Judging Painting for Dummies, Part Two

Posted by Ranillon on 13. November 2009 17:46

Okay, here are some select examples from the 2009 Chicago Grand Daemon that I want to use to illustrate the various skills that go into great (and not so great) miniatures painting (It also makes for a new record for pictures in a blog post here).

 First, the Slayer Sword winner himself:

 
What you notice first here is the fine level of detail combined with neatness.  Examine the points of transition between various colors or portions of his outfit.  They aren't muddled, but rather distinct as you would expect the real thing to be. Likewise, the levels of blending are outstanding with the glint of reflection off the metals or the subtle transitions from darker to lighter areas both clear and natural.  I have seen better, but this is fine work.

Now check out the two examples above.  I list them to help illustrate what for the most part works on the model.  I think that the gems are especially nice, but the robe shading is actually not quite as good as I've seen elsewhere.  The best figures would have an even more subtle transition between layers, so much so as to make the shadowing effect seem completely natural.  Still, it's worth noting how difficult it is to achieve this level of excellence.

 

The next example is the 40K single miniature winner.  What is interesting here is how the model demonstrates just how powerful the "5 foot effect" can really be.  By that I mean painting with the notion of "How good will this model/army look at normal playing distances?"  In this case the effect is excellent -- notice how in the first picture the armor shines like actual metal.  Yet, when you examine the second close up image you can clearly see individual brush strokes.  This is only a mild criticism -- ideally you don't want to notice individual strokes even up close, but the overall effect here is nevertheless excellent.

  

This next example is of the winning 40K Unit.  What I really like here is how nice and vibrant the greens are.  It is easy to look at this and think "So, what?  It's just the basic colors being applied" but look at how solid they are.  It is harder than you think to get that "like if a machine sprayed it on" appearance on models.  The basic technique is to water down your colors to get an even application, but the solution sounds easier than it is to do in real life, especially when you are talking about the small areas on individual models.

This next example is the winning Warhammer monster and what's most obvious is the fine job done on the skin.  Ironically, whereas the last technique is a bit harder than it looks this is a bit easier than it looks as the natural contours on the model help define the areas of lighter and darker skin.  It is then just a matter of making sure you transition between them as naturally as possible (with the more complicated textures being the easier to do).  Its work that requires a lot of extensive, even tedious, work, but the end effect can be quite nice.

Continuing on in this vein...

   

Here are two more examples of color/shading transitions, one much better than the other.  The first -- the Large Model winner -- has a nice layered face, if not perfect (the transitions between grays and browns are a bit abrupt, but then again it does give a sunken, gaunt appearance).  If you compare this one with the giant you can see the advantage of having a more complex/muscled skin -- smoother skin means you can't use the rough edges as a 'cheat' to help produce shadowing.  That is something to keep in mind when judging.

In comparison to the last two, the second model in this row -- the third place diorama -- has some really average blending.  The transition on the tunic is especially heavy-handed, the sort of result anyone can get with moderate effort.  This doesn't mean it is a terrible job -- it would still be well above average at any typical gaming shop -- but is rather surprising for a placing Grand Daemon winner.

These next two are Young Blood winners so they shouldn't be judged as critically, but you can nevertheless tell that they are quite a bit less advanced that what you saw before.

The first example (the marine) has a lot of empty black spots.  Now, using (usually) black lining can be a handy technique for distinguishing different parts of a model (and saving on the effort), but you can't take it this far without losing points.  The rope is especially glaring as only the forward top is really painted at all.

The second example (the vampire) only has two layers most everywhere -- which is a bare minimum.  You just aren't going to get much depth with only two.  Likewise, it isn't that hard to do as it only requires a single round of drybrushing.

Well, I don't want to make this too long so I will end here, but in the future I will do similar evaluations and comparisons when the opportunity comes.