Cerridwyn1st Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 I've got a few fans of my painting, and a few friends who like to catch up with me at the cons and so on, but realistically speaking I know I'm probably not even on the first rung of the ladder of being a 'name'. I agree with Mengu about the value of recognition from your peers, but I don't seem to be doing very well at that, either. I've been to four Gen Cons and two ReaperCons in the past four years taking at least six classes at each event in addition to entering the contests, and honestly I don't think half the painting crowd even remembers me from one event to the next. I remember you. Heck, I remember you when you were BAD. It was cool to see your Sorceress in person at Gen Con. Keep trying, and I hope to see you with one of those funky little statues soon. Being known isn't everything. A lot of people know me, but they don't necessarily respect my painting... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versutus Vulpes Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 As an aside - given that for the longest time one of the few - and the most published venue for painted minis was White Dwarf... With the internet and CMON and increased conventions, what purpose does the GD serve other than bragging rights? How many people who are looking for minis to be painted rely solely on White Dwarf or word of mouth? Is it really that influential on sales/asking price? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evilbob Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Good Luck Meg. I hae also considered this from time to time, but I think I would rather get a Sophie 1st. But maybe for comraderie I'll go get some GW mini and paint along with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastman Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 I'd begin fluff research here: http://tsoalr.com "Turn Signals on a Landraider" is a web comic that will give you a feel for WH40k, and lately, some WH Fantasy--but more valuable are the 30 or so links to sites and fora that are dedicated to conversions and army-specific fluff. http://www.bolterandchainsword.com and http://warseer.com are probably the most active. B&C only deals with power armor factions (space marines or chaos space marines) and the admins are merciless if you post about orks or even the Imperial Guard (allies of the space marines, but they don't wear power armor so bub-bye). Warseer is open to anything GW. Eldar: http://z6.invisionfree.com/Craftworld_Elda...dex.php?act=idx Orks: http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/ Space Wolves, Iron Warriors, Tau--there's probably a forum for every faction, though some might not be active if GW hasn't published a new book about them recently. In the past few years, the Horus Heresy novels created a surge in demand for pre-heresy models (when there were no chaos space marines (CSM) and nobody wore spikes on their armor.) This seems to have petered out but a new novel is coming soon so it might resurge. Lately the new chaos codex has created a surge of interest in CSM and there's a lot of new models being released. The key here is demons--Demons were dropped from the new codex and are getting one of their own in 2008 (and new models), so they might be a safe bet for a GD entry. Orks are getting a new codex in January 2008, but so far there's not much being said about new models, other than some armored bosses. One key deletion from the ork arsenal is Choppas--so you wouldn't want to model an ork with a big axe --they are more "shooty" now so "rokkit" launchers or some type of heavy machine gun would be more fashionable. Trucks will also more feasible in ork armies, and I think one of the new box sets will have 9 trucks. So a diorama with a truck full of orks with machine guns and rockets fighting CSM and demons makes sense for GD 2008. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fieldarchy Posted September 7, 2007 Author Share Posted September 7, 2007 yup it is. If you have something as "prestigious" as a golden demon people will more likely respect your work and you'll be asked to do more show pieces rather than good table top (which is the rut I'm sort of stuck in at the moment . . .) If you plan on being a professional painter and want to make a name/reputation for yourself then you need to compete in the big events such as Golden Demon, Gen Con, Reaper Con, and any other big venues you can think of. If you are painting just for fun . . . eh don't worry about it. For me it's about getting the credential and also just getting THAT good. I'm very competitive but I really haven't been that competitve in mini painting. I think it's time for me to start being competitive in mini painting though. Not to mention it's a fun challenge . . . I like pushing myself to the next level. Though it can be frustrating at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristof65 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 As an aside - given that for the longest time one of the few - and the most published venue for painted minis was White Dwarf... With the internet and CMON and increased conventions, what purpose does the GD serve other than bragging rights? How many people who are looking for minis to be painted rely solely on White Dwarf or word of mouth? Is it really that influential on sales/asking price? It's still very closely associated with reputation, because, as you said, for the longest time, it was the award to win. I think it's slowly growing out of that, but it's still instant recognition. Now, whether or not that translates to more money? <shrug>. White Dwarf is still the only commonly known gaming magazine out there for publishing painted minis. They continue to give excellent coverage of the Golden Demons, both in print and on their websites. They could easily be replaced as the percieved most prestigous painting award - IF some other organization were to start promoting their award in the same manner. In my mind, the two biggest contenders for that would the Gen-Con award and the R-Con Sophie. R-Con's only been around for a few years, but it's got a strong start. GenCon's painting awards don't really have any name recognition beyond GenCon. Gen-Con could easily take center stage if they a)named their award and b) set up a series of regionals utilizing the smaller cons as qualifying rounds (much like the early Golden Demons required qualifying at your local GW store) and c) if they did some heavy promoting of the winners. Reaper would give the Sophie a boost if they began to make it a point to publish some or all of the Sophie winners in Casketworks. Overall, though, if I'm looking for painted minis - I'm going to buy what I like, and look for a painter who's style I like. I wouldn't care if they had a Golden Demon or a Sophie or any award for that matter. But then, I appear to be atypical of painted mini buyers, since I can't see spending $100s of dollars on a single figure. Or even $50. I'd rather spend that $50 on a book full of pretty pictures of painted minis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Kutz Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 No company/organization is in any position to usurp the Golden Demon. GW can push it like they do because it is a large part of there advertising scheme. Combine that with White Dwarf being a physical publication (I've been dealing with the internet since before it was called the internet, and I still don't care for reading stuff online - give me some good ole fashion paper any day) and the establishment as it is (people don't like change)...and it should be fairly obvious why the Golden Demon is the establishment that it is. About the only company that really would have had a chance in hell of doing it would have been a TSR, Ral Partha, GenCon combination. However TSR never really pushed miniatures, and unfortunately...Partha evaporated. I don't think anyone else has the resources (financial, physical or name recognition) to make a new standard happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versutus Vulpes Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Cool - I was just pondering out loud so to speak. I guess this would be the mini equivilent of climbing Everest. Lots of skill, planning, determination and will power... Good luck Meg, and happy painting. In the meantime - I'll be reading over Kristof's shoulder looking at the pretty minis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artists Wren Posted September 8, 2007 Artists Share Posted September 8, 2007 And on a side note, if anyone can recommend a magazine where I can publish the Gen Con entries, hop to it! I've approached many mags and gotten zilcho on the idea. I've been working on this two years now. I wish I had a suggestion, but the dwindling of hobby magazines isn't helping any. :-< Dragon, Undefeated and Harbinger would have been my top suggestions, and they've all ceased publication. Even Inquest just folded, I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintminion Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 We were in UnDefeated. Even had an article in there on competition painting and judging. They folded before the next Gen Con. Harbinger as well...I had a deal all set up and whap. Paizo was intereested, and then whap for them as well so they passed on it. Ravage, and other more historicals magazines have passed. I'm running out of options. :-( And as for naming the Gen Con awards...nothing sticks yet that isn't already taken... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evilbob Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 And as for naming the Gen Con awards...nothing sticks yet that isn't already taken... Crystal Dragon (as the trophys are glass or crysal or such looking), or Crystal Polyhedron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fieldarchy Posted September 8, 2007 Author Share Posted September 8, 2007 Oooh I like the crystal dragon trophy idea. Then you could play with the trophies a little bit too in terms of design . . . maybe different colors of class with a dragon symbol frosted on the front with the category information? eh eh? Or what about the Shinning Orc Award? I'm thinking if we come up with some D&D Tavern names and just tack Award or Trophy to the end of it we could come up with a name that would stick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versutus Vulpes Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 As another aside... Is there any - um - monetary award - directly related to the prize? Or is it just the statue/sword and the title? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougrob173 Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 I believe its just the award and the title. However I know some winners get asked by GW to paint some minis before anyone else can buy them. They've also been asked to offer input on possible color schemes, model choices for other contests, etc. So basically no monetary reward but if you're name gets out there you could get some GW-related goodies/consulting work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artists Wren Posted September 9, 2007 Artists Share Posted September 9, 2007 [i remember you. Heck, I remember you when you were BAD. It was cool to see your Sorceress in person at Gen Con. Keep trying, and I hope to see you with one of those funky little statues soon. I'm glad that you remember me - you're the first person I knew from the online mini community that I really spent any time talking to in person! I've still got all my old bad minis, they're even still in my display cases. All but one little orc that seems to have wandered off. If I didn't know better I'd have suspicions about whether Spike had gotten into my case... ;-> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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