I’m not going to bury the lead. The “redemption arc” I worked really hard to try and turn into reality didn’t happen this year. I received a silver medal again this year which is befuddling and disheartening. The model that won the silver and was judged to be the best in my exhibit will probably surprise you as well but more on that in a bit.
At least some regular readers might recall that I had a bit of a meltdown when I received silver last time in 2024. I had some valid things to be mad about (some of which were still true at this year’s show, unfortunately) but I regret the way I handled it back then. One of my biggest goals this year was to handle the results better. There is an expression I heard someone say and I wish I knew who, but essentially it goes like: don’t enter into a painting competition if you can’t accept any of the possible outcomes. The reason for this wisdom is that you probably won’t win any given painting competition and its best to mentally prepare for that ahead of time. So that is what I tried to do this time and I think it helped.
I have seen this wisdom borne out second-hand as well. Back when I learning how to be a halfway decent painter on the Cool Mini Or Not Forums, there was a gentleman who lives in the UK who was very kind to me with providing useful feedback and is an excellent painter. He’s always had more skill than me/was always further along in the painting journey than me and I’ve seen him create some incredible pieces over the years. I’m not sure how active he is in the hobby currently but he’s a real talent and someone whose work I admire. When he started entering competitions in the UK including Golden Demon and possibly Salute (I can’t remember exactly which UK painting competition it was so it might a different one than Salute or one that no longer exists) and he got humbling results sometimes that I found befuddling back then.
I suppose it has been my turn the last couple of years as I haven’t been to match the success at MMSI of my first year. Here is my brief history of exhibiting:
2023 – Gold
2024 – Silver
2026 – Silver
Yes, that’s right. Grunthal got the silver and was deemed better by the judges than Lokaris. I am very proud of Grunthal. Its my first bust I completed and I did the very best I could on it. I would like to do the metal a bit differently on it but other than that, I think it came out pretty nicely. I did not think it would do better than Lokaris, however and I’m very puzzled by this result which I’ll talk about more shortly.
I already would have been puzzled at getting silver again as I clearly improved a lot since Minerva but getting Silver on a bust and it being better than Lokaris is wild. This is where I really wish I could see what scores the two miniatures received and what areas the judges think I could improve in. It is the one thing MMSI doesn’t do that I think would be hugely helpful for fostering growth in hobbyists who exhibit.
Needless to say, I’m disappointed that my best wasn’t good enough for gold yet again and that I’ve gotten two silvers in a row after getting gold on the first try. If only I had been awarded a gold this time and gotten two silvers before. That would have been much more satisfying and gratifying. Instead, I’m left scratching my head and needing to figure out how to get better from here to get to where I want to be. I also am unsure of what I’m best at painting anymore. If you look at these results, you’d say Warhammer, busts, and 75mm in that order. I’m not sure if that is really accurate and I feel that I have A LOT to learn about painting busts still. I also haven’t painted a proper Warhammer miniature in years now so whose to say if I still “got it” or not.
To be clear, I do not regret branching out from only painting gaming scale miniatures. I believe we should all challenge ourselves and try to learn new things when we can. I’ve learned a heck of a lot from doing so and while I might have gotten more gold medals if I kept painting Warhammer only, that is not the way I want to do things in creative endeavors. It is not as difficult to perfect a skill and keep doing it over and over to win acclaim. A real artist attempts new ideas and seeks to push themselves however they can. I’m not going to stop doing that even if I don’t always get gold medals or acclaim out of it.
So yes, I have no idea what to think of display painting at the moment. I was always going to set aside display painting in regards to more ambitious 75mm miniature projects for a while because I know that I’m going to be moving next year and I don’t want to start a project like that and have to press pause for potentially a month or two on it. I will focus on gaming stuff and the Monsterpocalypse diorama until I move and ponder over what direction I’m going to move in because I don’t have any answers anymore.
Normally I’d talk a bit about what MMSI was like but this year I had the unfortunate situation of arriving too early on Friday when there weren’t many miniatures setup and then too late on Saturday and most everybody had packed up well before the awards show started. So I really can’t say much about the quality of this year’s show which is a shame. I enjoy seeing everything people have worked on and so I’ll have to wait for them to post a photo gallery I suppose.
To wrap things up, I have been making steady hobby progress this past week but I’ll save it for next week as this is already long enough. You can look forward to two week’s worth of hobby work instead of the usual one.
The only reason I can think of why the bust over Lokaris is without the background story maybe the inclusion of the rabbit confused/distracted the judges? Who knows what lurks in the minds of judges.
Will be interesting to see what else was entered and judged.
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It certainly could be and if it were the Golden Demon, I would say its much more likely that the rabbit would disqualify a miniature from winning as they punish “mistakes” harshly there. I suspect there is more to their decision than that, but it is just that, a hunch on my part. You’re absolutely right that it is impossible to know what the judges thought without seeing how they scored it and where they deducted points.
There will definitely be pictures posted online though they may not necessarily include the winning pieces as the photographer just takes pictures of whatever catches their fancy. If I see a link, I’ll post them next time I update for anyone who is curious.
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I do understand your frustrations on this one, but it’s worth pointing out that you got silver! That in itself is still a pretty formidable achievement, in my book! Who knows how the minds of judges work, of course… it may not apply, but sometimes I wonder in competitions like these, if Warhammer stuff is easier to compare and so attracts more golds, whereas the ‘other’ stuff has to stand on its own, so they’re either more circumspect or just harsher?
Regardless, I hope you can still find some solace in the fact that you’ve done an extremely good job.
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Thanks for your support, mate. Silver is certainly nothing to sneeze at and I don’t take it for granted even if I desired gold. Funnily enough, at MMSI, you see way more large scale stuff than Warhammer. There is some Warhammer and someone there paints MCP, but generally its larger scale stuff. I actually am wondering now if gaming scales are judged slightly easier than larger scales but I can’t say for sure. I will talk about miniature scales next time I update because its something I’ve been pondering since the show. Hopefully you’ll find that discussion interesting when I get around to it.
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Firstly congratulations on the Silver Jeff, to place every time is no small feet in itself, especially in this ever changing hobby. As for the judging, it’s like art it’s subjective, so a judge’s personal preferences will come into play, so you may do something really inventive, within the storytelling the judge may not see or get it. Golden Demon, was always a tricky one, and had many other parts to consider.
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Thanks, Dave. I don’t take silver for granted and I recognize that I am consistently finishing above a good chunk of the exhibitors. That is certainly not nothing. My biggest suggestion for MMSI is to formalize a way for judges to give some kind of feedback to participants so that they can hopefully improve in the future. I know that is asking a lot of the judges but I think it would really improve exhibitors’ experience and encourage them to keep improving their skills.
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I don’t disagree with the feedback being great and useful, even a guide to how they mark the entries would be useful, rather than leaving it up to people to use their jedi mind tricks to find out what’s going on ! LOL
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Yes, exactly! Just seeing the scores across the categories would be invaluable. I know that sharing feedback invites people to be argumentative and judges are trying to do their best and don’t deserve that, but my hope is that there is a way that painting competitions can provide that kind of openness and a healthy environment that fosters growth instead of cutthroat competition and insecurity which another painting competition ran by your former employer creates at times.
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I’ll echo the sentiment of the others, congrats on the silver! I appreciate that’s not what you were after but it’s still a great recognition of your skill. I do think your newer models were an improvement on the previous ones, it’s possible the field has gotten stronger in the last few years as well.
Thinking about why the bust over Lokaris, perhaps the clear directional lighting on the bust drew the eyes of the judges, it’s an approach you see on more advanced models usually so that might have played in its favour. Just a guess, but some judges are very tick box focused (not a complaint, it is one way of staying impartial), so having something like that might have set the bust apart.
Anyhow all to say good job, and don’t take it to heart too much, I understand how you feel, when if was painting for golden demon back in the day I started with a bronze and could never reproduce that result. It was really disappointing at the time but looking back on it I’m proud that all the entries I painted after that first one were better (in my mind at least). Competition results have always been dependent on so many variables (judging, the field, etc.) it’s quite hard to use them as a barometer of how well you’re doing. Onwards and upwards!
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Thank you, Nic. I agree that my skills have improved over time but obviously it wasn’t as much as I would have liked again this time.
I think the lighting on Grunthal definitely sets it apart from Lokaris in that regard. It seems like directional lighting is almost a must have in busts to me anyway but it can be good to have on full-bodied miniatures too, if you can pull it off!
I’m sorry to hear that you had a similar experience to me in that you start off with a bang and can’t seem to replicate it afterwards. It is unfortunate that you can improve but not really see that progress in your results but it is also part of competitive painting. With limited feedback, it is often even more puzzling as to why you end up in a particular place as well. There’s nothing I can do about that, of course, but keep trying to improve my skills and hope for better results in the future, even if it will be at other shows most likely.
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I’m going to lead with congratulations on the Silver! 🙂 I agree with all of the above comments!
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Thank you, John! I appreciate your support.
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That must be extremely disappointing, sorry to hear Jeff! I am nowhere near an expert painter but when I see Lokaris, it seems to me like it is the best thing you’ve ever painted.
Even at such a high skill level, at the end of the day judges (& everyone else) judges subjectively. But because painting is so personal and time intensive, it can feel like a personal attack or insult if people judge it differently than you judge it yourself.
Last year I went to my first MESBG tournament and in the lunch break there was a painting competition on the side, nothing special but as a bonus. Most people there were gamers first and the paint jobs generally reflected that. I would put myself in that category as well, but this time I brought my favourite army (Thranduil’s Halls) and I was really proud of my painting on those. I was really happy with my colour schemes and really took more time with them than I normally do. While I wouldn’t imagine myself winning said painting competition, because of the general lower bar I at least imagined that I would be somewhat up there, or maybe that I would get a nice comment from someone. That didn’t happen. Instead I overheard the judges saying that it was not even close when they announced the winner. While I agree that the winner had the best painted army, it still hurt my feelings that they put it so bluntly. And it also felt like no one there appreciated the extra effort I spend on those minis, like it was invisible. Obviously I spend that extra effort because I wanted to, not to impress anybody. But it still hurt and left me feeling a bit sour. I imagine for you this must be a lot more so. 😦
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Thanks, mate! Its hard to judge what the best thing is I’ve painted but I think Lokaris is up there too. Its quite possible that the Stormcast that won Gold has fewer “mistakes” on it which would help explain the results but its all just guesswork on my part and we’ll never know the truth.
For me, the worst part is the sense that going from Gold > Silver > Silver feels like I’m stagnating or diminishing in my abilities when that is not the case at all. I’ve never been better at painting. Alas, painting awards unfortunately do not follow your skill trajectory and many other factors play a part in the results, instead.
In my opinion, that is very unprofessional of the judges to say that sort of thing out loud. I understand their desire to distinguish the overall winner but you have to be careful what you say because you don’t want to diminish all of the other entries.
I view every painted miniature as someone trying to paint something they care about in at least a small way to a reasonable peak of their ability. Some miniatures come out better than others but when we paint them, we try to do our best, for the most part anyway. If you put down someone’s work in anyway, you’re more than likely hurting their feelings and you’re downplaying their effort. Of course, not all paint jobs are at the same level and we all make mistakes while hobbying but that doesn’t need to be pointed out. If you are going to offer constructive criticism, that is a different matter altogether too of course. I’m really sorry you had that experience and the judges definitely could have and should have done better, in my opinion. There’s no way that they would have enjoyed being treated in the same manner and they shouldn’t be surprised if interest in the painting competition drops as time goes on. Ultimately, they will only have themselves to look at in the mirror for that result.
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Shame about Lokaris but well done on Grunthal. Both are excellent miniatures. I’ve been painting for a long time and I’m proud of my work but I’m under no illusions that I’d have no chance at all in one of those contests. Understandable that you’d be feeling disappointed in the result but that silver medal is one to be proud of all the same.
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Thanks, mate. Silver is nothing to be ashamed of even if it isn’t at the level I had hoped. Competition painting is definitely hard sometimes and it brings out the worst tendencies in some people as well, I’m sorry to say. You certainly will get humbled at times and you have no choice but take it on the chin and keep working hard to achieve your goals.
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It’s interesting reading this, I think you and I went two wildly different points during a period of time. Like you, I came into my own as a painter during the height of Cool Mini or Not’s heyday 20 some odd years ago. I developed a style, and a reputation.
I also entered some competitions, and did okay. Thought about being a competition painter to drive commissions, but ended up being docked heavily in a comp for using metallics instead of NMM. I was so pissed that I rage quite competitions and haven’t entered since… which is probably all for the better since my eyes are shot and my brush control is nowhere near what it used to be. I promise this isn’t about me, though.
Competitions are nothing more than a route traveled while you progress. Your Lokaris is stunning, anyone looking at it knows this. YOU know this. It’s a clear progression in a long, steady series of exceptional work. All the competition is, at the end of the day, a way to have that acknowledged by your peers.
I’ve been painting miniatures for 45 years. I’ve seen some of the best miniatures from some of the best painters, and that piece is up there with the greats. You literally challenged yourself, bested yourself, and wrestled that piece out of yourself.
The competition is with you, and you came out on top. That’s no small feat. A gold would be awesome for sure, but don’t short-change what you ripped out of yourself!
I hope I’m not out of line. I love your work, and I’m looking forward to more. Cheers, buddy!
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Its interesting to hear your painting journey and how our paths have similarities too. I was on CMON about tenish years ago when the site was obviously dying a slow death in hindsight. There were still some great painters in the forums and I was an eager student and learned a lot from them which I am forever grateful for.
A judge docking anyone for using metallic paints is nonsense! I don’t use TMM because miniatures with metallic paints are harder to photograph, metallic paints wear brushes out quickly, and you kind of end up using the same techniques with TMM and NMM in many ways. NMM suited me once I tried it so I’ve never looked back once I switched. With that said, TMM is not lesser than NMM obviously, you just have to use excellent technique with either one. There are a couple of people who regularly win Golden Demon with TMM minis. On the flipside, a lot of newer painters think you basecoat and add a wash and call it a day, but if you really want to get top results, you need to push the shadows and highlights further than that. I’m preaching to the choir at this point, I know but I would soundly reject any saying TMM or NMM is better than the other. Its all about which you like best and you can use both equally, if you want to.
This is a tangent, but hopefully still of interest. You probably already know this but CMON as a miniature ranking website could pretty easily fall prey to manipulation. Some people sabotaged really nice miniatures back in the day and you could get higher scores if you made friends with regulars in the forums who would then vote for pretty much anything you paint. That is how I unwittingly managed to get some decent scores back in the day. I certainly didn’t have the skill I do now!
Getting back on topic, I really appreciate your kind words. I certainly put my heart and soul into Lokaris and did the best that I could. That is where there you’re always going to feel a bit let down if you don’t get the exact medal or place that you want (which you, of course, almost never do!). Its just part of the process essentially. Having said that, it means a lot to have people that support and root for you on your painting journey because when you enter in competitions, you often get very little support or even silence in response to your work. And that can be difficult to take even when you’re bracing for it.
To conclude, you’re not out of line at all and I very much appreciate your response. There’s always a few days where you have to digest another painting competition result and get through all of your insecurities but I’m starting to come out of it today and I certainly plan on continuing the painting journey I’ve been on for years now. I’ve only gotten one great result in four entries and I’m thankful for the Gold I earned and hopeful that there are a few more left in me.
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