January Duel

[Dad's Army]

This is duel nr.235 folks!

The rules this time were:

The duel against mister X.
- Swedish Dragoon of Charles XII Zvezda set 8057
- Monthly duel mister X
- 2 pictures

You have a week to choose your winner.
Once again gentlemen take your places and may the best painter win.
Please leave comments after the duel has finished

" Kompis"





vs

"Riding for Freedom"

[Dad's Army]

With some delay cause I was a bit to busy, I can say who was op against Mr.X.
It was Dalibor (Kekso) and he gave Mr. X a bad start, cause he won.
So congratulations Dali, and better luck next month Mr. X
Both figures looks great, I think the picture/compose did make the difference here.
Thanks both for dueling, and hopefully more duelers wil join this year.
Also thanks for the members who did hit the vote button.

[MABO]

I must confess, I am a Dali-Fan. I really like his soft paintstyle presented here. So in his first duel Mr.X. didn't got my vote. But his rider was also a good paintjob, but in this case his opponent made it for me.
Good luck next time and I will vote again of course.

Why are so few members interested...?

[Ben90]

Great duel! Well done by both duellists!!!

[Bluefalchion]

I must confess, I am a Dali-Fan. I really like his soft paintstyle presented here. So in his first duel Mr.X. didn't got my vote. But his rider was also a good paintjob, but in this case his opponent made it for me.
Good luck next time and I will vote again of course.

Why are so few members interested...?

23 is a fairly typical number of votes for a duel.

I really liked Mr. X's horse and rider this time, but his photograph was only decent and may not have showed off his work in the best possible way.

Kekso's entry is quite excellent in every way, I especially liked the blending of colors and the subdued pallette. Nice job.

[Kekso]

Thank you guys and big thank to Mr.X 2022. I just hope I haven't dicouraged him for next duels that follow.
Just keep in mind that this is for fun.
For me, winning is not special fun but arranging duel and comparing entries are.

[PhilC]

I must confess, I am a Dali-Fan.

Is a Dali-Fan(t) a sort of Oli-Fan(t) ? Ok, "tiré par les cheveux" as we say in french.

More seriously, the main difference between the two entries in my eyes wasn't the quality of painting, but the quality of photograph.

In the first entry, we see that:
- the background is one piece of paper(?) that is bent so that there is no intersection between ground and sky => more focus on the figure
- there are at least two lights to lighten the scene, on each side of the mini, so that the cast shadows are softened => the face is completely visible

In the second entry, the ground is different from the background, and, more important, there is only one light above the figure => strong shadows. The shadow of the tricorn is hiding most of the face.

Well, that is only my opinion.

[Susofrick]

Liked both entrys. But in the end it was Mr X that got my vote. It was a very hard duel with two great competitors. And huge congrats Dali!

[Kekso]

Is a Dali-Fan(t) a sort of Oli-Fan(t) ? Ok, "tiré par les cheveux" as we say in french.

- the background is one piece of paper(?) that is bent so that there is no intersection between ground and sky
- there are at least two lights to lighten the scene,

Yes and yes. Printed paper and two light sources. But I changed my background intentionally (from usual dark) to decrease chance of recognizing my work (for at least few people)

But in the end it was Mr X that got my vote.

That's pity since I've thinking about you all the time I was painting this figure

[Susofrick]

Oh no! Thought it could be something like that with the kompis-title!

[Michael Robert]

Well, that was an excellent entry into the new season. How I feel for Mr X.
What I didn't understand was the two titles: "Kompis" ? and "Riding for freedom". Is this 2nd guy actually deserting ot what freedom is he talking about?
Another feature about this set is that it actually produces "real Dragoon horses" - rather small, feeble and not at all a parade horse, the kind they produced for the Cuirassiers for example. Really good. It encourages me to paint these as well - but not like Kekso.... without flowers (the horses have eaten them - starved as they are)
Great duels - great duelists
Michael

[Mr. Andrea]

I am Dali-fan too and I recognized his style at first glance, and voted for him. Pictures may be of different quality, yet I can see Dali mastered highlights and shadows better than Mr. X. And the face of his figure is really good. I know, the face of Mr. X figure cannot be seen......Anywyay, congrats to both contenders: a really nice figure for starting this new year

[Peter]

It was a wonderfull duel, and I voted for Dali. I liked his colors more. They are brighter. But I must confess that the contribution of Mr X is better painted as I could do it! So congrats to both!

[Santi Pérez]

Oh, I missed this duel!

They both were great entries, so my congratulations go for both artists.

Santi.