2004 GOLDEN DEMONS

TRAVEL LOG:
Well, there was much less overall travel time this year from past years but the speed of the entire trip made for an exhausting 2 days. I set out at 6:30am, drove for about 8 hours to Calgary where I had dinner with Scott Smith and his lovely wife. Incase you don't know Scott won the Slayer Sword in Canada two years ago with the Dark Eldar capturing the soul of a Farseer. I then boarded the plane at 12:20am and arrived in Toronto at 6am local time [3am home time]. Did the event, went for supper with a couple of great painters and their significant others. It was great to finally meet Tim Kohlmetz and see his models in person. I then got to the hotel at 12am [thanks for the ride Tim :)]. The wake-up call at 6:30 was way too early. I was at the airport at 7:30 and on the plane at 9am. By 11:15 I was in Calgary again and looking for a model store called the Sentry Box [recommended by SaxonAngel]. After spending a few hours there I started home at 1pm. I arrived home at 8:20pm after a record fast trip. My car performed great through the mountain passes of Jasper and the Columbia Ice Fields. I quite literally devoured everything on the road. The forest fire west of Jasper caused limited visibility for about 2 hours but other than that the trip was all good.

EVENT THOUGHTS:
I was registered for the event by 9:00am and so had a chance to look at the models for a bit prior to everyone else. I was very impressed with the overall quality of the entries and felt that the competition would be fierce. The Juggernaught that won Best of Show was already on display when I entered my models. I knew after seeing that model that it was a serious contender, the model was so bright and the paint work was flawless. Congrats to Vince for his win.
The judges had a tough go this year with many models in the running for the top three. A major difference this year was they only had six model in the cut. This reduction of at least 40% made it a difficult show right off. The other major difference from Baltimore was the announcement of the painters that made the top cut.
It was nice to have a private awards ceremony with pictures in the VIP room. Afterwards we all went up for group announcements in front of everyone.
I thought the event was well attended, more people than I thought that is for sure. The staff and volunteers were friendly if a bit lost in the convention center themselves, I guess with this being the first year at this venue it can only get better.
I would like to mention that a lady from Prince George [my home town] also went to Toronto. She made cut in all five of her categories and won a Brone in LoTR Single and a Silver in WHFB Monster. Her name is Yukari and I am sure we will be seeing more of her models in the future. Good job!

PICTURES:

NOTE: A lot of these pictures are very large. They may download very slowly on dial-up.

THOGGASH

1st Place WHFB Monster

When I first saw this model I knew I would eventually paint it. He is so menacing and grand that I felt for sure he would make a great GD figure. I decided early on to make him corrupted by Nurgle and to give him a weapon swap. The weapon swap turned out to be more difficult that I first suspected but in the end the raised glaive gives him a more dramatic and 'hero' feel. The base I used for him was actually for a model I did not finish for 2003 GD. I felt that the natural look to the base combined with the ability to pose him on it made a perfect fit. Once I had decided on the base I did the tail conversion, which allowed me to extend the tail well below the feet of the model. This conversion is what actually makes the base and model come together as it ties in the two pieces perfectly.
Painting this model was quite inspired and it felt like the time I spent on him went by in a flash. He is darker than all my other entries and at the same time there is a depth to each colour that makes his darkness stand out. I did lots of colour blending to create interesting and yet subtle visual cues on this model. For more pictures go here.

GORGOTH the RAVAGER

1st Place WHFB Single

The horse for this model is actually a pre-release Bretonnian Pegasus. From the sheer size of the model I knew it would make the perfect chaos steed. So I did a pretty major build on the model, looking at many pictures of chaos armour for reference. The armour for the horse is different from one side to the other to reflect the chaotic nature of the model. I had a Sgt. Centurios sitting in my bitz box and so I decided to use him for the champion of Nurgle. It was a pretty easy job involving some cutting to spread his legs and a conversion in his left arm. I then sculpted chain mail over all the joints in his marine armour, gave him a coif and did some chaos armour sculpting as well.
The painting of this model saw tonnes of colour blending that yielded many unique colours. He is very colourful and yet due to the pallet he is also very tight looking. The only 2 parts of the model that caused me pause were the blade of the scythe and the fat man on the shield. I repainted the blade once since it was too dark at first. The lightness of the blade really helps to brighten up the model and allows more eye movement over the figure. The freehand on the shield was difficult since I am not a very good freehand painter. I did a small sketch, actually I did like 20, and then set about painting it. All in all I am happy with the way it turned out but I agonaized over it every moment of the painting process. For more pictures go here.

PURGE the UNCLEAN

1st Place Battle

I have had the Stern statue from Forgeworld for quite a number of years. I have also had the Ltd Stern figurine from Fanatic for a number of years. My idea was to do a battle scene like I did but I could not decide on the enemy model until about seven days prior to this competition. The Night Lord champion model combined with the legs of the special weapons raptor worked so well in bitz form that I just had to build the model and see if it would work. It worked perfectly and I was able to have the perfectly posed enemy for the diorama. I did very little sculpting on this piece, the jump pack flames and smoke and the fire effects connecting the two model is all.
I painted the battle in three parts doing the statue first. I knew I wanted to do her as a rose marble and while it came together well I wondered about her final look after each hour of the process. You see for me this size of marble is a love hate painting experience. It looks just terrible until all of a sudden it looks good. There is no middle ground and that makes it hard to spend 10s of hours 'hoping' the final product will look good. The Night Lord was next and as usual chaos models take a fair amount of time to bring to life. Instead of using lightning I did a more subtle blue pattern on the armour and I think it provides just the right effect. The flying Stern model was done in a pretty standard scheme for a Sister of Battle model but in the end it looks great. I did a black/turquoise highlight on her armour to good effect, subtle yet apparent. For more pictures go here.

PHYKUS the POLLUTED

2nd Place 40K Single

This model has been sculpted for well over a year before I finally felt that I should paint him. He is a combination of the Nightbringer's head, Kharn, terminator arms and the banner from the mounted champion of Slaanesh. He is another example of shifting colour blends where something starts out blue and ends up green at one extreme and purple at the other. I felt that the pose and paint pallet combined with the freehand banner made this my strongest entry. For more pictures go here.

ECTHELION the PURE

Made cut in 40K Large

The cleanness of this model is evident in the pictures but dramatic in real life. The combination of shining NMM silver, flat working NMM silver, NMM gold and worn NMM brown made this a study of NMM for sure. The only additions to the amazing stock model were a small shield to the right grieve and the gold banner. The base was made to impart the feel of a subterranean cavern filled with amethyst crystals. The freehand picture on his left shoulder is by far my best freehand work to date. It was surprisingly not too difficult and I really like the individuality that it gives the model. The banner was built and then not painted or attached for some months after Ecthelion was done. I am glad in the end that I put it on as it really balance the model and was a good study in NMM Chrome gold. For more pictures go here.

INQUISITOR GRUNVALD

Made cut in Large Model

I received this model from a friend after Canada's first GD. It has been sitting in it's raw form for almost 3 years now and I am very happy to have finally painted it. Grunvald has got to be the most complex model I have yet painted and a fine example of what resin can do. This model took a fair amount of time in part due to his size but also due to spending lots of time just looking at him. The face was by far the hardest part. Human skin at that scale is obviously harder than it looks since I spent over 20 hours on the face alone. It has been built up and then glazed with brown ink and then built up and re-glazed. Then I added some purple washes under the eyes and built up some more areas and re-glazed. For more pictures go here.

'You shall not pass!'

Made cut in LoTR Single

This model was done for the show as an afterthought. I did him for my mother who just loves Gandalf [named their dog Gandalf, and it is lucky I am not named Gandalf :)]. I decided to use two lighting sources just as if he were taken from the movie. He is bases as if he is on the bridge in Moria and the plaque speaks for him. I am honestly not a big fan of the scale, it is not bad but so much detail is lost in the reduction of a few mm. For more pictures go here.

The last model that I took was the Chaos Troll diorama from 2001. I entered it in Open just to see how it would do this year. I think the judges liked him but due to the competition in the category he did not make cut. You can see pictures of him in the 2001 GD gallery.