ReaperCon Painting Contest

[psyberwolfe1]

Anne, I have one from the bullpen for ya...

 

In skateboarding, to do a trick going in the opposite direction (than you normally go) is called switch stance and is highly regarded as a much "harder" version of the trick. Will there be any awards for painting with the opposite hand..and or other body parts (toes) for that matter?

 

Or what about a category for using something other than paint to decorate your mini??? A model covered entirely with different shades of flock would be rather striking I think?!?!

 

Actually I thinking painting while doing a switch foot trick would be deserving an award.

[GreyHorde]

I really like the idea of a balanced mix of discretionary judge's awards. Memorials for Gygax and/or Mize would be especially fitting. And (rhetorical question, not to start a debate) where would we be without Tolkien? I could also see picking one living legend each year to honor with a special award. Tom Meier would be my choice for the first year, considering his enormous contributions over 30+ years.

[Gus Landt]

So would it be safe to assume that any model winning a special award would also have at least a bronze medal in its category?

[Vaitalla]

So would it be safe to assume that any model winning a special award would also have at least a bronze medal in its category?

 

That would be a safe assumption. Essentially, trust your judges to only give awards to deserving models. The point of the Open System is not that more substandard models get awards, but that ALL deserving models get them.

 

--Anne

[Vaitalla]

Re: memorial special awards:

 

Ed wanted me to make this more clear...we are not going to let just anyone walk in and sponsor an award. All awards are sponsored by Reaper for the time being; discussion of anyone else sponsoring awards was a "for example" thing. Maybe in the future this will change; maybe not. It depends on how much interest and attendance this format generates.

 

If Reaper does sponsor any memorial awards, they will most likely be limited to dedications to individuals who have had a direct and lasting impact on Reaper. Tolkien, though arguably the father of modern fantasy fiction, has not had much of a direct effect on Reaper (he's had far more on companies like Mithril and GW which have produced miniatures based on his books). On the other hand, people have been buying our models for use in Gary Gygax's game systems for about as many years as Reaper has been around! Likewise with Mr. Meier--Tom is absolutely BRILLIANT but he has only ever done one piece (to my knowledge) which Reaper has published, and that for the L5R miniatures line. Dennis Mize, on the other hand, sculpted dozens of figures for us over the years, some of which live on in our Learn To Paint Kit 3 and the Savage Beauty box set.

 

As in all else...we will keep you posted!!

 

--Anne

[Kheprera]

Just read this and I'm loving it, really.

 

My four-year-old will be five, and if finances permit he will be attending his first ReaperCon. He loves to paint, but so far he doesn't paint the same minis SD and I do, but little plaster creatures. This will give him a chance to compete with something a little larger that he will be a little more proficient in.

 

If I get the time, maybe I'll finish a mini for the contest this year. Of course, I say that every year and still haven't finished the mini I started at my first ReaperCon...

[LunchBox]

So, did we decide that entries could be shown online as WIP's?

 

*Sorry...the thought of going back and re-reading 12 pages whilst dodging projectiles from my one year old..[email protected] go; one of the dogs just took a toy to the face.

[rgtriplec]

Re: memorial special awards:

 

Ed wanted me to make this more clear...we are not going to let just anyone walk in and sponsor an award. All awards are sponsored by Reaper for the time being; discussion of anyone else sponsoring awards was a "for example" thing. Maybe in the future this will change; maybe not. It depends on how much interest and attendance this format generates.

 

If Reaper does sponsor any memorial awards, they will most likely be limited to dedications to individuals who have had a direct and lasting impact on Reaper. Tolkien, though arguably the father of modern fantasy fiction, has not had much of a direct effect on Reaper (he's had far more on companies like Mithril and GW which have produced miniatures based on his books). On the other hand, people have been buying our models for use in Gary Gygax's game systems for about as many years as Reaper has been around! Likewise with Mr. Meier--Tom is absolutely BRILLIANT but he has only ever done one piece (to my knowledge) which Reaper has published, and that for the L5R miniatures line. Dennis Mize, on the other hand, sculpted dozens of figures for us over the years, some of which live on in our Learn To Paint Kit 3 and the Savage Beauty box set.

 

As in all else...we will keep you posted!!

 

--Anne

 

I agree with owing a lot to Gary G and Dennis Mize but was kind of dumbfounded by the rest of the post.

I really don't care if Reaper does any memorial awards or not. But, saying they don't owe something directly to Tolkien is Fantasy, as long as Reaper includes the type of elves, dwarfs, orcs, goblins and halflings in their lines that were created by or re-invented by Tolkien they owe a little something. I'm pretty sure halflings and orcs and ents and huorns are all original Tolkien creations and the modern fantasy elf, pointy hat magician, dwarf, goblin et ceteras are all Tolkien interpretation of older folk legends. I'd say without Tolkien, Reaper would never have existed because AD & D wouldn't have.

 

As far as Tom Meier goes, isn't he the guy that pretty much revolutionized miniature sculpting by using and promoting the use of E-Pox-E Putty and then green stuff and was the first to use them as a sculpting mediums. So, that kind of makes him the father of modern miniature sculpting. I'd say without E-Pox-E Putty and green stuff Reaper would be a wholly different company and probably would not even be around in its current form... so they directly owe Tom a great deal considering every sculptor they have has followed his lead on using epoxy.

[All-Terrain Monkey]

I dunno, just sounded like to me Anne was giving reasons why Reaper was in charge of memorial rewards, if any, and why a lot of the random thoughts thrown around weren't quite Reaper-centric. Maybe there should be an award given for converting mountains out of small piles of dirt created by subterranean burrowing creatures .

[Vaitalla]

Re: memorial special awards:

If Reaper does sponsor any memorial awards, they will most likely be limited to dedications to individuals who have had a direct and lasting impact on Reaper. Tolkien, though arguably the father of modern fantasy fiction, has not had much of a direct effect on Reaper (he's had far more on companies like Mithril and GW which have produced miniatures based on his books). On the other hand, people have been buying our models for use in Gary Gygax's game systems for about as many years as Reaper has been around! Likewise with Mr. Meier--Tom is absolutely BRILLIANT but he has only ever done one piece (to my knowledge) which Reaper has published, and that for the L5R miniatures line. Dennis Mize, on the other hand, sculpted dozens of figures for us over the years, some of which live on in our Learn To Paint Kit 3 and the Savage Beauty box set.

 

I agree with owing a lot to Gary G and Dennis Mize but was kind of dumbfounded by the rest of the post.

I really don't care if Reaper does any memorial awards or not. But, saying they don't owe something directly to Tolkien is Fantasy, (snip)

 

I believe, if you re-read my post above, you will see that nowhere was it said that Reaper did not owe anything to Tolkien. What I did state was that there are other companies who are KNOWN for being associated far more strongly with Tolkien than we are. If we are going to do memorial awards at all--and several of us within Reaper are opposed to the idea for reasons which have now been illustrated (i.e. never has Reaper wished to be perceived as slighting anyone)--we will choose people, works, or institutions which have had, as I said, a direct impact on Reaper. Tolkien was a brilliant and gifted man, but he is not any more special to Reaper than he is to Dark Sword Miniatures or dozens of other companies or painters or novelists or movie writers who spin off generalized fantasy works sans Aragorn. Do you see what I'm trying to say?

 

As far as Tom Meier goes, isn't he the guy that pretty much revolutionized miniature sculpting by using and promoting the use of E-Pox-E Putty and then green stuff and was the first to use them as a sculpting mediums. So, that kind of makes him the father of modern miniature sculpting. I'd say without E-Pox-E Putty and green stuff Reaper would be a wholly different company and probably would not even be around in its current form... so they directly owe Tom a great deal considering every sculptor they have has followed his lead on using epoxy.

 

I'm astonished that my admiration of Tom Meier didn't come through on my initial post. I mean, really, when do I ever use all caps? The man is a sculpting god. That aside, once again: every company in the industry has that association with Tom. ReaperCon is still uniquely Reaperish, and, in the spirit of giving out Reaperish special awards, would prefer to concentrate on those who worked with us directly and personally contributed to Reaper's development.

 

I think perhaps I may have miscommunicated the purpose of these awards. The award is to encourage the entry of specific types of work. The name behind the award is a dedication, sure, but it's not exclusionary or playing favorites; it's because this year maybe we would like to see some well-painted Reaper Mize models. Maybe in the coming years we'd offer a medal for a phenomenal Reaper Klocke or Guthrie or Garrity model. I can't ask for fantastic Reaper Meier models because he's only done one for us and we no longer even have the rights to it! Does that make a little more sense?

 

--Anne

[rgtriplec]

I understood the first time. I'm just saying that without the two examples you chose, Reaper wouldn't even exist. It's like Random House or Harper Collins saying they really aren't directly linked with Johann Gutenberg. They really are because without the printing press they'd never have existed.

[GreyHorde]

The award is to encourage the entry of specific types of work. The name behind the award is a dedication, sure, but it's not exclusionary or playing favorites;

Ah, now I see. Sorry I didn't grasp from the beginning that there was intent behind it. I thought a potential honorary might line up as something of an afterthought, a general theme/memorial award to be given for the best example, inspiration or interpretation. I sit corrected, thank you.

[Heisler]

I understood the first time. I'm just saying that without the two examples you chose, Reaper wouldn't even exist. It's like Random House or Harper Collins saying they really aren't directly linked with Johann Gutenberg. They really are because without the printing press they'd never have existed.

 

True but I don't see anyone handing out a memorial Gutenberg award in the publishing industry either. Plus Tolkien wasn't the first fantasy writer out there and though his works obviously have had a huge impact he wasn't the first to introduce elves, dwarves, or goblins into the collective fantasy realms. Almost ( I did say almost, and yes I am a huge Tolkien fan) every creature in Tolkien's books is derived from something else already in the collective mythologies of northern Europe (including the Ents, just take a look at Grendel).

[rgtriplec]

I understood the first time. I'm just saying that without the two examples you chose, Reaper wouldn't even exist. It's like Random House or Harper Collins saying they really aren't directly linked with Johann Gutenberg. They really are because without the printing press they'd never have existed.

 

True but I don't see anyone handing out a memorial Gutenberg award in the publishing industry either. Plus Tolkien wasn't the first fantasy writer out there and though his works obviously have had a huge impact he wasn't the first to introduce elves, dwarves, or goblins into the collective fantasy realms. Almost ( I did say almost, and yes I am a huge Tolkien fan) every creature in Tolkien's books is derived from something else already in the collective mythologies of northern Europe (including the Ents, just take a look at Grendel).

 

Actually there about a half dozen separate groups that give an award called a Gutenberg for areas ranging from publishing to community leadership, photography, graphic arts, journalism.

 

As for your Tolkien argument I covered that in my first post. I said he created orcs, ents, balrogs, halflings et cetera, and that he brought other tales into the modern age and it is his concept of elves, dwarves and goblins that are now used. I'm aware Germanic and Norse legends have elves and dwarves and other Tolkien related races, but if you read those myths they are wholly separate concepts and nothing like Tolkien.

 

And if Tolkien didn't introduce these things into modern fantasy (not Norse legend) who did?

[All-Terrain Monkey]

I think the discussion about who did or didn't contribute to sculpting or fantasy should be moved to another thread. This thread is supposed to be about the paint contest; Reaper's already answered the question about awards (as in they're making the ones they want). So, instead of beating a dead troll, can we get an answer to Lunchbox's question? It looks like it got buried in pointless babble. Were entries able to be shown as WIPs before the contest?