A call out to the cream of the crop

[sivousplay]

Hopefully, no one will take this the wrong way ....

Most of us come to this site looking for inspiration, looking for tips, and looking to see how well our stuff stacks up against others. There are those who spend their time criticizing others and there are those who really try to go around and answer questions in a thoughtful way, but the one thing I\'ve noticed is that the \"cream of the crop,\" doesn\'t spend a lot of time answering questions or posting comments.

I know a lot of folks don\'t have the same internet access and/or time to dork around on this site, but it\'d be really cool if the folks who\'s minis are always/mostly in the 8+ range could spend some time giving advice etc. It\'d really help turn this place into a community as opposed to a competition.

If any of you have ever been to the Hirst Arts site (place where geeks make plaster \"legos\" to build fantasy buildings) there\'s a forum there where \"how-tos\", \"product evals,\" and \"critiques\" are always done in a friendly and constructive way and the \"best\" will answer questions and comment on the stuff done by the \"newbies\" and it makes it a real community.

It seems we could use a little help in that direction on this site, but it does seem to be getting better.

thoughts?
jim

 

[ZaPhOd]

I agree completely with you Jim. I find even on Mini-Painter list that people talk too much about supplies, auctions, injuries and whatever else and getting quality critiques is difficult. I have a few people that I talk to on a personal basis, some beginners for me to help out and some great painters I look to for advice. It would be nice for some of these greats ( I won\'t mention the names I think are great (DH) hint hint) were a bit more open with their skills and thoughts. Of course, they, like me also have private lives that keep us very busy and for some there is also a language barrier involved. However, I am always willing to help out or critique (very cantidly I might add) if time permits. Feel free to E-mail me!

 

[borg]

We have something in mind... give us a little time, I think you will find what we have in mind will allow interaction between the top tier painters with the rest of the crowd.

We know how important that interaction is, and that is totally within the spirit of this site.

Be patient... we might just give you what you ask for :bouncy:

Besides, the \"elites\" are changing rapidly. Who would have thought Jonny Wong would just come out of no where and sit on the top 10 list with not one but 2 of his paint jobs? This site allows painters that do not just paint GW to be recognized without having to win multiple Golden demons. sivousplay, take you for instant, are getting pretty well known and everyone is starting to notice your style. In a way, you are starting to get fans of your own. And that is part of the power of CMON. This site is still in its infancy, and lately, it has grown to almost mainstream. I think there is tons we can do to make CMON one of the best sites on the net, as we all know the reason why we go to different websites... to find pics of COOL MINIS!

DoubleD

 

[Temperance]

One important need may be to figure out who are the best painters on the site. Sure, you\'ve got the top 10 list, but that\'s dominated by a few people. For instance, Honza\'s not in the top ten, but his Razheem (#1367) is probably the best instructional mini on the site. That\'s what we need more of!

Even those people who consistantly get 7\'s (like Jim ) can be helpful to those of us who dwell in 5 land.

Even little comments are great. If artists could post just a little bit of info on a posted figure on how something was done, it would make reading this a lot more interesting. If a question is asked in private, it might be useful to post a public response. Let\'s take Jim\'s Red Lioness -- How\'d you do the base? How\'d you get the great pink armour?

I think one thing that is needed is a sorted list of the artists and their average score -- then we could determine who was \"cream of the crop\".

 

[borg]

One thing that we might add too at some point are \"how to\"s and links to useful painting articles with a searchable database. I will ask Sometime when he has time to do that, but we will probably need a lot of your help to get that compiled... I mean seriouly, how many times have you seen people ask on mini-painter e group about how to do NMM, the formula for future floor wax mix, how to do a particular effect... all that info needs to be compiled in a organized manner, almost like a dictionary, so that people don\'t have to keep asking those questions. Those questions also get ignored often, as you will answer that once or twice, but at some point, you will get sick of answering the same question over and over again. So I think Temperance has a good point...


DoubleD

 

[ZaPhOd]

Indeed. It would not be too hard to give little inside tips when posting pics. I for one am going to give it a go. Far more useful than \"If you like this mini you can buy it...\"

 

[cypher]

Well me likes this site alot but it would be much more valuable with articles and stuff on helping people paint better. I likes to look at all the stuff here and imagine how to do it. I can\'t paint but I can copy what I see so I copy the best I can from the cool stuff.

As for critiques well, I don\'t really understand that too much. I know all my stuff needs improvements because I am still learning!! So a critique won\'t really help me the rating pretty much tells me what I thought of my mini anyways (too be honest people here are very nice I would vote much lower on my stuff!!!).

Pretty much though from what I have discovered it is really hard to EXPLAIN how to paint well. All you can do is explain the techniques and show it in a article like Dr Faust. But the only way to do it well is to keep at it and practice.

But it would be very nice to have tons of articles on painting things with different approaches and techniques and stuff. This stuff is scattered all over the web so to make this truly the COOL mini or NOT would be lots of that sort of things. Maybe the top artists could write up informations about that. Sivousplay was very nice to tell me how he does his pastel look but I am just coping with basics still so I am not going to try that style anytime soon.


Also I would really like to see a chat room on here. Then people could talk about these things and not have to post it in the forum.

Last I am here alot and I have never seen any of the top artists online except for Brushguy!! So they are all busy on their next minis I reckon.

See yahs!!

 

[wightzombie]

i think one of the reasons why is that many of the best painters spend an enormous amount of time, much more than the rest of us doing what they do best. maybe some get tired of even looking at minis or talking about them. even your pet child burns you out if you spend to much time with it. given a near almost professional time constraint i think many are too burned out or painting to really bother too much. its almost like expecting somewhat pro artists to answer email, help with tips and tutorials etc in a lesser smaller market of sorts. i just dont think there motivated to do so for 60 people who are interested and will actually read it when say in another art category you could have 3000 people read it within a week and have forum discuss on it. so beyond time constraints and time+impact=who cares then you might get into the attitude of, well i just learned from doing, so must they. its a slightly harder knock, but quite frankly artists arent type A personalities and team players. the ones that are work for hallmark. the ones that arent raise hell doing it thier own way.

 

[Jericho]

I\'m usually quite willing to answer any questions people have on my models, and give any advice if I can think of something worthwhile.

I do a lot of \"high end\" painting nowadays, but I\'m never so saturated by it so I can\'t talk to others about it. Discussing painting is an interesting experience, if you know the right people.

For example, I learned more in 20 minutes from talking to Mike Sawata (local crazy good painter, everything he does looks like it belongs in a Golden Demon competition) than I did on forums in the last few months. A good, open person who knows some of the little tricks and tips that\'ll save you oh-so-much time are a Godsend. I\'ll try to relay as much of that as I can if people ask the right questions

 

[tsnake]

I think professional types in ALL fields owe it to the newbies and up and comings to be a part of it all. Surely they couldn\'t have gotten to the top without seeing others\' works or partaking in various forums or what not.

BUT, around here, it seems the polar opposite might scare them off. I\'m not sure what\'s worse... the fact that some of my minis get way underrated without any comments or serious explainations/advice... or the fact that so many feel the need to seemingly kiss ass to the good stuff. Typically.. a mini that has a 8-10 rating... nuf said! Why do so many people post things like \"wow, this is the most amazing. I\'m giving my first 10 for this one\" even though they have given a number of tens all over the place to the upper echelon painters?

Someone pointed out that Jen Haley (might) partially have left mini-painter because people spent too much time gushing over her work. Good for her to step back and keep it real... bad for others who a)lost her voice there and b)wanted to find help through others, perhaps among those constantly goo-ing.

I was watching the Gravity Games last week... those people who were getting top three medals still work with newbies and still take part in the scene... they aren\'t above it.

 

[Chrispy]

Where did I come in? Never mind, I usually make not cents anyway. Is true, look at my auctions Anyway, I totally agree.. look how often someon inputs an article these days. Not too many a trying and only a few are from the elite. Which of course may only be due to the fact they had so many people ask \"How did you.. with..?\" If you look at Honza\'s razeem, he gave a detailed explanation cause he knew it was going to be asked. Cming from an art background, I was more than happy to make up the NMM article and lettering guide just because I\'ve had the proper trainging and many others haven\'t. But then sometimes it really doesn\'t matter what training you have if you have no imagination and are not into the work you\'re doing. Other times it\'s luck. Take me for example, only when I use my Vallejo brushes do i feel the paint jobs turning out good. I\'ll probably buy up the whole stock now, so..