Hawkoon

This one does a lot of things very right. You've got the warm red-orange inner glow that compliments the dominant very cool chrome colour and a clear focal point to the model. The chrome also comes off as convincing from most angles, which is a hard thing to pull off properly!

Looking a bit closer the technical execution is a bit lacking and small details seem overlooked. And I find that a bit odd as the right colours are in the right places to get the awesome chrome effect and the illusion of a hot glow. I'm actually quite baffeled by the fact that one can achieve such a good result without being a technical brush virituoso... 🤯 (and that brings hope to the rest of us😆)

Anyway,.. great work! Love it!

@Brad Maynes This is of course nitpicking. I too think it's a great piece of work. The technical skill of the artist is way beyond my own, but I do know a thing or two about colour theory and composition that I think might help to push the artist even further next time🙂

The technique, skill and brushcontrol on this one is so exceptionally good, that I don't really have words... This is world class level stuff.

However, I think the entry as a whole is a bit dull with very little variance in texture and colouring. Almost everyting is basicly the same, so the exceptional parts kinda just fades into this one flat object. I'd love to see some variance between the hull and the "tools" or whatever they are.

The metal on this is so subtle and smooth that I'm having a hard time figuring out if this is TMM or NMM. Either way, it's convincingly well executed without relying on the show-off effect that is too often present among NMM painting. The shading is generally smooth and subtle with a crisp finish. The colour compsition and lighting seems throughly considered and works well together. All in all a great piece, and one of my clear favourites in this category👏

Everything about this entry is top notch, down to the selection of background, I just love it!

A few more angles would be nice to behold this masterpiece in all it's glory!

This is technically exceptionally well executed, and a great idea for a scene!

However, I think it would be even better with a darker atmosphere. The OSL and bloodeffects are great, but kinda fades as the surroundings are so bright (like in painted with bright colours, not the photography). If the surroundings were darker you'd have a better contrast in the composition making all those splendid effects really pop.

Also i think the physical composition is a little out of balance. The focal point is clearly the transformed nephilim, but it is way out on the edge with a bit too much distance to the shaman.

Love the contrasts and effects! It makes quite a lively scene, but still retains an organized layout that draws the attention to where you want it. It's certainly my favorite by a good margin. It just really stands out!

If I had to pick on anything, I think the emissary is a bit too dark and kinda dissapears into the background. I get that this is intentional to direct the focus, but a little wider falloff on the OSL would help define the volumes of the model a little better.

Thank you all for the encouraging comments. 

This is my first dioarama ever, so I felt a bit in over my head (soooo much modelling😱), but I think it turned out fairly in the end.

I generally paint for gaming, and use these contests as motivation to "get things done", and that's why i decided to slot in the minis. But I still had to consider lighting and OSL from the streetlamp. I wanted the contrast between the lamp and surroundings to set the atmosphere, but I get the point @Michael Crawford pointed out about it being a bit dark (the highlights are there, I swear!). I will try to take some new photos and will put them up on my instagram account soon. (then maybe the text "Malifaux" on the signpost will be visible as well 😆)

I'm actually quite surprised no one else painted up Molly 2 for this. She litterally ooozes undead celebration. Even though I am neverborn to the core, I enjoyed painting her up for this contest. The emotional contrast between an overly enthusiastic Molly and the rather apathetic zombie nephilim was something I really wanted to play on.

If there was an award for funniest entry, you'd have my vote. Might not be the best painting of the group but I love it anyway😉

I don't know if it's intestines or just blood spreading all over, but I love the dynamic posing and the contrast you get between the vibrant gore and more monochrome "dancer".

The painting itself is quite good but I think it gets a bit much of the "splash-on-contrast-paint-done-look". Picking out some details and focalpoint highlights would do wonders.

I really like this one. The painting is very good, great vibrancy in the colours and I love the beach theme on the base.

I think the presentation probably would be better with a lighter background, as the beach setting feels off with the super black backdrop.

I got to agree with @Brushwarrior here. This is my favourite as well. Excellent work, hands down👏👏👏 I mean that fur... just wow!

Only thing that bugs me is that the backdrop isn't quite dark enough (could be paint and/or surface properties), so that the tree casts a shadow.

Great job👏 Love the colouring.

I just feel there should be a lit fuse there somewhere...

The paintjob is absolutely stunning 😱

The scene feels a bit static, and I think some more dynamic lighting is all that would be needed to push this into something truly great.

5 hours ago, Brushwarrior said:

great idea but perhaps too busy.

I have to agree here. The idea is sound, and the painting and lighting is good. But as odd as it might seem, I feel it's not crowded enough to create that "mass of people" effect and the focus keeps floating around to all the little details. And there really are a lot of great little details, that shows A LOT of effort has been put into this. I would assume the creator had a lot of fun in the process😁

55 minutes ago, dzlier said:

There are a few models whose poses alone sell the "celebration" theme. Molly 2 is one of them.

I completely agree. I can almost hear Ian Travis' interpretation of an overenthusiastic Molly trying (and probably failing) to convince that zombie nephilim how much fun it's going to be😅

I got to say it's the composition here that really makes this great. And by composition I mean the totality of colour selection, focus, lighting and placement together makes it stand out.

Now the real question is if Annie is ok?

On 8/23/2022 at 10:50 PM, SpannerRider said:

That said, I'm not getting the sense that the lighting is coming from the model itself so much, though clearly underlit by the base, the stronger light source seems to be coming from above someplace 'off screen' as it were. 

You are completely right, and it is intentional. My idea here was to emphasize the native duality of this creature. So I decided to try to make her upper half in a classic beauty style with a more natural lighting, while the bottom half i tried to give the impression of "stuff of nightmares" with both colouring and light coming from underneath. Then I had to work out how to bind those two aspects together with painting, and is probably why I ended up with a rather weak light from the base.

In hindsight I could probably increase the intensity a bit more.

Lastly, thank you all for the incredible feedback I got on this, and of course, thank you for the votes🥰 I really love this community!

The colours work very well together and the waves on the base are really good. (Adding a light source to the scene would help with the theme of the contest though)

Poor guy... I think the lighting is spot on with some interesting coices of colours. The scene is rather depressing and empty, which might be intentional?

This is a masterpiece! Plain and simple.

The glow, coloured ligting and attention to small detalis like the vending machine is great. It does deserve a bigger plinth though...

I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at here, but I like it. The transitioning colours on the "swipe" is just stunning!

That blue flame is just... wow... The composition is great, and it actually looks like the bullet trajectory is spot on (kudos!), The belle (or is it a performer?) could probably need some more work, as it seems a bit unfinished compared to the marshal.

Love the Akira-ish cyberpunkt scene, and the lighting is quite good. This is also one of my favorite Victoria models, and she's really well painted. The only gripe I have with it all is that the lighting on Victoria doesn't really seem like it's coming from the scene.