Blasts from the past - Classic Golden Demon Winners

[Primarch]

I stumbled over a website today that has pictures of most Golden Demon winning entries going back over 20 years. Some of the links don't always work first time, but I've found refreshing the page helps.
http://demonwinner.free.fr/

Oh how things have changed.
1989


1999


2009


2019

[The Other Dave]

Interesting! Although I’d say the ‘99 entry is 80% distinguished from modern top-tier painting by basing and the model itself (well, plus probably these days it’d be done in NMM) the ‘09 entry wouldn’t look out of place. We’ve come a long way from the 80’s though, that’s for sure.

[ashdevon]

My favourite is the 1999 and 2009. Not mad keen on 2019 and 1989. I like the simple minis best rather than a busy one.

[me_in_japan]

ah, the nostalgia! I remember some of that stuff from the time. I actually still really like the kinda washed out look a lot of the minis had at the time. Very...painterly, I guess.

An interesting comparison, and rather unique in its own way, is this tank here:



David Soper is still very active in the painting world (he won the golden daemon for the Masters category this year, and took silver for single fantasy mini), and is super helpful to other painters, both online and irl (or so I read). Of particular note is his latest project, which is a deliberate remake of his 1990 slayer sword winning nurgle tank (which was started 30 years ago, in '89, he says.)

https://sproketsmallworld.blogspot.com/ ... -tank.html
https://sproketsmallworld.blogspot.com/ ... art-2.html
https://sproketsmallworld.blogspot.com/ ... art-3.html
https://sproketsmallworld.blogspot.com/ ... art-4.html
https://sproketsmallworld.blogspot.com/ ... art-5.html

Very interesting to see both the change in style, and his own ability, which both very much reflect changes in the greater painting world, I reckon.

[Primarch]

I remember that predator. It's interesting to see his current work too.
Looking back over the changes in painting styles and techniques, there are definitely trends and styles. While the modern minis all use very advanced techniques, the recent growth of Inq28/Dark AoS/Blanchitsu seems to be a throwback to the older styles such as that '89 winner up there. It'll be interesting to see how things continue to change in the years to come.