Chainbreaker, Closing Ceremony (Patreon)

The first Chainbreaker contest has come to a close. I am very impressed by the effort, enthusiasm, and kind sporting nature. Art competitions are always tricky to judge and I'm thankful for the help of Impending Duff, Eenie Minis, and Turkey Gerky, not only do they possess an eye for detail but they are also good at names. Everyone's entry is as important to them as yours is to you, which is why we decided to go with an open system, handing out multiple medals instead of the standard three place medaling. One days gold can be tomorrow's runner up, this I have learned.

The main goal was to provide a second layer of motivation and get everyone painting and pushing themselves. If you've done this and finished on time, you've already won!

So let's talk about the judging a bit. When we started I had a few words for my fellow judges and this is my advice to people when they ask about competition painting. You want to demonstrate your strengths, which can be various and numerous. It's hard to compare a demonic war machine to a pixie but we did our best. So here are some thoughts on the topic:

-Are the lines clean? Mold lines, painting inside the boundaries, dark lining to define finer shapes. There are many lines.

-Contrast, it takes many forms. Color composition, light vs dark, textures, the control of volumes. Contrast is a catch all but I hope this gives you a sense of what makes a models stand out. 

-Set a scene. Does this model tell a story and give a greater sense of the world outside the base? Each model is a piece of a larger picture, am I getting immersed in this picture? The story can just be an establishing of a setting, some examples being a graveyard, a shipping dock, subterranean cave. It has a wide birth from a themed base to a painted backdrop depicting a progression of knights on horseback leaving the castle (wow).

-Cinematic effects, are there cool ingredients like icicles, blood, shattered glass, smoke, and such? Some foreign objects are not mandatory but they do help to provide a deeper level of interest.

-Is it painted well? Seems like a funny question with an obvious intention but controlling those pigments and making sure of it is an important part of miniature painting. I hope by placing this note a little later in the list it is communicated that this does not account for 99% of the decision.

-Non metallic metals vs true metallic metals. This is not terribly important and both have equal merit when done well. It's more important to not do any one thing badly at the risk of it looking wrong. Of course, do experiment and try everything but this is the concert, not practice.

There was not score board when judging these entries, it was all a discussion based on these notions. Hope I didn't leave anything off that list. I will be giving feedback to everyone who messages me for it and after posting this will be getting back to the folks who have asked. 

This was hard. I really don't like judging people's models. A painted model is always better than an unpainted figure and these models are only a snapshot of what an artist can do. Being judged on a single model when you've painted hundreds is a bit obtuse. So I want to stress again the main goal above all else was to get people painting. If you have done that, you are a winner. I also believe that the next single miniature project you paint will be better than what you've entered.

Thank you all! We have formed a strong chain and this contest was a testament to the greatness of our Discord army. Now, about that feedback!

Take care <3

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