LEAD PAINTERS' LEAGUE 13 - GENERAL DISCUSSION

[Elk101]

Hello,

I sent my photos.
I will have to improve my photos....
I am happy to participate to LPL.

Nikkobourges

Yes, all received ok. I sent you a confirmation email last night.

[AWu]

How many participants we have ?

[Elk101]

We have 24 in this year's LPL. I think the standard is very good too.

[AWu]

Nice
Much better than the last year   

[von Lucky]

Good to see this up and running. All the best painters!

[gamer Mac]

Totally missed this was happening this year, hadn't even seen this thread!
Not that I would have probably joined away
Good luck to all the brave people who have entered
Looking forward to the show

[AWu]

I think the standard is very good too.

Indeed 

[Dolmot]

Unfortunately, I had to skip this one too. Maybe the preparation period after the announcement was slightly shorter this time? Admittedly some hints were dropped already in advance. However, I had one major event last weekend, which required a fair amount of preparation and I just couldn't find the time and attention for two large tasks simultaneously. That left only this week for a possible LPL sprint, but that just didn't happen. Nothing prepared in advance and other activities take about three full evenings per week right now. And a trip abroad will steal a couple of weeks in their entirety later this autumn. All in all, it would have been hopeless. Maybe technically possible but absolutely no fun nor healthy. The rules and themes were perfectly fine, though, so I definitely won't blame the league, only my own schedules.

Of course, after LPL 11 (2½ years ago?) I promised to prepare some buffer in advance, perfectly aware of the fact that it has never happened, nor will happen this time either. (And it didn't. )

I'll try to vote and comment, though. I know from experience that getting even a tiny bit of feedback can be highly motivating and give a reason for the months of borderline insane slaving.


Also, I forgot to post my top tips again. (Another thing I promised to do, yet failed as well.) Anyway, the very short version is "minis first". That is, if in doubt or forced to make compromises, always spend your time on the minis themselves and ensure that they can be seen.

Spending half of the week on terrain, leaving no time to paint the faces or to fix random slips? Often a bad idea. A deep layout which might feel epic but puts half of the minis out of focus? A bad idea. Such a busy/wide/deep scene that it's hard to spot the minis? (Too small in the photo, not enough contrast, background louder than the minis...) Another bad idea. I've made each and every one of those mistakes so I speak from experience. Some top finishers manage to deliver the whole package with bells and whistles, feeding the myth that this is a scene building contest, but most likely their painting game is already top notch, and they somehow manage to build a sweet scene on top of that. If you can't do both, spend your effort on the minis and keep the rest simple. The scene may be a tie-breaker, but very rarely will it save a half-bothered team. (A damn good story may buy you extra votes even if the team isn't exactly top notch, but it's a rare sight and hard to pull off.)

Also try to reserve a few hours for photography and basic editing alone. I've failed there too - time for just one shoot and then noticing in the editor that the minis are blocking each other, lighting is all wrong, no good focus can be achieved, hair/grass/dust has managed to slip in and so on. Sometimes it turned out just fine by sheer luck, sometimes it definitely didn't. People simply won't vote for something they cannot see. Harsh but true. As a rule of thumb, the entry is only as strong as its weakest link, and photography is one of those links. Not even the best paint job will save you if the photo is a blur or almost black. It's a skill that anyone can learn, often by trial and error, but it takes its time. Reserve time for two tries and learn something every week.

That's all. Let's see if I finally manage to clean up my painting table and get something done as sort of "shadow entries". Right now I feel lazy, useless and guilty. Good luck to everyone who actually made it.

[TaltosVT]

There are some great entries.  I feel both completely outclassed, and totally inspired at the same time!  Hopefully this means that I'll not only clean up some of my backlog of miniatures, but I'll force myself to work on my painting skills some more.  I think I had at least one "I need to learn how to do that" moment in each photo that I looked at.

Off to my painting cave to work on entry four....

-Elroy

[Captain Blood]

Lots of good advice there, Dolmot.

I was wondering if you were going to make it - it's a shame you're not in the hunt, but please don't feel lazy, useless and guilty
Real life dictates our abilities to take on these things or not. Real life's a bitch
I'm sure it will be a good show, as ever.

[Plynkes]

While in essence I agree with Dolmot's tips (I don't think there is much to argue with there) it's also my experience that a well-thought out scene can give you the edge against someone whose painting level is not too different to your own. Obviously, I don't think average paint-jobs are ever going to beat top-notch ones, but I think a good appealing scene can get your nose in front against a painter who is roughly at your level. In fact making such scenes is my favourite part of participating in the LPL (it sure ain't all the painting!), and seeing them is my favourite part of following it. I even think I managed to hoodwink the voting public on a few occasions last time and squeeze myself past better-painted figures with that method.

I guess there's no accounting for taste. Anyway, glad to see the old girl back again. Good luck, everyone!

[Sinewgrab]

Round 4 sent in.  Now to touch up round 5, and then keep this flow of paint going!

[gnomehome]

While in essence I agree with Dolmot's tips (I don't think there is much to argue with there) it's also my experience that a well-thought out scene can give you the edge against someone whose painting level is not too different to your own. Obviously, I don't think average paint-jobs are ever going to beat top-notch ones, but I think a good appealing scene can get your nose in front against a painter who is roughly at your level. In fact making such scenes is my favourite part of participating in the LPL (it sure ain't all the painting!), and seeing them is my favourite part of following it. I even think I managed to hoodwink the voting public on a few occasions last time and squeeze myself past better-painted figures with that method.

I guess there's no accounting for taste. Anyway, glad to see the old girl back again. Good luck, everyone!

I think you are right

[Hammers]

A very nice line up. Good luck everyone!

[Neldoreth]

I tried to get my entries together, but in the end I couldn't manage... I had about 2.5 entries done on the Thursday night before the deadline and I decided I needed the sleep, sadly. Since when was sleep so important for me?!? My past self would be scoffing openly.

In any case, looking forward to an amazing LPL this year, good luck everyone!

thanks
n