My only 9 came recently. It was my entry for the 4th round of Iron Painter -
http://www.coolminiornot.com/305445
I was doing the reserved grin thing. When I woke up to find it in the Top Last 7 Days with a lot more votes and a higher score than it had the day before I think I probably did a bit of a congratulatory fist pump too. I'm the first to tell people scores don't really matter, and I still very much believe that to be the case, but it is quite nice to know the majority of people think your work deserves a tick in the 9 or 10 box!
What mini was it? Well, a few great models, but I reckon what pushed it up was the way they were combined rather than the choices. My diorama has some really great, highly detailed individual minis through to standard GW plastic bits, down to a civilian model that is, in truth, not the best of sculpts or casts. They work together pretty well though I think. Also, I built a lot of bits and I guess I did a fairly good job with that part of the process.
There is nothing painting wise on the minis that clinched the 9. I can say that without any doubt in my mind. I've painted models better than these and scored a lot lower. I actually speed painted this scene in the most intense way. I did it all in one 16.5 hour session through until past 7am UK time to enter it before the midnight USA deadline. By the end I was going at a real pace, but I do find I do good, expressive, pretty tight work when I'm going that fast. Jekyll, the scientist with the green was the last element I did and she was painted in just over 40 minutes. The best painted mini in the scene is probably the psycho Happy Meal toy. He was the first thing I painted so I was fresh and less pushed for time. I think the painting of the scenery came out ok (but I can see so many areas it could and should be tighter) and the colour palette worked out rather well across both sides.
What got me the 9+ with this though? It has to be down to the idea I reckon. It's a pretty twisted scene, it's a pretty messed up scene, but I feel it has some dark humour, it's quite relevant and it manages to tell a story. Various people commented that when they saw the first few pictures they thought it looked interesting, but nothing special, then when the reverse was revealed and they saw the carnage it had a massive impact. That was exactly what I wanted and I'm pleased it worked on that level. I don't think taking the piss out of McDonald's hurt the scene's success either.
I know I can paint better than this, but I don't think I've ever done anything as good, so despite the fact I completed it quickly I'm pretty proud of it. It's a case of the end result coming out just how I had envisaged it.
I really think that my three highest scoring models on CMoN are all up there because of the idea being cool more than the painting being mind blowing. If you can get that right you can achieve something very satisfying, so even if you don't think you have the painting chops (I know that in the current CMoN scoring climate I'd be very hard pressed to get an 8.5 for a single mini, let alone a 9) just keep thinking outside the box and making things that are fun and creative.
