{Voting} Jon Q's Un-official LO Painting Contest - Pic Heavy

[Jon Quixote]

Jon Q's Un-official LO Painting Contest

So here we are.

This is the place to vote for that most coveted of titles... Jon Q's Un-official LO Painting Contest Winner. With the grand prize of being able to choose the theme of the next contest.

'Wow,' I can hear you all say in shock, awe and wonder.

Voting closes at September 1st at 18:32, giving you seven days to make your choice.

Without any more chat, here are the entries in order of posting.

I sincerely hope I haven't missed anyone off and if i have, I am most dreadfully sorry.





Warhammer Madman
Pirate



Jon Quixote
Dwarf (Hammer time)


DavidVC04
Ogre (Blood Gruel the Flatulent)



mpdscott
Sir Justin


The Paint Monkey
Crimson Fist Terminator Commander



xhivetyrantx
Falcon



Helbrecht
Abaddon



Boomer
Snippy (LatD Champion)



Lynta
Waywatcher



Minus-t
High Elf



Zeewulf
Space marine



ShadowZora13
Eldar Farseer


Shango
Necron


Redarmy27
Blood elf


Chaos877
Ork




Let voting commence.

PS. It is considered bad form to vote for yourself, so we ask that you don't. There is no way for me to check or stop you, but I hope that you listen to that little voice in your head that is your conscience and do the right thing.

[Helbrecht]

i would just like to say great job by everyone.

[Jon Quixote]

Ditto.

I would also like to say that I'll PM the winner to discuss the topic for the next contest after voting finishes.

I'll give it a week or so (after the 1st of Sept) before the new contest is posted.

[Chaos877]

Well, I voted for David. Heres why:

Ogre=awesome
Rust effects (when pulled off well)=awesomer
A gnoblar pushed over by an ogre size fart=hilarity

a combonation of the three = Awesome and funny.

And I has no votes

EDIT: apparently CMON thinks my entry isn't as good as this:CoolMiniOrNot - ork biker lightly converted by ITHIEL AEL (by the way you can go to CMON and vote on my ork)

[danjones87]

I dont mean to be critical with my comments on these models. Im just trying to give a evaluation to my view. to be honest Im being rather picky.

Im split between the following.

DavidVC04's ogre, the flesh tones are well done, the rust eggects are top notch to as mentioned above. I think the horns and teeth on the gut plate could be blended or layered a bit more, they seem to clean and bright compared to the rest of the model.

xhivetyrantx's falcon, I like the extreme highlighting and the camo pattern marking things, that is REALLY well pulled off. I think a little more attention on the gem areas and painted cockpits would have sealed it for this model.

Lynta's Waywatcher, really nicely painted, the earth tones look wonderful. What lets it down is the unfinished base.

*votes for DavidVC04*

There are some great models in that selection above.

I may enter somthing next time.

Dan

[Zeewulf]

I really, really like the color of -T's High Elf. The jewels on him have this outstanding depth, and the face is very clean, very sharp. All in all, I rather liked it. I spent my time deciding torn between the Elf and the Falcon.....and though I'm a treadhead, the elf won out.

Regarding my own entry: I think the helmet will make or break a piece, and in this case, I think the hemet sorely broke mine. I tried to muck around with different techniques too much; I shoulda picked one and stuck to it. Someday I'm going to have to go back and fix that helmet.

[lynta]

for nice comment on my waywatcher.
the reason it aint based is because im going to do a little disply base for him, but i was out of green stuff so i couldnt make the tree i wanted, and since i havent decided how the base is going to look like i just didnt do it . i voted for the ogre since i think its the best painted model here, awesome pants, awesome rust on weapon, awesome skin and a awesome gnoblar, the horns could be better though.
ill post a pic of the waywatcher and the display base when its finished

Cheers!

[warhammer madman]

-T,s high elf i just amazeing i love it the face takes my breath away and lovely depth. but all the minis are grate and i would have happily voted for any of them.

wonder what next project is (can we make a vote for the next topic) with stupidly broad catogrys like GW mini or a nice one could be classic mini or mini that means something to you (the worriors of minastirith have a place in my heart as the first minis i ever painted) and have people tell a little story about there reson for picking a mini.

on the subject of my pirate... im quite happy with him (quite good for me) but my camera skills let me down (and my inability to resize my pics) and i am verry sorry thati was on holliday when asked to re-size sorry again!!!????

[minus_t]

Well, traditionally (before I started running them, anyway), I'd do a run-down on each mini, before deciding who I was voting for.
Seeing as Jon has gone above and beyond in getting the ball rolling for contests on LO again, I suppose the least I could do was offer a bit of C&C to everyone who took the time and effort to enter!

So, I guess I'm here for a while...



Warhammer Madman ~ Pirate
I like lots about this mini, the pose is nice, the choice of bits is great, and the scheme fits well.
The painting is simply a little too blocky for it to go any further though.
The basics are there, good colour choice, highlighting etc, but the detail isn't. I suspect this is down to thick paint, but it's tricky to tell, and I dislike the oh-so-common criticism of 'water your paints down', when it isn't necessarry.
Try spending a little more time with a mini, and forcing yourself to paint slower. Concentrate on getting one area done as best as you can, before starting another.
As I said, I like a lot about the mini, but the painting just isn't there yet ,I'm afraid.

Jon Quixote ~ Dwarf (Hammer Time)
One of my fav's here.
I love the understated NMM, the colours work very well, though some of the silver could be a little smoother (the transitions are a tad obvious on the hammer and his boot), IMO.
The hair and wood looks great, as does the bottom side of the hammer, really nice selections of colour and texture. The top of the hammer somehow doesn't measure up to the bottom, though...
The blue, in and of itself, is great. Very nice, deep, rich colour. However, there is too much of it!
It kinda seems like everything that isn't wood, beard or metal, is blue! I think the main thing I'd change is the gloves. A black or dark brown leather would help break up the mini so much, and really bring the little fella to life.

DavidVC04 ~ Blood Gruel the Flatulent
Really wonderful mini. Another of my contenders.
The skin, metals and rust are all top-notch.
As danjones says, though, the horns and gut plate seem not to fit in, as they are just a bit too clean.
Still, awesome job.

mpdscott ~ Sir Justin
A very fine study in a more realistic mini, I think.
A much more gritty model than the rest of the SF/F minis on show, and I think the painting reflects this. However, certain areas need more contrast, to make the mini stand out, especially the base, metallics and the white shield.
The shield especially lets this down a bit for me, and takes it out of my top models.

The Painting Monkey ~ Crimson Fist Captain
A good solid mini, and one that will look great as it kicks ass!
Certain parts shine out as being very fine, notably the tabard and the blue armour, but similarly, IMO, certain parts let it down a bit.
The red hands seem to lack contrast, as does the face, which is a pity, as otherwise the model is fantastic.
I suspect that these problems may be at least partly to do with the photo, as red is a real git to photograph nicely, and the face looks better (from a tone and contrast POV) in the top left photo, but I can't make out enough detail...

xhivetyrantx ~ Falcon
Another of my fav's.
Not much I can say about it that danjones hasn't already, the cockpit and gems really seem to let it down, as does the first photo...
Otherwise, fine painting.

Helbrecht ~ Abaddon
Another top contender, I think.
Very good conversion work gone on, really makes a difference when compared to the old Abaddon (I know, I've got a similar conversion sitting half finished on my desk!).
The skin and base do let it down, though those have already been discussed in the contest thread...
Drach'nyen (well, the Slayer of Kings, I should say) looks amazing, as do the silvers.
Nice work mate.

Boomer ~ Snippy (LatD Champion)
The painting is a real improvement over your previous work, but still can keep going, I think!
The armour, especially, looks great. However, the skin just isn't up to the same standard IMO, and I'd like to see more variation in colour, to be honest.
The conversion just isn't doing it for me either, I'm afraid. The claws just seem *too* big for him...

Lynta ~ Waywatcher
A very, very nice mini, and another one of my favs.
Generally very nice layering, and a generally good colour palette, though a little more contrast would be nice in places...
However, the lack of basing lets it down massively, unfortunately.
Pretty much anything is better than nothing, IMO.

minus_t ~ High Elf
Well, as a frank assessment of my own minis, I think this has good bits and bad bits.
I'm really happy with the skin-tone, and most of the metallics (the sword, especially).
However, the colours are fairly uninspired, and some areas need much more definition (the design on the shield needs blacklining to neaten it up, IMO). I feel like I ran out of inspiration for this guy, and ended up rushing to get him finished, which isn't awesome, but I generally am pretty happy with him.

Zeewulf ~ Space Marine
Generally very nice, neat painting, but overall lacking contrast and consistancy. For a marine, he just has too many different colours going on in too many different places!
Normally for a marine, you want to keep your contrasting colours to the iconography/decoration, not seperate pieces of armour.
I'd suggest going for yellow armour, with a very dark chest eagle (maybe a very dark silver?), and black or red iconography and/or badges.
This will keep the mini looking coherent, yet still interesting.

ShadowZora13 ~ Eldar Farseer
Generally very nice, though it doesn't quite have the 'wow' factor, I feel.
The white has a nice depth of colour, but seems over-thick and even a little blobby right at the top, while the black seems to lack contrast.
The bone/yellow is a nice third colour, but I think the pistol could have done with being a different colour, to stop it looking quite so tri-tone.

Shango ~ Necron
Nice and neat, but lacking in depth, IMO.
Taking the metallic shading down to almost pure black, and bringing the green up to almost pure white would really help it pop.

Redarmy27 ~ Blood Elf
The photo seems a little washed out and yellowy, which I don't think is helping, but the model again seems to lack contrast.
I think I would definately have done the sword silver, to really help bring some different colours into the model.

Chaos877 ~ Ork
Seems nice and solid, good colours for orks!
The model just seems to lack any pazazz, if you know what I mean?
Everything individually is fine, but all together it lacks punch.
I think a base would really help out, as you can give so much extra information to a mini with it, and really help make a story, which is very useful in a contest such as this.


So, at the end I think I will vote for........
DavidVC04.
I had the least to say about it, because it's so damn near perfect.
A very fine model, and I hope he will lead you to many victories!


Last, but not least, let me gush a little:
A huge round of applause to Jon for organising this, may all his children be happy and fat.

Very well done to everyone who entered, I hope you don't mind me commenting in this way, and feel free to return the harsh, petty criticisms!
I promise that they weren't meant as such, and I hope you can take the positive aspects of what I wrote, and try and improve on the not-so-positive...

I was pleasantly suprised when browsing down the entries to see a lot of names that I don't recognise, which means that the painting forum is continuing to grow, and from what I see here, definately becoming a better place to see nicely painted minis, and recieve friendly and helpful critiques!


I'll shut up now.

-t.

[redarmy27]

Great job to everyone. I love how a lot of people took the time to particpate in this and great thanks goes to Jon for putting this on! This is a great thing to have people participate in and it brings our community close together.

There's a lot of great entries from all levels of ability and experience, my hats off to everyone who put their's in to gamble a bit and to have the courage to put their work up! Good job. I'll use the comments from my mini to further better myself and my photography to do even better next time!

I'm at a loss who to vote for as there are many good entries. I'm torn between Minus_t's High Elf and Dave's Orge. Both have a lot of personality. Dave's says "I'm here, I'm big, mean and slightly clumbsy, but I'll beat the hell out of you anyways!", while Minus' has a lot of character in the face as if the H.E. has seen a lot in his day of combat. I love the painting on both of the entries, but I'm going to have to inch my vote over to Minus because of the beautiful color schemes and the blending. It's a very direct mix of colors that makes the mini look very "direct and challenging" as he'd be a tough individual to fight in combat.

Again, great job everyone!

Cheers,
Jake