I loved this spider creature, the palette in particular was so cool.
This was amazing and the pictures do not do it justice as it's hard to work out what is actually going on.
But the colours were out of this world, the kitbashing and construction that went into it...
And the painting itself was stunning.
No disrespect, but seeing this finalist gave me hope that I could one day achieve a pin. The Rhino is really well executed. I think on my best day[s] I could achieve this level but it's also small - and I can now imagine a scenario where I didn't have to paint something massive, but to this standard and it's worthy of that GD pin badge. 'I could do that' in this case is not intended as incredulity, it is inspiration and realisation. So, maybe next time...
Another inspirational entry - the Mozrog on the right. Midwinter Minis did this in a couple of days and got a finalist pin. Of course you need the talent and experience to be able to do that in such a small timescale but it again gives me confidence that you don't have to spend a lifetime on a piece. None of this is a guarantee but I can aspire to a a pin and these examples show different approaches and standards that are worthy.