I've been back from GenCon for a week and a half and just got my oldest starting school this week (he is a big kinder-gardener now!). So life at the DrGabe blog is coming off of its summer hiatus and back to grind. It was a great summer, filled with a few vacations and of course the big daddy gaming convention of them all, GenCon.
I'll have more to report about GenCon in the coming days, but I wanted to talk about my miniature that went into the painting contest, Lt Kara Black. This is pretty much all I painted this summer and it was a blast to paint only one model and give it the best I could when it comes to blending in the highlights and shadows. Unfortunately it didn't make it past the first cut, since there really wasn't such a thing at this competition. The winning entries were fantastic, but we were all going up against professional painters who took home almost all of the trophies.
When I was picking up my entry the organizers were talking about how Marike Reimer was embarrassed to have won all of the Dark Sword Miniature prizes, since she is one of there staff painters. The comment I heard, was "What stuff is there left to get at this point." Anyway, there is probably a long rant coming about professional painter and the hobby painter somewhere down the road.
So what would have make Kara stand out more? The blending is actually pretty well done, but not perfect. There is space on the back for some freehand work (I was too chicken to do it!), and there were no conversions on the model (something almost all of the winners had, even if it was just the base). The good news is that its open to enter at Adepticon! :)
