81 replies to this topic

[Caffiene]

Yeah, pretty much what ObsidianCrane said goes for me as well, as a fellow Aussie. Except that winter to me means more rain (and clouds), rather than less... but still no snow.

And Ive had the same thoughts on ordering. Id be tempted to try one of these contests some time in the new year, but particularly for dioramas planning and then ordering doesnt seem like it would leave a whole lot of time left to actually work.

[Adrift]

There's no snow here in Georgia in the winter as well. It's still fall, but yesterday it was in the 70s; my son and I were out running around in shorts and t-shirts. I can't imagine it's very cold in Denton this time of year either.

[chaosscorpion]

While a friend of mine had 3-4 feet of snow at his house in WV in the wake of Hurricane Sanndy, and I have seen the first snow the following week. However that is the way I like it. My wife however is sticking out her tongue in your general direction Adrift. She is looking forward to our cruise the end of November for some warm days. I'll wave as we steam past Adrift.

[ObsidianCrane]

Adrift 70 is cold, that's time to put the heater on and break out the blankets! Going outside in less than jeans and a jacket is crazy talk when it's that cold!

Note I live thoroughly in the tropics at the moment and even if I was back home in Brisbane 70F would still be considered cold, but it does rain more in Brissie in the winter than it does up here.

Hmm wait I'm supposed to be talking about painting...

Another theme: Once Upon A Time or even "Movie Heroes".

:)

[Doug Sundseth]

Adrift 70 is cold, that's time to put the heater on and break out the blankets! Going outside in less than jeans and a jacket is crazy talk when it's that cold!

70K is cold.

70F/21C is too warm to hike comfortably. (55F/13C is just about right for short sleeves.)

[Girot]

I've been all over the place and have seen snowy winters, desert winters, even no winter (underwater inside a steel tube). Perhaps the 'winter wonderland' thing could be augmented with a regional indicator as well? for example, I pretty much live in the outskirts of the Sanoran Desert so I could do a desert winter but be sure to include a Saguro cactus to represent this specific region.

[Corporea]

I like the idea of a winter theme... mainly because when reading this the other day I immediately had the idea for a snowy diorama and went out to put more pine bark in the freezer with my birch seeds... but if we change it's cool... I can adapt. (My lion icon pic I took in the winter- no snow, just brown and bare trees) I don't see why people couldn't do a winter theme that didn't involve snow. It could even be a separate category: winter subtropical/non snow/alternate. Or have a winter category and another theme like cold color scheme, holiday...hmmn, if we aren't going to finish until almost feb, you could do love/valentine's day theme. Other ideas: fantasy, scifi, wildlife, modes of transportation (carts, boats, mechs, piggyback, etc), literary influences, film inspired.

[Girot]

If I did a snowy diarama I'd have to find a model that resemebles Liam Neison from The Grey to pit against my Warg...

[ObsidianCrane]

Winter Wonderland is a theme I understand.

For me the problem is the snow, having no experience with it makes it hard to work out if snow basing is actually anything like right and I know from jumping around in mini forums that just being white stuff is not enough.

[MonkeySloth]

I'm actually thinking Winter Wonder\horror-land to give people more wiggle room but if this isn't set in stone. People are welcome to suggest themes, try not to make them too narrow, and remember that it should be something people can express with just basing.

Once bones are out I don't have a problem saying one of the categories will be painting one out of a specific set of minis, but I still want the theme for a different category as, is evident in just this thread alone, different people have different interests in what they want from a contest and I can tweak things to try and accommodate as may people as possible but not every category will appeal to everyone--which is fine.

[ObsidianCrane]

Why does the theme have to be expressed just through basing?
Isn't it a painting competition?

[MonkeySloth]

The themed categoriy is intended to be Scenic Bases, same as the halloween one.

[Girot]

I would encourage a catagory for miniatures with little emphasis on bases (to accodate those who dislike doing elaborate bases) AND one for the base-friendly crowd. That way we all get what we want.

[MonkeySloth]

As stated at the start of this thread I plan on keeping the generic Fantasy and Non-fantasy categories. These will have no theme and while basing could improve the overall score it's not a focus of them.

[Kuro Cleanbrush]

I, for one, have always loved artic/winter-themed minis, and I'm pretty confident that I'll be making a concerted effort to enter any category related to snow/ice/cold. So, by all means, please do a Winter Wonderland theme! If anyone feels that "Winter Wonderland" is too narrow, then maybe it could just be shortened to "Winter" (whatever that means to people, lol, just have them justify their entries; mine WILL have frozen water in abundance!).

I personally think that the Fantasy/Non-Fantasy/Themed Category split is perfect, with even people who don't appreciate basing being able to be competitive in the first two categories while the last category provides that extra "incentive" to produce something of a scale larger than most of our projects. However, to all of those who have never given basing much thought, I definitely encourage you to give it a try for the themed category; you'll be surprised how much basing will add to your minis with less effort than you might expect.

Concerning the time table, I feel like 5-6 weeks is just about right. I know people get busy (hey, I've just about disappeared from the hobby due to school), and that's why I had to miss the Halloween contest, but things really do start to drag if the contest goes on much longer. Plus, in my albeit limited experience, I've seen that people are generally most productive when staring down an approaching deadline. I'd seriously estimate that almost 75% of the painting for one of these contests happens in the last 2-2.5 weeks of the contest.