Contests/Competitions Pacific Northwest

[Red_Ink_Cat]

So, having just moved to the Seattle, WA area, I have found myself finally within reach of an actual Games Workshop store. Problem is, the small painting competitions the store hosts (such as the recent Armies on Parade) has made me want to enter into more painting competitons, which I am finding very difficult to locate.

Does anyone here know of any painting contests or competitions that are held in Washington state?

 

[Bailey03]

Hmmm... I'm not aware of any big show in Washington. There are a number of shows out west which you could travel to. The Draconic Awards run the painting competition at a number of shows out west. The biggest is the Las Vegas Open in February. Then there's Kublacon in Oakland in May. Califaux is in Sacramento, CA in June. While the tournament there is Malifaux, but the painting competition is open to miniatures from any range. And the Bay Area Open is in San Jose CA in July. They've got some nice prizes (typically an airbrush for first place), some painting seminars, and I think all of those except perhaps Califaux are also Crystal Brush Qualifiers.

Those shows are all tied into gaming competitions. In terms of a pure miniature show/competition, there is the SCAHMS show in LA in April. You'll get a mix of historical as well as fantasy and sci-fi figures there.

Unfortunately all of those are going to be either a crazy long drive, or a plane flight away from you. There may be more going on in Seattle (or up in Vancouver or down in Portland) that I'm just not aware of. Check for gaming competitions as many of them will have figure painting contests as well. If you're going to check out any of the ones I mentioned, I'd think the Las Vegas Open (https://www.frontlinegaming.org/las-vegas-open-2016/) would be the most worth the trip.

 

[Red_Ink_Cat]

Thank you, I will definately keep that in mind once I can afford to travel. I was looking at a few of those, but they are a little out of my ability to get to. And I was generally hoping to get into a few smaller, more local ones first since the Armies on Parade I entered only had 4 contestants. It was nice but gave me no idea as to where my painting ability stands among typical contest painters.

Also thank you for the second search option. I had been going through results for 'miniature painting competitions/contests.' I will have to look for figure painting contests as well.

 

[Bailey03]

At most of the Draconic Awards they have a masters level and a journeyman level, so people who are new to competition painting aren't forced to directly compete against the more experienced painters. So that is a nice feature.

You should also keep an eye out for online competitions. CMON runs them occasionally. They did two or three earlier this year... although they aren't held on a consistent basis. I'd suggest taking a look over at WAMP. It's a forum like CMON although not as active/busy. However they do hold a lot of contests. Apparently they're going to launch a new one next month. The level of painting in these tends to vary with the sponsor and prizes. The bigger the sponsor and prize package, the more painters it tends to draw and the tougher the competition.
http://www.wampforum.com/VB4/forumdisplay.php?f=169

 

[fluisterwoud]

Lock & Load is in Bellevue, WA and they have the Grandmaster Painting Competition. It's Privateer Press's con so it's Warmachine/Hordes models only, but it's something in Washington.

 

[Scherdy]

I also believe GottaCon in Victoria BC has a small painting competition that might be worth looking into. Just a ferry ride away from Seattle.

 

[Red_Ink_Cat]

Hm...good reason to paint the few Warmachine models that somehow made it into a GW grabbag I got at a previous con I attended. I looked up Gottacon and it looked great, but 2015 was their last year. I guess they are done.