Why are ratings so widely inconsistent on this website?

N

Niexist

New member
So, a little about me I'm a brand new painter, have maybe 2 months under my belt now, and about 40 miniatures, I put my best work up on this site to get a gauge of where I'm at, but I'm getting very frustrated by the ratings I recieve. It is not the score that bothers me, so much as it is the inconsistency in the score.

Here is my examples. I will just post the images as I'm not fishing for votes or anything.

This is my most recent model, the librarian from the dark vengeance boxed set, in my personal opinion it is my best model to date, incorporating a lot of different techniques people have been telling me about on dakkadakka. I even took the time to take different angled pictures. It recieved a 4.1 rating.
View attachment 22625

This is my next most recent image, a deathwing knight master, I feel I did a really good job on this guy, but that the librarian is at least as good as him, the only difference is I didn't include any base in the picture at all. Could this be what is making me get such a low rating? It recieved a 5.3 rating
View attachment 22626

Here is my first submission a deathwing terminator sergaent, I didn't have a lot of techniques I had learned yet with this guy, and was only working with a palette of about 12 colors. He recieved a 4.7
View attachment 22627

I feel this is the worst looking one, and I don't understand how people can rate this on an average as being .6 better than my librarian. I just don't understand what people are doing on this site as far as ratings go, and am getting rather disconcerted with what I'm getting.
 
Zab

Zab

New member
It's not just down to the paint job. People also vote based on what their level of skill is, not to mention how often they see a mini. Some sculpts just get voted down. Forget the ratings and just have fun learning and growing.
 
ten ball

ten ball

Active member
Yep as Zab says remember have fun learning.
A few tips on improving - make sure you get rid of all those pesky mold lines.
Also it's best to finish the base before submitting.
 
ten ball

ten ball

Active member
Hi you seem angry for some reason. Most people on here will offer advice and will be helpful .
Your painting is a fair standard but needs work but all of our painting needs practice :)
If you put the hours in your painting standard will come on big time.
 
W

Wombat85

New member
On the off chance he comes back:

Looking at those the terminator genuinally looks better to me then the librarian. This is subjective of course but the simple neat style of the terminator is nicer looking then the librarian, that with the hard highlights and green in areas it shouldnt be just looks messy. Yes simply adding a base will improve your score to.

1. I get the frustration at the lower score for more effort, it has happened to me. The thing is to view this a sign that you haven't made the transition to the new techniques yet. A great example of a situation where this may happen is with dipping. A dipped model can easily get a 5, while a more time consuming highlighted model may score lower if the technique is rough. In the long run you are better for making the switch in terms of potential, so don't stop now and keep trying.

2. Post your models when you put them up in the submission section and ask for feedback. The people here in the forums are far more helpful then the people who only vote on models.

3. If you dont come back, this advice is lost to the void. To those above with no constructive comments remember we all got frustrated some time, lets give them a reason to come back.
 
TrystanGST

TrystanGST

New member
Well said Wombat.

For the OP (If you're still around) - I get the frustration over the scores. We've all been there. But the scores are a small part of what I have come to really treasure as an invaluable resource.

There are lots of ways for the scoring to be gamed - photoshopping, farming unregistered votes, submitting half a dozen photos of the same mini (this one is my pet peeve), and the list goes on.
Even ignoring that, the scoring can vary wildly based on many different criteria. I've seen minis that I was really proud of score a lot lower than minis I felt I just threw together. The point (to me at least) is to have a record of your progression as an artist, not to worry about the scores overmuch.
 
S

SkelettetS

New member
you know, with about 50 votes each on you mini, its most likely not the same 50 people that voted on all your minis. just something to have in mind.
 
Dragonsreach

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
Regretfully over the years I've seen a lot of people come onto the site expecting to be hailed as "The Next Painting Guru" because they have received praise from a limited audience.
WE ALL have to learn that we all have room to improve with each mini. A pair of prime examples of developmental change are Andyg and ten ball (10 ball) look how their painting has developed.

However the OP has shown to me that criticism is not well received and for that I'm sorry, we can only point out where room for improvement exists, its up to us all to accept advice and not sulk or be nasty about it.
 
F

funnymouth

Active member
well, I'll play devils advocate on the Photoshopped thing. while not technically inappropriate i have noticed the current popular style of mini presentation involves photographing on a black background and shifting the saturation/levels to represent the background as pure black and has the added "benefit" of artificially enhancing the levels of contrast. i (personally) feel that while this style skirts the boarders what is acceptable for image alteration in miniatures photography, it significantly misrepresents what the miniature appears like under normal lighting conditions and effectively conceals some painting errors. they are not"candid" shots, but i guess that isn't really the point with show photography, is it?

now, in the event that the original poster returns: i sort of agree that the termi is better. the blues on the librarian are a bit blotchy and the cloak transitions are rough in a way that is distracting. also, base your miniatures. period. without a base, it isn't complete and is more appropriate as a WIP in the forum for feedback than in the gallery.
also, i wouldn't sweat the slight variation in scores. sampling error is a big factor. all of your work is scoring as roughly tabletop (-) points for no base. seems reasonable to me. i understand your frustration. i was a bit of a cowboy when i first joined and nearly threw in the hat, but i mellowed out and hung in there and learned some important lessons. not least of which is that scoring minis is lame; not everyone has the same opinion of what is "cool" and what isn't, and in the end it is the art that matters.
 
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TrystanGST

TrystanGST

New member
I think most people that take the time to collage their photos do some adjustment in PS. I do, because I don't know how to properly set my camera. I use bright/contrast sliders to bring the photo to match what I see in my hand, as much as I can.

There HAVE been instances where people have been called out for using PS to "enhance" or hide errors present on the actual figure. THAT is a party foul. I also find the "crop/ps in new background" and "lens flare/lightning bolts" distracting, but that may just be me.
 
MAXXxxx

MAXXxxx

Well-known member
ten ball said:
You would never catch me photoshopping - :shock:

Sigvald by 10 ball
Click to expand...

no, I won't laugh, no I won't laugh, can't resist.

:D :D :D

on another note. I had not happened here, but I had a fun conversation based on the eldar from derwish (http://www.coolminiornot.com/210313?browseid=6724260)
some local people said, that it *must* be PS-d, there is no way to paint a mini like that.
All I could say: if it was PS-d it was done really well, because I've seen the mini live (GD2009 or 2010 in TeamGermany Vitrin) and was just like that. (and I've never heard of a PS that works in 3d in real life too :D )
 
PegaZus

PegaZus

Stealth Freak
I actually agree with the scores. Not that it matters, since OP has forgotten about the site. The highlights on the blues are what drag it down for me. The other two are cleaner, I suppose would be how I would say it. The blue highlight has ragged edges, gets thin and thick, etc.

So hard to build a score up when such little things can bring it down twice as fast.
 
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