So You Are Thinking of Entering the Painting Competition at ReaperCon

[Kharsin]

Hahaha! I don't even know! I haven't really done anything yet this year, so it'll definitely be something fresh! I've had a few ideas on the back burner though...

[skippen]

I know if I don't start now, I won't have what I want by then.  I just don't paint enough.  If we have paint meetups more than once a month I would, but we couldn't do that if we wanted too and all of us remained married/dating and such.

[NomadZeke]

I have time it's just paranoia of being"good enough"

[skippen]

I have time it's just paranoia of being"good enough"

 

 

You only get good enough by painting. :D  Curse you Catch-22!

Edited April 6, 2016 by skippen

[canuckotter]

I have time it's just paranoia of being"good enough"

I'm not paranoid about it. I already know I'm not "good enough". But I'm going to enter anyway, because it'll be fun!

[Matbar]

So I'm finishing up an entry because I promised myself I'd enter this year, and in re-reading this thread I still can't decide whether to go with painter's or open.  It's lightly modified, a sword removed and something else put in it's place, and is going to be rebased.  The basing isn't super fancy, but it's definitely not just a painted stock base.  I was leaning towards open, but reading some comments here I'm not so sure.  Any advice?  Alternately, who would be a good person to ask advice of at the Con?  I don't want to go to anyone who might wind up judging it.

[NomadZeke]

I believe the judges may move it to the category that they think it will do best in

[Matbar]

Oh, that would be excellent!

[GlenP]

What NomadZeke said... Also, if you haven't done so already, go to the Reapercon page and click on the Master Series Open Contest Rules button. It will give you a breakdown of what each category is about and what percentages the judges apply to each piece. The info in Painter's specifically talks about basic 'sword swaps' and their applicability to Painter's vs Open. Your best bet is to focus on the basics - remove all casting seams and repair any damage to the piece as a result of doing so (e.g. filing or sanding marks). Render any construction seams (your sword swap) invisible. Fill any pitting and smooth any rough areas resulting from the casting process. Make sure there are no visible blobs of glue on the figure, the base, or the attachment points for the figure to the base. A blob of unpainted superglue is like a beacon in the night, trust me.  In short: prep your canvas. Prime with a fine-grained primer (white or light gray, such as Tamiya's Fine Spray Gray) so you don't hide or fill in detail. After that, it's all about the painting - brush control, smooth application, no drips or runs, transitions, highlight/shading, etc.

 

Good luck with it!

[Wren]

Pure paintwork is weighted much more heavily in Painters. Quality of prep and other factors is an element, but not as big a portion of what's considered as the paint. So if you mainly want the piece to be judged on its paint, that is the category to enter. It doesn't mean you can't have done any basing or conversions, just that those will not be factored very strongly into the judges' assessments of the piece.

If you feel the conversions and basing and such are strong points of the piece looked at as a whole, then open is where you'd like that piece to go. The pure paint work is a smaller portion of what's being judged in an open piece, and the quality and complexity of the conversions/sculpting/basing is much more important.

 

We will move pieces into different categories if we feel the entrant is going to do better in a different category than the one entered, and the entrant doesn't already have an equal or stronger piece in the different category. It does take us more time to deal with those pieces, however. (The judging team on the entered category has to confer and agree about moving it and likely already assessed it before arriving at that point, and then the judging team of the new category has to review it.)

It's also helpful for your work to start out in the category where you intend it to be is as much as possible. I am much stronger as a painter, but when I have something I feel qualifies for Open I put it in there to help me assess my own progress in those areas, to give an example of making choices that might not be the obvious ones. (Admittedly in this scenario I generally have another entry or two that goes in Painters.)

We know it's a bit more confusing of a system so you won't be penalized for getting it wrong, I'm just encouraging you to do a bit of reading and thinking about what you want before you arrive and make that choice, both to help save us time, and for your own satisfaction.

[Crowley]

Pure paintwork is weighted much more heavily in Painters. Quality of prep and other factors is an element, but not as big a portion of what's considered as the paint. So if you mainly want the piece to be judged on its paint, that is the category to enter. It doesn't mean you can't have done any basing or conversions, just that those will not be factored very strongly into the judges' assessments of the piece.

 

If you feel the conversions and basing and such are strong points of the piece looked at as a whole, then open is where you'd like that piece to go. The pure paint work is a smaller portion of what's being judged in an open piece, and the quality and complexity of the conversions/sculpting/basing is much more important.

 

We will move pieces into different categories if we feel the entrant is going to do better in a different category than the one entered, and the entrant doesn't already have an equal or stronger piece in the different category. It does take us more time to deal with those pieces, however. (The judging team on the entered category has to confer and agree about moving it and likely already assessed it before arriving at that point, and then the judging team of the new category has to review it.)

 

It's also helpful for your work to start out in the category where you intend it to be is as much as possible. I am much stronger as a painter, but when I have something I feel qualifies for Open I put it in there to help me assess my own progress in those areas, to give an example of making choices that might not be the obvious ones. (Admittedly in this scenario I generally have another entry or two that goes in Painters.)

 

We know it's a bit more confusing of a system so you won't be penalized for getting it wrong, I'm just encouraging you to do a bit of reading and thinking about what you want before you arrive and make that choice, both to help save us time, and for your own satisfaction.

That's very helpful! Thank you!

[knarthex]

What the Hamster said!

[Matbar]

Thanks for all the advice.  I had already read the rules, and also the posts in this thread, and was teetering on the fence.  Knowing the judges will move it if they feel it needs to be done is very helpful.  Also, in beginning work on the base last night and looking at it coming together as a whole, I think it's gone over into the "Open" category.  It's not as fancy as some I've seen, but the small conversion and the base definitely tell a story.

[Mr Melons]

Thanks for all the advice. I had already read the rules, and also the posts in this thread, and was teetering on the fence. Knowing the judges will move it if they feel it needs to be done is very helpful. Also, in beginning work on the base last night and looking at it coming together as a whole, I think it's gone over into the "Open" category. It's not as fancy as some I've seen, but the small conversion and the base definitely tell a story.

Here's a quick way to look at it as well. Look at last year's gallery and look at the entries. It might help to narrow down via comparison.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Mr Melons

[Heisler]

Thanks for all the advice.  I had already read the rules, and also the posts in this thread, and was teetering on the fence.  Knowing the judges will move it if they feel it needs to be done is very helpful.  Also, in beginning work on the base last night and looking at it coming together as a whole, I think it's gone over into the "Open" category.  It's not as fancy as some I've seen, but the small conversion and the base definitely tell a story.

 

You can always ask when you enter it. Typically either myself or Michael will be there and can give you advice on it. Based on your description I'm leaning towards painters myself but I won't know until I see it.