Golden Demon Winners

[Magos Takatus]

11 hours ago, DuskRaider said:

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. 

Oh, is this the one that shows up as "Taro Modelmaker" online? I've seen some really nice vehicle conversion parts made by this person.

 

I'm getting that feeling I do every time I look at the young bloods section and they embarrass my own painting efforts after personally having decades in the hobby. 

[ZeroWolf]

4 hours ago, Magos Takatus said:

Oh, is this the one that shows up as "Taro Modelmaker" online? I've seen some really nice vehicle conversion parts made by this person.

 

I'm getting that feeling I do every time I look at the young bloods section and they embarrass my own painting efforts after personally having decades in the hobby. 

I certainly know that feeling!

[DuskRaider]

6 hours ago, Magos Takatus said:

Oh, is this the one that shows up as "Taro Modelmaker" online? I've seen some really nice vehicle conversion parts made by this person.

 

I'm getting that feeling I do every time I look at the young bloods section and they embarrass my own painting efforts after personally having decades in the hobby. 

Yup, that’s Taro Modelmaker. His Knight bits are top notch. 

[Magos Takatus]

1 hour ago, DuskRaider said:

Yup, that’s Taro Modelmaker. His Knight bits are top notch. 

Very true. I ordered some of his parts a while back. I've got a banner and a saw arm ready to go on my next Questoris Knight when I get round to it. I think I also gat a hatch from somewhere.... Iron Wolf Miniatures or something?

[Tymell]

On 4/1/2025 at 2:27 PM, 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'm so glad I'm not the only one feeling that way about NMM.

 

I honestly do appreciate the work that goes into it, I mean no disrespect to the talented artists doing it, but I just can't stand it. I find it an eyesore almost every time.

 

And this is compounded by just how overwhelmingly prevelant it is these days. Even some of the entires that technically weren't "metallic" still have that feel to them, and I'm really hoping the general painting culture shifts away from it sooner rather than later.

[Nephaston]

Same; don't care for NMM. Unless it's rough, pitted, and blemished metal adding texture where there is none.

Like this one.

Spoiler

 

[Lord_Ikka]

As always, some really great paintjobs.

 

My only criticism would be that I don't believe there should be multiple entries allowed from the same painter, even if it is in different categories. I'd really like to see a wider variety of entries, and limiting a competitor to one entry would do that. Its just my opinion, but having someone place in three different categories really doesn't feel like the competition is actually that varied.

[Firedrake Cordova]

12 hours ago, Tymell said:

I'm so glad I'm not the only one feeling that way about NMM.

It's quite interesting to compare the "modern NMM" approach (sorry, can't think of a better term!) to the studio paintjobs by Rackham around 20 years ago - the metal is somewhat more subdued (the Trackers of Bran-o-Kor, Orc War Staff, and Warriors of the Wind 1 are a pretty good illustration).

[Beef]

On 4/1/2025 at 5:28 PM, Alby the Slayer said:

 

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:

 

 

 

 

This doesn't even look like a painted mini to me but art work from a book.  The standards have truly come a long way from its humble beginnings', 

[blue_raptor55]

21 hours ago, Tymell said:

 

I'm so glad I'm not the only one feeling that way about NMM.

 

I honestly do appreciate the work that goes into it, I mean no disrespect to the talented artists doing it, but I just can't stand it. I find it an eyesore almost every time.

 

And this is compounded by just how overwhelmingly prevelant it is these days. Even some of the entires that technically weren't "metallic" still have that feel to them, and I'm really hoping the general painting culture shifts away from it sooner rather than later.

 

Used to love metallic paints but at some point things shifted and now I'm really not a fan. The lack of being able to control the lighting on the mini became extremely off-putting, as did the lack of uniformity with the rest of the model in terms of finish, scale issues, and the 'sparkle' effect. There are of course ways to mitigate all that, but the flaws just stand out to me now more than they did a few years ago. Richard Gray also talks about how it's odd that we even have the term NMM in the first place; we don't use bits of any other material to paint parts of our minis e.g. non-glass-glass, non-flesh-flesh and that point made sense too.

 

I don't think it's going away as the default way to depict any material in painting is historically just with whatever paints you were already using to start with. I also think there's something to be said about preferring different approaches at different stages in our painting journey but it's obviously all down to individual preference at the end of the day.

[phandaal]

3 hours ago, blue_raptor55 said:

Richard Gray also talks about how it's odd that we even have the term NMM in the first place; we don't use bits of any other material to paint parts of our minis e.g. non-glass-glass, non-flesh-flesh and that point made sense too.

 

We do have "flesh" paints and washes. They are usually named as such, and people usually paint flesh tones on miniatures with "flesh" paints, at least for human-colored skin.

 

Richard also got harangued by his fans enough that he did paint an Iron Warrior using metallic paint, and it looked really great. 

 

Seems like it comes down to what people intend to use the miniatures for. NMM is a technique for making one specific angle look like metal. i.e., for a competition or display, like a painting or drawing.

 

Metallic paint looks like metal from every direction. i.e. for use as a gaming piece that will be seen from multiple angles on a table.

[blue_raptor55]

3 hours ago, phandaal said:

 

We do have "flesh" paints and washes. They are usually named as such, and people usually paint flesh tones on miniatures with "flesh" paints, at least for human-colored skin.

 

Richard also got harangued by his fans enough that he did paint an Iron Warrior using metallic paint, and it looked really great. 

 

Seems like it comes down to what people intend to use the miniatures for. NMM is a technique for making one specific angle look like metal. i.e., for a competition or display, like a painting or drawing.

 

Metallic paint looks like metal from every direction. i.e. for use as a gaming piece that will be seen from multiple angles on a table.

 

Haha, you misunderstand, I mean flesh paints made of actual particles of flesh. Leather paint made of leather flakes, hair paint made of hair, etc. . Not just the names of the paint. 

 

And anything Richard paint does generally look fantastic!

 

But I disagree on your last point. I think NMM is actually what looks great at any angle because you have control over the story you're telling. When done properly you can easily get all the most common angles looking correct. Using metal paint on the other hand, means that you can tilt that model in such a way that the other highlights you've done no longer make sense with the way the metal flakes are catching the light. I'd also argue that metallic paint looks like metallic paint, not in-scale metals. That the sparkle they have is absolutely eye-catching from a distance though and like I said, end of the day it's all down to personal taste!

[DuskRaider]

23 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

It's quite interesting to compare the "modern NMM" approach (sorry, can't think of a better term!) to the studio paintjobs by Rackham around 20 years ago - the metal is somewhat more subdued (the Trackers of Bran-o-Kor, Orc War Staff, and Warriors of the Wind 1 are a pretty good illustration).

My God, you’re making me feel old right now. I miss that game so much, and the card illustrations were amazing. 

[Firedrake Cordova]

8 hours ago, blue_raptor55 said:

That the sparkle they have is absolutely eye-catching from a distance

Agreed, it's distracting, although not all metallic paints suffer from it - Vallejo's Metal Colour line comes to mind (example via Vince V)

[phandaal]

10 hours ago, blue_raptor55 said:

 

Haha, you misunderstand, I mean flesh paints made of actual particles of flesh. Leather paint made of leather flakes, hair paint made of hair, etc. . Not just the names of the paint.

 

Fair enough. It is worth noting that "metallic" paint as a concept is not unique to miniatures, nor does it require actual metal to be included in the paint. Any paint is "metallic" if it includes powder to mimic the appearance of metal. That can be done with actual metal powder or even something like mica, for a wide range of paint applications all over different products. The shininess is the goal, and metal powder is just one way that is achieved.

 

If "leathery" could be achieved easily just by mixing leather powder into paints, maybe we would see that included in our Apple Barrel acrylics. I hope we would stick to non-human leather at least. 

[INKS]

Not all but most NMM just doesn't look right. Even from the pros. Now that is an opinion and not fact. If you look at the model as it's intended then sometimes it can look really awesome. but if you look at it from an angle that it is not intended then it tends to look much worse.

 

so I guess it depends if it's for display and you can't change the angle of the model and only look at it from one direction great. but if you move the model and change what should be the lighting then... well not so good.

 

The problem then with metallic paint - despite a lot of it being not made very well - is that when you come in with non metallic paint to highlight or even shade something it can really throw things off.

 

In terms of skill. It takes a lot more skill to pull off good NMM and most of the time it isn't done as well as people thing it's done. I certainly do not have the skill to pull it off. But I do know when it doesn't look right.

 

EDIT: I'll expand a little more on the golden deamon winner.:

the axe reads more grey than metal or silver.

his blue mystical fire too closely resembles the blue cloak... the lighting on the cloak doesn't really make sense. it's catching more light at the front than the top. but the metal on his head catches no light? the gold of his cheat is catching light on the front but not the top? is he in a spot light?

 

the gold on the eagle guys - I don't know the models name - now there is a light source on his head....?

the gold looks way too yellow in my opinion. you can tell it's not metal

and somehow there is a light source under the eagle on the bottom leg?

the left gold wing is brighter than the right gold wing. this is good actually it tells us the direction of the light. but then if that is true the other lighting on the model doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

maybe the pictures aren't that great and it looks better in person. This is what I assume.

 

Edited April 5 by INKS

[DuskRaider]

3 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Agreed, it's distracting, although not all metallic paints suffer from it - Vallejo's Metal Colour line comes to mind (example via Vince V)

If you shake them up well and give them a wash, you can get rid of the sparkle. I have a love / hate relationship with Gehenna Gold, it’s the color I use for the trim on my Titans and Knights. I hate how quick it thickens up, but I’ve found giving it a wash of Nuln Oil and then Agrax Earthshade not only takes the sparkle out, but it weathers it nicely. 

[INKS]

26 minutes ago, DuskRaider said:

If you shake them up well and give them a wash, you can get rid of the sparkle. I have a love / hate relationship with Gehenna Gold, it’s the color I use for the trim on my Titans and Knights. I hate how quick it thickens up, but I’ve found giving it a wash of Nuln Oil and then Agrax Earthshade not only takes the sparkle out, but it weathers it nicely. 

have you used flow improver at all?

[DuskRaider]

19 hours ago, INKS said:

have you used flow improver at all?

No, but I probably should. I’m very stuck in my ways, I’ll fully admit that, and it’s hard for me to accept a different way to do something, if only because I don’t want my newer models to look too different from the older ones for consistency. 

[INKS]

2 hours ago, DuskRaider said:

No, but I probably should. I’m very stuck in my ways, I’ll fully admit that, and it’s hard for me to accept a different way to do something, if only because I don’t want my newer models to look too different from the older ones for consistency. 

yeah I would give this a try. i understand your thinking and all that but mixing just a drop and mixing well should help

[darkhorse0607]

First of the two finalist articles are up. Honestly, I like a lot of these more than the winners and I feel like you see more of the variety that people were looking for.

 

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/xsq9inbr/golden-demon-2025-adepticon-finalists-part-one/

[Nephaston]

Man, This terminator daemon prince is so good. I want one,

 

Now to buy ascended horus, multiple daemon parts, green stuff, spend hours converting.... hmmmm, perhaps I'll just keep looking at this instead, and think about it without actually commiting.

[INKS]

1 hour ago, Nephaston said:

Man, This terminator daemon prince is so good. I want one,

 

Now to buy ascended horus, multiple daemon parts, green stuff, spend hours converting.... hmmmm, perhaps I'll just keep looking at this instead, and think about it without actually commiting.

Now that is an awesome model

[Valkyrion]

The 2nd ed Eldar Codex homage is the best thing on there, IMO. 

[skylerboodie]

The painting of the Nurgle eyeball(s) is incredible. The fact that this mini didn't even make the top three just shows the insane level/progress of painting these days, compared to 90s Golden Demon winners.