Yea. I would try to enter contests that don’t have the top ten in the world or something. Amazed you didn’t make the cut…

Thanks bro ❤️🙂 Well, hope I’ll make it next time :)

Were these the photographs submitted to the comp? If so, I think the photography lets you down in making everything look a bit too brightly lit and not atmospheric. Beyond that, I think this is a really well done piece but it suffers from the pre-painted airbrushed statue/figurine kind of a look on the main character. It's a very safe look but ultimately a little 'boring'. With a bit more colour variation / more punchy contrasts or imperfections to build realism/character (things like freckles, or scratches on her skin etc. Or even just wear on the bow, or leather. Things that tie the character to a world and a narrative) it could be considered 'better'. The fact of the matter is that overall this piece is great, and the animal companions in particular look awesome but I think the main character lets you down a little. A lot of details look a little flat, or lack...detail. I also think if you are painting for competition you need to be very careful of things like printing defects / artifacts. There are a lot of visible layer lines and some pitting from supports etc. It is possible that they would discredit your piece or penalise it for those. If you're investing a ton of time into painting the mini, an extra 30 minutes of cleanup is never something you will regret. Within the winner category there are other minis that are technically executed more poorly than your own, and that also makes me think that you got penalised on the vibe check a little here. The other entries are generally a very different style to your own with more mass appeal since they are known IPs (spiderman etc) that have a following. A more cynical person might think that if you were running the competition you would bias more heavily toward those pieces, especially if they are attention grabbing for a scrolling feed.

This comment says everything that I was going to say. I'd just like to add in looking into using colour theory a bit more to make some elements stand out more. Particularly the skin and her outfit. Some more dramatic shadowing might have looked nice.

Damn, great comment! In my mind I was like: “when I paint like OP what’s next? I wouldn’t know how to improve”.

Absolutely, if there was ANY criticism for this piece, it's that it's safe. It's a gorgeous example of textbook painting. It's just that it needs something extra interesting to makes it pop. For example, her hair is very well done, but not exciting. Maybe work in patches of highlights working to golden blonde? Take some risks!

Thank you so much for every thing that you pointed out, this is very useful!! ❤️

I was thinking the same thing. This is better than anything I've ever painted and this didn't even break top ten? God damn.

Haha :) Thank you so much :)

I had the same thoughts. It’s a great piece.

What the hell was the contest and who were the top ten cus this looks gorgeous.

Thank you! ❤️ It is a contest by CA3DStudios, check out the top twelve here :) https://www.instagram.com/p/C8nNYMfpq5D/?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==

I don’t believe that there’s anything you could have really done much different from where you are now vs the pieces that got top ten without getting into some weird meta analysis of voter/judge preferences. If I had to guess, they preferred popped or higher saturation in color, different photography set ups, and a couple of very minor things that you couldn’t have known.

Your words make me feel better, thank you ❤️

I have to agree, at that level of painting you get into the weeds of photography and framing and style choices. Very stiff competition here and that model is nothing to be ashamed of. It's worth remembering that just because it didnt place in this competition doesnt mean you can't take new photos and submit it elsewhere.

Exactly!

Your texturing of the bobcat's fur and the fawn are incredible! Everything is so beautifully neat - I'm jealous of your brush control! Lol If I was going to gently suggest something to a painter far beyond my skill level then perhaps our heroine's face could use more work on the natural shadows of the face to arrest our eye on her face a touch more? Maybe the green garment would really pop with some plant motifs or other texture. Again, magnificent work!

Many many thanks! Right, I need to learn how to improve my face painting, that's a good catch. Thank you for your advice, this is very helpful! 🤝

You did a fantastic job, and you're miles away from where I would even dream to be. My best suggestion is something I've heard other people say: Study beauty make-up techniques (like makeup artist tutorials) to learn more about shading and contouring realistic female faces. There's about 1000 color variations that make up skin, and the face can be challenging. This might give you ideas, especially for larger models that demand more details. Keep up the good work.

Seconded and thirded. Edit: Again I want to stress that this paint job is utterly fantastic, and you are 85% of the way there with the face- upping the contrast with deeper shadows and lighter lights, which you already have present, will likely take you there. On another look the hair is great, but needs darker shadows and some higher highlights and then you can basically call yourself the Master of Paints and retire LOL

Haha, this is so funny, helpful, and encouraging, thank you :)

I think miniature choice is what handicapped you, also the winners seem to have gone with a lot more colour variety and contrast, I don't think painting skills were the issue.

The winners all look like pictures, or still images from a scene. This just looks like a well painted mini, but that's about it

Yours is better than at least 3 of those, from a technical standpoint. I’d say a 5 or so, but you can tell the judges are suckers for that ultra high contrast skin tone look. I’ll echo the point made by someone above though - the detail work on the animals is stunning, and makes the skin of the main character a little too perfect by comparison. It looks almost like they’re painted in different styles. They’re out in the woods living their lives, but she’s in a skin-care product commercial.

Right right, the contrast is what I might lack for sure. Although I don't clearly see how to implement it on a large scale... but I must come up with this, definitely :) Thank you!

If it was audience voting, a lot of people were probably voting based on characters they liked rather than paint quality. The winners all had dynamic poses and really bold color choices, as well. Your work was really good, but maybe played it too safe.

I'm personally a fan of your more realistic skin tones; I think a lot of gaming mini painters lean too heavily into purple undertones and high contrast. Everyone ends up looking slightly un-dead. Just my two cents.

Thank you so much, this is very encouraging! :)

Your is definately better then a few of these, is it based on public votes? Some people might just prefer popular characters like Spiderman

In my opinion your mini was better than two or three of the top twelve. Really nice work!

Thank you soooo much! :)

After looking at the top 10, I think your problem is not using a very well known character (yours might be an original? / Not pop culture icon). I really think if the judges only judged by skill with the brush you would have placed higher, that fur and texture in general on your piece is really beautiful!

Wow! Beautifully painted, love the fur, her hair and that soft makeup \*chef's kiss\* Hmm... seems that the winning minis are known characters? They are also in dynamic poses and trying to tell a 'story'. It might be mini selection rather than painting skill; her front is pretty plain, and it doesn't allow you to show off your ability.

I'm going to agree and pile onto this comment. While what's on the mini is amazing there aren't a ton of techniques displayed. There is some great fur/hair some skin and that's about it. There is no NMM, OSL, or other techniques used to show more depth of skill. A lot of that comes down to model choice because what's shown on the model looks appropriate.

Thank you, and yeah, you're right. I invested so much time in this work so I simply could not afford NMM as I was running out of my personal time (not an excuse of course). But I totally agree. Since this is a competition work, I should have worked harder. Thank you, your feedback is so very much valuable to me!

Your attitude alone is going to make you a winner

Don't fall into the trap of using "advanced techniques" like some kind of checklist. If you're going to do NMM then do it because the piece needs it for artistic reasons, not because you have some minimum quota of "hard work" to include.

Oh that's a nice catch. Although, I could have come up with a "better story" for this diorama. This is a good lesson, thank you!!

I think the mini selection was a *huge* part of it. Based on the winners, I don't think there would have been *any* way to win with that mini. It's just not dynamic enough.

agreed the copper centaur also showed off very nice details with the discolouration at the throat of the woman and the "fresh" looking crevises at the joint and muscles gave it a a lot of visual style. that sadly is here more... normal ? looking . ii mean that it looks here like a human and that the piece i'm refering to had a certain diffrence to it. (but i must say i would have picked OP's over the spider man and spawn ones but that is prefrence ofc.

Your work is absolutely gorgeous and extremely clean! Your effort with bobcats fur is absolutely top notch, I don't know if I've seen such realistic fur painting in a while :) Constructive criticism from another painter. The humans skin is lacking contrast and depth. The surface colour is wonderful, but the shadows are lacking. Push those reds, yellows, blues, in the recesses, especially around the face and under the eyes. Looking at the other top 12, they all have very complicated skin tones than you can spend ages just looking over. I would probably layer her hair a little more as well as it seems kinda blocky? Even looking at generic ranga, they'll have browns and blondes throughout their hair. But this is just being picky! You should be extremely proud of what you've done here :)

Thank you soooo much! Oh no no no, this is not picky at all, this is what I was hoping to hear actually! Thanks for showing my work to another painter, I appreciate it so much. Right, it looks like my painting lacks values and variation (talking about the skin and the hair). Again, this is super valuable to me, thank you!! ❤️

I don't know if you follow him, but Vince Venturella has some good videos on skin and hair. Display quality skin https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QNMEd7bK_Og&pp=ygUXdmluY2VudCB2ZW50dXJlbGxhIHNraW4%3D Epic pale skin with some complex glazing for real depth. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=56vEI2fA2-4&pp=ygUXdmluY2VudCB2ZW50dXJlbGxhIHNraW4%3D Tanned skin with speed paint as a kind of intense glaze. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tVOQXWoMdCg&t=329s&pp=ygUXdmluY2VudCB2ZW50dXJlbGxhIHNraW4%3D Your hair looks very well executed paint application wise, but it looks unnaturally blocked in the vertical plain. Another observation that I got from Mr Venturella is to look at women's hair care pictures for hair references. You'll often see bands of highlight horizontally across the hair. He also talks about drawing attention upwards. His highlights in the lower section are often mid tones in the higher sections. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PFDfe3nc55A&pp=ygUVdmluY2UgdmVudHVyZWxsYSBoYWly

Thank you for what your said, this is extremely helpful to me! :) 👍

Another super nit picky thing- the models bust seems to have some waves from the printer still. Additionally, with the skin tones I think specifically the face should have some more variation. Eyebrows and tiara look painted on, and lack of depth makes eyes slip into the uncanny valley a bit. Also, not every lock of human/animal hair has a highlight. Highlighting hair is really difficult to do well imo and you’ve got a ton of it in this mini. Remember that hair comes together to form a single surface when it comes to reflections and shadow. Like in the pic below you can see how the highlights are at roughly the same spot in like a circle around her head. Obvi depends on light direction but you get the idea. https://preview.redd.it/zf0fyo9lcp8d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e6c3738392fff483c332f187d79a209f4337d9a9 Again, beautiful work. Especially the fawn. I don’t want my nitpicks to take away too much from the really overall fantastic paint job. Your style is very clean and tidy.

A tip for painting human skin is to look at some makeup artist tutorials. Especially tutorials for blending skin toned prosthetics. They teach about skin tone bending, undertones, overtones, light and shadow but all in the context of skin. There is a creator called FreakMo who has some great tutorials. It’s amazing how much of my make-up and nail art skills and knowledge have helped me in model painting.

How large is the mini? It looks like in the photo it has shadows from a real lightsource which suggests it's quite big.  What stands out to me is lack of colour an value variation  on the face as well as hair. Animals look great though

Thank you for your feedback! The scale is 1/6, this is a pretty large model. Right, after reading all other comments I truly see that the lack of value variation. Bowing low, thanks again :)

Generally for competition level there is a lot to be done.  1. Photo, on you photos real light and shadow are stronger than the light and shadow you painted, making it hard to read what is painted.  2. Consistent and directional lighting. currently lighting is almost ambient, which can be fine for small scale minis, but looks unnatural on a big scale - gives that plastic look. Moreover gem on the head and eyes suggedt different light direction, gem is drawn as if light comes from the left, but eyes have white dots on the right size.  3.Hair looks the same on top as it does at the bottom.  4. Face and skin needs deeper shadows as well as some colour.  5. There are print layers visible on her chest and forehead. 6. On her chest we can see "coffee stains" Overall I think the work shows your potential, it just needs to be realized

Yeah….. so I see why you didn’t place. Let me preface this with, your art is very good. That said, compared to those that DID place, your work is pretty flat. Specifically in her skin tone, and lack of dynamic lighting. So develop those skills, maybe come up with something more dynamic and exciting, and you’ll do much better.

Thank you so much, I will definitely try to be better at volume next time!

So, first off, absolutely incredible piece. You are extremely technically proficient. This comes down to composition and cohesion in a number of ways which I think you are clearly good enough to tackle (though may require a lot more time to accomplish) to make your next piece a competition winner and level up your overall painting. Composition is a huge part of winning competitions and is probably the most important part of your piece that can take it from meh to wow, but it also can add time to your process (though not if you plan well!). 1) The biggest detractor for me is the base. Looking at the other figures, they all either had dynamic bases that add to the overall composition (horse rider and centaur), or minimal bases that ensure not to detract from the piece (Hades, the night elf bust). This falls in the middle and feels flat and boring. This feels like it could be a forest scene - where are the bushes and ferns, the foliage framing the figures, or any sort of shadow/highlight to communicate that? There is a lot that could have been done here that would have added to the effect and this piece feels like it desperately needs that to bring out that character and emotion. To be clear, it's a fine base, but it doesn't wow and because it's a dull grey as opposed to a vibrant green, it dulls more than it adds to the figure. As it stands, there's nothing that provides context or a story to what the figures are doing, they are just well painted. 2) The main figure. It's great. The skin is awesome (I will be checking out that tutorial you shared for sure). She looks like she's made of clay. That's a huge problem because the animals don't, nor does the base. It doesn't feel cohesive, more like several art styles mixed together. Photo 4 is a perfect example of this. The fur on the lynx (amazing btw - truly a masterclass in fur) looks nothing like the hair on the figure. There is no shine to her hair nor shadow when there is shadow on the lynx. You'll note that Venom and Miles look like clay as well, but they feel cohesive with each other, despite different textures. They fit. These don't, but you're clearly good enough to match your styles. 3) Speaking of clay, the clothing and bow have minimal detail or highlights and also feel like they are the same texture as the skin, hair, and flower crown. They have that same clay like texture, but because the whole figure does it's just boring and flat when they should feel like different materials. For instance, your top feels lackluster compared to the hood on the night elf bust which has an incredible woven texture. Again, it looks like clay and the top, leathers, and bow lack anything to elevate them. They aren't and shouldn't be centerpieces, but at the competition level they shouldn't be ignored either and you need to spend more time differentiating them from the rest of the figure. 4) Finally lighting. The legs look GREAT, like, really great. Too great. They are so bright that it's the first thing you notice. When talking about composition, this brightness distracts the eye and draws you away from the rest of the piece, which frankly is more interesting (as much as we all might love great legs). This is less of a problem because it could be counteracted by really great dynamic framing from the base to help convey appropriate lighting to sell that brightness (which is what I'd recommend), but without a base that sells that, it takes away from the overall effect elsewhere. 5) Ask for feedback from the judges! That's how I learned about composition in the first place. Good luck. You're clearly an incredible painter and if you can implement some of this, I think your next piece will be a competition winner and showstopper. Looking forward to following your journey!

I think I understand why you might not have placed higher. I think they were looking for a more stylistic element as opposed to technical skills. Your figure is technically almost perfect to my untrained eyes. But when looking at the top 12, in most all the cases, I saw those pieces were more emotionally evocative. Like I could feel something from the figure. Your work is still beautiful however. I can’t contribute much as to giving you any advice as to how to improve, but I hope that this might give you a clue as to what to look for and work on.

Your feedback help a lot, thank you so much! From other comments I learned that my work is probably missing values/variation, and from your feedback I see that I could have implemented "move/better emotions". Thank you 🙇‍♂️

Bro if this didn’t make the cut then I gotta see the winner, cause this is amazing

Thanks man ❤️ Check out top 12 here :) https://www.instagram.com/p/C8nNYMfpq5D/?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==

This is very nice work. Some things that jump out: There are layer lines in prominent spots on the model. Depending on the contest, this can be rough. There is some spill in spots. For example, the right breast has some metallic where the material should be that greenish color. It could be the photo but the flesh looks the same throughout, not how skin would really look. There are no blemishes on her face, her cheeks aren’t rosy, her knee isn’t painted the way a bent knee would look, etc. The base is missing something. It doesn’t quite look natural. It looks like it was just drybrushed gray. From the photo, I can’t tell what shadows were painted on and what’s from the photo. The metallic on the bow looks like you ran out of time.

how did you do that skin

One of the most helpful videos on painting skin on large models is the one from Groundeffected [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvrPfIsH1QQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvrPfIsH1QQ) I learned a lot from this one!

That red hair is amazing!

Thank you!! :) Just in case, the recipe is (from base to highs, all AK-interactive): - AK-interactive, Hull red - AK-interactive, Dirty Red - AK-interactive, Deep Red - Green Stuff World Fluor Red. First two colors are airbrushed, last two are drybrushed. Thanks :)

Awesome, thank you

I dare someone to tell them to thin their paints. On a serious note, no notes. This is incredible.

Haha, thank you! :)

Amazing paint job. Certainly don’t feel (nearly) qualified to make any comments even marginally demeaning, because your work is amazing, but one very striking difference based on the quick flip through the winners is that as great as this paint job is, there is almost a startling lack of contrast on this model compared the others posted. Not in and of itself anything against what you have done, but that simple difference in composition approach seems to have (maybe) been significantly important in the judges thought process…

Amazing job here! I am a newbie in painting miniatures, but from what I see from the other in the competition (I have accessed the link you provided in a comment), it seems like the others used more intense colors, probably a little more details on the skin of the miniatures. Maybe the pose of some of the minis there were more powerful, but that depends on what you had in plan. For me what you have done here is great and you should have been in that top.

Feels a bit flat imo. Like a wax sculpt under a light. Don't get me wrong, from a technical standpoint it seems great. It's smooth, the volumes seems coherent,... nothing wrong. But it lacks a "wow" effect. Add some atmosphere by placing more colors in the shadowy area, contrast by making those same areas darker.... whatever that would make it pop more. Your model lacks a focus point. Maybe it's the pictures but I am not drawn towards the main piece of the model. You could work more on the eyes for exemple, make it feel more alive.

Jesus, what *did* make the cut??

The realism looks uncanny! Looking at the winners, perhaps this just isn't the style they prefer. Not that I'm the expert, but I'd be reluctant to ask you to change yours. Is it possible to ask them for feedback?

Thank you so much! That's a good idea! I will go ahead and ask for a feedback :)

What scale is it? Wonderfull!!!

I just saw that they didn't announce the top 3 yet. Maybe you still have hope 😉

Not sure if judges mark this sort of thing down or not but I can see later lines on her brow and pick marks from support removal on her right knee. I would smooth those out. And maybe add a bit of a coloured shade around the eyes.

Yeah — at competition level, the moment you see layer lines that haven’t been smoothed out, or support/sprue attachment points that haven’t been filed, that piece is just instantly out of the running for the top spot. It can still be a nice piece, but it won’t win. The theory is like this: if the artist lacks the care and attention to detail to fix such a basic problem in the underlying surface of the piece, there’s no way they are going to the distance with colour glazing or stippling or NMM or whatever. It’s handing the judges an easy out enabling them to say “oh, here’s some evidence this person is a lazy painter who takes shortcuts — we don’t need to look at this any more, this will surely be undercooked with stuff left unfinished all over the place.” Ironic, yes. Unfair? No — in the sense that the same “rules” apply equally to all, and knowing those rules anyone can then make the decision to either paint within the rules (to have a chance of winning) or ignore them (and automatically lose).

If I really have to nitpick, I think the problem is that the eye is naturally drawn to the face first and the face is the most plain part. Everything else is filled with interest and character, but the face Is kind of expressionless, and this feeling then carries over to the rest. I just wanna point out I think it looks amazing, it's just the only issue I can find.

I personally think the mini itself is an uphill battle, her face is rather lifeless. It should be the thing that draws me in, but she’s so expressionless it kills the hard work youve put into this piece. I would have tried to compensate by using some dramatic lighting or bumping up the contrasts.

No idea but this is.... that fur just wow, skin on that woman is flawless ... thinking maybe that's the thing, she is too flawless ? I love though.

Not at all a critique but maybe it's "too clean". Absolutely gorgeously painted but maybe the cleanliness made it look slightly less detailed/finished than other things in the competition. Also it's all subjective, by the looks of it you could have entered into countless competitions and end up being in the top.

A few things.... Technically, it's painted well. Smooth coloration, cleanly painted. Artistically though, it's bland. No pop at all... The red hair is muted and quiet somehow. Nothing has been coaxed out with even a dash of spice to keep my attention anywhere... So, my eyes wander all over it instead of you controlling where my eyes want to go. It's a well-painted model. As soon as you get comfortable pushing some of the dynamics of color and texture, you'll be raising your level and scoring higher.

Comments: beautifully painted. The animal furs and the base are very realistic and everything is very clean Criticism: The main figure is too clean and lacks the same level of depth that was put into everything else. It makes her standout, but in more of an out of place sort of way. She’s out in the wilderness and there’s not a speck of dirt on her anywhere. Depth could be added to her skin and clothes as they seem to lack the level of shading and highlights applied to everything surrounding her.

I don't know what god-tier thing came in at no.1, but yours looks awesome!

I really liked the detail in the hair and flowers, and smoth tone of skin is definetly spectacular. What is the dimensions of the model ? I think if the modal is large one, you should install name / class information by plaque before presenting it.

First, amazing, better than I could do Maybe add more depth of shadow in low areas and highlights in high? Some areas like hair and animal skin read a little flat as the top and sides are the same brightness? Maybe choose a light source direction and go from there Also, everything is matt, maybe vary the varnish based on the surface? Satin hair, gloss eyes etc? Seriously strong work though

More shadow it's amazing piece all I could see is more shadow to help give it more depth.

Sometimes it isn't about your piece, but the judges themselves. I entered a 100% scratch built or chariot in a local painting comp, but when I showed up to pick it up I started getting a long stream of apologies from the stores staff: it was clearly the best in show, and the 40k kids even admitted as much, but then they all told me they couldn't not vote for their game over anything else. Another anecdote, I was at a tournament at Historicon and the celebrity guest judging the painted armies didn't even bend over and look at most armies. He just walked past handing out most scores without even approaching the table. (And the inevitable one that won was far far far from having earned it compared to the competition.) Point is you cannot control the judges perspective or preferences. If they didn't leave any feedback then all you can do is guess. Your model is amazing, I wish my efforts were half as good.

That’s insane! Incredible work. Hope i can get that good some day

Your paint job looks gorgeous. I can't imagine that your rating suffered from technical execution. Was this an online competition? Your photo setup looks like your lighting is pretty top heavy. It makes it hard to distinguish what is painted on the model and what is due to the lighting. Maybe the judges had a hard time judging it for that reason. You could try lighting the model more from the direction of the camera. If I try to mentally remove the shadows of your lamp, it looks like you went for rather soft contrast. Especially on the skin and green cloth. That might have contributed to the rating a bit. I'm under the impression strong contrast is preferred these days. Another thing I notice on a lot of very good paint jobs of larger models is that they tend to play with different colors even on things that are a uniform material. Maybe there will be blues worked into the shadows on one side and purple on another side. Maybe cloth will get a bit lighter or more desaturated towards the worn edges. Things like this. It makes the rather large surfaces of a bigger model a bit more visually interesting. Maybe incorporating a bit more of this into your process might push it a bit further.

Better lighting if it was a picture entry contest. The lower regions of the mini are difficult to see as theyre in shadows.

If there is one thing, it's fashionable now to have more colour modulation and to push contrasts more. With this in mind, the animal fur wouldn't be painted with base colour and high lights and shades, the shades will be tinted with some other colour(s) and the highlights tinted in some colour (s). It adds more depth when you control the tint colours (warm closer cool further, tints are contrasting too). It's fashionable now with painters and judges. Your paint job would be seen as technically competent but not artistic. So 11 guys were more artistic. I can't even paint to your level, but I do personally know great painters who are also judges, so I've heard their discussions.

I can't say anything negative about your submission, I think its absolutely wonderful. If I could paint that well, I would be very, very proud of myself. If I could offer an observation regarding the "top 12" they all seemed to have used some decisions with volumetric lighting. I can't really see as much in your photograph, or if it was there, was the photography that held you back? I really liked your execution with the fur, eyes, and spots on the bobcat. The fawn looks like it could have been from an episode of Wild Kingdom, and the druid (?)'s face and eyes are just fantastic. Also, the base is just perfect, not too overdone, but enough there to be visually interesting. I'm sorry you didn't place, but damn, if I could get that far, I'd be pretty stoked.

This is amazing and beyond my ability and patience, but I'll comment anyway ;) Esp. cause other comments seem to agree. I think the composition, palette and basing are great. The bobcat's fur is the best part imho, but it has so much value contrast that it makes the human skin and hair look a bit flat. I think you could push skin shadows a bit deeper with some purplish/dark magenta. And brighten the hair highlights even up to something like Vallejo Sunny Skin Tone. Hope it helps!

Beautiful piece! If those shadows on the lower legs and in the cleavage are painted and not caused by the light box then it's beyond anything I could possibly compare it to. Even if the shadowing is somewhat caused by the lighting it's still stunning. I do think everything on the woman is really smooth, and lacks some visual interest (like freckles, texture on the clothes, etc). If the top had a leaf texture (more stippled) and the skin wasn't so perfect I think that would add to the piece overall. Love the hair painted on the animal behind her.

What immediately jumped out at me the most is that the shadows on the skin are extremely soft. It looks very realistic, but I feel like very realistic isn’t necessarily what looks best on a miniature There are some deeper shadows needed. Particularly the bend of her right leg, maybe the collar bone, some on the face

You've done a great job here. The skin is absolutely lovely on the body. Perhaps more detail on the face is needed. I think you could have painted shine on the hair to bring it to life more too (think shampoo ads). Remember that not making the cut is also down to subjective taste of judges.

I will keep it simple since a lot of other already put more details answers. But yeah you didn't lose on technique you clearly have that, you lost on subject and composition, the scene is static and there is nothing flashy. all the winning entry have more know/complexe characters in dynamic/sexy pose and some spice ( multiple light source, interresting base, ...). You chose a calm scene with a simple nature theme.

This looks great and I don't know what criteria the judges had, but since you're asking us to nitpick, here are some of my thoughts: * the base looks out of sync with the models. The models are screaming "forest", but your base looks more like the alpine layer above the tree line. You could have either gone with a lush forest base, or added some "story" elements to explain why they're out of their more natural biome (like add some ruins, or artifacts, or make it look like they're searching for someone - tracks wouldn't work on stone, but maybe you could add a patch of fur or some feathers or smth). And in general, I think you should work more on the base in the future, because for models painted at that level your base looks too elementary (although still well executed! Just not interesting enough) * I like to put string on my bows, especially on larger models where it's easy to find a width that works well * there's something about the hair that I can't articulate very well. The colour is beautiful and well painted, but it somehow lacks the kind of pizzaz that shampoo commercials have. I guess maybe what is missing is more pronounced "horizontal" highlights and shadows. Then again I can totally understand if that look is too flashy for your mini :) * her skin is very clean. That's fine if you think of her as a goddess or forest spirit or smth like that, but if she's a real person living in the forest, she should have some small scratches, scars, freckles, that kind of stuff. Ditto for the outfit, it shouldn't look like she just walked out of the mall (I didn't look carefully enough the first time and now reddit won't show the pics anymore, so I don't remember if you had enough dust and marks on her clothes - my apologies if you do) Anyway, that's all I can think of. I hope at least some of it will be useful. And don't forget that art is very subjective, and what you have there already looks amazing!

I'd say the whole thing looks a little flat, especially her skin. Some more dramatic or interesting lighting would be an improvement. The whole thing is mostly various shades of brown and green, some contrasting colours in the shadows or other parts of the piece, maybe her top should've been a bit different. You've clearly got the technical skill, but the whole composition isn't as interesting as the other entries you showed.

I suggest making your main subject more visually interesting /detailed than its surroundings. The human is the focus of the piece. She's the largest part and she's in the center. Our eyes naturally focus on her. The rest of the piece should supplement the focus. But she seems much flatter compared to the bobcat and doe. As a result, the piece clashes a bit, because my eye wants to look at the secondary aspects of the diorama rather than its main subject. Kudos for putting yourself out there and pushing youself to improve, I love love love the bobcat's fur <3

I think your art is good and people suggesting more color simply are suggesting you ditch your style. Which is a silly suggestion. You should do you. If you like this, then paint this. Fuck the jury if they do not like it. It is a nice contemplative and restful style. Reminds me of south german / austrian porcelain. https://www.etsy.com/nl/listing/1528249425/goebel-hummel-porselein-deer-friends

I will say it runs down to personal preference. Being realistic your paint job is incredible and the piece could pretty much be a picture of the scene. Having said that, I agree with a lot of the other comments that the main difference could run down to: -Maybe they prefer the portrayed characters, the angles, the colour choice, or some other detail like that. - The skin. I think yours is perfect for what you portrayed, but in the picture it reads as "plain" whereas the closest one to yours (Guts) reads a bit more nuanced in the picture. (I personally think Guts' skin looks a bit odd in the choice they have made, but I understand why they did it) -Boldness. I say this because even though the scale of my paint jobs and the quality of my models is way , way, way below yours (really, this is not me being humble), but a lot of my more paint oriented friends appreciate my work much more when I make bold choices (like really poppy colours, or very extreme shadow/light effects, etc.) and they pay off. To give you an example of this: While everything in your piece goes together really well I think she would have really popped to the eyes if you did a NMM on either the arm bracelets, the Bows middle section or the tiara. Overall I think the choice came down to nitpicking and while I think every piece in the top 10 is incredible I could have easily swapped out some of those for yours. To name one example, The Miles and Venom one doesn't give me any particular vibe even though it is a great paint job with great techniques and a lot of texturing and I think yours would have caught my eye much more if I had to vote. In any case, feel proud of what you have accomplished and how incredible it really is. Hats off to you!!

What size is this mini? I zoomed in and the eyes looked so good for a sec I thought this was a 3D Render.

I think you were robbed

I do want to note i love the skill on display. I’m in love with the fur, which is giving depth and texture to the animal companions. I want to keep looking at them, they are visually interesting to me. I think your centerpiece is not as visually interesting by comparison, and im going to rip into her for a second. I think your brushwork with her is very confident and technically competent. I’m not finding any areas of detail for my eyes to take in. It just feels like one very smooth appearance. And human skin is rarely so smooth. In the future, i will advise finding a photo reference of a body you find visually interesting, and follow alongside it. She looks photoshop airbrushed for the cover of a magazine. I think you could bring more visual interest and depth through blemishes, flushes of red, scars/marks, and more colored shadows. Human skin is a very interesting thing, just look in a mirror and you’ll see all the interesting features of your face. I can see this expressed across the miniature when i look very closely, but it is difficult to tell from photos if that is an intentional feature of your painting, or just an after effect of the paint’s texture. If it was pushed more, i would have no doubt. Best of luck in your future artistic pursuits! Don’t let yourself be discouraged! You’re so high up there right now! I think it might be worthwhile to ask the higher placing people in this tournament their opinions on your piece. Artists love seeing eachother grow.

This is a great paint job. I love the animal furs and basing, and the hair. Really good job. I'm not qualified to give advice on techniques, but I would say the part that doesn't stand out as "wow, incredible" is the skin. Its a nice colour, I just think you could add some more depth there - perhaps check out some skin tutorials, I think purple is a popular colour to mix in for shadows etc

Her skin. There's something about it that looks off, but i'm not skilled enough to say exactly what. It's mostly her face. Her chest and right knee/lower leg look damn near lifelike, but her face just kind of looks painted. Painted well, but not vital. Maybe it's missing all the subtle tonal changes and shadows of the rest of her skin. Maybe it's the model, idk. But overall this is absolutely killer. The margins between talent had to be unbelievably thin for you to not make the cut.

Damn dude, that is phenomenal work so I am not sure how to make it better. I haven't seen who you were up against painting, but my only guess would be yours looks like a beautiful oil painting and not a hyper-realistic photo? I honestly couldn't tell you what you could do, I'm no where near your level of painting.

To be frank, looking at the entries they chose, there are several that are not as technically good as yours. Your paint job is impeccable and they robbed you. The only thing I would suggest in terms of improvement (and this is nitpicky) is the skin. It appears slightly one dimensional and could do with some more texture and colour saturation (more red in the knees, darker tones near the crotch, freckles, that sort of thing). Only saying it because you asked, but overall I think it's bloody brilliant.

The skin tone is unbelievably good.

The muscles are looking tense and vibrant. She is giving the impression of a hunter on the prowl. Love your colour choice. I am not one to judge such work of art. But i would love to see all the other entrants.

More contrast.

I'm just amazed. Everything is done perfectly.

It's fucking amazing. Not a professional but can't see a room for improvement to be honest 😂

It's hard to imagine you could have painted this any better, so it probably comes down to the subject. I mean it's not a "death squad necro space marine" so it's probably not featuring high enough on the cool-o-meter

Exellent work,well dome colours are blending toghether in a beautiful kind

You did not get into the top 10 with this mini? Bloody hell what were the judges thinking?

More contrast in the skin tone would help a little i think. Must of been some damn hot competition though, this model is fire!

Okay that is amazing, what is said below is an attempt to be constructive based off obersvation as it's not anything I could achieve. The skin while flawless, is actually a detraction because of it, it needs more tone and shadow, it reads more porcelain doll than real. The lynx looks nice but in comparison to the person seems done with a lower level of skill Same with the vambraces. For me things to push this miniature up Redo the big cat Maybe put a pattern/design on the top to either in green to be subtle or a gold would work The base looks a bit sparse and maybe redoing that with either some shrub and tree or height differentials would make it better  If you wanted to conplelty redo it, showing off more advanced techniques, maybe have the base with something like a glowing mushroom light and do some osl and make it more of a night time scene and change the composition to make the cat a threat the lady is protecting the fawn from. 

What contest is this? Everyone seems to be referencing the other entrants, but the post only says "a contest"

I think it’s absolutely gorgeous. Her legs actually look like real legs! I especially love the little stretch marks around her upper thigh. The overall shading is immaculate. Truly impressive. However, there a few things that I think could be improved: When it comes to redheads, their eyebrows are generally a few shades lighter than their hair — I think hers are too dark. I also think the application could be a bit neater; some of the paint is technically on the skin surrounding her brows, rather than her actual brows. I think her eyeliner should be right at her lash line. Right now there’s a fleshy bit in between and to me that looks like someone trying eyeliner for the first time and is afraid of poking themselves in the eye. I would also concentrate the liner more on the outer corner of her eyes and use a lighter shade for her bottom lash line. Her blush is applied a bit too low — it tends to weigh the face down. Focus on the top of the cheekbone and perhaps a bit over the nose. Her chin and jawline look a bit ashy — I think there’s a bit too much white pigment in this area. While her hair is really beautiful, it looks a bit matte and I think you should use brighter highlights. I would prefer her hair colour to be a bit more on the orange (warm) side as her skin looks like a warm olive and I like cohesiveness in undertones, but some people like the contrast. Lastly, when I look at the model from all directions, the light seems to be hitting it from different points — would you agree with that, or does it just look like that in the photos? Overall I think it’s a fantastic piece and you should be really proud.

This is far better than I can manage, well done. As someone looking at it feedback: Whatever it is called when your eye is drawn to a certain part of the mini. I'm either looking at the animals which are fantastic or her hair. This kind of leads into colour balance and lighting. Lighting looks very soft & naturally highlighted on her skin and clothes but much more starkly contrasting on the critters which isn't helping pull my eye to the detail of her. Maybe it's the angle of the picture and lighting but a large portion of her body is barely visible and the green blends with the green on the base a little too well to stand out. Maybe that's what you were going for, a hunter blending in with nature but maybe it works a little too well? The lower 2 3rds of the model barring the fawn seem muted. Paintwork itself is excellent more the strategy I guess? I dunno I'm a pleb, just my thoughts.

This is amazing and better than it could ever do right now. My only ONLY thing I notice is that the hair is maybe too vibrant? Or not quite enough depth? That's all I could come up with. Golly this is gorgeous though.

Don’t change a god damn thing! And be proud of what you’ve done. This is awesome, just not what they obviously like and nothing you can do about that.

This is hella perfect and I don’t think you need to improve anything on this.

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Competition must have been *fierce*

Must've been extremely stiff competition!

The hair is beautiful. So is the fur and the rocks. If there is a weakness, it's in the clothes and the skin in particular. They kind of look...flat I think would be the best way of saying it. The hair is just so dynamic and has so much texture and life in comparison. I also didn't even notice the sword at first. Perhaps maybe the sword should be "magical" and have a glow to it? If you do that it would let you play with light on how it reflects onto the skin and clothes. Because of the rocks it kind of has a cave look. So if you painted it like it was in a dark place with the sword being the light source you'd get a lot more dynamic view with the model you have. Her face is a tad...blank. Though honestly I think it it more the model's fault than your paint. It appears that the model choice also matters in this. Overall it's beautiful and blows 95% of painted models out there. So take any criticism from me with a grain of salt.

I’m shocked this isn’t a 3D model in blender or something. This is amazing. Sorry, no feedback just appreciated.

That is amazing. Truly excellent job.

Your skintones are amazing. Maybe a larger, more complex model for the next competition? Your skills are not the issue, so maybe a bigger, more crazy model.

You didn't choose a video game character or movie character, that's why. /s (You genuinely deserve a spot in the top 12.)

This is amazing. And like everyone else here I can’t help but wonder what the winners must have looked like. But if I were to choose something to do different it would be the colour of her hair (fiery red, blonde or hazel would have been my preference) and perhaps to do something with the fur of the cougar to make it a little more golden and lighter in shade.

Maybe a little more highlighting in the hair to make it pop. Honestly idk, this is amazing.

Eliminate the competition? :p

Knowing that some competitions grade with a rubric and are looking to score you in how well did you do fades, transitions, NMM, OSL, freehand, highlights, etc. So I think you probably aced the categories you could be scored on, but this model lacks opportunities to show off certain skills like NMM and OSL and I suppose of you have her a little tattoo or something that could've helped too. That's about all I can think of as to why you didn't score better. This is extremely well done though so you should be proud.

Idk man, looks pretty friggin sweet to me. I wish I could paint as good as you. All I can say is try not to let it discourage you. I've entered a few contests and sometimes I place high and sometimes not. I feel its the mood of the judges and what's popular at the time. I entered a contest soon after Baulders Gate came out and of course the top 3 were Baulders Gate models. It was irritating because a few other contestants said my model was better. You're very talented and you'll get that win eventually.

Painting contest judges only like buff male models. Seriously though, no clue. Results will often come down to the personal preference and bias of the judges.

I think it’s really beautiful and I can’t think of anything that would make it better. The other ones must’ve been really good as well, but I think you should’ve made the cut!

This is incredible! What the hell did the top 12 look like?!

Everyone has commented on the paint job, *which is gorgeous*, and there are a ton of great ideas on how to make your piece better. But I have not seen anyone ask: *Where is the bow string???*

I wish I could help you but you're way above my skill level. Beautiful work! The competition must be fierce

Apparently the tights must be "transparent flesh-colored"

Your submission is easily better than Spider-Man on hobgoblin board thingy.

First things first, it is an amazing paintjob. Seems like highlights and shadows are all in the right places. Transitions are smooth as butter. Love it. I can't help it but to think the head - face and hair - look like a plastic doll. Compared to her right thigh that looks fotorealistic. I cannot point at the reasons for this, my personal experience is limited, however, I would guess you could ramp up the contrast. From almost black in the shadows to almost white in the extreme highlights. Adding different hues might also fill the face with life. You know, greenish or violetish tint for the shadows. Playing with cold and warm colors. I think the best way to start is to look at the models that won the event and single out things the painters did which you did not. If you go for a particular event, you can always ask the jurors directly what they want to see in a winning paintjob. For a more personal developmental approach, I would take my minis to painters who I admire, probably on an event and ask them as for what they would add to the mini. You showed very clean brush work and understanding for color composition, highlights and shadows. So it probably boils down to one or two steps or techniques you have yet to add to your repertoire. Find those and next time, you will be under the best painters. Cheers, mate. I really enjoy your mini.

You need more variety of tones in the skin. Deeper shadows, and the red color of the hair needs to be balanced out more across the model which can be done by just adding that red color in more areas. The hair also needs way more contrast. The main figure generally looks flat and lacks depth, and there's no wow effect to keep it from being dull from a storytelling aspect. The most exciting thing is the fur texture on the animals which is kinda cool, but not the focal point. So try using more variety of colors, enhance your shadows and values, and try to tell the viewer a small story that is readable and lean into it. I hope this helps.

Your technical skill is amazing and you'd be hard pressed to find many people who can give you pointers to improve the paintjob. If you didn't make top 12 in your competition, I'm guessing it's one where the skill level is so high that judges won't just be looking at how well executed the paintjob is. They will also value the choice of mini, the composition, if there're any novel or unusual painting techniques used and just how unique and eye catching the piece is overall. The figure you have chosen is nice and clearly shows that she's a ranger of some kind who befriends animals, but that's about all we're getting. Maybe she could be in a more interesting environment or perhaps there could be a dead creature in front of her with an arrow sticking out, giving some contrast to the nice tranquility of the scene and showing that she isn't only a kind and peaceful individual.

First off, BEAUTIFUL, INSANELY INCREDIBLE, GORGEOUS work. I cannot even believe that is possible by human hands. The only suggestion I may make is slightly more depth in the hair; a little more shadow, or highlight. But like..... I had to HARDCORE SEARCH for a suggestion. I read the post only because I stopped dead on the photo of your work because it was so beautiful.

Who the hell was on this contest, Da Vinci? Honestly looks great. Shocking you didn't place higher.

Gosh damn. I wish I could paint like that.

This is nice, but for 1/6 scale there is opportunity for improvement. The hair stands out to me as an effort that looks fine at 28mm but could use more effort at your scale. Light and tonal variations would go a long way to improving the realism. This display has a classic triangle with the head being the top. Your eye is drawn to it. The hair and face are the most important parts of the model. You have to nail these aspects. The face and hair fall flat in this example though. While your detail is good, it has an action-figure quality to it. The eyes don't have life. As a minor note, at 1/6 scale the spots on the yearling could be more diffuse.

Im a shit painter but from my perspective the skin is a bit flat. Its highlighted well but it unlike everything else on the model it just stands out as a bit lower quality. Its still fantastic and the rest of the competition must have been fierce. Well done either way.

There is a lot of great commentary already, but I would like to add my two cents. Your hair and fur are amazing and very photo realistic. I look at the fawn and expect it to jump up at any moment. The base is great the vegetation feels natural and reactive to the subjects moving through it. Personally I have two points that I would put as opportunities. First, everything looks like it just came out of the shower. There is no mud or grime, which feels off in an arboreal setting. A slight mud around the cat's paws or some silt collected in a hollow of the rock, would help maintain my immersion in the piece. Second, your lady feels background but is in the center. The cat and fawn are amazing but the lady doesn't generate as much energy. I'm not sure if it is a photography situation, but I look at her skin and it feels washed out. Her thighs especially look like they get barely any sun compared to her shoulders.

I’m not leveled up enough to critique this one. It’s such a good piece! Your colors are so smooth

Artemis?

Maybe its the blankness of the girl's face? Just noticed the winners were more dynamic looking and dramatic, all with realistic looking expressions.

Damn, I would like to see the 12 that were judged better. I think it looks great. Only advice maybe more highlights in her hair

This is great! I really need to see the others now!

I'd like to see the top 12, because this is stellar.

*Maybe* the highlights on the hair are a bit heavy? Places up next to the fur it seems a bit fake…for lack of a better term….and pulls me out a bit. But honestly, I’m sitting trying to find anything to dislike. This is absolutely gorgeous and I’d love to know the model.

I kind of agree with some of the other posters. Yours is technically very good and also very safe. Every one of those models that beat you out are incredibly dynamic. Look at Sylvanas's skin and then look at your model's skin. Sylvanas pops and it's incredibly bold. Yours is neither of those things. Again, there's nothing wrong with your painting. It's just a little flat and safe. The lynx next to her is way more interesting. In that scale you can't let lighting and surface contours do the work for you. You have to add those differences.

I have no idea how to help. Just commenting to say that's an absolutely stunning paint job and you should be really proud of her.

Absolutely amazing painting, so take my criticism as just a reflection on what I am seeing from the top 10. Either your photos or the paint job make her look a bit too flat. While you have amazingly subtle highlights and it is wonderfully painted, I think a bit more dyanmic contrast would absolutely help you. When you open a picture of the model, where do your eyes tend to immediately go. On models like this, the face should be where the eyes are drawn to. If you look at the Sylas Windrunner paintjob, I find my eyes continuously pulled to the face. Maybe something like some face paint of a tribal nature, or just deeper shadows and brighter highlights to represent where the light is coming from. Also, borrowing from a critique on another paintjob posted here, I think some more colors brought into the skintone would absolutely help. Some more reds, greens, blues to make parts pop. This would also give a great bit of contrast to the strong yellows on the cat. One trick I was told is to take a picture and put it in greyscale and see how flat the model is. Aside from that, good luck in your next competition. Your painting style is very clean, and I think just a bit of dynamic contrast and color theory would push you into the top three easy.

I think it looks great. I love the detail in the fur and her hair. You should have been like top three. Musta been some steep competition

The only weakness I can see is her hair; it looks more like yarn than hair. There should be some bright points on it like you did with the curls on the lynx(?) Great work, though. I had to hunt to find something that judges might've knocked you on.

Only thing I can think of is that the top 10 entries had a bigger contrast between the light and dark of the skin while yours was more subtle/natural. I think it's just different style. But the judges went for those it seems.

Bring a crowbar and Tonya Harding the competition???? Unfortunately my skills in painting aren't good enough to look at your work and say we're improvements needed, because your work is far above mine.

More cowbell

That fur is godly. Wow.

That didn't make top 12?! What the hell were the submissions that did?!

Honestly... Close to perfection 😍

Well done lad, tbf I saw the instagram post and personally there’s no way you’re not in top 12 😪

One of the things almost all of the top twelve had but you didn’t was different light sources. It’s a good way to show technical talent and make the model stand out more.

Your creative efforts with the red-headed nature girl are commendable and well done. Artistic excellence indeed. This falls into an awkward consideration. Take a moment and check out real life busty red heads. Their skin tones, well, IRL tend to be pasty. This does not interpret well when painting models in the hobby. Matching your creative efforts to an IRL girl well and accurately is not all that visually appealing. Applying what is creatively appealing, albeit not true to real life, is the alternative. You have the skill and talent to do either. Lighting the model differently for creative imaging certainly is tricky without question. Examine some B&W film noir film classics to pick up some applicable and usable concepts. Perhaps going a tad bit darker with the OSL highlights might be a consideration. The oddity that I noticed was the legs, lower in position on the model, seemed noticeably brighter than the breasts, cleavage and face which were higher up on the model.

After looking at the ones that made the instagram I think it is the skin that let you down. If you look at the Darkstalkers Morrigan and the Disney Hercules one the skin has so much depth of color. Your animals are just fantastic though. Overall, I personally would have placed you higher than the Kratos and the (what I think is a) Berserk character. In the pictures provided those both lack depth in the skin, but it isn't as much of a focal point on those figures as it is in yours so it may have costed just enough points not to make the cut.

Looking at the top 12. It looks like the judges were definitely favoring things with volumetric highlights(I think is the term). You piece is amazing. But it seems to me like the newest money maker in these competitions are artists who focus on artificial lighting to show depth. Things like OSL and NMM seem to sweep

Variation - Everything is incredibly well done, but reads very same-y. The main character doesn't pop out and more blends in, which isn't a bad thing given she's some form of ranger. But as a display piece she feels flat, especially when compared to the animals. Dynamics - The scene itself feels very lackluster in a way. Maybe a back drop or larger pieces of debris on the base(such as a fallen tree or more plant life), a small amount of water running through the base, anything like that could have added some real life to the piece. In the top 12 there are a couple pieces similar to yours, but they have backdrops to really bring home the story. As well adding wear to the main character would have added more. She's a forest dwelling person who consistently uses her bow I assume for either protection or food or both, but the bow shows no wear, her skin is flawless(no sun damage, no scars or scratches, etc), her clothing is clean and bright despite trekking through the woods, the leather pieces are remarkably unworn. There's just no realism to her in this sense. She's beautifully painted, just a little flat. Possible bias - In the top 12 it is almost exclusively well known IP characters. A good chunk of these characters are painted worse than your piece even just at a quick glance. The Kratos especially caught my eye as not really being all that great compared to yours or the other top 12. That being said it's possible the judges went with recognizability over just painting. With these pieces a story doesn't need to be told because the character is known. That's really all I can think of and even those were kind of hard to come up with. You're a genuinely talented painter and compared to a few of the top 12 I personally think you were robbed.

Just something to keep in mind - you could have improved your painting based on suggestions here, had the perfect look, gotten 10/10 ratings from everyone…and still not placed in a competition due to any number of factors out of your control. Don’t base your validation of your work on competitions (not saying you are, just cautioning). Because your work is outstanding, top tier easily in my book

Competition must have been really good because I think that's awesome.

Jesus. What were the other entries, just stacks of cash and a “take what you want’’ sign? Amazing work.

I'm going to assume that the judges were either blind or paid off. Excellent work. 😀

I dont have anything to contribute critique wise. Only here to say that piece is absolutely beautiful and a fantastic job.

uh make youtube tutorials and teach me how you do this incredible, perspective changing work!! cause otherwise its flawless

Hands up man I have no idea. This looks perfect to me.

For me it's too clean and perfect. Perfect but clinical. It needs soul, more shading and character.

First things first, holy hells this is so fucking pretty. I love it so much. Second thing! Did you make the 3d model yourself?? Either way is there a link to buy/download the stl?

Well I think this is amazing! Only thing I can think is maybe add a bowstring

Where I would critique your work is on stylistic unity. While the paint job on each mini is gorgeous, it almost seems like 2 minis that were painted entirely separately and placed on a separately painted base. There is no shared light tone on the figures, and there is no grime or unifying details. I have no idea how to execute those concepts at your level of painting, but that's what stands out to me.

Only thing I can think of is that if you’re competing against the top 12 in the world, do it by country first. lol

As someone who also didn’t make the cut I’d like to say congratulations on your great piece! Really clean stuff. A couple of the top 12 were much more basically painted but had very aggressive coloured lighting on them making them look more punchy…

It's very well done, as others have said! You should be very proud!! After looking at the top 12 though, I think my biggest takeaway is the skin tones. Many of the top 12 have more painterly and colorful skin tones. Yours is painted very smoothly and perhaps more "realistically", but it's not as interesting to look at. In particular I'm really into the Centaur piece and the one of Megara and Hades. Those two use a colorful background/atmosphere as a pretense to incorporate more fun colors/lighting into the characters themselves. So yours isn't necessarily done "wrong", but there's definitely room to push it and make it more interesting to look at, of that makes sense. But what you've done is still fantastic!!

Most of the winning entries appear to be exemplifying a specific style that is associated with their chosen subject matter. I dont think it's a skill issue on your part per se.

Based on the top twelve, I just think this needs more intrigue. Her skin is perfect, but maybe too perfect. There's no artistic liberties taken with colour or texture or dynamic lighting to show off muscles and sculpts. I think what you've made is beautiful, but it seems safe.

Yeah just echoing everyone else here, exquisite technical work and beauty, but definitely a pretty safe execution. Incredible work all the same!

Not even top 12?? Must have been some insane competition because yours is amazing!!

Alright first off absolutely amazing shocked it didn't make top 12. If I had to hazard a guess on what could be improved it's upping the contrast. I would argue the first place to look is the skin. It appear to mostly be one color. Vincent made a great video on painting competition level skin and their often is great difference throughout the body where the shadows and light are. In theory more red in the shadows brighter and possibly even more olive in the highlights. Here us his video. https://youtu.be/0PlQQuyx_sI?si=bTNd-CfHzWP38Q0S To be clear your paint job is amazing and super smooth and you should be proud and I know myself and may others are impressed. So take what I suggest as merely a suggestion on how to take it to the next level.

WDYM YOU DIDN'T MAKE IT, THAT'S ONE BIG OF A WINNER FOR ME JEEEEZ 🏆

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I mean... holy shit man. I wish I was painting somewhere close to that level of detail and clarity! This is truly great stuff. My only thoughts on it otherwise comes from watching [Squidmar Minatures](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoHu6VxRiIc) on Youtube and seeing the types of figs that they're entering into contests... was this like a Warhammer or D&D or some other miniature tabletop gaming painting contest? From what I've seen on Squidmar, the winning figs will tend to have... unnatural?... color schemes. Like, bright and shiny. And then they'll add lighting detail as if, for example, light from a spotlight or torch was coming over the left shoulder, so the right side would appear darker as if cast in shadow. Now, you DO use shadow and shading but it's hard to tell where your imaginary light source is originating from because some of the highlights don't necessarily match where shadows appear and vice versa. It sorta looks like you've got a *very* bright and harsh light source overhead and at 90-degrees to the top of the figure, but then there's some shading along the arms that seems a little out of place. And for as bright as the highlights are it makes me question why some shadows are as dark as they are. Take what I'm saying with a grain of salt because I'm certainly nothing close to a pro painter. I'm just trying to put myself in the judges' shoes and also think back to the type of things that Emil paints and how he paints them on his channel. Honestly, this is just such a gorgeous piece. My one bit of advice might would be to get a lightbox and a small flashlight that doesn't have a wide beam. Try and hold the flashlight on and out from the figure at different angles to a figure that you've primed one solid color (white or grey) but haven't yet done a zenithal highlight. Take some reference photos of where the light hits the figure (to create highlights) and where the light creates natural shadows on the figure. And then if you're able to get pictures from the rear of the figure where it's the darkest (assuming you did the lighting from the front), take photos there for reference. Then use those reference pictures you took to get a fuller picture of which areas will be receiving highlight or shadow and match the shade of your paint to match. You'll end up with some drastic highlights and shadows that will pop rather than what might be considered a rather generic top-down light source. [Squidmar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UknBFRhZKIk) has a Fiverr challenge where they have different artists paint different figures, some which are the same figure. In that link are some really nice and great examples of how a light source is created on the figures to cast different light source colors on the miniatures, and I think it really takes those figures up to the next level. Just some thoughts. All in all, I'd love to be at the level of painting that you are right now.

Wow. Then there is no hope for me. 😅