Crimson Brush 2026

Well, that second blog post took a lot longer to arrive than I expected! In this one I will discuss how I feel coming out of my first big painting competition, the Crimson Brush. 

What is Crimson Brush?

The Crimson Brush is the premier figure painting competion in Australia. It takes place as part of Cancon, a wargaming and tabletop gaming convention in Canberra held over the Australia Day weekend every year. All kinds of figures are welcome to enter the competition, from small wargaming figures, to fantasy, historical and sci-fi busts, to large-scale custom sculpted scenes. There are two divisions, Standard and Masters, and judges can award deserving pieces one of four awards - Gold, Silver, Bronze and Commended. 2026 was the 5th edition of Crimson Brush, and my first one attending. Since I have moved to Canberra and live walking distance from the venue it was a no-brainer to go.

Painting

I won't dwell too much on the painting of my entries, as they could each be their own post. I took four pieces, three which were painted for Gitgud monthly challenges - more on Gitgud below - and one which I took more time on. My dwarf bust I originally painted in February 2025, but I made some changes toward the end of last year based on feedback. The elf bust was likewise painted in the first half of last year and these two represented what I could do near the start of my display painting journey. The large scale figure of the barbarian was painted for the December challenge but I had to cram it into two weeks due to holiday travel, so it was a little rough but I was still happy with it. Lastly, 'The Lioness' from Stella Argentis was something I had wanted to paint for a long time but I didn't feel ready - eventually I decided to just go for it and learn to paint dark skin tones and gold metallic as I went. I started in October 2025 and finished the week before the competition.

My four entries

Competition

I had a lot of complicated feelings in the leadup to the competition. Most of my interaction with other painters is online so all of my work is usually mediated through photos. Taking good photos of miniatures is a whole separate skill set, and not one I have really cracked yet, so while I always felt better about my models in hand than in pictures I only really had my own opinion on that. I did get some feedback late in the piece from the Guild - more on them below as well - but that was focused on what I could improve in the time left before the competition, so again didn't give me a real idea of if I was doing a good job or not. After staring at a piece for 60+ hours it becomes hard to know if you are giving yourself a fair assessment too - you know where all the mistakes are, and the bits you just can't quite get right. 

The division between Standard and Masters was also something that I had to get my head around as well. I aspire to compete in Masters, but I really didn't want to get no award as that wouldn't give me any indication of my level. It's hard to know if no award means you were just short of commended, or you were miles off and immediately dismissed by the judges. You can get more detailed feedback, but there is always the nagging voice of imposter syndrome telling you the nice stuff they say is only a comforting lie. With hindsight I can say entering Standard was definitely the right choice for me at the moment - there were Standard entries that blew me away, and likewise some Masters entries that got no award that were very impressive. 

So, to results! As you can see in the picture, I got a commended for the dwarf bust, bronze awards for the barbarian and the elf bust, and a silver award for the gladiator. I was very pleased with these awards and proud of myself. I was also happy that the later pieces I had worked on got the same or better results than the earlier pieces, which shows I'm improving. I got detailed feedback from one of the judges, which was very helpful in knowing what to work on and improve. I also got to see some good, great, and staggeringly amazing work from other hobbyists. The Masters gold awards all went to jaw-dropping pieces, none more so than Dave's custom sculpted swordmaster. 

People

I also got to speak to loads of people from all over the country and the world who are obsessed with miniature painting, which was just great. I heard lots of nice things about my models, especially the gladiator with her furious expression which caught a lot of people's eyes. There was a dinner on the Saturday night as well, where we could all relax and chat over a drink (at least the standard entrants could relax, Masters judging was on Sunday). As a newcomer to the competition - and the city - it was especially good to have two groups of people I knew (at least to some degree) going in.

The Canberra Display Painters Guild is a local group that meets once a month to paint and hang out in a no-pressure environment. I've been to several meetups so far and everyone is lovely - we have about a doezen people most times, some chat more and some less but everyone shares the same passion for the hobby and is happy to share some encouragement or constructive feedback. Many of the guild were at the event, and it was great to be able to celebrate and/or commiserate with each other. I spent a good chunk of Saturday roaming around the convention with Jannis, talking hobby and distracting ourselves from judging-related anxieties. 

GitGud is an online community built up around the patreon of Magnus Nielsen and Bruce Rose, a Dane and a Brit, who produce hobby tutorial videos, an excellent podcast, and provide virtual feedback sessions. More than that though, they have created a thriving community on Discord with painters from around the world, with a surprising concentration of Australians. Having moved to the other side of the country and knowing nearly no-one locally Gitgud has been a major social outlet for me for the last half a year, away from the algorithmic hellscape of most social media these days. Crimson Brush gave me the opportunity to meet in person people I chat with online most days and see their incredible work, which was a delight.

Gitgud at Crimson Brush 2026 (me 2nd from right)

Looking forward, I'm excited to get to work on my entries for the next competition. There are similar events in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth scattered through the year, we will see which I am able to get to as the year unfolds. Right now I am full to the brim with inspiration and have more ideas for projects than I know what to do with.