Golden Demon Winners

[Firedrake Cordova]

Warhammer Community has an article on the Golden Demon winners.

 

There's some truly wonderful entries in there. Well worth a peruse.

[grailkeeper]

Me criticising these would be like a fat slob criticising the football players on his television. 

[Nephaston]

20 minutes ago, grailkeeper said:

Me criticising these would be like a fat slob criticising the football players on his television. 

Ah yes, the noble couch judge. An exemplar in the art of criticism.

[Antarius]

That Slayer Sword winning model is damn impressive! As is all of the other ones, but I really think they picked the right winner this year.

[Firedrake Cordova]

38 minutes ago, grailkeeper said:

Me criticising these would be like a fat slob criticising the football players on his television. 

Agreed. The standard just seems to get better every year.

[Astartes Consul]

Some real stand outs, even by GD standard, this year. I do wonder how much further the stylised approach to miniature painting that you seen in most of the winners can go. 

[sitnam]

I love that GSC diorama.

 

I will say, despite the fact all the models here are better then my efforts s, I really don't like the NMM look. Beautiful models, but NMM just looks off to me. Like uncanny valley for metal

[Norman Paperman]

I've enjoyed watching Ninjon's videos of that big Skaven model. Really cool to look behind the curtain on a massive project like that and see the care and mastery that goes into such an incredible piece. It's absolutely splendid to see someone else do it and learn that I have absolutely no interest in spending that much time on a model myself! 

[Alby the Slayer]

1 hour ago, sitnam said:

I love that GSC diorama.

 

I will say, despite the fact all the models here are better then my efforts s, I really don't like the NMM look. Beautiful models, but NMM just looks off to me. Like uncanny valley for metal

 

This.

 

I understand it's a vehicle for challenging and doing masterful paintjobs but I really love to see something more "real" or gritty.

 

In this Golden Demon my favorite painter was Thibaut Rahm. 

Extremely clean and realistic and not too shiny.  

He is very talented:

 

 

 

[Shinespider]

4 hours ago, sitnam said:

I love that GSC diorama.

 

I will say, despite the fact all the models here are better then my efforts s, I really don't like the NMM look. Beautiful models, but NMM just looks off to me. Like uncanny valley for metal

 

It's tough to say it because the amount of skill on display is truly amazing, and far exceeds my own, but the Blood Angels diorama almost hurts my eyes to look at. 

[DuskRaider]

5 hours ago, sitnam said:

I love that GSC diorama.

 

I will say, despite the fact all the models here are better then my efforts s, I really don't like the NMM look. Beautiful models, but NMM just looks off to me. Like uncanny valley for metal

I used to view NMM as a breath of fresh air and something different. It certainly takes a lot of talent to properly pull it off, but now it seems everyone is doing it… or attempting to… and it’s gotten a bit played out for my taste. That being said, I sure as hell can’t do it nor have I attempted to, so kudos to those who can make it work. 

[SvenIronhand]

Outside of the Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer on 3d-printed (?) Lamassu, this was a very bland GD to me.

[Gorgoff]

6 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

Me criticising these would be like a fat slob criticising the football players on his television. 

Yeah that.

But still... most of those enteies look as if all made from the same person. That NMM look makes them look cold and without any personality. 

Still incredibly paintjobs.

[Tastyfish]

I don't know if it's just the angles the photos were taken, but there seems to be a few slightly odd head angles in the top entries this year.

Necks turned almost beyond 90 degrees to look over a shoulder and a few where the sense of movement seemed surprisingly lacking compared to previous years.

 

The genestealers and venomthrope for the head issue, and the venomthrope again for the posing along with the Warmaster Titan.

 

The painting is still spectacular, just a little odd they weren't judged on the modelling composition perhaps as harshly as previous years.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 1 by Tastyfish

[Matcap86]

The skill level is increasing every year, but it seems like the scope of the show is decreasing each year.

 

It's the same few names over and over again, most of whom subscribe to the same painting style and are professional painters/art teachers. So the barrier to entry for fresh blood and new styles is very high.

[Wormwoods]

19 hours ago, sitnam said:

I will say, despite the fact all the models here are better then my efforts s, I really don't like the NMM look. Beautiful models, but NMM just looks off to me. Like uncanny valley for metal

If the Emperor had intended us to do NMM, he wouldn't have given us metallic paints.

[skylerboodie]

I love this mini so much. Is it from a GW kit still available, or OOP/conversion? (Please don't break my heart.)

[grailkeeper]

1 hour ago, skylerboodie said:

I love this mini so much. Is it from a GW kit still available, or OOP/conversion? (Please don't break my heart.)

 

Very available. Its from the blood bowl snotling team (althought the sword might be a conversion). You can see two of him here. 

[Borbarad]

I prefer some bronze entries over their silver competitors; but overall stellar miniatures. 
 

Most impressive is the guy who entered with those new AoS Wolfrider Goblins - the are out for like only two months or so? 

[Evil Eye]

3 hours ago, skylerboodie said:

I love this mini so much. Is it from a GW kit still available, or OOP/conversion? (Please don't break my heart.)

That was my favourite entry. Peak goofy goblin goodness.

 

I'd definitely agree that entries have become a bit samey lately. Like yes, NMM is very impressive when executed well, but seeing the exact same techniques used over and over again does get tiresome. I generally prefer a more "painterly" style with minis, and a lot of these entries, whilst technically superb, do look a bit...I dunno, sterile?

[darkhorse0607]

23 hours ago, sitnam said:

I love that GSC diorama.

 

I will say, despite the fact all the models here are better then my efforts s, I really don't like the NMM look. Beautiful models, but NMM just looks off to me. Like uncanny valley for metal

 

I wonder how much of it was a conscious effort to almost oversaturate everything in an NMM fashion. My pet conspiracy, is that you saw more of that this time due to the lighting situation and the fact that there aren't (or at least weren't at the Germany event) 'eavy metal staff as judges. At the Germany event, they had a guest judge and then GW staffers. Plus, the lighting in the cabinets is notoriously awful, which could leave folks worried that details won't be seen at first glance (such as Richard Gray's last entry, the Eldar fellow with all of the freehand that got passed up initially) leading to everything feeling more blown out to grab attention

 

Or

 

5 hours ago, Matcap86 said:

The skill level is increasing every year, but it seems like the scope of the show is decreasing each year.

 

It's the same few names over and over again, most of whom subscribe to the same painting style and are professional painters/art teachers. So the barrier to entry for fresh blood and new styles is very high.

 

There's that too. If you watch a lot of the coverage of these, most of them know each other (at least the ones that traditionally place) and are the same folks entering in time after time. No hate there, but if you have a similar circle of folks bouncing ideas off of each other, entering every time, etc, it could lead everything to feel samey. Especially if a couple of those (i.e. Andy Wardle) keep placing almost every time

[Matcap86]

It's one of the reasons why I prefer James Taro's entries; those look the most "Warhammer" to me, while being technically superbly executed models.

[skylerboodie]

3 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

 

Very available. Its from the blood bowl snotling team (althought the sword might be a conversion). You can see two of him here. 

 

thank you!! I actually have this box somewhere time to find it!

[DuskRaider]

3 hours ago, Matcap86 said:

It's one of the reasons why I prefer James Taro's entries; those look the most "Warhammer" to me, while being technically superbly executed models.

I was so happy to see him win a few trophies. I’ve been buying his conversion bits and kits for a while now, it’s nice to see him get some recognition. 

[DemonGSides]

8 hours ago, darkhorse0607 said:

 

There's that too. If you watch a lot of the coverage of these, most of them know each other (at least the ones that traditionally place) and are the same folks entering in time after time. No hate there, but if you have a similar circle of folks bouncing ideas off of each other, entering every time, etc, it could lead everything to feel samey. Especially if a couple of those (i.e. Andy Wardle) keep placing almost every time

 

Along this same sentiment, I think it's important to remember that of course we're going to see the same names year after year; our hobby is of course always getting larger, but it's a VERY niche hobby, and people with the art skills to paint mini's are probably quite often finding OTHER creative outlets for that type of thing, so the vanishingly small niche of "Excellent at painting" and "Into Warhammer stuff" is exceptionally small, even today.

I did a quick look at the unofficial Golden Demon Compendium that lists yearly winners, and it's basically the same as now; some new names, some repetitive names, especially once you start getting into the mid to late 90's.  I think it's just a fact of the hobby.  For counter example, this year's Slayer Sword winner had only one other ever placement, and that was back in 2009!

 

https://thegoldendemoncompendium.com/

 

For anyone else looking to see some nice history.  They also have pages for all the winners so you can sort by all their placements over the years.  It's easy to fall into some cynicism about this being a circular award circuit, but I don't think history really shows that.