Can mini painting be art ?

A

alvarezwawa

New member
I can call sculpting miniatures kind of art - without any doubts.
But painting miniautres? I\'m not sure. It\'s like pictures-to-colour - I won\'t call it art, because You have an limited amount of ways of painting the picture (even colour scheme is limited - sky is blue, earth is brown). Miniature painter is limited by the sculpt. I can only agree for sure, that any freehands on mini could be called \'art\', but ordinary painting miniatures, in my oppinion, no.

Also in polish \'artist\' has strong meaning. How to differ an artist from craftsman ?
 
green stuff

green stuff

Active member
Message original : alvarezwawa
You have an limited amount of ways of painting the picture (even colour scheme is limited - sky is blue, earth is brown).
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Ever seen a red sun set? Ever tried to paint Sci-Fi minis on weird planets?
Message original : alvarezwawa
Miniature painter is limited by the sculpt.
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Ever tried converting?
Message original : alvarezwawa
I can only agree for sure, that any freehands on mini could be called \'art\', but ordinary painting miniatures, in my oppinion, no.
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I wouldn\'t call copying a picture to do freehand art. But if you try to paint an original motif and it adds to the atmosphere the mini is trying to create than yes.
Message original : alvarezwawa
Also in polish \'artist\' has strong meaning.
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Same in french.
Message original : alvarezwawa
How to differ an artist from craftsman ?
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Imagination?
 
H

hashmallum

New member
Hey it\'s justy plastic and pewter/resin minis - small toy soldiers - please don\'t be ridiculous ;)
I don\'t hold myself for an artist LOL!
I\'m painting toy sooldiers - it\'s fun :D!
 
Avelorn

Avelorn

Sven Jonsson
Originally posted by hashmallum
Hey it\'s justy plastic and pewter/resin minis - small toy soldiers - please don\'t be ridiculous ;)
I don\'t hold myself for an artist LOL!
I\'m painting toy sooldiers - it\'s fun :D!
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Yeah.. and Da Vinci just did some dabbing with a brush.. and Mark Rothko just does some rectangles and wierd patterns.. Chopin was just fooling around on the piano and Ingmar Bergman just tells people what to do. What is art what is craft? You are ridiculing people with another opinion then you on probably the most relative of all subjects. BUT I would probably not disagree with you using the swedish term on what we do.. hmm.. or at least on what I do, there lies my hypocricy/paradox. But everything is \'just\' something.. And many people we consider artist considered themselves as craftsmen. Art is imo about creativity and creating a personal space. And that\'s what we do.. The talk of derivative work is imo a pretty weak argument as artist are inspired just as everybody else. The thought of genuine inspiration unsoiled from everything else is.. naive I believe. And art from the definition of art critics is really of no interest of mine.

@Anders: ;) You might be right.. but I prefer to use the english term anyway. But I still wouldn\'t use \"konst\" the paradox is wierd.. but it\'s more what is expected by you. I got to think this through... If I should use the term and maybe be a bit provocative or if I should dump it because it\'s so limiting/elitist

@Cedric: Funny.. I think we have those too. But they seem to be made by... artists :p Art students can make minis and it\'s considered art.. even realistical ones. Well well. You just need a silly explanation why you do what you do that\'s all. ;)

Strange it is /yoda voice off
 
G

generulpoleaxe

New member
to, when someone paints to a high standard they are a craftsmen.

when they bring the mini to life with added character is where it becomes art.

it\'s a bit of both realy depending on where you let your mood and feelings take you.

i still think a mini cut in half and put in a jar of fermaldahide would be a good way of showing the art world two fingers.:)
 
D

degra

New member
well mini painting is colouration of toy soldiers - and if there are enough people who say that it is \"art\", then it is \"art\" - but honestly, who cares about that?

for example i am an \"artist\", because i study at the university of applied arts in vienna austria and the austrian state declares all students of such an university as \"artists\"...even if in fact i study restauration of paintings lol lol -

please avoid using \"art\" and \"artist\" etc as somekind of upvaluation for the figurine hobby.
in reality it´s really like dougaderly said:

\"it\'s art if you can get enough people to say it is, and it\'s good art if you can get someone else to buy it\"

- that makes something being \"art\" and definded as it. - you need an audience, who like it, an galerist who shows it, an art critic who says that it is \"art\" and the human who made it should consider himself as an \"artist\" as well...with that in mind, the words \"everything can be art\" are true;)

well, \"mini painting\" is not \"art\", but somekind of \"artform\" -
there is not one \"art\" but many different \"arts\"!
 
D

degra

New member
it\'s just a different canvass to which you apply the paint.
all the techniques are the same.
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no, not at all - if you sculpt and paint a figurine completely, well then it is comparable to a old master canvas painting - but if you make only the mise en couleur, well then the whole composition is missing, and you are in fact colouring someone elses work and completly depended from the shapes someone else made. that doesn t mean that \"mini painting\" can´t be an artform, it is just a interesting detail (and a funny one, especially if i´m discussing with cheeba this stuff and he is angry at me, if i tell him, that he is not a painter, but a colorist lollol;))
 
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degra

New member
ask any photographer - there is more to composition than form.
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sry, my english isn t that good and i didn t understood what you ment - could you describe with some more words what you ment. - thanks!
 
F

funnymouth

Active member
all i intended to point out was that photographers capture images of already existing objects (and in this way it is vaguely similar to the idea that we are \"colorizing\" minis), yet it is still art, in fact it is a very complex one.

a lot can be achieved by simply colorizing an object - you create deapth, texture, mood, and focus, a simple object can be turned in to a story; i think those things alone are enough to deserve the moniker of art. mini painting is sooooo much more than that though - its painting, the dance of brush and canvas and pigment, the act of \"colorizing\" is, in itself, a demanding craft. if we painted, oh, say...celings, would we be artists or would be denied then too, because a spandrel with paint on it is just a colorized spandrel?
 
R

Ritual

New member
It\'s funny... whenever this subject comes up people alway use old-timers like Michelangelo, da Vinci, Rafael, etc. as comparisons... Take a look at what art is about today instead... because that is the world you try to belong to when calling mini painting art.
 
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degra

New member
well, honestly you can´t compare that to photographers in sense of weither mini painting is \"painting\" or colorizing a figurine. it is really a complete other artform (if it is taken as art and not as craft)

if you would have read my words, you would know my thoughts on what is \"art\". i didn´t wrote \"mini painting is not art, as it is just \"colorizing\" existing objects\" - it may be a bit off topic my thoughts on \"colorizing figurines\", but i thought it is something quite important.

anyhow, i enjoy the figurine hobby as it isn´t something which takes itself very serious and i m not too sad about, that it isn´t widely recognised as \"art\" or \"fine art\".
but you know, it is not the question if it is art or not, it is more important if you enjoy what you do or not - i really start to think, that the appellation \"artist\" is somekind of title, which makes some people think, that they are something better than others...something like popstar, or superstar or what ever nonsense humans are coming up with...

well, it s a delicate discussion which will never find any end... lol
 
R

Ritual

New member
Originally posted by degra
but you know, it is not the question if it is art or not, it is more important if you enjoy what you do or not - i really start to think, that the appellation \"artist\" is somekind of title, which makes some people think, that they are something better than others...
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That sums it up pretty good, I think... enjoy what you do (and by all means, take pride in it... ), but stuff the titles... they are just words!
 
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degra

New member
Take a look at what art is about today instead... because that is the world you try to belong to when calling mini painting art.
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well that´s why you can´t say that there is one \"art\" but different artforms.
it´s like you want to compare classic music with experimental techno ethnopunk lol - it´s all music, but in different forms ;)


ok, so more crap is considered art now than was then
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im quite sorry for you, that you aren´t open for contemporary art - it is art, that happen in your head/brain, something you have to think of, not just this starring on things, that are nicely painted and sculpted, but have no deeper sense in them, than glorification of war and violence...
 
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funnymouth

Active member
i appreciate contemparary art. in fact, i cosider myself to be a contemprary artist ;). to be perfectly honest, though, sometimes when i see a piece of art i think \"man, thats some serious garbage.\"

id be more than happy to paint minis of peoples of different races holding hands, but they seem to be in short supply, for some reason.
 
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