Gen Con is more than just games – it is also about the people. The places. The events.
One of my favorite events – both as spectator and participant – is Speed Painting.
In Speed Painting, each participant has 45 minutes to fully paint a (prepped and primed) miniature. You don’t see the mini until minutes before the timer starts, so there is no “preparing” per-se. Grab a brush, mix some paints and start slathering it on.
Yup – I said slathering.
Truth be told, slathering is usually my technique. I’m just happy to be sitting down for 45 minutes, painting a figure I probably normally wouldn’t buy, trading stories with the people near me and being heckled by the organizer and crowd. It really is quite fun.
However – the winners don’t slather. They manage to paint up miniatures with remarkable detail and creativity given the absurd time limit.
This year seemed to be typical at the speed painting arena; although I wasn’t planning on entering due to conflicts in timing, fellow gamer, painter and friend, Jon, was poised for greatness.
Jon and I have been entering these events for years. Sometimes placing in the finals – maybe drawing a 2nd place here and there (more so for Jon – he is a better painter than I overall) but nothing earth-shattering.
Until this year. This year Jon earned a spot in FOUR TWO finalist events – which is pretty darn impressive. Out of those four, he placed FIRST in two of them.
I’m quite proud of him. A bit odd, I know – but being a father of 3 boys, I’ve learned to be proud of other people – be it little league, piano recitals or speed painting.
Interspersed within this post are some of Jon’s entries. His two winning entries are shown at the end. And – despite the fact I don’t think they need it – I will also present a caveat from Jon himself:
“Keep in mind that they are speed painted and when you take closeup pictures you really see where the flaws are.”
Ya Jon, whatever. I would be happy to have these results after 4.5 hours, let alone 45 minutes.
Edit: Jon sent me an email correcting a couple of mistakes:
- He only qualified for two of the finals (corrected above)
- For the Wyrd miniature final (The Geisha) Jon technically took 2nd place. The first place winner was a professional however, who graciously passed her prizes to the next in line – Jon.
Also – I completely forgot to mention that Jon will be hosting a series of painting classes at Fair Game starting on Monday, August 29th – see this link to sign up, or just send an email to the store.
Winning entry 1
Winning Entry 2
a little less sugary for your Easter Basket and buy a small game or two for your little bunnies. Tomorrow (March 31, 2013), Fair Game will be closed for Easter (and to allow us some time to recoup from Spring Break and build some new Warmachine play surfaces!) so plan ahead!
Welcome to 2013! The first year in many previous years to contain 4 different digits. Near as I can figure, the last year to feature that was 1987; which is amazingly 26 years ago. But I digress…
