 Hello, everybody, and welcome to another hobby-cheating video. Today we're gonna recap Golden Demon, and we're gonna talk about why this one is probably my last one. Let's get into it. Uh, the strict techno-mancer that is VinCV. Let us get to the technique and learn it VinCV style. I'm back from Golden Demon, and as I'm recording this, it's been about a week. Now, I didn't bring home any trophies, but I did bring home a nice case of COVID that I'm still recovering from, so you'll have to excuse me a little bit, but I wanted to make sure to get my thoughts on this down while they're all relatively fresh. But over the course of the last week, as I was languishing in bed, I had a lot of time to think and think about what I want to do with my hobby and sort of what I paint and the competitions I participate in. And ultimately, the conclusion I came to is that I don't really want to participate in Golden Demon anymore. Now, I want to be super clear about something up front. This isn't a response to me not winning anything. It's not me feeling bad or being butthurt or thinking my stuff should have won and somebody else shouldn't have won. Not at all. I want to celebrate all of the winners. This has been something that's been just dating in my mind for quite a while. I'm proud of the pieces I created. In the end, the piece that you make truly is the award. There's only one of those in the whole world, as I said in a previous video. There's lots of Golden Demons. I'm happy with what I did. I pushed myself in interesting ways and I made things that I'm truly proud of. That is the reward I will take with me. And in fact, it's a lot of that thinking that led me to realize I don't actually need this contest anymore. And that for the most part, it acts as more of a negative emotion on me and my experience at a Depticon than it does as any positive one. And although that's a shame and unfortunate, it puts me in a much happier place. But I want to unpack why for you over the course of this as well as take you on the journey that people experience emotionally as they go through the process. And hopefully you'll come to understand why I am where I am. Let's talk about the challenges as I see it with Golden Demon. These are some of the reasons that I just really don't feel like participating in this particular contest anymore. I still think many painting competitions are good overall. And I participate in a lot of them and will continue to do so. Just not this one. Golden Demon remains a top three system. Basically, there's only three trophies. And although they've expended it with these sort of commended entries and finalists, there's not a lot of consistency to how those things are applied. And it's not really something that they seem to want to promote either. They don't share pictures of the commended entries or the finalists. They only share pictures of the winners. They don't really give trophies to anybody except the top three. So everything they're saying says, Hey, here's some other stuff, but really only the top three matter. And as you look at these contests and the figs that continue to show up, I'm just dazzled. I am blown away by the incredible work that is on display in those cases. And frankly, the fact that so many people and I'm not talking about myself go unrecognized. It just kind of hurts. It doesn't feel good and it doesn't make me feel good. I want to see those artists get recognized for all of their incredible work. So let me break down the ways that I feel that games workshop and to be 100% clear. All of this is about the contest of Golden Demon as a whole and games workshops sort of policies and where they're interacting to make this less than it could be. None of this is about any individual participants, nor the judges, nor anybody who helps run the show. All of whom were incredibly friendly and I know worked quite hard. No part of this is in any way an attack on an individual. And if you take it as such, then you are not taking my words. So let's talk about these policies. Because Golden Demon is this top three system, there's only three trophies to give out. It creates a very negative system, not just for the judges who have openly admitted and said that they have to look for flaws to find what's the best. It creates this sort of very technical judging system and that's fine. I don't mind a contest focused on the technical. It's good that that exists. But it means that they hunt for flaws and that's what separates one piece from another. Not recognizing greatness or originality or creativity or any of those things, but finding flaws. And that doesn't feel great because the other thing then that leads you to do as an artist is it leads you to snipe to be unhealthy towards your community. When you walk around those cases, the honest thing you do is you look at everybody, everybody else's pieces that you think are strong and think, Oh, but this is what's wrong with that. This is what's wrong with that. This is what's wrong with that. I don't want to be that person. I try not to be that person. I want to big ups everybody in the hobby. I want to elevate hobbyists and painters. I think it's amazing what everybody does. I want to celebrate it. And when I'm at a competition that has an open system or something like that, that's what I find myself doing. And I just don't think I can trust myself not to feel negative, to hope that the judges find some flaw in another piece that I think is really good. And that mine ends, they end up not seeing anything bad. That's not a good attitude to have. At a deeper level though, my real challenge with it, especially over these past couple years in the US, has been the complete lack of transparency and consistency. Let me unpack what I mean there. Golden Demon has always been this extremely opaque contest. How do you win one? How do you get it? There's tons of videos. I've made those videos. And every year I come away with slightly different opinions. How can that be? With every other contest I participate in, I understand the roadmap to success in that competition. Paint the best, most creative, most awesome miniature I can. Express myself through my art, through this medium of miniatures, and try to do something that's going to be truly memorable and interesting and emotional and resonant. That's the roadmap. I know what the destination is and the road I need to walk. Whether or not I'm good enough to walk it, strong enough to walk it, capable of walking it, is what gets tested in that competition. With Golden Demon, I don't even have a clear conception of the road I'm supposed to walk. Everybody says it's paying consistently or it's not really painting in the heavy metal style, though that does tend to do well. There are people who don't, who then also do well. I don't know what makes a winner. When I look at what's in the cases versus what wins, I don't know what made them stand apart. I trust that the judges saw something. I trust their inclinations, but I don't know what it is. In almost every other contest I go to, when I look in the cases and I look at the pieces, I know what pieces are going to be standouts. And I'm generally pretty accurate. But because we're hunting for these small flaws that separate things, it's just out of sight. And pieces that look absolutely incredible, but because of a few flaws that you just can't even see normally, until you're holding it a few inches away in the hand and suddenly that piece is out. Or some other ephemeral quality dealing with the IP or the lore. But there's no transparency to the process, to the judging, to anything. The judges literally judged this year behind these giant curtains not to be seen by any of the public, which is very funny to me. That they would, that this field is now where we live. They no longer give any feedback. So when you fail or don't achieve what you wanted to achieve, they're not going to tell you what you need to do to take the next step. Now that's because of GW's policy. That's not the individual judge's choice or those individual's choices. That's because of a new policy that Games Workshop has around allowing only very few and select people to talk to the public. Whatever. They can have whatever corporate policies they want, but it makes for a bad competition. To be clear, I judge painting competitions, big painting competitions, significant ones that have more entries in the case than that Golden Demon hat. And when I judge them, I make myself extremely available. I am known and announced as a judge. I am available. I am there to offer feedback both written and in person. I did it literally at Adepticon where I judged another miniature painting competition that happened. And I spent a good hour after the awards were announced wherein I was announced as a judge and I was pointed out as a person who one should seek out if one has questions. And I spent about an hour giving feedback to people because that's what is important. I want people to understand what was really good about their pieces, where they succeeded, what they did awesome. And I want them to understand the challenges and opportunities that they have for next year. None of that is available in Golden Demon. And frankly, that just makes the contest worse for it. A big part of miniature painting competitions is submitting your pieces and sharing them with the world and getting feedback from the judges on where your opportunities and areas for improvement are. How you can take your next step on your hobby journey. Heck, that's the fundamental mission statement of this channel. Helping you take your next step. No part of participating in this contest will help you do that. That just makes it a worse contest. The lack of consistency in the way the rules were applied and what happens is another challenge. In most previous years, going back quite a ways, finalist pins are generally handed out to a sort of first cut. It is something to aim for especially if you're a new hobbyist, but once you hit a certain level you got to a finalist pin and then they would cut from there to commended now the past couple contests and then from the commended entries they would draw the Golden Demons. But no, this year it changed again. This year a top shelf was cut and only those were the finalists. So about 10% of the number of finalist pins were handed out this year as last year. Should I feel special about getting a finalist pin this year? Because there were so many fewer. It's the same finalist pin. Nothing changed. You changed the rules and the amount but you didn't change the award. That doesn't work. People have hundreds of finalist pins at home sometimes. If you're going to suddenly change the way your entire contest is structured, you should announce that. You should be transparent about it. Again, they can structure their contest however they want. It's perfectly fine. It's theirs to do with. But transparency so that people know and expect, what am I, what should I look forward to? When are things going to be announced? How are things going to be announced? What cut does it mean if I'm on this place? I walked around on Sunday and people were like, good luck. I had already known. I didn't win anything. That's not great. And yet that's just not common knowledge. Because there's no transparency to the event. Most competitions I participate in, if they cut to finalists, the finalists are set apart, marked, announced, and so on. Transparency and consistency is important with these things. Because it helps people set expectations. And in setting those expectations, it helps people then grow and learn from the actual contest and not feel negative emotions when suddenly their world is turned upside down. Mine was not. I know to expect this kind of thing. But it still isn't a good feeling. In the end, what all of these things amount to and tell me is that it's not the contest for me. If they're not going to run it in a way that I find compelling and helping people take their next steps, then I'm not going to participate. And honestly, that's okay. Because I don't want anybody else to feel like they can't participate. For a lot of people, winning a Golden Demon is a lifelong dream. I want them to be able to achieve that. But I do hope GW decides to change these very silly policies and stops changing the contest without publishing this stuff. Just put out a simple guide as to how it's going to go, be transparent about the process, let your people talk to the people who submitted. Because in the end, that's respect. When you are a judge for a miniature painting competition. And by the way, not that I need to lay out my bona fides if you're watching this, but to be clear. Over the past nine years, I have judged and given feedback on about 10,000 miniatures from hobbyists of all different levels. So I feel like I've got enough of a pedigree under my belt to speak about this. When you are a judge for someone else's miniature, that's a pretty sacred duty. Someone has invested hundreds of hours, potentially, of their life, of their emotions, of their blood, their sweat, their tears, their soul into this piece. And they are now handing it to you. The least you can do is take it seriously enough to then give them feedback, to talk to them about their piece and to openly dialogue with them about how they can improve. That is truly the least. And the fact that Games Workshop's policies are preventing the judges who I'm sure want to do this from doing it, is bad. And it makes their contest worse. That's it. My fear is that in the end, this contest just creates more negative emotions than positive ones. When I look at everybody on Sunday and I see the winners, they're elated. And I'm happy for them. I was so thrilled for my friends that won stuff. I was so excited, even knowing everything I know. But I looked around, I saw how many other people were heartbroken, were crushed, were had their expectations turned over. There's just too much good, there's just too many high-quality miniatures showing up in that case to cut to top three and feel like, oh, well, I got nothing then. No pictures were shared, no articles written about them, no fanfare made about the incredible work they did. Again, lots of miniature contests share every submission on websites, everyone. There's no reason they couldn't do the same. Or share all the commended. Or share all the finalists. It would be such a huge thing for the people to be shared out on this wide audience, but they don't do it. It's another policy that just makes the whole thing worse. So, again, I don't want to yuck anyone's young. If winning that trophy is a dream of yours, I get it. I've won two in my life. I'm very happy I won them. I'm happy to stop there. But for others, I want you to keep going. I want you to go ahead and participate in what you want to do. And I wish you all the best. But it's just not for me. So what is for me? Well, for me, I want to paint things that make me happy. This had all been brewing long before Golden Demon. As I said, this has nothing to do with the results. In trying to paint models that I thought would do well for Golden Demon, I wasn't having fun. Painting in that kind of a style, in that kind of a hyper-focused on zero flaws and these perfectly smooth technical applications, it just doesn't excite me very much. And it doesn't make me happy. And painting in this hobby is supposed to be about fun. That's what we were doing here. Again, that's what this channel is all about. Taking your next step and having fun while doing it. That's what I want to do. So I'm going to be painting stuff that makes me happy. And I'm going to be participating in contests where those kinds of miniatures get recognized. And I'm going to be sharing all of that with you. So that means over the course of this next year, you're going to see lots of different figures that aren't just GW. Different scales, busts, and of course, some fun space marines and stuff in there too. I do still like painting that stuff. It's great. I like a lot of those minis. And I'll continue to paint all of them, just in a way and a style that I find rewarding. But we're going to explore more. We're going to take more chances. We're going to do more risks. We're going to learn. And I'm going to push myself in interesting and novel ways to see what I can find in this hobby that I find compelling. I want to follow my bliss. I want to do those things that get me excited and passionate. And I want to share that passion with you. That's why I do this every day. And so that's what we're going to do on this channel. Now, I want to end this video on a positive note. And I want to recognize some pieces that won at Golden Demon that I thought were truly exceptional. Things that just represented the peak of miniature painting to me for different reasons. That spoke to me from the time they were in the case. And I was thrilled to see them recognized by the judges. And sure, do I agree with every decision the judge has made? Of course not. But we're not going to get into that. That's just the nature of every contest. None of us agree with everything the judge has made. When we watch anything, we disagree with the refs of the judges or whatever. We're not going to dwell on the negative. I want to focus on the positive. And big ups these incredible pieces. First up, I want to shout out Alex here. This Jigati Khan was exceptional. Holy Moses. Seeing this in person was a revelation. I wish they had more photos of it. Yet another thing. Why do we only get one photo of these winners? Why do we not get more than one photo around? It's not that many pieces. They have 24 full hours in between when they close registration to this. Take a couple extra photos of the winners. Because the cloak on this is a masterpiece. This entire figure was executed to such an incredible level. I thought it was just wonderful. I loved it. Blew me away. And I was so happy to see it recognized in podium. Next up, Ivan with this incredible Imperial Knight. Ivan is one of my students, one of my patrons. And we've been, you know, talking for many months about this Titan. And I'm so excited he got gold. Ivan, you did it buddy. I am so proud of you. I'm so proud of everything he accomplished. This was his hard work. His unbelievable dedication to this figure. And the incredible piece it produced. And the gold that he got for it. Completely earned. I love every detail on this thing. From top to bottom. From literal toe to missile pod I guess on the top. I don't want to say it. It's fantastic. A true triumph. Next up, Andy Wardle, who blew me away with this gludos piece. I got to see it in person and hold it. This thing is outrageous, man. It's outrageous. The pictures, if anything, do not do this justice. Andy is such a master of this, of painting that really excels in Golden Demon. He's so precise. He's got such a fine eye. I am admittedly a bit jealous of just how well every surface on this guy is rendered. And none of that is just a photo, by the by. It reads just as true. The depth is there, the saturation, the smoothness, everything. This is a 10 out of 10 piece and a wonderful repurposing of this model from the center of his chariot to be its own centerpiece. Absolute, absolute winner. So happy to see this one get recognized. Next up, one of my best, best, best friends and mentors in this hobby, John Margiata, Blood Is Medium, with this nervel unit in the AOS unit category. One of the things I love about John is he paints in his own style. He's so recognizable and yet it's so good. When you get close, the detail, the micro detail, the micro micro detail. It's exceptional. John uses different finishes, matte and gloss and satin finishes to tell as many different contrast stories as most of us do with white and black to tell value contrast. Everything about these guys is perfectly nervel and absolutely gorgeous. My favorite unit in the case by far. Loved it and so happy to see John win. Next up, Kaha. Kaha is an exceptional artist. I love everything she does. Again, has her own unique style and I love that it got recognized here. This King Brod is fantastic. Crushing the storm cast, all the different use of colors. Kaha stands apart from me as just this unbelievably bold use of these fluid colors across the piece. It's inspirational. This is the kind of stuff I want to do more of. That's the kind of bliss I'm going to follow. She's a stone cold inspiration to me. I loved this piece and I was thrilled at one. In my mind, this was just beyond the pale great. One of the best I saw on the show. I loved it. It wasn't even my favorite piece from her there. Finally, I've got to shout out my good buddy and friend and inspiration and late night magic partner Ben Cantor for his incredible Horus diorama. This thing is all scratch sculpted built. No part of this was original models. This took the golden diorama. Unbelievable. This piece from top to bottom, the lighting. Ben is always just a master of light. This was a great exploration of that. Every tone, every bounce, every bounce light, every reflection. It's incredible. I someday hope to be half as good as him at understanding light. Yet again, all of these pieces for different reasons. I found thrilling, exciting, inspiring. All of them made me want to paint. My new attitude is this. I'm more excited to paint and more excited to paint more things in my way and in ways that are going to make me happy. And if they're not for Golden Demon, because that's not what my style and that my style just doesn't align to that contest and what those judges see. That's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. There are plenty out there that do. And I want this to continue existing for those people for whom this does align. Because I want there to be places where artists of all types and stripes can be recognized. I've just come to realize I'm done with this one. Partially because of the bad policies that Games Workshop has put in place that diminish this overall contest and partially because it just isn't the type of contest that really my style and the way I like to paint aligns with very well anyways. So, no big loss. Overall, I know I'm happier thinking about what I'm going to paint in the future. I've never been more jazzed to get into some new pieces and boy do I have some exciting stuff coming for you in the weeks and months to come on this channel. I hope you'll stick with me. If you liked this, give it a like. Subscribe for additional hobby cheating in the future. If you want to support the channel or focus on taking your own next step on your hobby journey, there's a Patreon down below where you can do so. As always, I thank you so much for watching this. If you've got some pieces you thought were really awesome, drop those down in the comments as well. Maybe it was something that was in the case that caught your eye but didn't get recognized since GW doesn't share those pictures out. Let's big up those artists. Let's elevate everyone. Let's make this positive. Let's share our love for this miniature painting hobby and shout it to the rooftops. Regardless of who walks away with any resin trophy. Thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it. As always, we'll see you next time.