The “Lu Shang” Project

Building "Lu Shang"

Part 5: Painting for Competition

This may seem like common knowledge but when painting for a competition, it is always advisable to do the best work you possibly can. If you have a year to work on a project, then obviously your project can be far more ambitious than if you only have a couple of weeks. Make certain to maximize the time available and choose a project that you can lavish your attention on during that time. I have seen quite a few contest entries that were really just run of the mill gaming figures. That’s not to take anything away from the abilities of the artists who entered but it was just obvious that they didn’t put any special effort into their entry. Instead, they just pulled out their best gaming figure and entered it into the contest. This might have been good enough to win several years ago, but with professional modelers and artists now regularly entering these competitions and gunning to win, most entries won’t even get noticed unless they are something really unique or painted to an astronomical standard.

The easiest way to take your painting up a notch for competition is to take the time to do something that you wouldn’t ordinarily do on your “gaming” figures. For instance, on the armor skirt of Lu Shang, the normal method of painting it would have been to drybrush successive layers of color. In this case however, I considered the drybrushing technique too mundane for this area and instead decided to pick out each plate individually with several highlights to ensure that I had the maximum level of definition on the armor. Since I was already painting each one individually, it was no extra trouble to paint a few scales with gold to add some visual interest and tie the mail skirt in with the yellows on the rest of the figure. This is the kind of extra effort it takes to compete successfully in any contest and particularly at the Golden Demons. Unless you paint every single figure to such high standards, I don’t advise pulling something out of your army to enter at the last minute.

Make certain that your figure is based appropriately. I see lots of really nice miniatures let down by the artist’s laziness when it came time to do the base. Sprinkling some sand on a slotta base and painting it green may be great for your gaming figs but something more should be considered for any figure you enter into competition. Try adding battle debris or different kinds of terrain to the base. The base can easily indicate a geographic location such as a desert or frozen wasteland. This makes the figure more interesting to look at and differentiates it from other figures. Something I will never do under any circumstances (and I mean never!) is put spotted mushrooms of any kind on a base. This has become such a horrible cliché’ in miniatures painting that it really just looks silly. It’s not special if everyone else is doing it.

Always make certain that your figure is mounted on a legal size base for the game it is from. Putting your single figure on a 50x50 monster base enables you to go nuts with scenery but technically it is not legal for play nor is it legal for entry into the Golden Demons. If you truly feel that a larger base is needed, make a display base that the gaming base fits into. Alternatively, you could mount the figure on a pedestal base like the one pictured here. This is how I presented my model for the competition and there were several other entries displayed in a similar fashion. Some won, others did not. I don’t think there is any distinct advantage to presenting this way but in my opinion it sure looks a lot nicer. I actually overheard one of the judges (who shall remain nameless) explaining to another entrant that they never give points for fancy bases. Whether this is entirely true there is no way to know but it tells me that the emphasis would still seem to be on the model itself. So, having a nice base may not help, but it sure couldn’t hurt.

There was much debate following the Baltimore Golden Demons as to whether or not display or pedestal bases were fair or “legal” for competition after Bobby Wong won first place with his absolutely beautiful Tyrion miniature which was also mounted on a pedestal base. In my opinion, as long as the figure is not permanently attached to the pedestal, and can be removed for use on the table top, these types of bases should be legal. The purpose of a pedestal base is simply to enhance the presentation of your miniature and I think they are appropriate for any competition. It also allows you to identify the figure with a name, or location or whatever. Anyone who has been to an Historical Figure competition or a museum would recognize this as a traditional method for displaying miniature figures. However, it is still a relatively new thing in our hobby and so, will continue to be a topic of debate until the contest organizers make a definitive ruling on the issue.

As for this particular project, there are a few things I would have done a little differently, but overall I am pleased with the way it turned out. I ended up with a very distinctive character model that has served to really energize my ideas for a new Chaos army or at the very least a special unit. Winning a Golden Demon award is an extra bonus that I was hoping for but hadn’t really counted on owing to the stiff level of competition and the need for some luck in the judging. Anyone who’s seen me roll dice knows just how little luck I actually have so I feel very fortunate to have done well in the contest! I already have some plans for next year and hopefully what I have learned will help me do well again.

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