Cold War Armoured Car Challenge

As usual, congratulations to everyone who got an entry over the line. I think the entries for this challenge were excellent, just as with the IFV challenge. As I consider standard practice for challenges where I am able to enter, I will provide my thoughts on mine and others' entries. Apologies for the lateness, I was lazy.

Torpid_Hunter: Starting off with a difficult one, are we? I'll preface with the statement I believe this is technically the most impressive entry, but that doesn't stop me from having issues with it. The design itself I have no complaints about. I like heavy armored cars, and ultimately my entry, being an 8x8 wheeled tank destroyer mounting a large caliber gun, is somewhat similar in design and role. The lines are excellent and the camo is very attractive. The figures are also very very impressive. Now my issues. My first issue is with the shadows. While use of multiple shadow tones is standard, it typically represents a curved surface causing the shadow, showing the deepening of the shadow. In this case, multiple shadow tones are being used for what seem to be hard angles on the vehicle. It seems to be like it is being used as a stand-in for a gradient, but I think it causes confusion as to the actual shape and would have preferred to see a more standard style of shadow. My second issue is with the figures. While excellently done, I suspected early on that they were too large. Their heights are very tall, but potentially believable, but their proportions don't mirror this, and comparing the head sizes of a standard figure with the ones on your drawing the difference is significant. I can understand the feeling of being constrained by Soldierbucket scale when it comes to people, but it was too much for me to overlook. Finally, and this is purely personal preference, as you are not the only person who does it, I find the extremely high contrast between the tones to be jarring, but take that with a grain of salt as that is only my opinion. With all that said I'd like to reiterate that I believe this entry is technically superb and I'm very impressed by what you were able to achieve with it, and that it deserves to be recognized for that.

Dalamace: Another large 8x8 entry. I suppose I wasn't as unique as I thought. I like the complex shapes around the turret, it's a demonstration of skill and I think it was accomplished well. That said, I think some of the shading is somewhat simplistic, though it's something of a nitpick, and for extra style points more dynamism could have been injected into the crewman on top or with the addition of extra crew. The camo netting and other camouflage is well done. Over all, there's little I can directly point to and say "this is boring" or "this needs work" because it's all represented well, but I somehow feel like it's missing something that would have made it a true "wow" entry for me. I understand this is probably unsatisfying and it is to me as well because I don't like to be mean for no reason. But I genuinely cannot figure out what I feel is missing, only that something is.

Hood: A simple vehicle that I think is made up for by the details. The shape is inherently sparse, but the small details like the boxes and smoke launchers make up for it. The camo is excellent and attractive as well. Nothing bad to say.

SanSilv: Oh no, not the racismwagon! Finally an entry that's less "armored" and more "car." To start with, the cartoon on the side and the figures are excellent. They ooze personality and it's why I find this entry to be one of the most fun out of the bunch. However, the vehicle itself is simplistic, and while I think that's down more to the design and it would have suffered if more random details were added without thought, it doesn't fully flex the skill that I think can sometimes be necessary to be truly memorable.

waff: Cat. This vehicle is visibly striking owing to its shape, which I think helps it in my mind. The camo is attractive and the smaller details check out, but for me I rate this entry highly simply due to the design of the vehicle itself. That said the sleeping guy seems a little stiff, and the cat having no black lines makes it unfortunately haram.

Baron von Teapot: I really wanted to like this entry because it's so off the wall and unique, and from the conversations I remember seeing on the Discord there was precedent for this weirdness and it wasn't done with no thought put into it. With all that in mind, I think the drawing needs work, and I know you are capable of much better. The shading is unclear, making the shape unclear in some parts. To me this is most evident towards the rear of the vehicle around the engine deck, with two creases that I'm not sure exactly are supposed to be representing. There's a shortage of detail in many areas to make it feel like a real vehicle, and I feel that the large spaced armor grate on the side detracts from the drawing by obfuscating the shape even more. It could have done with some embellishments like showing the propellers deployed just to add some character, as to me this feels like a drawing from years ago. The lack of figures doesn't help either, and while perhaps they maybe should not be necessary to do well, their absence makes some of the aforementioned shortcomings stand out even more to me.

Reytuerto: A remarkably similar entry to mine down to even minor details. That said, you posted first so if anything I'm the thief here, though I say this in jest, as it seems we simply had similar ideas and operating areas. Many of my issues are mirrored from Baron's entry just before. Some of the shading makes the shape unclear, particularly towards the front of the vehicle and on the turret. The shading in general is sparse, as is detail, and I feel this is most evident on the cupola. I think even things like the fuel drum on the rear are lacking in small details to elevate the entry, and the lack of figures doesn't help, as with Baron's.

Mauser: This drawing inherits some of peculiarities from your experience doing dioramas and I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it. For one, the lack of black outlines on the heads of the rockets immediately draws my attention and it feels very jarring. I also was not able to shake the feeling that this vehicle is very large for something of its type. With that in mind, I think the shape is captured well, with lines feeling appropriate and allowing me to form a picture in my mind of the actual shape of the vehicle. The camouflage is attractive and the figures are posed well, even if they perhaps feel somewhat "old school" for Soldierbucket scale figures.

Zieg: First post, congrats. Remember, you're here forever. Knowing that this vehicle was made in basically a day and a half softens my criticism a little, as I know there were concessions made to ensure it was finished. The bones of a good entry are here, but it definitely could have used extra time to cook. Things like the tires could have been expanded upon and the shape clarified using shading, particularly around the area where the main hull connects to the turret ring/driver's hatch area. As with a few others, I think the small details are what I wish I could see more of, like lines on the hull to show how it connects in various places. The figure on top is a nice touch though.

Bevillia: Big fan of this. The shapes are clear and the general form factor of the vehicle is attractive. I like the use of shading to indicate that the door is somewhat depressed into the hull. I don't like the viewports not being outlines in black though, and the lack of figures does make me a little sad because I would have liked to see them.

kvasius: I admire the complex shapes depicted here, as I was not brave enough to try it. I like the paint chipping near the wheels and things like the rubber skirts as they make the vehicle feel more used. That said I think some of the lines can get a little bit confusing at times and it seems a little light on shading to clarify this. I also think that black outlined rivets are a little much and I would have preferred to see them represented another way. The figures are basic, but do the job, and I think they add to the drawing.

Charguizard: Impressive work as always. The shapes are clear, and I especially like how you can see how the shape changes around the wheels. Small stuff like the smoke launchers are really solid, and the vehicle is very very well polished over all, even if I find it a little boring (especially given your talents), which isn't helped by the lack of figures. I feel like I don't have much to say because there isn't much to say. It's a good entry, but also very straight forward.

MrJetMan: This one feels like a classic scout car, which I actually think is actually kinda unique in this challenge. I like the undercarriage being shown, it adds a lot, and the slight shading near the crease showing where the hull starts angling inwards is well represented. The clutter on the side is very nice, as is the camo, and the badge is also great. However, I do not like the cupola, could have used more detail, and some of the creasing on the clothing of the figure standing could be better shown.

Aiseus: My own entry. I've got a lot of thoughts on my own entry and how in particular I could have done better, though I also think that this entry is much more competent than my IFV entry that it takes a lot of notes from. First of all, I'm pretty proud of piss man. Having time to actually do the figures instead of finishing the main vehicle with less than a day left to spare helped a lot. There were still some ideas left unrecognized due to lack of time and energy, but I still think it came out well enough. I tried some new things, and I think they ended up working out for the most part. The turret shading took a long time but I was ultimately satisfied with it, and in general I tried to do more complex shapes that I think are mostly* comprehensible, at least to me. That said, it's by no means perfect. Some shapes are hard to make out, like near the driver's hatch, and I struggled to populate the side of the vehicle. I wasn't sure where things needed to go and I'm sure that translated into stuff not making sense. The camo was a rush job, and the markings were similarly last minute. I had to cut a lot of planned exterior details because I didn't know how to make them work or I thought they looked bad. I think the box of stuff on the side of the turret was sub-par as well.

KoleonGray: The 2-forward 1-back wheel layout is very cool. Gives it a look that I like but can't explain well. There's a lot of small stuff like the angled MG in the hatch that make this entry technically impressive to me, and the figures are also great. I do wish the camo didn't go over large gaps perfectly, like from the inside of the wheel well to the outside of the vehicle, and some color choices like for the backpack aren't perfect, but otherwise very impressive work.

TigerHunter1945: Last minute entry as usual. You always manage to cut it so close every time. I'm not sure how to explain it, but you manage to create very visually clear and striking drawings every time. It doesn't feel cluttered or over-contrasted but everything stands out as it needs to. The shape and shading is clear, and the undercarriage detail is spectacular. The figures are also super impressive, tying this whole thing together. If anything a cool camo could have added onto the drawing but I'm nitpicking at this point. Very impressive work.

And that's that. If you felt some of my issues with your entry were wrong or unreasonable, well, you're probably right tbh. I'm not an expert artist or engineer so this all comes down to

vibes

and not facts and logic or anything like that. Sue me. I'll probably respond in 3-5 business days. All in all, though, very solid challenge. I wish we could have gotten more entries and I know some people weren't able to finish. A comparison with the number of entries for the IFV challenge makes this obvious. The quality of entries was excellent as usual though, solidifying my opinion that this scale is the best for ground vehicles, especially ones that aren't very large like MBTs. Looking forward to the next Soldierbucket challenge.

Edit: fixed some formatting lol. also good job tigerhunter i started this before judging was done but congrats bro. i did better than expected so thats a plus.

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