Taking the Next Step

So the painting competition came and went (ToMG will be discussed later), and unfortunately I didn't win. But the result has put me in a contemplative mood, I know that I can paint to a good standard, but they lack that punch that grabs peoples attention it seems, and to be honest, I'm stuck.



I entered my Dreadlord, and I was happy with the way it turned out, but when it came down to the vote, the majority of comments went "I like X and the Dreadlord, but I vote X". So I'm sat here wondering what it is that turns people away from my models. Looking again, maybe I could work at the base. I'm trying to go for that defrosting snow look, not a complete snow base, but the Dark Elves coming down from the frozen North of Naggroth  into the warmer climate below and I am looking to translate that transition into my base. It can't be too difficult to reproduce, because I like to paint armies, so I need to have an effective but striking scheme without taking up too much time.

The winner was this model by Matt. As always is the case, it is well painted, and the base here is the display base for the miniature (it is removable onto a gaming base). It's simple, but frames the miniature well. Is this what I should be going for? I don't paint display models, because I use all my models for gaming, and I don't want to build too vertically, again for gaming (LoS) reasons.

I'm going to show all of the entries in this post. Not to shout arrogantly 'my miniature is better than these' but just to showcase everyone's work and try to get other peoples ideas as to why these models grab attention better than mine did. This Farseer for example was one of the ones that was chosen over mine after highlighting both in their post.

I'm not going to even start with this, no matter how well I paint, a huge Forge World Mammoth is always going to be more striking than a cavalry base. But again, this model didn't win. Is it a case of it stood out too much? It's painted to an exceptional standard, but didn't garner many votes. It's a mystery.

This Chaplain got a lot of interest. So much so that I thought that this would be the favorite to win. The quality of the paintwork is undoubtedly top notch, but, as is the question that I am asking throughout, what is it here that drew so many people to it? Personally, I wouldn't paint the base that way, my theory is dark model/light base, light model/dark base, but it didn't harm the popularity that it garnered.

The local meta after the Space Marine Codex dropped was 'I want to do Salamanders!', so I am a little surprised that this is the only Salamander on display.

This model was a nice surprise. The guy who painted it, lets say, hasn't always had a high quality style with the brush. But this Librarian shows that the talent is there and it is really impressive. He came up with his own chapter but sadly doesn't seem to want to continue with it any more. All I'll say is, it's your army dude, not anyone elses.

This is an eye catching model simply for the conversion work that has gone into it, and is also the first HQ choice for his ToMG army. Maybe increasing the amount of conversion in my miniatures will make it stand out more? Sadly, that is a costly way to go so I don't think I will convert too much. Also, Danny, that gap in the base is a bit distracting from the overall look.

Finally is the Chaos Lord, a damn good paint job, but didn't get any votes. I think this is also a lesson in why bases are important.

So once again I am defeated in a head-to-head with Matt. But, when there is someone better than you, you just raise your game. I know that since I have been back in the hobby, my standards have leapt up, but now I am looking for that next step. Sadly, that is where I am stuck, and also why I am asking you, the blogosphere, my miniatures are shown throughout my blog, so what suggestions can you give me to make that next model grab more peoples attention than the next guy?