Veillotron Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 A few photos of the Crystal Brush 2017 competition winners (which took place at Adepticon), for those who didn’t get the chance to see them… (the full list of winners is here: http://crystalbrush.coolminiornot.com/cbwinners) We are talking here about the ‘masters’ of miniature painting, including some multiple Slayer Sword winners. I am completely blown away by the quality of those pieces; they are taking the art to a whole different level. The Tribute, by Michal Pisarski This is by far my favorite piece of this year’s competition. I am a sucker for Nagash, and this interpretation is the best that I have seen so far. I was really rooting for this piece to win – it came in 2nd place overall, and won Gold for Best Diorama. 3 things I adore: The whole feel of the compostion. Nagahs looks so regal and imposing sitting on his gruesome throne, with the humble (and tiny) vampire lord kneeling before his master. The NMM work on Nagash – it is probably the best that I have ever seen (the dark armor of the zombie lord as well is perfect). The eerie green used for Nagash’ glowing eyes, but as well for his skin – it gives the model a magical feel. Space Wolf, by Sergio Calvo Rubio, was the piece that won the Crystal Brush. My understanding is that this piece is completely scratchbuilt, making it even more impressive. The painting of the wolf’s fur is superb. Going back to AoS, my close second favorite is Ben Komet’s Giant Magic Turkey, which won gold in the Monster/Vehicle category. Komet is one of my top two all-time painters, and he didn’t disappoint with his Lord of Change. A few other AoS pieces worthy of mentioning are Sam Lenz’s Archaon (won Silver in Monster/Vehicle category) and Jungle Boyz (won Gold in Unit category); for the Khorne lovers, Raffaele Picca’s Son of Khorne (won Silver in Large Scale category, another scrathbuilt masterpiece): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galas Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 The Nagash one. wow. Just. Wow. And the winner its Spanish? Yaaaay! National Pride! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veillotron Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 I would love to go to Adeption just to see those in person and be able to talk with these amazing artists. Apparently some of them give lessons, which would be well worth the trip. Just looking at the photos, you can get some tricks. If you do a close up on the wolf, you can see how Sergio has painted in the texture of the fur... And how Michal has played with the light to get his NMM look so real. I'm not saying I'll ever be able to execute these techniques to that level on my models, but seeing those photos is really giving me added motivation to try to continue on improving my painting. For those who haven't seen it yet, Ben Komet did a few amazing and very helpful series of tutorial whilst at Painting Buddha a few years back, all available on youtube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKragh Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 What stunning pieces of art those painters have created! I feel partially inspired to one day take the time to try and improve my own painting and see if I can get even half of their skill. The other part of me wants to break my brushes for being unworthy of calling myself a painter compared with these people... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aginor Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DynamicCalories Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Just incredible. I doubt I will ever have the patience to achieve those smooth coats. Anyone know how much airbrushing is going on here? I can usually tell outright but I can't outright see here. Just had a look on the Crystal Brush site. Nice pictures. I think the SciFi Single Mini is a weird choice, the Infinity miniature looks to be painted far better to me. Also what is up with those Kingdom Death miniatures? How do you even move with thighs like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 All stunning work but that Nagash is just out of this world Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veillotron Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 1 hour ago, DynamicCalories said: Anyone know how much airbrushing is going on here? I can usually tell outright but I can't outright see here. Just had a look on the Crystal Brush site. Nice pictures. I think the SciFi Single Mini is a weird choice, the Infinity miniature looks to be painted far better to me. Also what is up with those Kingdom Death miniatures? How do you even move with thighs like that? My understanding is that most of these guys do not use airbrush or very little. The brush is more time-consuming but gives you much more control. Re the SciFi Mini, at this level it must sometimes get so hard for the judges to decide who's 1, 2 and 3... I would guess that the winner got selected because there is so much more freehand work (both on the mini and on the space windows). I slightly prefer the way the Infinity miniature was painted, but I reckon that more work has gone into the Gold piece, and that it is harder to achieve that kind of result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundercake Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Hadn't seen that Khorne guy before, he's awesome. Also, the way the necklace on Karios is suspended in motion really gives the model the idea of being frozen mid-movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jascarr4 Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Gorgeous! The Nagash display makes me desperate for Battletome: Soulblight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DynamicCalories Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 2 hours ago, Veillotron said: My understanding is that most of these guys do not use airbrush or very little. The brush is more time-consuming but gives you much more control. Re the SciFi Mini, at this level it must sometimes get so hard for the judges to decide who's 1, 2 and 3... I would guess that the winner got selected because there is so much more freehand work (both on the mini and on the space windows). I slightly prefer the way the Infinity miniature was painted, but I reckon that more work has gone into the Gold piece, and that it is harder to achieve that kind of result. That is a fair assessment. I am new back to the hobby so not sure on a lot of this stuff, my kneejerk reaction was just that the KD mini looked worse because of its terrible anatomy. My main gripe against a lot of modern painting is airbrushing however, it makes sense for good layers and coats, but most of the time I see it used I think it looks bad. Far prefer the hand painted stuff, even when it gets so deftly blended that the difference is hard to tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulsmith Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 I agree with you there @DynamicCalories, airbrushes are to me a basecoat and blend tool, but most the time needs to be a brush for a really good finish. You could get away with doing tau, maybe, with just an airbrush. Not that I would ever disagree with anyone's choice to use it a lot. They're such a pain imo, due to all the constant cleaning and maintenance. I love mine, but it's not something I want to use all the time. Also it makes wherever I use it uninhabitable for a while until the air is cleared out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DynamicCalories Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Oh yeah, personal preference is fine, people use them because they like them and I have seen good effects. I am just oldschool in that I prefer the brush finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadHunter Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 From what I'd gathered on his Facebook page, Ben hadn't even intended to enter the Lord of Change into competition, until we were all telling him "Dude! You should totally go for a Golden Demon or something." That, or he was just being modest. But it's an unbelievable piece of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaleb Daark Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 such beautiful peices and the Nagash is sublime - and that's praise for a model I really dislike. The bet part for me of the whole piece is the throne composition and the vampire lord. Just all over brilliant. The khorne warrior is superb, I had to do a serious double take until I re-read and saw it was large scale but still - incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowsfoot Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 On 3/29/2017 at 9:06 PM, Soulsmith said: I agree with you there @DynamicCalories, airbrushes are to me a basecoat and blend tool, but most the time needs to be a brush for a really good finish. You could get away with doing tau, maybe, with just an airbrush. Not that I would ever disagree with anyone's choice to use it a lot. They're such a pain imo, due to all the constant cleaning and maintenance. I love mine, but it's not something I want to use all the time. Also it makes wherever I use it uninhabitable for a while until the air is cleared out. I've just started using an airbrush and I agree the cleaning can be a royal pain but it is such a handy tool to have, I think it should be used along side your normal brush but how guys use an airbrush for fine detail is way beyond my skill set! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowsfoot Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 On 3/28/2017 at 11:10 PM, Veillotron said: A few photos of the Crystal Brush 2017 competition winners (which took place at Adepticon), for those who didn’t get the chance to see them… (the full list of winners is here: http://crystalbrush.coolminiornot.com/cbwinners) We are talking here about the ‘masters’ of miniature painting, including some multiple Slayer Sword winners. I am completely blown away by the quality of those pieces; they are taking the art to a whole different level. The Tribute, by Michal Pisarski This is by far my favorite piece of this year’s competition. I am a sucker for Nagash, and this interpretation is the best that I have seen so far. I was really rooting for this piece to win – it came in 2nd place overall, and won Gold for Best Diorama. 3 things I adore: The whole feel of the compostion. Nagahs looks so regal and imposing sitting on his gruesome throne, with the humble (and tiny) vampire lord kneeling before his master. The NMM work on Nagash – it is probably the best that I have ever seen (the dark armor of the zombie lord as well is perfect). The eerie green used for Nagash’ glowing eyes, but as well for his skin – it gives the model a magical feel. Since my return to painting Michal has to be the name I google most, the WItch Elf he won with is absolutely stunning, the banner follows you around, if I recall he spent 80hrs on the banner alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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