What I Learned WINNING GOLD at the NOVA Open 2023

As a beginner display painter, I won a gold metal at the Capitol Palette - the painting competition at NOVA Open 2023 - and I have five tips that can help you.
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[@helenmcclure]

Congratulations on your win. Always good to give it ago once. I found myself trying to hard when I first started painting & the process became a chore instead of a pleasurable pastime. Now I paint just for myself , or a present for my partner & I’m back to enjoying the hobby again.

[@theragingdolphinsmaniac4696]

But I bet that process raised your game a lot, and you are much better now than you were before.

[@shadowuser00]

this is kinda how i feel right now. i recently got into painting more seriously but i feel like maybe my approach is all wrong. i feel inspired by videos and pictures but then i sit down to work on a mini and i just sit there…because i KNOW it’s not gonna be as good as i want it to be. obviously skill comes with practice but it’s like i’m shooting my self in the foot by expecting too much out of myself and i don’t know how to turn that off.

[@Cowgirlsteve26]

It's a tough hurdle to overcome - but try to focus more on comparing your work to your own work. It's far more motivating to compare your 1st to your 5th model and see the actual improvement than to compare your work to a Golden Demon winner online. Once you are able to switch off the comparisons to others and focus on improving yourself model to model, it becomes a lot more fun and easier to find the drive.

[@sporf_sporf]

That's pretty much how I handle it when I enter Gencon's painting competition. I try not to compare my work to the other miniatures in the case, but to how well I did the previous years. I had somewhat consistently gotten bronze, this year I got silver. I hope to maintain that next year or maybe even push to gold.

[@theragingdolphinsmaniac4696]

@@shadowuser00 Yes, that is a valid feeling that I had too. I got past that when I realized I kept asking "what else can I do?" and was never satisfied, and not having fun. I was building/painting to please a judge, or others at the event, not myself. Do it for yourself and not somebody else. As you work on your skills, I promise they will improve and the trophies will come on their own. Once you rise above it, and start winning awards you will ask yourself "what's the big deal?"

[@Slurgical_3D_Terrain_Channel]

I can’t wait to get past the crayon stage of painting minis to the next level. Creators like you are so inspiring. Thank you.

[@Icarus992]

Was that a Ryan George quote? 😂Brilliant work on the model and congratulations on the award! Well deserved!

[@0815Murks]

Just wanted to comment the same thing 🤣painting minis for a competition is tight!

[@adamgoode8997]

@@0815Murks Dang... I was gonna use the tight quote. lol

[@tonyclough4128]

Wow wow wow. Wow.

[@adamgoode8997]

@@tonyclough4128 Impressing you is super easy! Barely an inconvenience!

[@Gamerdj1981]

My friends and I were there. One of my friends, Carol, was teaching the basic painting classes in Hobby Haven! Both of my friends entered the Capital Pallet. Carol entered journeyman and won Bronze for her Diorama. My other friend Dan, won Silver for his Model in Amateur! He hasn’t been painting long either, less then a year, but he has a lot of talent. I was there staffing, I mostly just at the Hobby Haven assembling Space Marines when I wasn’t helping out with room change overs or being a Go for. I do remember seeing your piece in the displays. Nice work on the mini and Gratz on winning. The competition was intense since there were so many great minis.

[@chromechef891]

Been watching you for years! Im happy you won! Very well derserved.

[@invictarussuzerain]

2:42 love the Pitch Meeting reference lol

[@gregorygirard3002]

Thanks you! I went in the comment section immediately after I watched it, hoping to find this comment 😂

[@Horror-Fan1313]

A Pitch Meeting reference from another KZbinr I love following? Amazing.

[@Duppyman695]

"Super easy, barley an inconvenience" wait is this a pitch meeting? Congrats on the win and good advice for new painters.

[@MentoliptusBanko]

Congratulations Uncle Atom! I enter an online painting competition in my country twice a year, which has 2 categories (regular and masterclass). I always enter at regular because I don't want to paint one model for months. I just paint an HQ or unit leader a little better than I usually would or paint a mini as a present for my wife or a friend. I use this painting competition to try some new color scheme or some new technique (the opposite of what you said) because I know it will take time and practice to learn the technique and I am already committed to invest more time in this mini than I would otherwise so I am not concerned that I'll be spending more time than usual.

[@BlitzMekanika]

As an accomplished display painters with a few podium medals, what I have learned is that having a unique model, a bright and vibrant paint job and attention to detail are key to a win. Having a model that nobody else brings to the competition is in your favour. If there are multiple of the exact same model makes it harder for the judges to decide and decreases your odds of success. Kitbashing or scratch bashing a model is a good idea. Tabletop war gaming is generally drab colours. Eye catching bright colours, candy metallics, and neon shades draw eyes towards your model and make it stand out as being different. Judges love attention to detail. The best example of this and the other 2 factors is my Razorback Flamingo. I kitbashed Necron to blades and wraiths into a flamingo. Because necron models have a lot of surface detail on them, after painting the model pink, I used tamiya panel liner to make the surface detail pop. Also the little touches I made to the base helped. Won first at Heritage con in class. :) Congrats on your win.

[@alexanderthomson6966]

Congrats on your win. I haven't done any real competitions but I like to, once a year, let myself the taste of painting one ordinary model from any range up to the absolute best standard I can. I started it in 2021 with a mantic games enforcer pathfinder, 2022 was a 75mm dwarf (first model that scale), this year I don't have one yet but most likely the phantom major that warlord put out last month. Doing this let me see a where I have improved, where I need to work and it's only for me so no pressure. I wish there were more competition like this in the UK

[@BDWANNEMACHER]

Congratulations!

[@rogerd4313]

I think I’d be happy with just doing some painting 😂, we’ll done on your win awesome work

[@bjorn9486]

Thank you for the insight into competition painting!

[@GarryWButler]

Congratulations! thank you for your breakdown of the experience.

[@kaikropp3254]

Congrats on the gold! Super for the first entry!! 🤘

[@CondeDeBalayan]

Congratulations Uncle Atom! Nicely done. Félicitations de Montréal!

[@cobudho]

Congrats Unc!

[@wittlegoblin]

Congrats on your well-deserved win!! I'm looking forward to going to NOVA next year, I'm glad everyone had so much fun!

[@tabletopminions]

It’s a great time! I think you’d like it. Thanks for watching!

[@intzbk1]

Congrats on the Gold! You deserve it! :) I've been painting minis off and on since '84 with Ral Partha D&D minis and Testors enamels. My first foray into acrylics was the Citedel white-cap paint set (which I still have and they're still good) but even with the painting guides that GW put out, I don't think my painting improved that much until KZbin and watching how-to videos. I'm at the age now where I need reading glasses so I doubt I'd be anywhere close to the detail required to enter one of these. As far as project planning, you can also try backwards planning, you know the end date so plan backwards from there to establish how long it will take and I'd suggest buffereing (adding time) to the durations of each task until you're comfortable on how long each individual step will take.

[@MultiverseMinis]

Congrats Adam. I entered the MSP open this year for the second time and won a gold in the Diorama category. I was amazed that i did so well and it has me amped up to paint sculpt and hobby in general. My experience with thos and display painting in general is to have a project you want to paint at a compition level and work on it over time. Dont be afraid to take breaks from it because it will give you time to decompress, paint other things at low effort then come hack to the 110% needed for display modles.

[@dustinshorter2391]

Congrats! One thing I have learned is, sometimes learning what you don't enjoy is almost more important than what you do! I don't think I have the patience to spend that much time on a single model, let alone the skill to even do it in the first place.

[@Vallinen92]

Congrats! Great to see the man teaching me how to make a scuffed homemade wetpalette coming through like this! ^^

[@DavePottsAmI]

Lololol "Super easy! Barely and inconvenience!" Love the reference!

[@G_Signer]

congrats! ballin!

[@theophrastusbombastus1359]

Congratulations on your win. I hope you have many more 🙏

[@WeOnlyEatSoup]

Congrats

[@greesmunky6505]

I was there and saw your model. It was a great showing of painters from across the country. It made my silver medals in the apprentice category that much more special. It was a great experience, and I hope to see you there again next year with an even better model.

[@domgarner1173]

Nice work dude! Mad respect from the UK 🇬🇧

[@billdefranza4927]

Pitch Meeting references are TIGHT!

[@BirthofaPainter]

Congrats on the gold! Very well deserved. I've painted for display a few times - once for a competition, once for a pure display model, and once for a model I plan on using in gaming. What I've come out of each experience with has been a model that I come back to over and over just to look at and a heightened level of hobby enthusiasm for everything I want to do next. For me, I think it's important to - every once in a while - really put maximum effort into a piece just to remind myself what I can do if I really give a model my all so that I can feel confident in my abilities and my art when I'm trying to pound through 10 grungy vampires.

[@cordial001]

Congrats on the gold! Also, I just wanted to say my friends and I absolutely love Majestic 13. I know it's been out for a while, but we just had a chance for a few games over the past week or so. Really great fun game.

[@tabletopminions]

So glad you’re enjoying it. Thanks for watching!

[@AdamNodwell]

02:54 - Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream.

[@akakeri9802]

Yo, congrats! That's something to be proud of.

[@IronGuardsman]

Congratulations! "Referencing other youtube channel catchphrases is tight!"

[@arbysandtehchief5494]

I also procrastinated on mine and it showed, but I also discovered when painting I screwed up when I primed my mini... Gonna paint some stuff for fun and start gearing up for Capital Pallatte next year.

[@Asathor76]

Congrats! Always a great source of inspiration UA! 🎉

[@mindyfranke5279]

Congratulations on your win! Glad you got your piece done to enter this year; I tend to have the procrastination problem as well. It's also awesome that you get to actually hang out with other painters, and good ones at that! You probably get more tips and hands on tutoring than most of us could wish for in a lifetime, LOL! Hope you have a great week!

[@porumon5942]

Good job uncle atom youre an inspiration to us all

[@aarons6201]

Glad you won, congratulations!

[@goreshadetube]

Congratulations! Tabletop Standatd for life. I mostly enjoy hanging out and chucking dice. I’m glad other people do it though.

[@gordonai5803]

Congratulations! Competition painting is one of the most difficult things to even consider about our hobby, something that most never even try to do just because it is so daunting. I've entered 1 myself but just at my local game store, nowhere near close to the scale you competed but I'm glad you got to do it and thank you for sharing the lessons learned from it. From my own experience the stress you can feel from wanting to complete the model can be so debilitating that it becomes your biggest tool in procrastination. As crunch time nears it gets easier and easier to find ways to not paint. 45 minutes or an hour a day is all it takes to really make progress, whether that mini takes 1 hour or 100. But if you sit down for an hour and you see you're making progress, 2 or 3 hours more doesn't seem so hard. It's small wins that often lead to great victories.

[@TheEr910]

Congrats. Paint for the paint gods.

[@thetattoodmini]

congrats on the win. that's awesome!

[@brothereldrian9913]

Congratulations, the piece looks awesome. And thanks very much for the tips. Might use some of those when tackling the Lion himself.

[@davidschneider5462]

Thanks for the video. Congrats on receiving a Gold Medal. It seems that it inspired you, at least a little, and made you feel that the effort was worth it. I find the 3X longer applies to most things I do, not just painting minis. Can I ask how long it took to complete the model and whether now you think it was worth the effort, since it sounded that before finishing you had some regrets about starting the project? Also, was there anything you wished you had spent more time on and did the judges provide feedback? Thanks.

[@jonathanmarquiss2435]

Congratulations on winning!!

[@804homes]

Congrats on the win and I look forward to seeing what you pick for Nova 2024.

[@MalcolmPugh]

@2:54 That's a sick band pic! Can't wait for the new album. :)

[@Bruce-Zatarra]

I have intered one event some 25 years ago and it was local. My Parkinson's was almost non noticeable back then. I actually did very well. Nurgle have some of the best looking models on the market. A good tip for your next competition is to pick a Nurgle model with just one eye. A good eye makes all the difference, and you don't have to duplicate it. I'll be picking up the new Army painter 2.0 fantastic line complete set as soon as it releases from my local hobby store (Board Fox games). I have already emailed the folks over at Army painter, but maybe you'll have more luck getting through the red tape to the people who matter most. Make a tray that holds the triad of 6 colors (bottles) that are either stackable or connected in a way to make a full rack. That way, as their line grows, so can the rack.

[@vidi5086]

I was lucky to win my first award this year too :) Apprentice league too 😅 It was not "Nova open", but ,"Coven Brush" thou, a "Big Warhammer model" category ✊

[@sidtheragali1447]

congratulations

[@vidi5086]

Thank you 😁

[@christianschmidt1784]

It was really nice meeting you and the 'fire pit' chat are always damn motivating. See you in Journeyman next year 🤘🏻 Congrats again!

[@aslbaron1]

Congrats! Way to go!

[@StackingLimit]

Congratulations. I hope you give it another try. Having attended the NOVA Open and having seeing your model it was great. The Capital Palette this year was amazing in general.

[@krisdog88]

Congrats, Uncle Atom! Well done, sir!

[@TheHunch8ack]

Nice. Well done, my friend. Flex it! You deserve it.

[@ArdWulf]

Congratulations !!!

[@ericburton9509]

That is a fantastic paint job, good sir.

[@danielscillieri58]

congrats on the win buddy! motivating me to maybe give it a try!

[@KevKalEl]

Congratulations on your gold, Uncle Atom!!

[@markgnepper5636]

Great stuff friend 👏 👍 And congrats 👏

[@TheTazman49684]

Congrats Atom! It is good to push your boundaries and grow. I, myself painted an army for Kings of War and entered a tourney. I'm glad I did but haven't done it since, wasn't for me. But I'm glad I did. You won't know till you try! Nice award!🎨

[@thrasher99999]

A big congratulations! I'm working on my painting skills (still pretty new in painting in general) but I kinda want to start doing a more "display painting" style. I don't play any war games currently (haven't before but have interest in it) however I do like having minis, I kitbash some of 'em, and some yet I use in D&D so I have a lot of paired or stand alone models I'd like to put some real time into instead of just sloshin' some paint on. Biggest thing for me though? Patience. I don't want to wait to make sure everything is set and dried properly. I just want to do it and get it done and I know that can be detrimental to something that's going to be on display...

[@mikee9464]

Yes! CONGRATS!

[@yonstenger]

Great vid, man! Congrats on the gold! I’m always keen to see what you’ve got going next!

[@lordnovas]

Congrats Adam.

[@xensoblu059]

Congrats!

[@joesanchez979]

Congratulations 🎉

[@anthonywaggett9317]

I really like and appreciate that you are not a conventional painter. Personally I have a dreadful habit of selecting complex paint schemes for my tabletop minis which tends to result in work that may look 'messy' on close inspection (or if photographed with a Hi-Def camera and a macro lens) but looks good on the table. I've recently tried out some monochrome as in black and white movie style, in preparation for painting up the Zombicide Night of the Living Dead Figures and so far feel that a more impressionist style rather than a realistic light and shadow gives a better tabletop look. I would love to give this a try on a display piece but not sure if 'tradition' would work against it, maybe a vignette or diorama in this style would be the way to go as it would show it was an aesthetic choice rather than a bad paint job. Anyway keep up the good work and as I believe you have said before, there isn't a 'right' way to paint.

[@goon5544]

Congrats! That model looks awesome.

[@Friendlyfirefish]

Congrats on the win

[@garethm9523]

Congrats on the win. Very happy to see this after your years of great advice

[@andywardle2988]

Congrats! And great video

[@pvtavis]

Congrats! You’re piece was wonderful! I managed to pull off a big win with my World Eaters Contemptor in Journeyman Vehicle! It was nice seeing you at the convention and talking to you!

[@niallcampbell]

Entered my first display piece at a local GW comp here in Aberdeen, Scotland earlier in the year and might try to enter their October comp too. Good fun tackling something to a standard I wouldn’t normally do :)

[@johnhanley5546]

Congrats!!

[@marktruran4334]

Congrats man

[@RenePaints]

You said the thing! "Super easy, barely an inconveniewnce" has to be one of the best phrases added to my phrase lists in the last decade.

[@Slurgical_3D_Terrain_Channel]

NICE! Good work, congrats. Well deserved. :)

[@jakec5550]

Congrats on getting gold! Enjoyable video. The time dedication is what keeps me from doing a display level piece... Oh and talent... That bit too...

[@LordCalgar901]

Congrats on the win, the models looks amazing. Nice job!

[@ethan6322]

Super easy barely an inconvenience, I see you are a fellow man of class!

[@proteanfabricator9410]

Congrats! 🎉

[@redjacc7581]

that sculp looks fantastic.

[@tabletopminions]

It is a pretty cool model, I agree. Thanks for watching!

[@DasDevilSquid]

Oh snap! Congratulations! We chatted a bit at the Con this year and you told me you had entered the painting competition. I'm glad you made the effort to do so and having it come to fruition.

[@joejoyce1027]

Congratulations Sir! Well deserved for sure!

[@DeadGators]

Congrats on the gold! I entered the MHE comp at Gen Con for the first time this year. I'd been regularly challenging myself to up my painting quality for a year before that, so I didn't set out with specific pieces to paint for the competition; just picked them from among the ones I'd already done or had in progress. I wanted to see where my "doing my day-to-day best" fell and get some feedback on it. So my experience was a lot less stressful than yours-even though I had to switch up which mini I was entering in one of the categories last minute 'cause I didn't have time to finish some final cleanups on the one I wanted to enter. But I'm also not far enough along in the hobby to be expecting placings, so I was really excited my four entries got three bronzes and a silver. The feedback was all stuff I knew or suspected, so that was reassurance I'm on the right track. Aside from one very confusing statement that I needed to clean up mold lines on a piece that was completely hand-sculpted. I'm still trying to figure out what that judge was looking at so I don't create faux-mold lines in the future. I'll probably switch to painting specific minis for competitions at some point. But in the meantime, I'm enjoying this low-key learning stage.

[@MrTroutbum05]

Congrats Unc! You have always been a spectacular painter!

[@paulknox505]

Very well done model, Congratulations on the gold! (extra points for the Pitch Meeting reference in this video).

[@jordancarlson4233]

Congratulations! This is a great video, and you offer some excellent tips. It can be nerve wracking to voluntarily place one’s hard work under scrutiny, but the feedback gained from constructive critique is invaluable. Thank you, Uncle Atom, for sharing your experience!

[@dfly27485]

Congratulations on that W. Now hopefully you’ll be getting a lot more of the recognition that you deserve.

[@TheLateNightPlayers]

Congrats on the epic first time entry! That is honestly super inspiring. I entered my first painting competition at GenCon this year. I came out with two silvers, but it was definitely a learning experience.

[@BB-pn2qv]

That’s awesome!!!! Huge congrats to you!!

[@vidi5086]

Congratulations, sir Atom! 🎉

[@erik_swinson]

Congratulations! You are correct, it’s not for everyone, but I hope to see you in Journeyman next year.

[@jpotter2086]

Sick piece, Unc!

[@stevekearns6173]

Gratz man

[@grendelb3298]

This is a great example of growth vs fixed mindset. Glad you got out of your comfort zone. Do you think this advice would help students writing essays? I’d like to maybe use it for an example. Thanks for the great video!

[@MrCasper1271]

Congratulations on your win! That's really awesome! Definitely got to feel good to do so well in your first ever entry, I hope to be going to Nova open next year and would love to see the painting competition. I am very much a beginner painter at this point in my journey. Do they have any of the like painting tutorial type events at Nova?

[@tabletopminions]

Yes, there are lots of amazing painting classes at NOVA Open. Great teachers. Thanks for watching!

[@janviggoneubergjohansen]

Gratulere!!!!🎉🎉