Crystal Brush 2011

[ToMaZ]

Althai, I believe you were one of the winners too right? The ruby in large monster category?
Congratulations!

[Pandadosmares]

At least the best one did win

[althai]

Althai, I believe you were one of the winners too right? The ruby in large monster category?
Congratulations!

Yes I was, thank you. I took some pictures of my own, hopefully of better quality than the official ones. They may be found in the Studio McVey forums.

[NAVARRO]

What a huge fiasco on Jackob's nielsen entry, crappy concept based on a crappy illustration and not that well executed...

I look at these better pics and still cant see the best painting comp level of painting in it. Winner is very good, giant also one of my favs but 3 or 4 good entries does no make a good competition IMO.

[mahon]

congratulations, Althai!

I am disappointed with the contest and even more with the photos. It all seemed to promise something bigger than all Golden Demons taken together and what we got was more disappointing than some local competitions.

surely the whole discussion is much louder because of the awards involved, but they were a part of the big promise. like "we've got the best prizes, we're the biggest, we're the best". can't beat them? yes, you can...

pay me for the trip to the contest (and back) if it's ever held again and I'll take the photos for free. yes, I believe that with my amateur equipment, amateur skills, no photo studio, and nothing but pure enthusiasm I can do better than those pros who organized the thing.

sorry - the contest didn't stand up to the big promise it was...

[Corvus]

I agree with you Mahon. I was also expecting a whole lot more of this. But I'm sure that the contest will grow in the next few years. You know a lot of Spanish and French painters have visited the US Golden Demons in the past, I'm sure they will visit the Crystal Brush if they manage to keep the prize money that high.

Here's another overview of the winners: https://volomir.blogspot.com/2011/04/cry ... sults.html

[NAVARRO]

Make that competition in Europe and you will see more than GW/ spacemarine and tabletop quality entries... Any french GD has more quality than this supposed number one uber contest... As i said it looked like a US GD and those are a bit poor in comparison.

[mahon]

my opinion is very close to Navarro's.

I am convinced that general quality of european mini-painting is higher than american. but the cost of flying to the US and back kept many painters from such a trip.
so making such contest in Europe would *most likely* (not surely, because I can't be sure) make it a more interesting contest and definitely have impact on quality of entries!

[althai]

I am convinced that general quality of european mini-painting is higher than american. but the cost of flying to the US and back kept many painters from such a trip.

I think I agree. I would have liked to see more Europeans make the trip, I would have liked to see more great entries in the cases, and I don't think it's too surprising that two of the three winning entries were by European artists. But there are some very talented American painters too, and Marike is just the tip of the iceberg. I think the quality of the work put forward by the U.S. and Canadian painters speaks for itself, even if the photos didn't show it.

[mahon]

But there are some very talented American painters too, and Marike is just the tip of the iceberg.

Of course there are!
I was just speaking in general terms (and I think I even suggested it) and we could easily name many more than just Marike. Usually comparing European GDs to American ones makes me think that European contests are much more demanding. Maybe these great American painters are not appearing at GDs? I don't know, but just compare most showcases of winning entries from any American GD to French or Spanish ones...

I'm not trying to say I am right, just telling what I feel about it...