Dawn of the Lead

Last weekend saw the 2026 edition of Ropecon, Finland’s biggest RPG/tabletop/geekery convention. As some of you might remember, I participated in the Cold North Open painting contest last year, and while I didn’t receive any prizes, found it a surprisingly fun thing to do. This year I decided to enter again, with much of the same reasoning as last year: at least once a year it’s nice to try and push myself and see where my painting is at currently. Going back to that post, I could almost repeat it word for word apart from one extremely relevant difference: I won something! Not a trophy, but I received a Commended entry, which means that I made it to the finals of the competition.

I spent a long time picking my competition piece, which meant that I could and should have started a lot earlier. As it happens, I was still painting it on the day of the competition! Anyway, I settled on a cute little mouse riding a sparrow from The Dragon Trappers Lodge. I’m not exactly who you’d call whimsical, but I found it a really nice change  of pace from my usual very down to earth scifi stuff. I did try and make the sparrow as realistic as possible, and I feel like I did a fairly good job there!

Click for a larger version. Photo by minapamina.

Overall, I’m really happy with how the model turned out, and I feel like the official competition photo above makes it look even nicer. It’s an odd feeling, but it…looks like an actual competition piece, with plinth and all! Of course you can enter a competition with any model, but while I’ve never considered myself a bad painter, I’ve definitely always set myself apart from those actually good painters in terms of skill, like they’re in an entirely different category. This time it feels like my work wasn’t at all out of place in the competition, and for me, the commendation – especially in the large and very competitive category of single small model – felt hugely validating. I guess I have actually learned something in 30 years of painting these little things. It doesn’t even look terrible in super close up photos!

Just as last year, I was left really inspired, and I’m already planning my next competition piece. With (I guess) sufficient technique in place, it’s time to start thinking about things such as composition, tones, and storytelling as well as improving my volumetric painting (i.e. shadows and highlights) and maybe finally getting to learning non-metallic metal painting which I’ve never been a huge fan of. This lecture by Erkka Marttio, Finland’s best miniature painter and the contest’s head judge, will be invaluable, I think!