Pendraken Painting Competition 2026!

[Fingolfin]

Are the vote results supposed to be public now? I only ask because they never have been before but they are currently in 2 categories. At least they are to me...

I have the same issue with viewing results...

[DHautpol]

A subject close to my heart, as I had to retire from sculpting through back pain after a spinal ligament tear.

Some positive advice and a warning:

The pain you are experiencing when painting is due to tensing the body (especially when detailing etc). That pain is actually the tightening of the muscle/tendon/ligament fibres... which just makes the problem worse by progressively increasing the pain level and prolonging the recovery time. So: you *must* stop when you feel the pain. It's a shame, but a fact. Pushing through the pain barrier or taking pain killers to mask the signals, will result in a prolonged back problem.

The solution:

• Move the body every 15/20 mins - set a timer or alarm on your phone as time flies when you paint as we all know.
• Alternate painting positions: Hard unless you have a sit/stand desk or can find another well-lit position when standing with good arm support.
• Stop when you feel pain.

Hope that helps you Maraviglia, and you can enjoy some pain-free painting time 

That's very useful advice.  I find that unless I make a conscious effect to sit up as straight as possible, I tend to gradually sink into a heap whilst I'm painting. I tend to round/hunch my shoulders whilst painting and I've have now learned to take breaks and stretch my shoulders and neck to prevent the tension building up.

[19th century octopus]

Good luck to all in the competition; a great number of excellent entries, and thus an equal number of difficult decisions for me. Thank you to all who entered and made my decision harder

[Leon]

Are the vote results supposed to be public now? I only ask because they never have been before but they are currently in 2 categories. At least they are to me...

All fixed!

[Techno 3]

Yep.

No giveaways using Doppelganger.

[Fingolfin]

That's very useful advice.  I find that unless I make a conscious effect to sit up as straight as possible, I tend to gradually sink into a heap whilst I'm painting. I tend to round/hunch my shoulders whilst painting and I've have now learned to take breaks and stretch my shoulders and neck to prevent the tension building up.

Thank you Dhoutpol, I sincerely hopes it keeps you painting pain-free 

[fred.]

Finished voting - some of those categories where tough, I thought army needed a few passes, then I went to single base, my first pass only narrowed it down to 15 possibles!

With any online painting competition it feels photography is a big part of it - if the figures are dark or small or otherwise hard to see, the painting isn't going to stand out. Composition and basing matter too, but perhaps less so. 

I do like Martin's cossacks - great work on finding so many figures from different ranges, I will be checking out the ones you have used to increase my cossacks to a proper horde.

[DecemDave]

Leon: "..So please take a few minutes..."

Is that per picture?
Hours later,..  Although a lot of that was zooming in and out as I probably give too many points to those that get the teeny weeny details done (especially in large numbers) like the red and white check hatbands, tidy moustaches, uniform insignia, Zulu shields,... But that's because I know from real attempts how skilled I would need to be to match the results on display.  And its really difficult to give enough credit to the "multiple shades of khaki" entries compared to the naturally prettier periods. 

Anyway, another tremendous display of what some talented folk can do with this scale. Congratulations to all the entrants and the organisers.  My apologies to my sixth and seventh choices because its not fair!!  I will second though the thoughts below about the need to get the photography right as well.

[paulr]

Very impressive entries this year, congratulations to all who entered