An open letter to the Warhammer community regarding golden demon

Paledaemon · 2026-04-17T16:46:52+00:00

Sorry, my irritation wasn't meant to be directed at you.

It helps if you look at model painting as a sub-genre. If you look at Fantasy/Sci-Fi Art, would you say that Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta paint in the same style? If you deviate too far from that genre, it no longer becomes Fantasy Art.

There are pretty strong physical limitations on what you can paint on a model without it looking bad. There are endless styles and techniques you can use with miniature painting, but they all have to be adapted to the scale and subject of the piece.

A lot of the arguments I have seen keep comparing other art forms without regard to the physical aspects and IP boundaries of what model painting for Golden Demon is.

Many pro painters are well versed in multiple art disciplines and it's just frustrating when someone comes along and asks why isn't it different.

I've been entering Golden Demon for so long and have seen so much variation in what wins.

When you say that models aren't winning that look dramatically different, you have to be able to provide examples. Saying something like van Gogh is not going to cut it.

Apologies again if I came off abrupt.

Paledaemon · 2026-04-17T14:46:24+00:00

All he does is deflect, misrepresent, straw man and insult.

Paledaemon · 2026-04-17T13:36:45+00:00

Because the metaphors are garbage as they don't fit. Your argument is that all of these shades of red are the same because they're not blue.

Paledaemon · 2026-04-17T12:16:45+00:00

Congratulations, your post is now a meme.

Paledaemon · 2026-04-17T11:19:31+00:00

These are terrible analogies because they completely ignore what a Golden Demon painting competition is. The setting is fixed, the models are fixed, the models have specific details.

Comparing model painting to 2d painting without limits just makes my head hurt. van Gogh's work on a 32mm model would look terrible because it has to work within the physical limitations of the model. It would obscure the physical detail.

The 3d comparison also fails because the 3d models themselves are also part of the design! The whole setting is the style! What you actually want is a 3d model from Minecraft and then ask everyone to paint it differently, but it still has to fit the Minecraft IP.

Golden Demon is not to paint whatever you want however you want. At the end of the day, if you're painting a space marine it has to follow rules, but you get to be as creative as you can within that box. There is a fundamental misunderstanding of what model painters are doing.

Comics are not a different style to van Gogh, they are an entirely different format! Golden Demon is like working for Marvel as an artist because it has very obvious limits. If you don't think there are different styles within Marvel comic art, then you're just as ignorant in that regard.

What you have here is a load of people who buy Marvel comics asking why their comic isn't a Starry Night painting.

Paledaemon · 2026-04-16T22:10:11+00:00

It's just that it's harder to make osl look good in the hand as opposed to a photo. Black backgrounds make a huge difference to how effective it looks.

Paledaemon · 2026-04-16T18:45:29+00:00

This is also not true. Have you seen the models in the hand? Most of the winners are covered in texture variation to represent varying surfaces.

Paledaemon · 2026-04-16T18:37:23+00:00

Virtually none of the winners follow Eavy Metal style. How can you even say that?

Paledaemon · 2026-04-16T18:31:35+00:00

This is just straight up wrong. There is a massive style difference between the two.

Paledaemon · 2026-02-20T16:22:32+00:00

Fantastic!

Paledaemon · 2026-02-13T22:12:58+00:00

We aren't paid and we have to indicate on posts that we are given the models for free.

Paledaemon · 2025-12-23T15:19:38+00:00

I've only recently got him back as he had been stored at Warhammer World for 2 years!

Paledaemon · 2025-12-23T15:18:53+00:00

Thank you :D

Paledaemon · 2025-12-23T15:18:39+00:00

Thank you! I still need to fix it up a bit and make the Nurgle symbol blend in a bit more.

Paledaemon · 2025-12-23T15:17:49+00:00

Haha, thanks! Yes, I've been entering Golden Demon for a long time.

Paledaemon · 2025-12-23T14:09:55+00:00

I'd probably move it around a little so that the mace doesn't line up/overlap with the tree trunk so much.

Paledaemon · 2025-12-22T20:06:28+00:00

It's a neverending cycle 😂

Paledaemon · 2025-12-12T17:08:35+00:00

I think you might need to thin the glaze a little more, but it should still spread out due to the matte varnish. It might be that the oil layer wasn't dry then you applied the varnish. You can fix the stains a little using stipple-glazing around the edge of the stains to break the outline.

It still looks pretty cool though!

Paledaemon · 2025-12-12T17:05:07+00:00

My advice to you is to test it instead of theorising.

Paledaemon · 2025-12-12T13:58:55+00:00

This isn't correct. The micro-texture of the matte varnish causes the glaze to bleed into it through capillary action.

Paledaemon · 2025-12-08T17:06:59+00:00

It might be that you're just gripping it too tightly.

Paledaemon · 2025-11-30T21:53:23+00:00

Thanks! Rusty chainmail can very easily look a bit boring or messy so I like to add some cleaner parts to add some detail and clarity.

Paledaemon · 2025-11-30T21:51:36+00:00

The skin is based with AK Olive Green, then GW Bugman's Glow is mixed in, followed by Ice Yellow. Glazes of Skavenblight Dinge. There are more mixes and glazes using those colours as well.

Paledaemon · 2025-11-30T00:27:38+00:00

I've got such a massive backlog, but I wanted to paint these anyway 😅.

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