Come and join us for another delve into the Forums and Projects to find the best of the best from the last week or so. We're going to be getting stuck into lots of great looking pieces this week...

...make sure to always let us know what YOU have been working on and share it across the site.

Minotaur Diorama by brushstroke

The first project that is going to be getting itself a Golden Button comes from brushstroke who has been putting in the work on this stunning diorama featuring a Greek warrior battling against a raging Minotaur in Ancient Greece.

The painting on the minotaur has been well documented and each of the posts within the project really goes into detail about how he achieved the skin tone and texture on the horns as well as the brutal looking weapons.

Additionally, the Spartan, whilst you'd imagine he was easier to paint than the Minotaur, is no less technically awesome. The skintone there is flawlessly done and I love how the skin contrasts nicely against the deep red of the cloak and the shining bronze shield/helmet.

I am a massive fan of dioramas and duels as I think they are a great way of showing off the action that we're all hoping to recreate when we fight out battles on the tabletop. It's always my favourite bit of looking at Golden Demon entries and that has carried over here.

The environment is also incredibly well detailed with the collapsed and ruined pillars, a past victim of the Minotaur and even undergrowth worked into the cracks between the paving slabs showing the age of this domain.

A special nod has to go to brushstroke for some sterling photography here as well. Each of the photos taken during the work-in-progress period came out nicely and showed the techniques in great detail whilst these final pictures also capture the action perfectly.

Hopefully, brushstroke will be doing more pieces like this, capturing epic moments and also taking us along the painting journey at the same time!

Carnevale Warbands by jockjay

We're next moving to the work from jockjay who has been tinkering on not one or two but three different warbands for use in Carnevale.

Here we can see the work on the awesome miniatures which have been revisited by TTCombat for the new release of the game. The first warband above is for the Strigoi and shows off the Vampires that got added into the mix for the game during one of the expansions for Carnevale back in the day.

The red/orange design that joins the warband together works very nicely indeed and works exceptionally well against their porcelain skin. I really like how jockjay has managed to achieve that smooth look across the board and use washes and shading to make the miniatures pop too.

Blood is hard to get right too but I think it has been used sparingly enough with this warband to emphasis without going over the top.

Next, as a direct opposition, we have the Vatican who are hunting down these dangerous creatures to put them to the torch. As we mentioned during our Hobby Hangout I think the use of purple is great here as it flows into the idea of nobility and a regal calling for these warriors of Faith.

Once again, the white looks great here and has been done neatly. I commend the patience of getting through that stage of painting these miniatures! Once again, a nice level of shading and highlighting has been used to add depth to these miniatures and give them a more realistic look.

Last but not least we have The Rashaar who are creepy little fellows and very much tied into the Cthulhu element of the Carnevale world.

Whilst these miniatures were apparently painted quickly I think the colour choices have been spot on. Choosing blues and greens here works really nicely for an aquatic force and the touches of yellow and bronze act as a good counter to the overall scheme.

The slightly more tanned skin of the poor slaves on the right match up well with that choice of the bronze and yellow on the bigger creatures too, linking it all together on the tabletop.

Taking a colour and using it to tie everything together is something I would certainly recommend for both small skirmishing warbands and a unit in a larger wargame.

Mars Attacks! by mcgothmog

Last but not least we're looking back at an older game as macgothmog has been painting up some Mars Attack! from Mantic Games. The first of these, this grand alien overlord, looks superb with a lovely muted colour scheme which shows great skill with shading and blending to make the miniature come to life.

I love that this miniature, and the other two examples you're going to see here, come with that proper comic book styling to them. The survivors have also been painted in a similar style which means that you're going to see a good coherency between the characters and their enemies on the tabletop.

I really like the added detail worked into the base here too with the spilt takeaway food and the pool of cola that is no doubt going to upset some poor fellow. Whilst I really like the work done on the Martian above I think my favourite piece has to actually be this one.

Getting those tones of blue right across a model is tough to do and I think that the techniques here have been done perfectly. The jeans, in particular, look spot on, as does the choice of where the brighter colours hit on the shirt too.

Hopefully we see macgothmog bring all of his painting into a project in the future as these techniques would be great to see in more detail!

What Are You Painting Right Now?

Every week we’re absolutely blown away by the incredible topics that are put into the Projects, it’s getting more difficult to choose Community Spotlights! We love your work and we hope to see a lot more of it in the future!

If you fancy getting your hobby fingers out and showing off your newest paint job, terrain piece or even greatest gaming achievement, we want to know about it!

We don’t mind if you’re a newcomer to painting or a veteran of the brush, everything you do inspires us to create more and more content together!

What do you think of the entries this week?