GW painting standard?
- Thread starter marineboy
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Brokenblade
New member
yep, lately i\'ve not seen muchg of the \'eavy metal painting guides so much, more of the stuff submitted by readers and other people with alternative ideas, maybe this is to attract the \"average joe\" into the hobby, to show it isn\'t important to have painting standards like \'eavy metal,
these paintjobs on the marines aren\'t all that bad, the ogres are a lot worse, but i think the overall standard of painting in white dwarf has gone down too, have you looked at the lotr section lately? there used to be some absolutely beautiful stuff in there while the films were still going, now most of it is just well...crap.
these paintjobs on the marines aren\'t all that bad, the ogres are a lot worse, but i think the overall standard of painting in white dwarf has gone down too, have you looked at the lotr section lately? there used to be some absolutely beautiful stuff in there while the films were still going, now most of it is just well...crap.
Some of them are really good, others are crap, but most are mediocre. I was never a big fan of space marines to begin with, but having to do one for ME3 has given me a certain appreciation for the ugly little buggers. I like the idea that maybe GW have decided to come back down to Earth for awhile. Incredible paintjobs could very well scare away new blood, but more likely the quality is gone because they just don\'t give a crap.
shinjikun1
New member
Your absolutly right it is intentional. GW US especially is focusing on new hobbist recrutment. one of thier new philosphies is to portray the hobby as easy for everyone to enjoy and not Uber-painted models of a level hard achieved by most. Also the US business is atractting alot of younger kids and thier parents. To see something that little Johhny can say \"I can do that\" or \"mine\'s just like this\" is a great tool to insure longer customer commitment. If you show them a model that can be painted in an hour, that is alot more reasonable than one that might require 30.
green stuff
Active member
Let\'s all hope that Anja can bring a change to that 
.
Getting new people into the hobby is just great. But for my part, I was first facinated by the \'Eavy Metal pages done at the time of Mike McVey.
Besides, teaching a bit of patience to the little buggers could be considered as civical.
.Getting new people into the hobby is just great. But for my part, I was first facinated by the \'Eavy Metal pages done at the time of Mike McVey.
Besides, teaching a bit of patience to the little buggers could be considered as civical
.Sadly, I don\'t think it\'s the talent of the \'Eavy Metal team that is the problem. It\'s the way the company chooses to portray their products. If the executives believe it\'s better for business to keep an \'average Joe\' standard, that\'s what they will have, no matter how talented painters they have at their disposal.Originally posted by green stuff
Let\'s all hope that Anja can bring a change to that
Getting new people into the hobby is just great. But for my part, I was first facinated by the \'Eavy Metal pages done at the time of Mike McVey.
Besides, teaching a bit of patience to the little buggers could be considered as civical
Mike was my first source of inspiration as well. It would be cool to see something painted recently by him.
green stuff
Active member
@Ritual : actually, I wasn\'t implying that the EM team members don\'t know how to paint as well as their predecesseurs, just that I\'d be surprised if Anja didn\'t try to do her best even with the executives\' constraintes .
.paintingploddy
New member
It wouldn\'t be the first time they downgraded the standard. Back around White dwarf 140 they had some truly noxious paintwork, pretty much straight colour with very little highlighting or shading. I stopped buying White Dwarf for a year or two when that happened. When I came back the paintwork had improved leaps and bounds..
I\'ve got to agree with Ritual. The standards that are being shown are aimed at the desired customer market. (ie 12 year olds and their parents.)Originally posted by Ritual
Sadly, I don\'t think it\'s the talent of the \'Eavy Metal team that is the problem. It\'s the way the company chooses to portray their products. If the executives believe it\'s better for business to keep an \'average Joe\' standard, that\'s what they will have, no matter how talented painters they have at their disposal.Originally posted by green stuff
Let\'s all hope that Anja can bring a change to that
Getting new people into the hobby is just great. But for my part, I was first facinated by the \'Eavy Metal pages done at the time of Mike McVey.
Besides, teaching a bit of patience to the little buggers could be considered as civical
Mike was my first source of inspiration as well. It would be cool to see something painted recently by him.
One thing that I think we all need to remember is that we are priviledged to see the works of really great painters on CMON and that colours our judgement away from the tabletop painted figures which are being shown in White Dwarf.
GW uses \'Eavy Metal to sell it\'s goods. It\'s not using the sales of toy soldiers to fund the \"Artistic\" talents of the studio. They are there to be the proof that the figures are paintable to a reasonable standard and therefore \'attractive\' to their customer base.
It seems that it\'s only on special characters and new releases that the \'Eavy Metal team really get the chance to \'shine\'.
I hope that Anja\'s talent is very soon used to the best effect with some stunning paintjobs.
(Oh dear it sounds like I\'m defending GW *Shudders* lol )
green stuff
Active member
Very true, but how do you explain Rackham\'s minis then? Each one is a work of art in itself, both the sculpt and the paint job.
OK Rackham is no way as big as GW, but the paint jobs in the catalogs don\'t seem to hinder the number of buyers (at least, that\'s what I see in my LGS).
Of course it\'s easier to say to the new comers : \"one layer of paint and your mini will look sparkling\", but how many of us have felt personal pride in learning from scratch, trying to get the harder technics mastered, and finally get a \"Wow\" comment?
I\'m still baffled by how quickly Anja and Eric mastered difficult painting technics. And I can already see some new comers here becoming GD winners.
I presume I\'ll get the usual \"elitist\" rants for this, but I truely believe in emulation by the upper part.
So all of this to say that I think GW could still have as many clients if they published better paint jobs. Yes, you can call me naïf
.GW is a company run by business-men. Their professional pride doesn\'t come from artistic achievments, but from business achievments. The artistic output of their employees is just a tool to be used for business purposes.
I don\'t know about Rackham, but seeing as they\'re a much younger (and smaller) company it is more likely they still have the same ideals as when the company was started and that they do take pride in the artistic level of their work.
These are two different marketing strategies and they can both prove to be successful.
I don\'t know about Rackham, but seeing as they\'re a much younger (and smaller) company it is more likely they still have the same ideals as when the company was started and that they do take pride in the artistic level of their work.
These are two different marketing strategies and they can both prove to be successful.
green stuff
Active member
IMHO, that is taking ones clients for Kleenexes, but I agree that it works
.The pre-heresy space marines from Black Gobbo (and WD before that) in no way reflect the standard of the \'Eavy Metal team. They are just normal people\'s models (well, however normal you could be if you work for GW). I have seen some guys at GW (via WD) whose minis look to be better standard than even the Eavy Metal team\'s, and then guys whos minis could have been better painted by a 5 year-old.
It seems that GW is going the way of trying to introduce people to the hobby. \"A tale of four gamers\" (and the LOTR version of the same series which finished a while ago) shows new players that other people go through the same thing, give a (low) standard to whats acceptable, and even people to compete against; its hard for people new to the hobby to compare themselves to veterans, but when they see other newbies having difficulties, producing great minis, winning or losing battles, it makes them feel more confident.
I admit that I like seeing these articles much more than some of the \'Eavy Metal things. It keeps me sane that my minis dont live up to their standard, and like i said before, keeps me interested and confident. I like seeing peoples wacky conversions, interesting colour schemes and themes.
Yeah
Bort
It seems that GW is going the way of trying to introduce people to the hobby. \"A tale of four gamers\" (and the LOTR version of the same series which finished a while ago) shows new players that other people go through the same thing, give a (low) standard to whats acceptable, and even people to compete against; its hard for people new to the hobby to compare themselves to veterans, but when they see other newbies having difficulties, producing great minis, winning or losing battles, it makes them feel more confident.
I admit that I like seeing these articles much more than some of the \'Eavy Metal things. It keeps me sane that my minis dont live up to their standard, and like i said before, keeps me interested and confident. I like seeing peoples wacky conversions, interesting colour schemes and themes.
Yeah
Bort
green stuff
Active member
I won\'t use the argument of what the effects of McDonald\'s can have on one\'s organism for two reasonsMessage original : Ritual
@Green stuff
It\'s sort of a McDonald\'s approach. And McDonald\'s have been pretty successful... Does their food taste good? No. Do people eat it anyway? Yes!
. It\'s too easy, and it\'s not my aim. I regularly game with friends, and most often it\'s GW games. I\'m not ranting about the price, rules, quality of the mini\'s, ... I would just like better painted minis from their part. They did a painting contest on a Lady Inquisitor when the Witch Hunters came out, that was cool and showed some of their art. It also showed color scheme variations on a mini. Recently, for the Marines, they showed \"conversions\". They could have painted them .@Bort : Welcome to the forum. I agree that the articles you cited have their importance, I just feel that the painters are being neglected. But the recent articles done on some master painted armies were very interesting.
Not me too...
It looks like I\'m with Mike on defending GW (whats the world coming too). Most newbies to our hobby start with WH or 40K, so by showing their models with an average paint job it won\'t scare the kiddies. Rackham, and to some extent Warmachine and others, are more for the \'veteran\' gamers. People who have been around-the-block a few times, and want to move onto more \'artistic\' games. So both philosophies have their place, with GW shooting for the young bloods and Rackham aiming at the elitists. - Mark
Welcome to the forums, Bort!
It looks like I\'m with Mike on defending GW (whats the world coming too). Most newbies to our hobby start with WH or 40K, so by showing their models with an average paint job it won\'t scare the kiddies. Rackham, and to some extent Warmachine and others, are more for the \'veteran\' gamers. People who have been around-the-block a few times, and want to move onto more \'artistic\' games. So both philosophies have their place, with GW shooting for the young bloods and Rackham aiming at the elitists. - Mark
Welcome to the forums, Bort!
green stuff
Active member
When the space marines came out again, they showed a series of \"conversions\". They could have at least painted them ... so unprofessional IMHO.
