Gencon: Wyrd Speed Painting

[EricJ]

Ok people, this is just a sneak peek for those heading to Gencon, but we are going to be hosting an ongoing speed painting contest from the booth! Here are the details:

1) You can sign up any time between 9am Thursday and 10 AM on Sunday
2) Entry Fee: $6
3) All participants will be given 1 free wyrd mini to paint which will be already prepped and primed for you
4) Upon entering you will have 2 hours to paint this miniature. This can be done at the wyrd booth, space permitting, or can be taken anywhere else. You just must have the miniature back to the booth within 2 hours of your sign in time.
5) All entries will be put on display at the wyrd booth until judging
6) Judging takes place at about Noon on Sunday by the 4 of us running the wyrd booth
7) Prizes!!!! yes there will be amazing prizes, the scope of these prizes is yet to be determined, but there will be a few different categories of winners. Winners who can not be there to pick up their prizes will be contacted and prizes sent to them.
8) You can pick up your mini any time after judging

Keep an eye out for more information, hopefully we can make it a fun event and way for all you out there who haven't painted a wyrd mini yet to get your first one out of the way quick and easy! :)

[Hinton]

Oooooo....cool!

I'll bring my brushes, but will we need to bring our own paints or will paint be provided? Just asking so I know if I need to pack them or not.

[r2-j1]

I'm in!

[EricJ]

I will have paints there, if there is room in the booth you can certainly use mine, although I'm not going to let people make off with them. There are also other paints about in the painting area you can usually use, but I can't speak for that. The last option is to just find some space one evening and get a bunch of people together who want to enter, I'll bring my paints and I can time it for everyone interested, we can bring food, etc...but that depends on if we can find space of course. But that could be a fun thing to do one evening! :)

[Thryth]

Cool!

Mmmm... Two hours? I think that I might have the base-coat on by then. :D

[Frustrated Father]

I'll add an addendum to this, particularly with the bit about 'space permits'. We 'should' have some space to allow some folks to sit down for a bit and enjoy themselves but primarily I'm going to be there doing sales and if it is anything like last year, it'll be a lot of jumping back and forth, so I would make the suggestion to bring your own paints and to be prepared to find a spot outside of the booth for plunking down to do some painting as I very well may just find myself with a filled up booth and then have to unceremoniously eject everyone if I can't move about.

Just giving a heads up because I don't want someone blubbering 'but he said ..' and having hurt feelings.

:)

[supervike]

So, my plan is this....I will paint up every Wyrd mini I have to the best of my ability and bring them with me to Gencon.

THEN....I will 'get the Wyrd Primered' one, go away for two hours, switch with one of my preemo ones, and Viola!! 9th place is guaranteed!!

[Skya]

Should be a lot of fun. And honestly 2 hours is a long time for a speed paint. We do 45-60 minutes for the ones we run.

[Hinton]

It's cool, FF. I already planned on having to go somewhere else to paint; just didn't know if paints would be available or not. Guess I can always pack mine up, toss them into a suitcase and check the luggage to get around that pesky 3,1,1 rule.

@Vike: What if it's a Wyrd mini that you don't have yet?

[orkydave]

I wouldn't bank on you getting 9th place Vike, there may be more than 8 other people entering!!!! lol!

Sounds fun! Hope someone takes a camera so all us brits who can't be there in person get to see the entries.

(Incidentally, I will be running DAVECON on the same day, and I will have my own little booth with all my models on display in my living room , and all you gencon people can't come,so Neh!)

[EricJ]

Yeah, the 2 hours was really decided upon with the idea to give people some degree of travel time from the booth to wherever they were painting and back. With a closer look it really seems as though space in the booth won't be available much at all, so don't count on painting there.

Although if again, if a number of people all decide on a time and place, I bet you could pry me and my paints away from the booth for a bit.

And yes, I will have a camera with me, so I'll get shots of every one!

[Hinton]

(Incidentally, I will be running DAVECON on the same day, and I will have my own little booth with all my models on display in my living room , and all you gencon people can't come,so Neh!)

I'm not invited to DAVECON?!?! Bummer! :(

I think we'll all expect pics from DAVECON, Dave.

[lauth81]

Sounds like fun ... too bad I can´t make it to GenCon. Maybe next year!

[matty1001]

DAVECON! Cool! Il just go there!

[Hinton]

Although if again, if a number of people all decide on a time and place, I bet you could pry me and my paints away from the booth for a bit.

I'd be interested in doing this if we could figure out a time and place. Anyone else?

[Duende]

Speed painting sounds like fun.

On a side note, I hear Naked Balloon Dancing is one of the events at DAVECON. :D

[Wren]

I'd be interested in doing this if we could figure out a time and place. Anyone else?

What about trying something after hours? Paint and Take finishes up at 6pm, but I don't think the tables go anywhere. If someone on the Wyrd end of things would be willing to bring and collect the figs, and it's not a problem with MHE generally, we could gather there, share out paints and have a group speed paint one evening. Or just hang out and talk about how Wyrd we all are. Maybe Saturday night at 7 or 8pm?

[Frustrated Father]

Eric is heading this up, not that I won't be there for it, but holler at him and run with it. :D

[r2-j1]

What about trying something after hours? Paint and Take finishes up at 6pm, but I don't think the tables go anywhere. If someone on the Wyrd end of things would be willing to bring and collect the figs, and it's not a problem with MHE generally, we could gather there, share out paints and have a group speed paint one evening. Or just hang out and talk about how Wyrd we all are. Maybe Saturday night at 7 or 8pm?

I think we should do a Wyrd dinner followed up by the speed painting contest. :D

[Xenon_Wulf]

I'd be up for that. If anythign takes place AFTER the dealers' room is closed, then I'm pretty much free.

And yes, I want to do speed-painting. Going to Gencon and not painting anything doesn't feel right (especially since I'm not taking minis with me, and so don't get to do any last minute painting for tournament armies...)

As long as I haven't set up tabletop games with people (and yes, if anyone wants to join in in some boardgame fun afterhours, I'd be more than willing to help with some games...), I'd be up for about anything.

[Duende]

Can't wait to get there!



(damn 2 post minimum!)

[Xenon_Wulf]

Actually, speaking of the arcade - are there any near Gencon where we could have a friendly competition?

[EricJ]

I'm happy to host something like this for the contest, I'll have paints there but not a whole lot of brushes, so you're on your own for that, besides, you wouldn't want mine... I lick them :D

[eastman]

What about trying something after hours? Paint and Take finishes up at 6pm, but I don't think the tables go anywhere. If someone on the Wyrd end of things would be willing to bring and collect the figs, and it's not a problem with MHE generally, we could gather there, share out paints and have a group speed paint one evening. Or just hang out and talk about how Wyrd we all are. Maybe Saturday night at 7 or 8pm?


Just to let you know, the sculptor's group has already made arrangements to use the Paint & Take tables for a Saturday gathering. Not sure if they will use all of the space, but they did ask first. (Since Friday night is contest judging, I'm guessing that time is right out)

[EldinTux]

You know its so frustrating here all of you talking about what you intend to do at Gen Con, knowing that I'll probably never get there. I need to find more local conventions.

[green stuff]

I need to find more local conventions.
You've always got Salute and GD UK. Plus all the other European meetings.

[callumrice]

Euro meetings arent really local, its still a fair bit of travel and cost from the UK.

A few of the boys are off to GD UK though, your going are you not Tux?

[callumrice]

Man Im losing my tiles!!

[EldinTux]

Yep I'm off to GD UK this year - first time. I've gained a tile from Billy ;)

[wyrdmothershutyourmouth]

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i61/vickeybitchoftheuniverse/GenConEtc024.jpg

[EricJ]

further proof that Nathan did in fact paint a Wyrd mini...and we thought it would never happen! :P

[Ritual]

further proof that Nathan did in fact paint a Wyrd mini...and we thought it would never happen! :P
I can't really see if he's actually holding a miniature there, so it doesn't prove anything more than that he is sitting at the table where a few others are painting.

[Duende]

As promised, here are the Candy's that were painted during the session above. I can't remember who painted which though, so you gotta speak up for your own!

Pic 1 (front row in focus):
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l236/Duende71/GenCon%202007/GC07-Candys1.jpg

Pic 2 (back row in focus):
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l236/Duende71/GenCon%202007/GC07-Candys2.jpg

Mine is the second in from the left. :)

[Frustrated Father]

About 10 of them not there in the pictures from the others that got painted up by the people that did the quickie pick up and run back during the con, but all having good fun.

[EricJ]

We ended up with 16 entries I believe total, they certainly looked creepy all lined up there, a little children-of-the-corn-ish

[Stupidcow]

I like the one in green. 1st row left. The face paint makes her look wicked.

[Frustrated Father]

Anyone else feel ripped off like this lady, or is it a case of bitching due to having a bad time there?

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=117337

[Thryth]

Nice work Duende.

Anyone happen to have a picture of the one painted different colors between the left and right side?

[Frustrated Father]

That would be Morph, holler at him, I'm sure he'll provide a picture.

[Hinton]

I certainly didn't feel ripped off except by the food vendors; they were a bit pricey. It's too bad that this lady had such a bad experience, but I had a blast and I'm looking forward to going back next year.

The only thing that I kind of regret was that I didn't get a chance to talk to any of the painting competition judges about my entry. I was told that my entry didn't even make the first cut and that I might be able to get a critique as to why, but I just never got the chance. Oh well; maybe next year.

Still, there will probably be people complaining if every little thing doesn't go their way. In this case, she was complaining about Crocodile Games ripping her off because she couldn't properly read what was posted on their site. She complains about Wyrd because of the entry fee to the speed painting contest. If people didn't like the entry fee, then they shouldn't have paid it to enter the competition. Just because others had different prices doesn't mean that everyone should have the same price.

I'll stop there because I can feel myself starting to get rude and callous.

[Stupidcow]

Some people simply goes to conventions with the wrong mentality. They are hoping to get the best deal in town like in a flea market and when they don't, they complaint. I see these events as a chance to meet up with friends or make new friends and have a whole load of fun.

Food is always more expensive there so that's nuttin new.

[goblyn13]

The left most one in blue looks very good and has a bit of an Asian flair.

The one in green with the Crow makeup looks great and the work on that lolipop is well done.

The middle one in blue, looks just way too sweet, makes it exceptionally scary

The one in red, the eyes are very eerie with the inverted white on black, makes her look evil.

The one is black is a interesting take by turning the frill on the socks and turning them into a pantaloon


and the one on the end with the anime eyes, looks like she is all kinds of nervous over someone coming up to get her.

[Xenon_Wulf]

The front row one in blue would be mine. You can barely see the completely green eyes and the bit of blood at the corner of her mouth.

As for the picture of the group painting - I find it funny: I'm the only one who is against the light in order to use it to see what I'm doing, instead of having it behind myself and getting my shadow over the mini...

[Larkin Vain]

I would love to enter this next year. I entered Reapers speed painting at GenCon SC last year and managed to qualify for the finals. We only had 1 hour. Two hours sounds great.

[gi6ers]

Anyone else feel ripped off like this lady, or is it a case of bitching due to having a bad time there?

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=117337


Made me laugh TBH, I got beaten by someone better than me....erm it's a contest, that's how it works..

'Professional painters' are just good painters who end up doing a bit of what they are good at for cash or lead. It is pretty much inevitable that you end up a 'pro' when you reach a certain level as people want to own your stuff.

She's just a random whiner..lots of them out there IMO.

[Wren]

I had tickets to a dinner thing so wasn't able to make the speed paint, but we happened to be walking by at the tail end of it, and it looked like everyone had had a great time.
I got to meet lots of folks (many of whom seemed to be named Eric or Bryan ;->). I also got to meet the woman behind the Wyrd throne, which I really enjoyed. I ran into some other Wyrdos while volunteering at Paint and Take and just general Con wandering, so it was a banner year for me to meet the people behind the avatars of mini forums.

As far as I can tell there are always going to be complainers. Sometimes they bitch worse about stuff that's completely free and volunteer run than they do about something they pay for. I can see where people might be accustomed to paint and take being a nominal fee, but in this case the price was clearly posted and the person made an informed consumer decision, and it was something Wyrd was doing on top of their regular free P&T donations. There's been a little more cranky about the big contest than I remember in previous years, but I'd also say this year the number of superb entries was very high so probably a few more people feeling how difficult it is to jump that gap from good to great and being unhappy about how hard it is to get there.

My con experience was a mixed bag this year, too. But unlike some folks I've seen posting in both mini and board game forums that I'm on, I'm putting most of that down to my frame of mind and how I responded to things rather than blaming the con. I have only a few complaints about that, one of which being I didn't feel they made much of a deal about the 40th anniversary on site. As far as con food, I will join the bitching on that quite happily. I don't mind the cost so much as the quality and lack of variety. (Though I'm not completely immune to cost issues, my brain kept having problems with $3 Coke vending machines...)

[matty1001]

She complains about Wyrd because of the entry fee to the speed painting contest. If people didn't like the entry fee, then they shouldn't have paid it to enter the competition. Just because others had different prices doesn't mean that everyone should have the same price.


And the entry fee was what? £3? Thats probably not even the price of the miniature that was given away.
Stupid woman, she probably just expects everything to be free.

[mozart]

Hey guys! Just wanted to say that I had a great con. It's always nice to talk to the Wyrd guys.

I participated in the speed painting competition. Mine's not in the picture above, but I think I have a pic on my camera. If not, I'll snap one before she hits the dip. I want to redo her. :D

For what it's worth, mine was wearing pink, with white ruffles. She had glowy green eyes and the spade that was on her chest is painted a bright green. I meant to give her blood spatters, but I ran out of time.

It was a lot of fun. 3 of us got ours at the same time and painted them up in our room at the Marriott around the same desk. It was great seeing them come together.

Anyway, had lots of fun. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for more steampunk guys!

[Frustrated Father]

Welcome Mozart, and pleased to hear that you had a good time with them. Somewhere around here we have a camera that has all the entries, just finding them is going to be the fun part.

[DrEvilmonki]

To be honest there are people who complain almost every painting contest is won by better painters. Look at GD UK where people wanted to ban non English contestants etc.

To bitch at having to pay to enter the comp is just sour grapes. No one forced them to sign up.

[LavronYor]

wow, Nathan should stock a few paint by numbers sets to give out to all the nonprofessional painters... at least to the ones cry like a little baby...

Yes, lady, go to Origins, or better yet go to your doghouse and stay, do you hear me, STAY!

Whiners, if we find her next year, we should banish her to that Klingon Prison and pay people to not let her out....

[EricJ]

I have her phone number from the sign up....okok, no evil thoughts Eric...I'm glad she participated, and hope she comes back next year as well :)

[LavronYor]

ok

how's this? I wish her all the happiness ( and misery ) that she deserves.....

[supervike]

Anyone else feel ripped off like this lady, or is it a case of bitching due to having a bad time there?

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=117337


I saw this but didn't think it was even worth the time of day. Don't let one bad apple spoil the barrel!

[caffeinated]

No matter how good you are there is always someone better. I think Harrison Bergeron ,by Kurt Vonnegut, should be read in more schools (it was in mine). Of course the same people who complain of ability probably wouldn't get it. If you haven't read that story try to pick it up. Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors.
Here is a link if you want to know what it is about , but it spoils the story's end :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

[Angel_of_Menoth]

I wish I could have gotten into the speed painting contest, but I was one of the "lucky" ones who got to spend a lot of time teaching at the Paint and Take tables. I was able to snag a witch hunter though, so all is good. ;-) And now I know what you guys were doing when you were all painting while I was helping to keep people away from the judging area on Friday night.

As for the woman who was complaining, I think Sue addressed things very well. People bitch and moan about the same things after every Games Day. (Congrats on the statues, Eric!)

For the Croc Games event miniature: I was originally told that the finale for the World Campaign (the campaign started last year at Gen Con) would not be receiving the event model either. I bothered to ask Croc, and that was the answer they gave me. They ended up giving the models to everyone who played in the finale anyway. It was their EVENT miniature. The painting contest was Gen Con's event, not Croc's.

You can't please everyone. Luckily, everyone I know was more than pleased with your speed painting contest.

[Morf]

That is more than funny. Some people just don't get the idea of fun. At PP forums people are complaining that Grand Master Painting had pros entering and that there are cash prizes for painting and no cash for playing...

Next year, Shoot the Pros, Eric, you are on a list of endangered species...

PS: I want my 17 cents back, Nathan! ;)

[EricJ]

:peep:

[EricJ]

Although I would like to note that according to most definitions I'm not a pro. I've never taken a commission or painted for money. Any money I've made is by selling pieces I did for fun after the fact, sort of incidental profit :)

so now you don't need to shoot me!

[wyrdmothershutyourmouth]

Confusius say - those with bad attitude bring bad mojo on self... aint karma a bitch. Don't stand too near wicked woman of paint contest, lest she be struck down by lightning. owmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[eastman]

That is more than funny. Some people just don't get the idea of fun. At PP forums people are complaining that Grand Master Painting had pros entering and that there are cash prizes for painting and no cash for playing...


And how much advertising value will Privateer Press get from the pictures of the winning entries (not sure how many categories they did, but I heard Marike won the grand prize. As a student, I'm sure she could find a use for the 1000 bucks in prize money)

[EricJ]

I'm SO about to bitch that just because I was the judge for the wyrd company prize at gencon, that I couldn't select MY wyrd entry in the competition and therefor I couldn't win the giant pile of wyrd minis that I so dearly want to get for free in a different way than I get them for free now...Damnit, painting contest rules are SO MESSED UP...

[Duende]

I just reread her initial post and I noticed that she was only happy when she got stuff for free or stuff for cheap that she could resell for more later (buying at the auction), so of course she feels ripped off other wise... Gosh, those vendors actually want paid for their merchandise. Wow.

Gee I didn't win anything in the painting contest either, since all my entries were STOLEN! But yet I still had a good time. So bite me, Jana. The people I met are so much more important that any of the objects there. That was really the high point of the entire trip for me.

:)

[Travis Syxx]

To sum up this whole situation, this lady has obviously never been in any kind of sealed or limited contest. In a contest where you are provided with product and then a winner is given additional prizes there is the additional cost of the prizes to factor in. So your entry goes toward paying for the product. That You Keep, and also kicking in a couple of bucks per person to take care of the cost of the prizes. If the person running the contest gets more entries then expect then great they get extra money for running the event. This usually helps take care of the staff you have that are handling things, if they are paid. So the 6 dollars would be broken into 4 for Candy and 2 goes into the prize pool.

Some people will just never get it. I played in a UDE sponsored World of Warcraft TCG game that started at 3pm. It was a sealed event so product was provided and it needed to be registered as well. The event actually finished at 5:45am the next day. I missed the top 8 and got to leave at 2:45am and I was happy to be able to play with so many people.

The reality of it all is that people like to complain. I have customer's that spend 50 dollars on a board game. They rave about the thing and play it 4 times a week for 2-3 hours each session and still complain about the price. What can you do.

Travis

[DrEvilmonki]

Burn the witch!! How any of you can paint something in 2 hours and not have it look like someone has pooed on it is beyond me anyway

[Morf]

And how much advertising value will Privateer Press get from the pictures of the winning entries (not sure how many categories they did, but I heard Marike won the grand prize. As a student, I'm sure she could find a use for the 1000 bucks in prize money)

Actually she won 1200. 1000 for Grand, 200 for Gold.

[eastman]

Actually she won 1200. 1000 for Grand, 200 for Gold.

Even better for Marike.

[wyrdmothershutyourmouth]

You know wyrd only got and extra 17 cents per mini entered into the contest. And that paid for the super glue and the primer that our award winning studio painter needed to prep the mini. Talk about taking a job beneath you. I'm sure the highlight for Eric was prepping minis. Thankfully he isn't an egomaniacle butthead. At least publicly. Just kidding Eric. I was impressed with your real-ness. And thank you again for donating your time to run the contest. All things being equal I think everyone enjoyed it.

[EricJ]

Are you sure you remember which one was me at Gencon...because I was the egomaniacle butthead

[Frustrated Father]

I sheltered her from that portion of you, I didn't want her to fall for you like some other paint hoochie.

:: hand on shoulder ::

[mozart]

I don't know this story, but I would like to chime in that I thoroughly approve of the term "paint hoochie." I chortled with great exultation.

[tallghost]

wow. so much has been said already, but I'll throw in my two bits anyway.
(1) Yeah, I'd like to see some kind of "amature" level contest. Or maybe "mentally challenged sasquatch who uses house paint and a mop" level, so I could actually stand a chance of winning. But good lord, how do you police such a thing? Is there a professional mini painter's union that we can check the roster? Or are we going to check all entries against a list of names of winners from every other contest done across the globe?
There's no good system. That's why I took it as a chance to try to be part of the con, see and really appriciate the work of others (It means so much more when your stuff is up there. Even if it isn't that good like mine...that sense of playing with the big boys is nice) and have fun. Oh and most of all, con Nathan out of some free lead!!!
The Privteer speed paint I did had a ringer in it! It was a guy from France (I forgot his name)who is a pro. He "won 1st place" then demured and gave 1st to the 2nd place winner, and so forth down the line. Yeah it was "fixed" but it was awesome! Even though I didn't know it until the judging, I got to sit right beside a pro and see him work, and keep bugging him because he was hogging all of the white!
(2) I thought the six bucks seemed fair. Heck, your game, your rules. I arrived late, but I didn't see anyone who looked like they were forced into that painting contest. Hell, I was hoping to get in on it, but my early event ran long, so I showed up late. By the way, thanks agin to everyone who was so nice and let me stare over their shoulders while you worked. Most of my painting is done alone, and it was really great to just get to sit and watch all of you do your thing. I think I may have learned just as much that night as I did from the class I was signed up for.
(3) it just seems like the complainer in quetion had a craptastic time, and was looking to complain about anything and everything.
(4) Whew! i think this is the longest post I've written yet.

[green stuff]

It was a guy from France
That would be Jérimie Bonamant Teboul ;). He has nothing to do with Privateer Press and loves speed painting comps because it's such a chaotic event and it pushes you to do your best in sush a short time span.

[mozart]

Jeremie is a rare talent, and a genuinely nice guy. I was fortunate enough to be in a class with him in Cincinnati, and I learned a lot.

It is amazing to see him work. He's so freaking fast!

[matty1001]

That would be Jérimie Bonamant Teboul ;). He has nothing to do with Privateer Press and loves speed painting comps because it's such a chaotic event and it pushes you to do your best in sush a short time span.

I'v heard he a bit of a nutter himself, running around and being generally chaotic lol

[EricJ]

The big thing is really it's impossible to place "pros" and "amateurs" I mean, if you judge by the usual standard of whether they've painted for money, I know A LOT of dry-brushers who paint up 150 piece armies for people for $$'s but couldn't break the 5-6 range on cmon. And I've never painted for money, sure I've ebayed finished models, but never painted to ebay...so where is the line, because if you include ebay, more and more people are in that "pro" category. Anyway, it just doesn't work, and if you stick me in the amateur category I'd be pissed because I wouldn't get to compete against the people I admire and if I managed a trophy, it would seem aweful hollow...anyway, if you can't tell, I'm against it :)

Jeremie did see quite fun, I wish I had had more free time there, but I was having fun at the wyrd booth, maybe next year!

[tallghost]

Eric: You're definatly a pro in my book. If I can get any of my stuff close to your level, I will be happy.
I think a big thing the "amatures" forget is that really, when it comes down to it, we're all painting toys. The "pros" got to be good because they enjoy doing it and took the time to get feedback and learn and practice. But it isn't that anyone is going to get a mini in the louvre. In fact, contests like gencon pretty much are the "big museum" showcases of minis painting. So more power to the higher talent to get a chance to show off.

And on a side note, Jeremie was a very nice guy. He even took a couple of minutes and asked me (I did not ask him) for a chance to look at my speed painted mini and give me a few words of encouragement. He is also a brush licker who was WILLING TO LICK THE BRUSHES AT SPEEDPAINTING.

[Wren]

I took several of Jeremie's class and I'll second the comment that he's a really nice guy. And an unrepentent brush licker. The classes are three to a room with just curtains separating, so depending on how quiet a moment is in yours vs how well the instructor in the next class projects, you can sometimes get a bit of two classes for the price of one. During one of them, the class next to Jeremie's was an overview of tools - paint, brushes and so on, including safety tips, like the kind of stuff we've been discussing in the dangers of brush licking thread. He merrily licked his brushes all the way through it. Speed paint brushes though, shudder, that's not just chemicals that's other people's nastiness! ;->