Hey,

It is finally complete! Eighteen months ago I dumped my golden demon statuettes on the White Dwarf desk at gamesday and pitched them ‘Road to Golden Demon’.  Over the following year and a half I worked on my next years entries, wrote the article and added a section following the next gamesday.  Today (friday 29th January) the latest issue of White Dwarf hits the shops with the article in.  Wonderful!  Do check it out, it’s the best issue in a long time for the serious painter/sculptor – with the golden demon winning projects shown in it too, and a marvellous article from Joe T who shows some fantastic painting techniques.  Well worth a penny or two, even if you aren’t a regular buyer.  In the mean time I’ll add the text of my article, if you want the pictures, then you need to buy the magazine.  I’ve showcased some of the projects in my blog here so far, and I shall showcase the rest of them over the next few weeks.

Thanks so much for reading, and for all the support, cajouling, proof reading and general wonderfullness of all those involved.  Obviously a special thank you to the White Dwarf team who have taken my rough lump of clay and shaped it into something special.  You guys rock!

James Griffin is a hobbyist who enjoys painting yellow but not red or black and one day hopes to own a pet squig.

The Road to Golden Demon

It was my girlfriend’s fault. This article, the hours spent trying to make that blend just a little bit smoother, the statuettes, all of it. This is the story of how I learned to stay sane painting less than ten miniatures a year.

Why it was all her fault

I’d finished uni and started work for a couple of months, when Christmas came around and she brought me a high elf dragon. I’d been out of the hobby for 18 months at this point and before I knew it I was well and truly hooked. Which was strange, because I didn’t much like the dragon, I preferred the traditional S shape, despite Trish Morrison’s awesome sculpt. Anyway, into the Cheltenham store for an exchange, and a chat with Troy, one of the staff members. I knew that I wasn’t up for collecting an army, I wanted something different. I’d always had four ambitions for my hobby, to win best painted army at a Grand Tournament, to win at Golden Demon, to write a novel for the Black Library and to have fun. Well, I managed the first back in 2004, which was amazing, so onto the next challenge. Golden Demon. Gulp.

(Golden) D-Day

Fast forward the time it takes to scratch build a baby, to Games Day UK ’08. I’d spent the last nine months painting seven entries. I was so nervous, I couldn’t stop shaking. I could barely look at a miniature, let alone the shiny golden demon cabinets. I was being trounced at 40k, when the winners names were read out over the loudspeaker. I didn’t hear mine. I knew it was a long shot, and as I was trying not to be too disappointed, Troy runs over and asks why they said my name. I didn’t stop for pleasantries, I just ran to find the cabinets. My heart skipped a beat, and we ran around each of the cabinets to see if any of my entries were on the fabled top shelf. I couldn’t believe it, in large scale miniature and 40K squad I had won something! Wow! When I regained my ability to think in a straight line, I went to the back of the stage as the awards ceremony began to find out what colour my statuettes would be.

The End? Not Likely!

It would’ve be easy to go home that evening, two bronze statuettes in hand and stopped there but behind that stage was where my love of painting and modelling took off. I was there with the best painters in the country, and so I introduced myself to a few. As it turned out they were a great bunch of people who were all on the online forums. So then, the next thing for me to do was to join one. A couple of the winners were setting one up for British painters called Platoon Britannica (www.platoonbritannica.org.uk), and had run events at Warhammer World, so I jumped on the bandwagon, and signed up as ‘Cybersquig’. Over the next few weeks my preconceptions about painting and modelling were turned on their head. I got uncompromising constructive criticism and plenty of encouragement from people of all ability levels. Fantastic, my painting really improved.

So then, what would the plan be? I had to go for it again, maybe I could nab a silver or gold this time. The next competition was a year away, but I’d be giving it my best shot. My plan stretched over two years. I decided to work on projects that really push a particular technique this year, and then consolidate those skills the year after that. My plan contained the following. Learn to sculpt faces, women and soft cloth, Work on building contrast like Darren Latham and Joe Tomasewski, learn to paint non-metal metallics (thanks to Joe’s awesome tutorials for that!), make my blending smoother, and continue having fun.

What a list! at the time of writing I’m six months in to my campaign, and you can see some of the results so far on these pages. I began with work on non-metallic metals on Tharanduil from the LotR range (what an awesome model!), and gave him a sumptuous base with a waterfall. He also got approval from my girlfriend, which was quite something, she’s my harshest critic for sure. Then I got the basing bug and made the base for my diorama the very next weekend. This was my chance to sculpt parts of a female with the inquisitor scale death cult assassin creeping from the manhole under the walkway that my 52mm Dark Eldar warrior will soon strut down.

I’ve done some more work since then, but the most significant project I’ve worked on has been my interpretation of Valkia the Bloody. As soon as the Chaos army book came out I was intrigued by the special characters. That wouldn’t have been enough to get me out of my comfort zone for a couple of months, but then my caravan flooded. Waiting 18 hours for a plumber to come and fix the jerry rigged piece of hosepipe is enough to make you reassess your sanity, and painting with all that water around would have been tricky, so the green stuff came out, and I began. So many firsts – my first complete sculpt, first female, first wings, first sculpt of that size (she’s not small at 90mm head to hoof). As if that wasn’t enough, she was also my first attempt at red skin, at sheer cloth, at standing water effects, at using weathering powders and at using an airbrush. Hard work, but fun nonetheless. Plenty of lessons learned from that one, avoid sculpting females, they’re a pain in the backside, and don’t let your pipes freeze!

Anyway, that completes my story, now I’m feverishly working towards what will hopefully be another trophy or two. How do I go about doing that though? Well it’s like this…

How I put together this years duel entry.

I began by relaxing (not as easy as it sounds!) as that’s when I tend to get inspired. Sure enough, inspiration came when I saw the Sistene Chapel. ‘Wow, cool’ I thought, ‘Wouldn’t that be fun to do as a duel in 40k?’ I had my idea, so out came the catalogues and soon enough I have the Marine Casualties and the Forgeworld Hounds of Xaphon ordered. Sweet! At this point that I tend to figure out what it will truly look like. I wanted two models to really look like they were interacting, with the arms extended like on the chapel fresco. I also wanted to push the boundaries of mini art, so I started to play around with water effects and clear resin compounds to make the foaming water that would form the base and a warp portal that the hound would be attacking through. Some said it was impossible, but I spent hours (days!) experimenting until I succeeded. That’ll show them! Once I knew how it would all go together and had sculpted all I needed to, I cleaned up the parts and primed them. That’s a more intense process than many think, taking the better part of eight hours for the marine and the hound. You can see my Ogryn model that’s at this stage, primed in three colours, white, black and grey. I do that so I can see where the light is coming from (in the case of the Ogryn from the sky). Following that I dismantle it and paint each component separately so that I can get the brush into all the nooks and crannies. I hate to say it, but simple practice and a determination not to compromise is the best thing here. Other things borne in mind were to keep paints watered down, to choose a paint scheme that balances the model, and finally what the focus of the piece would be (usually the faces). These things take time to get used to, but they improve a piece no end. Once I’ve done that, it’s time to assemble all the parts (my favourite bit!) and add in any details, as well as getting other peoples feedback. I chose to add some freehand on the marine to give him some real interest and catch the judges eyes, as well as some reflections on the marine from the portal. Finally, it’s time to add a good looking plinth which will allow the judges to pick the piece up nice and easily without damaging it, and a name plate which helps the viewer understand what’s going on. I haven’t decided what that will be yet, though I might go with ‘The Sacrifice of Brother Vhor’. Then he’s done…well, sort of, I call this my first draft. I’ll leave him a couple of months and come back, look at him again like I was a judge, and be really critical. It’s amazing how different the piece looks after that time. Again, I won’t allow myself to compromise, I’ve scrapped projects and started again at this stage, but that’s rare. Anyway, that’s it, roll on Gamesday!

I hope that you’ll think about entering Golden Demon, after all it’s a better competition the more people who enter. I’ll see you there!

The Follow-on section following Golden Demon UK09

Warhammer Single Miniature:  Pirate of Sartosa ‘Ahoy!!’

I got half way through painting the collectors range pirate of Sartosa, and then decided I really wanted to sculpt rather than paint, so I got the green stuff out, and decided I’d try to push what can be put on a standard base.  He does stand alone by the way, if you take him off his plinth!

Open Competition:  Epic Scale Space Marine

The Epic Marine was painted one evening on a whim.  I did my best to paint non-metallic metals on him, which was great fun.  This is the first model I used a magnifying visor for, and with parts that small, it was no wonder.  Anyway, to get a finalist pin in the Open competition was a real achievement.

Diorama:  Crashed Land Speeder with Guardsmen sheltering

My diorama was designed to make the viewer feel for the guardsmen – have they been left for dead?  Or are they the front of a spearhead taking back the ground?  I actually did this one a while ago, but thought I’d enter it again on the off chance.

Warhammer Regiment:  Dwarf Longbeards

The dwarves were simply an opportunity to paint all my favourite dwarves from the range at once.  I’m not thrilled with them to be honest, but they nabbed a pin, and I’m happy to have them on my mantlepiece.

Large Scale Model:  Valkia the Bloody, Consort of Khorne

Valkia was truly a labour of love.  I’m truly sorry she didn’t win anything, but I learned so much with her, she’s the most valuable single project I’ve ever taken on.  I have something rather more ambitious planned now which I’ve just started sculpting, look out for it at GD Germany or UK 2010!

Lord of the Rings:  Tharanduil

Tharanduil was the first model I did after last years competition, as a wedding present for my sister.    He was an exercise in contrast.  He was my first proper attempt at non-metallic metals and I wanted him on a nice base that made him stand out for her.

Wharhammer 40000 Vehicle:  Death Korps Sentinel in Hanger

The sentinel was a bit of fun, and didn’t start off as a serious entry, but several people said I should submit him, so I did.   He was my first attempt at painting with oil paints.  The model was painted in may, but it was finished with it’s plinth at the last minute (in the queue to Games day in fact!)

Wharhammer 40000 Squad:  Tau Stealth Suits

The stealth suits were painted in the week before golden demon to test a way of airbrush undercoating miniatures.  They were painted as if they were camouflaged, advancing in the dark, with only their optics shining through the gloom.

Warhammer 40000 Single Miniature:  Imperial Astropath

The Astropath was painted the day before Golden Demon, just as a bit of fun because I had finished my other entries.  It is a really atmospheric sculpt, and I wanted him to be foreboding with heavy object source lighting.

The Aftermath

So, I’ve come back from Games Day 09, and I’ve got to say it was a truly great time.  I went up with my friend, and we got to spend the day looking at really great models and hanging out with some  excellent painters and gamers.  I loved seeing all the other entries, and some of the great displays that were on show.  We got there with a little time to spare and joined the other members of Platoon Britannica in the queue.  There we inspected each others entries, and I collected a plinth from a friend (who went on to win the slayer sword – go Ben!) for my sentinel entry.  I was so nervous, I was shaking, so much that I managed to spill super glue up the side of my entry’s base.  It turns out the repair tables are rather useful!  Once in, it was off to see the sights of Gamesday to take my mind off the competition.  I was particularly taken with the living card game that Fanasy Flight Games are putting out, that looks a lot of fun.  Mostly however, it was just nice to see all the people that have helped me so much over the course of the last year.  A quick thank you if I may, to all those who gave me comments and criticism so far, including my now long suffering fiancée, I couldn’t have done it without you.

As the day went on, and the categories for Golden Demon got judged, I watched my miniatures, all by now with shiny ‘last cut’ stickers on them, get picked up and considered, and one by one, each of the categories was judged.  I’m very sorry to say that although I scored nine finalist pins, I didn’t manage to get a trophy.  Aah well, nothing is ever certain with the ‘top three’ judging system.  Never mind though, I’ve learned so much this year, that I feel like I’ve been successful nevertheless.  Plus, to stand to the side of the stage and watch so many other members of Platoon Britannica collecting their trophies for the first time, I truly still felt like I had won.  When Ben’s name was called, and he went up onto the stage to collect the coveted slayer sword, I cheered until I was hoarse, what an awesome moment.  We’d been in close contact while he was painting it, and I feel like I sort of lived his success with him.  Fantastic.  I came home from that day exhausted and sure, disappointed, but more than anything, I came back with an intense desire to really push myself to new heights and to get ever more creative.  So here’s the plan now.  I’m taking a break from preparing golden demon entries to sculpt a range of display figures called ‘Malice in Wonderland’, which I’ve been thinking about doing for a while, and then it’ll be back to preparing for Gamesday Germany and UK 2010.  I already have an idea based on some of the Space Hulk artwork, and I can hardly resist doing some sketches for that already, game on!