North American Golden Demon Painting Competition in Baltimore, MD

Baltimore, MD, March 27, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Golden Demon is the premier painting competition of the Games Workshop Games Day Event. Talented painters from all corners of the world test their skills at painting finely detailed Games Workshop miniatures for international prestige. Hosted at the Baltimore Convention Center, August 21st, 2010.

Games Day is the annual event that conglomerates a North American mass of Games Workshop hobbyists; enthusiasts of the unique hobby of collecting, painting and playing with miniature models. The highlight of the day is the Golden Demon painting competition. Thousands of talented entrants from around the world painstakingly paint Games Workshop miniatures, all hoping to win the highly prized Golden Demon statuette trophy or the ultimate award of the show, the Slayer Sword.

John Shaffer, eight year Golden Demon Judge and trophy winner explains one of the differences from other painting competitions is that Golden Demon “allows entrants to express their creativity through their color choices and modifications to the figures, which in turn inspires the public to create their own masterpieces.” To the lay-person, a painted figure may not be all that impressive, largely because they do not understand the time and effort required to produce quality results; one 3-inch model could take months up to a year to paint to competition standard.

Mr. Shaffer describes that one of the greatest challenges of the competition is “being able to take a mass produced figure and modify or paint it in such as way as to make it wholly unique.” Each Games Workshop figure is intricately different and presents its own challenges, “figuring out how to make a model memorable yet different than established examples is a rewarding experience.”

The first Golden Demon was held in the UK in 1987, it then began in the U.S. in 1991, and has since grown to more countries including France, Germany, Australia and Poland. One of the reasons Golden Demon continues to grow is “because it is a way for talented individuals to gain notoriety and recognition for their talent amongst their peers and artistic community,” says Shaffer. Golden Demon is a way to celebrate on an international scale the effort and skill required to paint beautiful miniatures, a skill often not understood or appreciated due to the niche aspect of Games Workshop’s hobby. “It’s the ultimate example of what you can achieve when painting miniatures among a passionate community of hobbyists. It serves as an endless well of inspiration for those looking for ideas, and for the painters, it is a way to show off and gain recognition for their talents.”

The painting competition will be judged by some of the best miniature painters in the world, including veteran Alan Merett. Each of the twelve categories will be awarded with gold, silver, and bronze trophies with the overall Golden Demon winner receiving a Slayer Sword. In this artistic competition, Mr. Shaffer explains the variance in evaluations, “First and foremost, we look to see if the model fits in with our established fantasy and science fiction worlds. An extensive background has been developed for our games over the years and we like to see painters respect the worlds that their miniatures hail from. After that, we look for precision, smooth highlighting and shading, the smoothness of transition from one color to the next, appropriate color choice, composition, contrast, presentation, and the overall mood or narrative of a figure.”

John Shaffer shared his experience with earning a Golden Demon trophy, “It makes you feel proud and is both reassuring and motivating. Earning one makes you hungry for more and encourages you to push yourself enough to one day win the ultimate prize - the Slayer Sword itself! When painting miniature characters, there really is nothing as prestigious as winning a Slayer Sword. To this day I enjoy how relaxing painting is and how the stress of the world is quickly forgotten with brush in hand.”

As millions partake in the global hobby, many more are just hearing about this creative outlet that involves collecting, creating, painting, and building up armies for tabletop chess-like games where strategy is combined with the roll of the dice. Golden Demon takes place August 21st, 2010 at the Baltimore Convention Center during the Games Workshop North American Games Day event. For the rules, categories, and more details on the Golden Demon competition, visit the Games Day 2010 website where you can also purchase tickets and learn more about events, guests, and activities that this year’s “Epic” Games Day will entail.

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