher end stuff from AK and other manufacturers. I’m guessing my post probably confused the point.
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I don’t have a mind of a thief or a criminal but I completely agree. It could be done pretty easily.
I misunderstood you so the fault is mine. I know what you’re talking about exactly now. You may just get your wish too 🙂 I wouldn’t dare compete against your wife on a sculpt either. I only face off against mini painters who are washed up or waning. A mini painter on the rise is to be avoided haha! I’m sure she’ll do a great job with that one too!
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Oh, I do. But I only use my thieving powers for good these days, haha! Jokes aside, if you’re involved with any form of security or risk assessment (home, computers, etc.), you do have to try and get into the mindset of the opposition.
Yea, I’d be really curious to see what she does with that mini bust. The beauty of it though, is I bet all three of us could finish one and it would still look different!
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I should have thought of that! IT and security definitely go hand-in-hand. The company I work for is large enough that they have them split out into two different teams but that still means the two have to be closely linked for sure.
Absolutely! Our community doesn’t do it often but the idea of having multiple people paint the same mini and go in different directions is really fun to watch. Maybe we should try and have an event like that in the future. I think I’d like to participate, especially if the mini is fairly small and quick to paint.
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Most IT units also have a security team.
That would be an interesting challenge. Picking a mini everyone would want to paint and have access to would be a challenge.
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Agreed. My inclination would be a GW sculpt because they’re available everywhere but at the same time, GW minis aren’t cheap and so that is another factor to consider. Either way, it might be easier to want to do than to follow through with…
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Yea, my first thought was Reaper but I’ve heard they are not as easy to get ahold of outside of the US. Probably could do an older GW mini like a Space Marine. You can usually buy a ton of them on EBay. But I don’t know how enthused I’d be to paint an old Space Marine. Probably easier to do if you rounded up people who all like the same brand and themes. Or do it in pairs? I don’t know, I’m sure there is a way to do it. The other question would be when? I don’t know all the Challenge months, but seems like there is usually one or more going on all the time. Hahaha…a funny name just came to me…..”The Clone Wars Challenge”! 😂
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I can believe it on Reaper being hard to find overseas. I’ve only owned one of their minis and I didn’t enjoy it all that much. That was years ago though so hopefully the quality has improved. You’re also right on needing people to have a common interest. The more we discuss it, the harder this seems! I do think we’ve got the name nailed down though. It doesn’t get any better than The Clone Wars Challenge 😀
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Was it one of the white plastic ones? Those suck. They’re cheap, but I don’t like working with that material. They have a lot of options now though. Metal, plastic, and they are moving into 3D printing too.
The 3D prints have been interesting. Pretty decent and you don’t have to scrape mold lines off or assemble. Though there can be support bits to snap off, but those are much easier to clean up than mold lines.
Actually that was one thing I noticed at the convention, most of their minis require no assembly and can be painted right out of the blister pack. Making them much easier to get to the table.
My main problem is that the scale is about a head taller than the Northstar minis I’ve painted, so that would make them look about like Halflings or Children next to one another. Still, I imagine I’ll paint up one their new character minis eventually.
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It was this mini right here: https://www.reapermini.com/miniatures/pony/latest/03806. I bought it in NYC and it was the first time I’d seen Reaper minis for sale, if I’m not mistaken. The mini wasn’t THAT bad either, I’m just being a miniature snob. Well that, and I don’t like how they sculpt the metal bases on them. I much prefer what GW does in that regard.
Reaper and Mantic have some things in common in that both have minis that are a bit lower in quality and not for display painting but are very gamer friendly. They have plenty of differences too, of course, but that is a connection I didn’t think of until now. The scale thing does sound annoying though. When you’re gaming, you want everything to fit together reasonably well!
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Oh man, can’t say I like that mini at all. The example of the painted one looks good though.
I do like their metal minis though and I usually go for either metal of their newer plastics. The details are usually finer and the material is easier to work with. Unless you don’t like working with metal, which I understand. Plastic and metal both have their pros and cons.
Mantic?! Don’t get me started!! Haha! I backed some of their early kickstarters and found their minis so bad, that I’ve avoided them for years. I pick up their terrain crate stuff from time to time, but that’s it. Too bad, because some of their games looked interesting and the ideas and art styles were also promising, but their delivery has been lacking.
Yea, scale is important to me, but I also find that Reaper has minis in all kinds of scales which makes it tough. Their new ‘Dungeon Dwellers’ line appears to be all in the same scale though. I have a few and they’ve been consistent, so that’s pretty cool.
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I’m sure they make better quality miniatures now since that was five years ago. At the time, I wasn’t painting as high quality of miniatures as well so tastes definitely change. What is a good example of a higher quality Reaper sculpt? Should I just look for their newest releases or is there a particular line that is better than the rest? I’d like to take a look and see what improvement I can spot.
I didn’t get on with Mantic’s Kings of War sculpts (though I only bought a box of it so small sample size) but their Walking Dead and Hellboy sculpts are good for what they are other than some annoying clean-up. The mold lines are tough to remove for whatever reason. Terrain Crate is not bad either though the flimsy, stretchy plastic is not my favorite. I’d guess they chose that to keep it durable on the tabletop.
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Yea, you pretty much hit the nail on the head with the Mantic minis. They use a plastic that makes it about impossible to remove mould lines without damaging the mini.
The Reaper dragons are probably some of their better stuff.
I really liked this mini, the detail is nice and crisp. I’m not sure if she’s 3D printed: https://www.reapermini.com/search/half%20orc%20female/latest/07098
I know this guy was a freebie in October and he’s 3D printed: https://www.reapermini.com/search/07101
I don’t really care for the Sophies, but I guess this would be another example: https://www.reapermini.com/search/30134
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Ah, here’s a newer dragon too: https://www.reapermini.com/search/77981
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Thanks for putting that together! I don’t have a lot of interest in painting dragons but now that you mentioned it, I do recall that that is a specialty of Reaper’s. I think their dragons are about as impressive of a thing as they make. For me, I struggle a bit with the way they sculpt and design their minis. The minis you shared would be best painted in TMM, in my opinion. The Hobgoblin is the only exception of those and I think it is setup pretty well for NMM. That is definitely one factor that keeps me away from their minis.
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I actually didn’t pay any attention to their dragons till recently. I think I decided I should probably own a dragon some day, and went looking at who had the best classic D&D dragon look. That road led me back to Reaper. They have quite a few and most look pretty nice. Though I had heard they need some green stuff work at the joins. Maybe the newer ones are better though? If I ever get the courage to paint the one I picked up, I’ll let you know!
Interesting, Rhonda Bender paints minis for Reaper and I think all her stuff is NMM. The painted example of the Hobgoblin was hers. As I’m still a TMM guy, I’m not sure what makes one mini better than the other in that regard though. Oh yea, I saw this one too, that is more detailed than some. But I don’t know if that’s up your alley: https://www.reapermini.com/search/sophie/latest/30125
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The dragon you showed me had some fairly obvious gaps in one of the pictures so I’d agree that some green stuff would be helpful. I’d guess it is because they’re bigger models with unique shapes though I could be wrong. That is how it used to be with old, larger metal Warhammer sculpts anyway.
Miniatures that have tiny little details that are metallic are annoying to paint. As much as I love MESBG, there are models in that line that are not at all easy to paint in NMM because of what I describe. Sometimes its also the shape of the metal. The previous Sophie you showed me has some weird shapes that are harder to paint in NMM than TMM. Our friends at Mantic struggle with this too. A lot of their sculpts seem to be designed for TMM only. Larger surfaces really help.
I like that Sophie better than the previous miniatures. She has some nice details to her and you could avoid metallic surfaces altogether, if you wanted to.
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Ah ok, I was thinking about it afterwards and I think I was on the right track. It’s kind of like how blending works best if you have a bigger smooth surface to work on. I take it that gives you more room to build up your layers and reflections?
As for the gaps, I’ve seen some models where they made scales (or other bits) that go over the joins.
I did take a green stuff class at ReaperCon and they showed how to make scales (again the word “dragon” came up!). Unfortunately, I don’t feel like I got the technique down very well and so I pretty much dread having to make my own scales to cover gaps. 😵💫 I’m sure someday I’ll either force myself or be feeling in the mood, especially if the kids have a chance of meeting one in some module.
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Yeah, really small metal pieces are hard to blend. You can still make it work, I often have to with Fallout minis, but it isn’t ideal. If you ever delve into the TMM and NMM deeper, there are common shapes you can break miniatures down into and GW does a good job of utilizing those in their sculpts. Some of the Reaper ones kind of throw that out which makes it harder to paint NMM. This Youtube video describes it and the basics of NMM if you want to learn more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zux0HAS8pAw. And watching it is totally optional if you’re curious to learn more! Its not homework or anything!
I went back to the Wyvern you showed me and I would personally just fill the gaps with green stuff and try to smooth it out instead of adding scales. I think adding scales could look great but that is a more advanced technique. As someone who is not great at sculpting and only started using green stuff fairly recently, I think its best to start small and build your confidence up. Scales might be flashier and more impressive but just filling the gaps is the most important thing. Seeing those always kills the immersion of a nicely painted model as I’m sure you know!
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The scales actually weren’t quite as hard as you’d think. It’s just there is a pluck technique, and I could never quite get it. I’m sure Dave probably knows all about it and could explain it better than me, since he has quite a bit of sculpting experience. I actually had the scale looking okay, till I tried too hard to copy their technique. But hey, just need more practice.
Thanks for the video share, I’ll check that out.
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You’re welcome and I agree that Dave would be a great source of info and he’s always happy to answer sculpting questions in my experience so its well worth a shot! I can see what you mean about there being a bit of an artform to it. You’d probably want the green stuff to harden a bit but not all the way, I would guess.
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Yea, we started a cape and after the initial shape left it to cure a bit. There is definitely that inbetween point where green stuff becomes much easier to work with.
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Gold standard? That’s brilliant, you should be so proud of yourself. Maybe I should become your manager as you’re way more successful in a way more competitive field 😉
Did you get inspired for any specific projects? Or maybe to try something a bit ‘out there’ like a recreation of a famous painting?
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Haha, thanks mate! Unfortunately, all I got was a gold medal which means that you would have no financial rewards for managing me, I’m afraid 🙂 I think it might be even worse than what you can win in a tournament, though I could be wrong!
For me, MMSI opened my eyes to larger scale miniatures. I had seen those miniatures before in the Crystal Brush painting competition at Adepticon in 2018 or something like that but truthfully, I wasn’t doing any display painting back then so I never considered trying one out. Lately, I feel like that might be a better format for me to work in and I will try painting a large scale mini soon.
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Congrats on your award – well-deserved – and I’m happy for you!
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Thank you, Mark! I really appreciate it!
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Dude, you got gold, GOLD! That’s a magnificent achievement for the magnificent painting job you did on that model, not to mention the hours of effort and the talent needed to produce such a beautiful piece. You should be justifiably proud of yourself, and it should be a huge boost to your confidence as a painter. Well done, sir!
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Thanks, Matt! 😀 It was definitely an honor to win gold with my first exhibit at MMSI. Such a contrast from entering Golden Demon for the first time in 2023, if I’m honest. Thank you for your support over the years!
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