Crystal Brush Weekend

Morning, y'all! 

Two more days and a few hours until Adepticon and the Crystal Brush painting competition. 

The Crystal Brush is next to the Spring Angel the painting event with the highest prize money. 10,000$ will be handed to the lucky winner of the event. 

Last year's deserved winner was Jose Palomares with his mind-blowing scratch build 'Gea', followed by works of Diego Esteban and Sebastian Archer. 

This year, we helped talented Spanish painter Emuse to be able to go to the Crystal Brush. He had started quite a unique indiegogo campaign that ultimately allowed him to go to Chicago to enter his art in the competition. 

The Crystal Brush is not without criticism. Even though coolminiornot and the sponsors of the event throw a lot of money at the winners, the participation of absolute top painters has been somewhat sparse. The total amount of entries has also been very low - many privately organized shows here in Europe (both on- as well as offline events) have way more entries and  display an overall higher standard, some claim. The winning entries, of course, are absolutely stunning pieces of art - and definitely worthy of winning any event. 

The second criticism is the voting mode. Half the votes come from the judges at the event (this year Roman Lappat of the Massive Voodoo Crew will be the head judge, so I know that a fair result is literally guaranteed), but the other half come from the online community. And this is where the problem for many critics lies: Pictures of miniatures are not the same as seeing the miniature. Some  critics fear that artists that can 'activate' their fans have a better chance of winning. 

The charm of online voting, of course, is that many fans and people interested in miniature painting become part of the process, thus furthering the interest in miniature painting. 

Be that as it may, the Crystal Brush is one of THE big events of the miniature competition year. For all of you who would like to vote on the entries, the CB Gallery opens in a few days and you can vote on your favorites.

What are your views about the Crystal Brush 2013? We would love to hear your comments below :) 

I am personally looking forward to the amazing level of art that we are about to witness.

May the best mini win :) 

Zaphod

Games Day Ticket Attack Reminder

Greetings, my fantastic figuristas!

Ticket Attack Reminder

Just as a quick reminder if you should have missed the whole Games Day Discussion last week: 

This Saturday, April 20th, you will be able to order tickets for the German (August 11th, Cologne) and US Games (July 27th, Memphis) day. Tickets will be available both in stores as well as from GW's web shop. 

According to a GW HQ official, from past experience GW expects tickets to last 3-4 weeks before they run out. But we all know it's better to be safe than sorry, so I would urge you to buy your tickets in the first week or so. 

Since they have not been officially announced yet, I would be surprised if the tickets for Games Day Italy, Japan and UK would also become available on April 20th. Neither the UK, Italian nor Japanese site talk about the Games Days yet (Japan took their earlier info down again). 

...BUT, I guess it would not hurt to check these GW online stores on April 20th.
Again, better safe then sorry. 

Extra tickets

We here at masterminis.net will buy a few extra tickets for the German GD for those international painters of you out there who could not get a ticket in time or decides to come last minute. Since we can't afford to buy dozens of tickets, they will be somewhat limited, so please try to get your own tickets first ;) 

Giveaway reminder

Don't forget we have three giveaways going on at the moment. They will all be drawn on Monday, April 22nd.

- Jeremie Bonamant Teboul Workshop (Berlin, July 5th-7th, 2013)
- a LIMITED EDITION DARK ANGEL CODEX, limited to 2000 worldwide or
- a LIMITED EDITION XXX DWARF (30 year GD anniversary mini, rare) (both here)

Also, today the last prizes to a hand full of winners of our revolutionary giveaway were sent out - we needed some big boxes for the Space Hulks ;) Avicienna & quix42, I still need your addresses! Please check your email ;) 

The shipping price for postage was increased by the City of Berlin, just because I parked in what they claim to be a 'no-park-zone'. I am THE president for crying out loud. I claim galactic immunity! ^^ 

Games Day Germany IV - Limited Miniatures Update

Games Day Germany Rumors - Update IV

(GD Germany Updates: I - II - III)

Make sure you read up on our 210000 subscriber giveaway here! Win a workshop with French painting legend Jeremie Bonamant Teboul!

Here a quick little update about the Games Day Germany 2013

These are the confirmed 'english guests' of Games Day Germany

• Jervis Johnson (Game Designer) 
• Phil Kelly (Game Designer) 
• Jeremy Vetock (Game Designer) 
• Seb Perbet (Miniature Designer) 
• Dale Stringer (Miniature Designer) 
• Steve Bowerman (Army Painter) 
• Edgar Skomorowski (Warhammer Forge and Forgeworld) 
• Dominik Oedinger (Forge-World-Book Designer)

And apparently, these are the 40k and WH Forge World GD limited minis. I like! 

I also really dig the Army on Parade trophies... But I would not even get a single mini finished, so why bother with an Army display ^^

Nothing to see here - move along: 210,000 viewers workshop giveaway!

NOTHING to see here, move along.
(Oh, and we give away a Jeremy Bonamant Teboul workshop - see below)

A sense of proportion. 

This Sunday I learned what happens, when a massively large blog posts links to information on an insignificantly small blog. Naftka's Faeit212 blog on 'Warhammer & 40k rumors and news' reported about the 'Buddhaleak Files' which resulted in 3000 views on a Sunday (the slowest day of the week) which is so weird that I first feared it to be some sort of spammer attack ^^. 

Realizing how many views Faeit212 must have gave me a sense of proportion. We are a small, but beautifully active blog with 461 subscribers :D It's kinda like when in the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', Zaphod Beeblebrox was sentenced to enter the 'Total Perspective Vortex' to realize his own insignificance in comparison to the size of the universe (which would drive the sentenced person utterly and irreconcilably insane - or fry his brain in the process). 

As we all know, Zaphod came out of the Vortex just fine, having been shown only what he had known all along - he was at the center of the universe. ^^Nothing to see here - move along!

A lot of people ask me how someone with my background could possibly decide to start a business in the miniature painting and hobby 'industry'. Too nerdy, too few people do it, declining numbers of painters and gamers,... Chances of success? None, zero, zilch, nada. 

A lot of people do not understand our passion for the hobby. For them, there is NOTHING to look at. 

Let me show you what some other people found, when they tried to look at 'Nothing': 

In a way, miniature painting is like pointing a telescope towards a blank patch in the night sky. As you look at a miniature, at first you would think there is not much there. But then, as you gradually become proficient at painting miniatures, understanding colors, light, contrast and painting techniques, you begin to really 'see' and understand what miniature painting truly means. You gain that sense of proportion, the sense of perspective, you see the universe and the world you live in with with newly developed, heightened senses. You realize that the blank patch in the night sky is not blank at all, it is filled with billions of Galaxies - and cannot help but to be forever changed by it. 

So go ahead, try it! Point a brush towards a blank miniature - and unlock the universe that lies within!

How it all started for me.

2007. The year I made contact.

The first 'professional workshop' I ever attended was back in 2006, here in Berlin: A workshop with the legendary French painter Jeremie Bonamant Teboul. In respect to masterminis and paintingbuddha.com you could easily say that this workshop changed my life. 

And now Jeremie is back - from a short '2 year bicycle trip through Afrika' to hold another Workshop in Berlin. 

Tickets were sold out within a day. 

We just broke 210,000 viewers on masterminis.net - half way to 420,000 (by now you know I loooove the number 42, I hope). To me, this is quite amazing as we (after some initial testing and dabbling with 'blog technology') started to seriously blog around August of 2012 - not even 9 months ago. At the moment we are at around 35,000-40,000 viewers a month. I am humbled by these numbers and find it quite amazing to say the least. Let me give a big 'Thank You' to all of you! 

So today, we give away a workshop with Jeremie! 

If you are available between Friday, July 5th and Sunday July 7th, 2013 and would like to win a free ticket to attend Jeremie's workshop here in Berlin, please put the tag [JBT] in your comment below. Travel expenses are not included, but I am sure we can help you to find affordable accommodation, if you like. If you would just like to comment but can't attend the workshop, just comment without the [JBT]. 

Here some more detailed information on the workshop on the website of one of the best miniature and gaming store in the world, Battlefield Berlin. (German)

Maybe this workshop will change your life, too! :D

UK GD 2012 Slayer Sword Winner - Karol Rudyk Workshop

Just to let you know, Battlefield Berlin will host another Workshop this year - this time with UK GD 2012 Slayer Sword Winner Karol Rudyk (workshop will be in english). There are VERY few spots left, so Jack be nimble, Jack be quick!

Have a great day!

Zaphod Beeblebrox

Games Day / Painting Buddha update

Gooood morning, masterminipainters!

Paintingbuddha DVD Re-Filming Update

Saturday! Wooot! Most of you will enjoy a nice weekend with spring in the air. We here at masterminis are enjoying re-filming our DVD 1 Painting Instruction Set with Rafael García Marín, aka "Volomir". In reference to the Spanish name "Space Marine", I just call him "Marín Especial".

Rafael 'Volomir' García Marín
and Ben 'White Rabbit' Komets

For those of you that already know Rafa it comes as no surprise that working with him does not feel like work at all - he is not only an incredibly skilled painter but also one of the nicest people I know. In short: We are having a LOT of fun :D 

A 'best of' collection of all the crazy fun we have during the production of his video would probably fill up a DVD by itself.

The evil Murphy continued throwing a few dozen curveballs our way, but we hit them all home, so take that, Murphy! :D

We will continue to film throughout the weekend and up to Tuesday, when we will release Volomir from his shackles and he returns home to Madrid. 

Games Day / Golden Demon 

What a wild week we witnessed. 

It is hard to imagine that you have missed this, as almost 8000 people read the last three posts regarding the 'leaked' Games Day Germany documents. But IF for whichever weird coincidence you have, you might want to read up on all the hot news in these three articles:

- Part 1: Leaked internal GW memo

- Part 2: Leaked GW staff briefing document

- Part 3: Response from HQ about Golden Demons, International Painters etc.

So what do we know so far about the dates and venues of Games Days worldwide:

Games Day US

July 27th, Memphis, Tennessee (Yeeeehaaaaw!)

Tickets available April 20th, limited to 1000

Games Day Germany

August 11th, Cologne, Germany (old location)

Tickets available April 20th, limited to 2000

Games Day Japan

September 23rd, Tokyo, Japan

No Ticket information available

Games Day Italy

Will take place, info expected in May WD (Global)

Games Day UK

Will take place, info expected in May WD (Global)

Are we going?

Indeed we will TRY TO (if we can get tickets, that is) to the following Games Days for sure:
- US, Germany, Japan

Depending on the dates we also want to participate in GD Italy and GD UK. 

Of course we plan to enter in all of the Golden Demons (expect some wild stuff) and will post extensive reports and videos of the event. We are really looking forward to this year's Golden Demon season :) 

So - stay tuned, if you haven't yet, maybe consider subscribing and most of all...

... have a GREAT WEEKEND!

Zaphod

P.S.: Don't forget our two current giveaways. Just leave a comment under this post to enter!

Games Day Germany - Part III

Good morning my precious plastic painters!

And it is a good morning, not just because it is Friday! 

Grab a coffee, kick back and today you truly can enjoy your raisin bun while reading the third part of GD rumors & news. 

First of all I would like to thank you all for the overwhelming feedback and background information that allowed us to post the confirmed news regarding the Games Day / Golden Demon events over the last two days. Thousands of views literally from all over the planet clearly show how important the Games Day and in particular the Golden Demon event is for many of you. 

We may be a small community - but we are the biggest small community in the world. 

Most likely, even the Universe. 

Having said that: Today we reached 200,000 views on this blog. Considering we really started posting stuff in August last year, this is quite amazing. All I can say is that I thank you with every fiber of my body. And there's a lot of room for all kinds of fibers in me! :D

Games Day Germany - Part III

(If you have missed it: Part 1 and Part 2. And don't forget: Share & Enjoy)

To be honest, at first I did not feel like posting an 'internal' document from GW. Firstly, I did not want to get anyone in trouble, secondly I somehow felt like I was working against the company that I hold so dear since I was still a youngling. 

For the Greater Good!

But then I felt that if rumors and hearsay is the only thing that we as fans and customers have heard on any of the Games Day related issues, I could not withhold that information. In the end, I think, I even did GW a favor - as I explained what's going on, where you can buy your tickets and what to expect pretty good ;) 

Like the TAU Empire (excellent release btw), I did it all 'for the greater good!'.

In the last 24 hours close to 4000 people read this news. 2000 of them will not get a ticket :D 

One thought I had was: "Would I hear anything from HQ?"

The Empire... responds. 

Through the Warp I received a comment from HQ. And the message that - let's call her Lieutenant Uhura - relayed to me is a rather positive one. 

I would like to take the time to thank the responsible people at HQ for sharing the additional information with us. It shows that the competition painters are important to the Company after all. 

Let me preface by saying that the fact that Germany is still holding a Games Day must largely be due to the German GW management. From all we can see they fought valiantly to get us a Games Day this year. First trying to move the venue, secondly getting us all back to Cologne.

Whether the 50€ no-thrills-ticket will turn out to be a bust or a blast remains to be seen, many of you have already posted your reactions in forums and on this blog - and there was almost nearly one positive one. 

In the dark presence of the 21st millenium, there are only rumors. 

I would say that the majority of readers of this blog are more painters than gamers. And the painters were particularly angry since the internal memo as well as the briefing harldy mentioned the Golden Demon competition at all. "If there is no Golden Demon - what are the reasons anyone would go to a Games Day" was an often found statement. 

And this is where the good news comes in. No, even better. So what I say now is only limited to the Golden Demon competition - no ticket attacks, no price increases, no limited tickets. And if you disregard all of this, we could not have hoped for better news.

Golden Demon competition

"It's an event, Mr. President, but not as we know it!"

Lt. Uhura was able to confirm that, of course, there will be a Golden Demon competition at the German Games Day - as it will be with all Games Days that take place. 

Judges

For Germany, the jury - an often discussed subject - will remain to include the previous year's Slayer Sword winner as the head judge. THAT, my most exalted friends, is great news. Don't get me wrong - 'Eavy Metal is a great painting standard we all can aspire to achive, but there are many different artistic styles from country to country. And with last year's winner, Raffaele Picca of the massively massive Massive Voodoo Crew as the head judge you can be certain that the competition will be fair and the best miniatures will win. Maybe this approach could make it into the GW global Games Day Codex as an international standard. Just sayin'

Painting exhibitions

Another big subject for the German Games Day was the long tradition of painting showcases organized by "Team Deutschland". Even if this team does not really exist anymore, we were always able to attract not only some of the best painters in the world to showcase their skills, but also hundreds and thousands of aspiring masterclass-painters who could watch and ask questions. Lifelong friendships have been forged in the steamy mixture of sweat, painting-fumes and nerd-tears.

This to me proved the point that both the community and Games Workshop can mutually benefit from such an arrangement. (See my report and videos from last years GD Germany)

And my buddhalicious heart is overflowing with joy to announce that this year the Games Day organizers will invite and allow us to provide this humble service to you guys again :) Yay!

Limited Tickets Blues

We have estimated the total attendance of last years German GD at between 3000-4000 people. Now the official word from HQ was '2500 paying visitors', which seems about right if you consider Squig-herding parents and vendors that receive free passes. 

According to Lt. Uhura, last year it took around 4-6 weeks for all tickets to be sold. 

If we see that 2500 tickets were sold and now its 2000 (most likely plus vendors and squig-parents), we are actually not as far off, as we might have thought. With a fixed amount of visitors, GW feels they and their staff can cater for their customers much better. And I can see the point in that. 

I did not get a ticket, but painted a Slayer-Sword-worthy Gnoblar

First of all: IF you want to attend the Games Day and especially want to enter into the Golden Demon competition, you should buy your tickets as early as possible. 

From past experience, however, GW expects that tickets should be available for quite a long time (around at least 4 weeks). So to use one of my own quotes: "Don't Panic!" - if you want a ticket, you should get one. 

As you know from the previous posts, tickets will be available on April 20th, with a little incentive to order them in-store (Germany only). Of course, tickets will also be available on the GW website.

Now, for those international painters of you that DID NOT get a chance to get a ticket or decide last minute to go, we here at masterminis/paintingbuddha will organize a few spare tickets, so contact myself or Ben in case you need any. Of course, don't do that now, do it when all tickets are sold and you are a sad little bruddha. 

We will also work on getting special hotel rates, couch-surfing-addresses and travel information for all of you guys. Stay tuned as we will announce more details as soon as they become available (it is still a little early for that). 

Last year we were almost 100 happy nerds who gathered at the now somewhat famous pre-GD-dinner. It was a great event - actually the main reason for me to attend the Games Day myself (besides the Golden Demon). Let's break that 100 mark this year! 

I for one can't wait to see all of you crazy nerds and your masterpieces again :D

My personal wish

I thought last year's GD was a great event. I just had one thing on my wish-list: Please replace the yellowish showcase lamps with daylight bulbs, so we can see & appreciate the miniatures in the 'right light'. 

Don't forget!

Don't forget that you can win a limited Dark Angel's Codex and a limited White Dwarf XXX miniature just by leaving a comment underneath yesterdays post. Winners will be drawn on April 22nd.

Also, if you like our general level of 'informed-edness' please consider subscribing to this blog. 

Have a great weekend and happy painting & gaming, wherever you are!

Zaphod

Games Day Germany 2013 - Part II

Goooood morning, my buddhaleak file lovers!
(limited stuff Giveaway at the bottom!)

Now you just got up, have a cup of coffee and wonder why the world seems so excited and yet you are centered in yourself and feel oblivious to all the events that shook the miniature world last night.

TICKET ATTACK dood!

"What?" you say, dusting away some breadcrumbs from your morning robe...

Yes, YOU potentially missed last nights hot breaking news about the German Games Day 2013. Call the office, you will be 15 minutes late. 

>> Then read this. <<

OK. Now you are in the know. In the 'circle of trust'. A true bruddha of the bruddhahood. And yet - you long for more information. You shall have it! 

Part 2 - The plot thickens

So this is part two of the 'buddhaleak files'. I did not open the door this morning, when MI6 and the secret service rang the bell. I told them I was not home. They left - not without shaking their fist in my general direction. 

Since the internal briefing document is not really worth translating as a whole, I just post an abstract of what I think is interesting to you. It is a looooong document. 

Summary

First an unexcited summary of yesterdays text as a primer to the internal briefing document: If I quote/translate sections, I put them in italics.

Games Day Germany will be held on August 11th, 2013 in Cologne, Germany. 

The tickets will be limited to 2000. 

The ticket price will be 50€. This price is "necessary so we can guarantee that there will be future Games Days in Germany. The Alternative would have been to not have a Games Day, like in Spain or France. [..]we are convinced that the German Games Day will be worth the 50€."

General information about GD 2013

Only one ticket

There is only the 50€ ticket. [..] The ticket will NOT include the Games-Day-Miniature NOR a T-Shirt. Parents accompanying their kids can still get a free Squigherder Ticket.

I repeat. The ticket will NOT include the Games-Day-Miniature NOR a T-Shirt. What about the Fellblade I wanted as a limited edition?

The most important GD in continental Yurp

Due to the fixed parameters of the international Games-Day-Codex [!], France and Spain decided not to run a Games Day this year. Only us and Italy will run Games Days in Continental Europe.

Games Day Miniature

The Games Day Miniature will be secret [yeah, right] until July 27th, the Date of the GD US.

Wrong Date in May WD

Both venue and date for the German GD are WRONG in the upcoming White Dwarf. The 'backup' plan location of Bochum was still valid at time of printing. 

[..]

April 20th - Ticket Attacke
April 20th is a very important date for us. [..]

Now sorry, guys... I know its not funny. But let's put it this way... A rather infamous person who also called for an 'all out attack' at some point in his life was born on this day. Like Mozart you would think he was German. And I am not talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger. I call this a historical fail. I know they didn't do this on purpose, but anyways, back to topic.

[..] On this day we start the ticket sales with a big bang. On this day we will have two promotions in the store - the Ticket Attack and the start of Armies on Parade. Tickets will also be available on the web site on this day. 

The Ticket Attack

[this is getting good, hoooold it, hooooooold it... READ!]

On Saturday, April 20th, we celebrate the Ticket Attack 2013. [..] The incentive used to be that we have a discoutned price compared to the full ticket. We don't have this possibility anymore [as described above].

But since we are cunningly clever guys [!], we thought of something that makes the ticket sales really tasty. 

The Rules

The ticket attack and all its advantages are ONLY VALID in our stores (not on the web or independent retailers).  The Ticket Attack will take place on April 20th. Only customers that come [..] on that day can benefit from the ticket attack. The ticket [..] will still cost 50€. 

For me XXXXXL please

Every customer who buys a ticket in our stores on April 20th will receive an additional Premium Status Card. This card has TWO advantages: 

- a limited shirt in your size

- entry to GD at 9:00am, an hour earlier than other guests. 

[- still no GD mini btw]

These are the two benefits we can guarantee. We are currently thinking about additional benefits. It is possible there will be more.

The T-Shirts will be produced and sent to the stores. The customers can pick them up starting Juli 20th. That is also the date for the in-store "Armies on Parade" event.

[..] This T-Shirt is NOT the official GD Shirt, nor will it be sold during the GD. 

So - no shirt, no mini for 50€. But you can buy both at GD. Terrific.

And the rest of the briefing is some general pump-up-the-excitement stuff for the employees and some repetition and summaries of Armies on Parade, other 'exciting' stuff during GD yada yada yoda. If you have been on a GD there is nothing you haven't seen yet. 

Conclusion

This concludes the buddhaleak file coverage of Games Day Germany 2013. I think I have done as good a job of explaining what is going on and how you can get your tickets as a well trained staff member would be expected to do. I do not expect thanks :D

I still hope I get to go - but if not - its the same weekend as Kulmbach, me thinks... I never been there and I heard its a hoot. 

I am already sad to know that many of our international friends will have NO CHANCE to participate in GD Germany as they might not get a ticket. Last year there were about 100 of us who met before and during GD. Thanks a bunch, GW. 

No bullshit chance to win

Let us know in the comments below what you think about this Games Day 2013 Germany. Are you happy that it will take place? What do you think about the Entry-Only Ticket for 50€? Will you go? 

Leave a comment below and you can win 

- a LIMITED EDITION DARK ANGEL CODEX, limited to 2000 worldwide or
- a LIMITED EDITION XXX DWARF (30 year GD anniversary mini, rare)

Winners will be drawn on Monday April 22nd, because we know our history.