larger needle sizes are preferred to speed up less detailed applications. Gravity-feed airbrushes are preferred over side- or bottom-feed as there is less paint wastage, and dual-action is often preferred over single-action as it provides greater spray control. A palette is used to thin and mix paints. Thinning paints when figure painting is essential as the small details can easily become clogged up with thickly applied paint. Any non-porous material, such as a ceramic tile, can be used as a palette and many hobbying companies sell well palettes and palette paper pads. Many figure painters who work in acrylic use wet palettes to keep their paints from drying out too quickly during a painting session. These are often homemade from household supplies, however some use commercial ones made by art supply manufacturers or wet palettes made by hobby companies specially for figure painting. Competition Many competitions for figure painting exist for painters to take part in at a variety of levels. Many miniature hobbying stores and gaming stores host small scale competitions where local patrons can compete, either for simply the title of winning or prizes, such as products or store vouchers, either held as a regular standalone event or as part of a larger special event. These can be judged by popular vote of attendees or judged by the store employees or other external judges, such as a highly regarded painter local to the area. Such competitions can vary widely in quality standard depending on the standard of local painters. It is common for these competitions to have a small number of categories, such a single model and unit, or to have a single theme, such as "large monster" or "Paint Your Hero", and often with a distinction between adult and youth entries. There are also many large scale competitions held internationally for painters of an advanced skill level, either held as standalone events or as part of larger gaming conventions. These are often either sponsored or organized by gaming companies or miniature companies, such as the Resin Beast competition hosted by Creature Caster at AdeptiCon or the Golden Demon competition organized by Games Workshop at their annual Warhammer Fest event, although they are also sometimes independently organized by the conventions themselves. Competitions often have multiple categories to enter in. Some common categories seen at many competitions include Single Figure, Diorama, Unit, and Vehicle, often further subcategorized by genre,