Getting kinda of fed up of low ratings with no explanation

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mordo

New member
http://www.coolminiornot.com/231462

ok let me start by saying i know i have no chance at winning a golden daemon in the foreseeable future... i do how ever think i am a good painter, i have had people ask for(and recieve) commissions, i have won numerous local painting competitions and i am always eager to learn new techniques from others... i also know that i don\'t often post on Cmon although i practically live in the W.I.P forum, i recently painted a FW Slaaneshi Dreadnaught up to a good standard (i know this is my own opinion but i have had several people agree)... I put up the Slaanesh Dread up on Cmon to see people giving it a low score of 3-4... seriously I have seen model that look like people dipped them in the paint pots whole... i mean i thin my paints, i blend, i even practice new techniques on old minis before trying anything good (like my FW Angron) Seriously though rant over but if there is something that is that is draggin down the scoresplease either tell me on here or please comment on the posting.... sorry for taking all this time anyways
 
squig hunter

squig hunter

New member
Couple of things, the slaanesh dread has, at last count 10 votes, so complaining about the score at the point where it\'ll swing about wildly is completely pointless, when I took at look it was at 6.0 which I think is pretty fair. One other problem is that your photos, while often quite clear and sharp, have waaaaaaaay too much background, just crop it out somewhere, you can even do it in photobucket.

Apart from anything else, I think it\'s not really worth paying too much attention to scoring. :)

Squig
 
Donga

Donga

Active member
It\'s on a six at the mo\' which is pretty fair IMHO.

Whats good, you have good paint placement. The basecoat is good, surprisingly it is the first thing that people have to learn. It\'s often done badly!

The area\'s for improvement, your highlighting is not definate enough and this is equally true of the shading. It\'s obvious that you can do it. The yellow/orange bits show you can. In most situations the top of any given surface is brightest, the bottom the darkest. Good painting is getting the transition between the two right.

The colour choice isn\'t great, the purple and blue are of a very similar tone. For those colours to work together you have to do one very dark and the other very bright. The metals also look a little flat, heavy shading then rehighlighting will lift it.

The yellow/orange is the best bit, it\'s also complimentary to blue/purple. That gives it a lift.

I\'m sorry if this sounds negative, I\'m only trying to give you areas to work on.
 
M

mordo

New member
lmao i didn\'t expect to get replies this quickly, anyways thanks for your help there and Donga to me any feedback is good feedback, and seriously if i get the time/money i will build myself a proper mini photo booth so that it eliminates the background problem
 
Sukigod

Sukigod

Member
I agree with squig hunter and Donga. You also mention the \"the purple plates have wailing souls on them...\" but they are impossible to make out in the photo provided. if they\'re there, the detail is too subtle at this angle to show and it looks more like a variation in wash over the open surfaces. Maybe a few different angels and some close ups on the areas you want to draw particular attention to.

Painting-wise, I do love the NMM on the gold areas - well done. I kinda like the different take on the light blue areas, something different yet doens\'t really detract (in my eyes, anyway). The white areas do come off as \"dirty\" instead of shadowed though (not sure if this was intentional).

And last but not least - if you\'re gonna shoot for the moon here on CMON...a.) Tough skin, b.) practice, c.)ask around at how to improve (your painting and photgraphy skills as both are equally important to good scores).

Looks good and good luck!

Sukgod
 
S

skeeve

Member
Without being too cynical. There is a search function in coolmini galleries. Put a word \"Dreadnought\" and then sort by Rating (Descending) and compare your dreadnought to what\'s on top. This is pretty much how many people compare most paintings here.
\"6\" for this model is about right score - it is not low. Basically it tells you that this model is very well painted table-top miniature.

To me this miniature is very flat. Tonal variation is very limited all gray areas are painted essentially the same color. Gold NMM is better but the contrast range should be much wider and (this is a matter of taste) this particular yellow is way too \"green\", personally I would shift it slightly to a more orange-brown shade.

The screaming souls are not convincing, at least not on this picture. At first I thought that this is an attempt at purple camouflage
Painting freehand at such a large surface takes time and you have to shade these/highlight these eyes to make therm three-dimensional too achieve the proper effect. Otherwise they simply look like heraldry painted over.

The shading of white indeed looks like dirt rather then shading. Green on skeletal eyes I would make much much brighter. In fact, I would tone done green on the ornament and on this big gem to the right and make eyes much brighter. That would create a nice focal point.

I don\'t see this guy from behind, but from what I see I would darken exhaust pipes on the back - just a nice touch that shows attention to details.

Finally, I am sure it didn\'t contribute to the rating but it is just a simple element of a model prepping procedure - the mold line on the top doesn\'t really improve overall look.
 
S

supervike

Super Moderator
Getting caught up in the score ruins the fun of painting for many folks.

It can also be a source of pushing one\'s self as well, but it really is a double edged sword.

Leave comments for others, post here in the forums, and don\'t take any of it too seriously.
 
nels0nmac

nels0nmac

Member
A very easy way to improve the background is to use a sheet of paper. A4 is normally big enough for most figures. Sit the figure on one end of the sheet and then curl the paper upwards behind the mini so that when you take the pic all you get is the paper and the mini.
If you have access to Illustrator you can print colour graduation on to the sheet going from white to off grey to give some variation to the background and also to prevent glare from a pure white sheet. I\'m not sure if any free / other art packages can do this???

Anyway I use this technique when photographing my minis and IMHO it works pretty well.

As always with this site don\'t get to hung up on the scores. The forums are a far better place to get worthwhile comments. Also even if it is a good paint job, if the mini is not considered to look cool then it won\'t get a particularly high score.
 
ColtheReaver

ColtheReaver

New member
I agree with Pegazus on that. The score on my latest models has been going up and down like a yoyo up until it hit the 50 vote mark (there or thereabouts)
 
airhead

airhead

Coffin Dodger / Keymaster
mid - high 6 is about right. Well painted, I like the color scheme, but no shading, no shadowing, no weathering, fairly stock base with the same issues.

5 is tabletop, this is definately better, but nothing spectacular (sorry). A bit of dark wash in the panels and some work on the base and it could easily be a 7+

And welcome to the forums. Come on up to the freak bar & I\'ll buy a virtual pint.
 
S

ScottRadom

Shogun of Saskatchewan
I would set the filter and search, as has been suggested. You sound EXACTLY like the same situation I was here when I began posting, with the same rude awakening in scoring. Keep at \'er, the scores are ballpark, but I think if you mentally pick a score for yourself then search for other mini\'s at that score you might spot some differences you can shoot for to generally improve your painting.

Here\'s an easy one! Go to a scrapbooking store and buy some solid pieces of paper for backgrounds. I got 4 today for 1.25$. Scrapbook paper is heavy and doesn\'t reflect too much (I think) so your pictures will be solely of your work and not of the background area.
 
Einion

Einion

New member
Originally posted by mordo
Getting kinda of fed up of low ratings with no explanation
Click to expand...
Well first off you\'re doing the right thing by posting to talk about it!

On the link, 6.1 when I just looked at it and I think that\'s a bit on the low side actually. But as you\'ll see in lots of threads about the voting this is about the mini too, not just about the paint, so people who don\'t like the model can give you a much lower score than you think the paintwork deserves. Mid to upper 6s would be about right for your submission IMO.

As mentioned the photo is not doing you any favours and lots of people will deduct a little bit for a photo that seems to show a lack of care, regardless of the quality of the subject.

As for the gold NMM? Doesn\'t work. It looks simply like areas of the mech are painted yellow to me, with appropriate shading. Speaking of shading, there should be more of it - lighter upward-facing panels, darker down-ward facing panels.

Some wear and weathering might be nice too, although that\'s a matter of taste.

Einion
 
H

heatherdaye

New member
Personally, I\'ve found that asking for advice on the forums is the best way to get it. Asking for comments at the gallery level doesn\'t get you much, if anything. Yeah, and I try not to look at scores until there are between 50 and 100 votes either.

I agree with the other posts so far; you\'re doing great, but a 6+ is about right. A high(er) score on CMON has a number of factors beyond painting quality. Honestly, though I think they are worth putting effort into. I found that even though it didn\'t make sense to me at first, my painting improved as well as the \"unrelated\" skill I was learning. For example; Learning how to take good pictures of miniatures made me SEE my minis in a different way and therefore I learned to paint them better. Now, I photograph my minis periodically while I\'m working on them to get that camera perspective...

So
1. Work on the photography. The suggestions in the other posts are good and the articles section is very helpful.
2. Pick \"cool\"minis for posting. This will also help you pick good competition candidates too. But keep in mind that you\'ll never find one cool enough for everyone.
3. Work on your overall color composition. This is a tough one to learn. There\'s a nice article by Susan Wachowski called \"The Competition Edge: sweating the Details of Competitive Miniatures Painting\" That was published in Undefeated Magazine (now canceled). I have a print copy, PM me if you have trouble finding it.
4. More shadows and more highlights. Really, yup, keep going. Take a practice piece and shade and highlight until you think \"That\'s it! There is no way I can shade and highlight it more.\" Then do another level or two.
5. Study the next \"level\" up from your own scores on CMON. Don\'t jump to studying the top 10, that\'s frustrating. But study minis (in your genre) that are getting 7s. Compare them to your own and see where you can make small improvements.

By the way I love the gemstone on the dreadnought. It\'s perfectly done!

I hope this is helpful!
 
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