Hey all. I'm currently working on a post for my blog (www.sableandspray.blogspot.ca) titled, "Game Changers: the Miniature Paintjobs That Influenced Our Hobby / Art the Most". In it, I was hoping to come up with a top ten list of miniature paintjobs that made people stand up and take notice... real innovative stuff that got a fair bit of attention, and made people rethink the way we approached miniature painting. In short, these are the paintjobs that set new trends in our hobby.
The problem is, I'm trying very hard to not simply pick models that inspired me personally, but inspired the painting community as a whole. These are paintjobs that aren't necessarily the BEST paintjobs out there, but started the ball rolling in new directions. It's been hard to keep personal bias out of it... I'm trying to be as objective as possible.
In addition, some paintjobs date quite some time back, and I only barely recall them... details like names and where they first popped up are difficult to remember. Google and CMoN have been a huge help, and I'm about to dig through my huge collection of gaming magazines when I get a chance (for example, I've got White Dwarf issues all the way back to the mid-eighties), but I'm sure I'm missing a few key pieces.
Anyway, I'm going to outline a few that I've thought of, and would like your input, and perhaps some suggestions as to others as well.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/7716?browseid=4692074
"Rescue of Sister Joan" by Victoria Lamb. Australian Slayer Sword winning diorama from 2001. I think this was the first use of OSL that really made an impact on me, and it's one of those pieces you can mention to any painter that was around at the time, and they can vividly recall seeing it in White Dwarf. I think this really got people psyched about OSL (and dioramas in general, to a lesser extent). It wasn't long afterwards that you started seeing OSL popping up all over the place.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/261/4
Brushguy's "Griffon Rescue, Built into a Real Cup!" from 2001-ish. I know some people may not remember this piece, but I do. It was one of the very first works where miniatures blended into the real world, and it was Raffaele Picca's (Picster from Massive Voodoo) "Inner Peace" work using another tea cup that reminded me of this much earlier piece. Both are amazing works, and took miniatures well out of the world of gaming, and firmly into the world of "art".
http://www.coolminiornot.com/285894?browseid=4692119
Matt Cexwish's 2011 German Games Day Slayer Sword winning diorama. Mr. Cexwish does amazing dioramas, many of which are interactive in some way... they are often more than meets the eye at first glance. This one is one for the history books, in my opinion. It's a technically amazing piece, in terms of applied painting and converting fundamentals, but it's also rich in story, and as I understand it, rotates on a hand crank accompanied by music? Fantastic.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/102238
Yellow One's Giger-esque Eldar Revenant Titan from 2005. Apparently only placed 3rd at the UK Golden Demon, but not having been there myself to see the competition in person, I have a hard time comprehending why it didn't do better. I know freehand isn't anything new... I recall seeing some Golden Demon winning entries by fellow Canadian named Mark Dance from the nineties that had some awe-inspiring freehand work (his diorama of a minotaur holding a banner with the Mona Lisa on it was fantastic... something that must have been inspired by John Blanche's 2D work at the time), but this one was something spectacular for me. Again, I'm not sure if this one can be called a "Game Changer", because it may not utilized any new techniques, or claim credit for popularizing a new trend, but maybe it does... I would need a few other opinions on this one.
As for other pieces deserving of being in a "Top Ten" list, a few others come to mind.
I'd like to pick out at least one of Mike McVey's impressive dioramas... perhaps he didn't innovate the concept of a diorama, but his unique position with Games Workshop and White Dwarf allowed him to showcase the use of gaming models in dioramas better than anyone else (not to mention his ability to pull it off better than most).
There's got to be one paintjob that best exemplifies NMM just as it was becoming popular. I'm thinking one of the early Rackham studio pieces probably set the trend, but I'm not sure which ONE piece would be the one to choose. Jen Haley was a huge influence for us in North America at that time, but I think she was just one of the first in NA to try it out and showcase it.
I was also thinking of including Vincent Hudon's 2004 Canadian Slayer Sword winning Khorne Champion (http://www.coolminiornot.com/64201), simply because of the fact that he pulled it off after only being in the hobby for just under a year! I think that inspired quite a few beginner painters, and it made us "old-timers" get off our high horses. For me, it signalled the beginning of the new information era in painting... where there was finally enough help in the form of tutorials, inspiring websites, and near instantaneous feedback from forums, that a painter could go from novice to top of the game in very little time at all. Well, it probably helped that Mr. Hudon spent 400hrs on this one entry, but still...
Your thoughts?
The problem is, I'm trying very hard to not simply pick models that inspired me personally, but inspired the painting community as a whole. These are paintjobs that aren't necessarily the BEST paintjobs out there, but started the ball rolling in new directions. It's been hard to keep personal bias out of it... I'm trying to be as objective as possible.
In addition, some paintjobs date quite some time back, and I only barely recall them... details like names and where they first popped up are difficult to remember. Google and CMoN have been a huge help, and I'm about to dig through my huge collection of gaming magazines when I get a chance (for example, I've got White Dwarf issues all the way back to the mid-eighties), but I'm sure I'm missing a few key pieces.
Anyway, I'm going to outline a few that I've thought of, and would like your input, and perhaps some suggestions as to others as well.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/7716?browseid=4692074
"Rescue of Sister Joan" by Victoria Lamb. Australian Slayer Sword winning diorama from 2001. I think this was the first use of OSL that really made an impact on me, and it's one of those pieces you can mention to any painter that was around at the time, and they can vividly recall seeing it in White Dwarf. I think this really got people psyched about OSL (and dioramas in general, to a lesser extent). It wasn't long afterwards that you started seeing OSL popping up all over the place.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/261/4
Brushguy's "Griffon Rescue, Built into a Real Cup!" from 2001-ish. I know some people may not remember this piece, but I do. It was one of the very first works where miniatures blended into the real world, and it was Raffaele Picca's (Picster from Massive Voodoo) "Inner Peace" work using another tea cup that reminded me of this much earlier piece. Both are amazing works, and took miniatures well out of the world of gaming, and firmly into the world of "art".
http://www.coolminiornot.com/285894?browseid=4692119
Matt Cexwish's 2011 German Games Day Slayer Sword winning diorama. Mr. Cexwish does amazing dioramas, many of which are interactive in some way... they are often more than meets the eye at first glance. This one is one for the history books, in my opinion. It's a technically amazing piece, in terms of applied painting and converting fundamentals, but it's also rich in story, and as I understand it, rotates on a hand crank accompanied by music? Fantastic.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/102238
Yellow One's Giger-esque Eldar Revenant Titan from 2005. Apparently only placed 3rd at the UK Golden Demon, but not having been there myself to see the competition in person, I have a hard time comprehending why it didn't do better. I know freehand isn't anything new... I recall seeing some Golden Demon winning entries by fellow Canadian named Mark Dance from the nineties that had some awe-inspiring freehand work (his diorama of a minotaur holding a banner with the Mona Lisa on it was fantastic... something that must have been inspired by John Blanche's 2D work at the time), but this one was something spectacular for me. Again, I'm not sure if this one can be called a "Game Changer", because it may not utilized any new techniques, or claim credit for popularizing a new trend, but maybe it does... I would need a few other opinions on this one.
As for other pieces deserving of being in a "Top Ten" list, a few others come to mind.
I'd like to pick out at least one of Mike McVey's impressive dioramas... perhaps he didn't innovate the concept of a diorama, but his unique position with Games Workshop and White Dwarf allowed him to showcase the use of gaming models in dioramas better than anyone else (not to mention his ability to pull it off better than most).
There's got to be one paintjob that best exemplifies NMM just as it was becoming popular. I'm thinking one of the early Rackham studio pieces probably set the trend, but I'm not sure which ONE piece would be the one to choose. Jen Haley was a huge influence for us in North America at that time, but I think she was just one of the first in NA to try it out and showcase it.
I was also thinking of including Vincent Hudon's 2004 Canadian Slayer Sword winning Khorne Champion (http://www.coolminiornot.com/64201), simply because of the fact that he pulled it off after only being in the hobby for just under a year! I think that inspired quite a few beginner painters, and it made us "old-timers" get off our high horses. For me, it signalled the beginning of the new information era in painting... where there was finally enough help in the form of tutorials, inspiring websites, and near instantaneous feedback from forums, that a painter could go from novice to top of the game in very little time at all. Well, it probably helped that Mr. Hudon spent 400hrs on this one entry, but still...
Your thoughts?
