How does the scoring process work?

[Cat Dancer]

I am both a "newbie" member and miniature painter (been painting miniature figure for about 10 months). I have reviewed the 3000+ pages of the gallery and have seen scores of magnificently painted miniature figure works by some very fantastic and talented painters. I hope one day to maybe approach their ability in this art.

I have posted about (6) fantasy miniature figures (humans) and have received scores of (3.9 to 4.4) with about 30 voters. Yet in reviewing the gallery, I have seen similar human figures that have received scores of (5.8 to 6.9) with anywhere from 438 to 943 votes...in many cases, my figures are just as well done or a lot better done then these.

So my question is basically...what are the scores based on?

 

[cassar]

My advice is dont take too much stock in the scores its a whole pile of variables all swirling around in a chaotic fashion and i wouldnt lose sleep over it if i were you.

 

[TrystanGST]

The voting system is imperfect, and definitely open to gaming. If a mini has that many votes (especially if it's not from 2005) and it's only a 5 or 6, chances are the votes were farmed.

Also, voting is very, very subjective. As Cass said, best bet is to not let it worry you too much. If you want honest feedback on your minis, post them in the forums. Very few people leave feedback on the galleries.

 

[Kretcher]

I do agree with Cassar here, voting is a bit strange here for certain figures. This have been discussed I don´t know how many times before

In regards to your figures. I have taken a look at them. you have lately some figures that scored around 6 and 6.5 and I do from my perspective that they are correct. In regards to some of you other figures that are around 4.5 I would say that they should be higher. perhaps 5.5 and perhaps a 6 on some of them. Also your pictures are in my regards very nicely photographed, but for some people I guess they are big and very much close up and that sometimes do affect scoring. I do prefer close up to really see how a person have painted. I do vote lower scored on to small pictures where it is hard to judge.

For some pointers to what I would start working on to get higher scores is, dilute your paints to get thinner layers. Start shading and highlight your figures with more layers, I am still learning to do much more contrast then I usually do. This since the figures is so small you need to make it more vivid to be noticed on a greater distance.

After those steps there are so many more techniques to learn and practice.

But as mentioned above in some cases you shouldn´t care about the voting, I have had the same thoughts once when one of my figures scored under 5.0 ( http://www.coolminiornot.com/280405 ) it is now up to 5.9 (my base at this time was really horrible )

I still have some with very low score, but I have to say that they also do deserve a low grade. I have learned a lot since those figures. This is a great place to be and learn. also to improve it can be good to do a WIP and hopefully get some good advice there on what you are doing.

/Kretcher

 

[Cat Dancer]

I wish to thank (cassar/TrystanGST/Kretcher) for their quick replies to my question. I wish to thank them for their comments and words of encouragement. I don't really care about the scores (and will not lose any sleep over it)...I fully understand that awarded scores are based on the bias of the viewer. I was just trying to understand the vast discrepancies in my scores and others with similar posting of what (in my opinion) were at best equal to mine and in other cases, much inferior to mine...As I stated in my question (I am a newbie; but I do appreciate advice and knowledge from other more established then myself)...I was somewhat upset at the low scores...but no reason(s) or comment(s) in regard to the posted image(s)...I do not understand "computer talk"...what is a (WIP)?

 

[TrystanGST]

WIP stands for "work in progress". It's when you make a post on a forum with a project or mini you're working on, and update the thread as you work on it. A lot of people do it for feedback and encouragement.

 

[moetle]

Welcome to CMON.

Yep, start a WIP thread here: http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?23-Work-in-Progress-and-Project-logs

The best thing, to me, is going back to the start and see all the stuff you've done and how you have improved over time. It's also a good way to keep yourself motivated, and get some helpful advice when you need it.

Moe

 

[Egrimm van Horstmann]

Hi Cat Dancer,

there is one more thing to consider with voting: In CMON we have some kind of a "vote creep". This means, that the scale of votes changes with time.
A 10 ist the best vote at the given time. But since the methods and top painters are getting better and better, an 8 from 5 years ago would get a 7 at best these days.
So if you are watching a mini from the past you would never get the same score for that mini if you posted it today.

 

[TrystanGST]

Hi Cat Dancer,

there is one more thing to consider with voting: In CMON we have some kind of a "vote creep". This means, that the scale of votes changes with time.
A 10 ist the best vote at the given time. But since the methods and top painters are getting better and better, an 8 from 5 years ago would get a 7 at best these days.
So if you are watching a mini from the past you would never get the same score for that mini if you posted it today.

This is a really good point.

 

[Bailey03]

Yeah, stuff from 2008 or earlier often seem to have overly high scores. As time has moved on the quality of the work has improved and thus it has become harder to get those high scores.

Taking a look at your figures I can see you have nice brush control and your lines look clean and smooth. You're off to a very good start. What I think the figures scoring in the 4-5 range are missing is a strong sense of shading. I see some color variations, but I don't get the feeling of a directional light source. Take a look at some tutorials on zenithal lighting. Massive Voodoo has one and there are plenty of other ones out there.
http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2010/08/tutorial-zenithal-lightning-work-order.html
Basically you're imagining a light directly above. I wrote about this in a tutorial I created and I think it's worth checking out the first section (no point rewriting it all here)
http://insidethewall.forumatic.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=87

Overall, for scoring I'd say good brush control, well placed shadows, and decent blending will get you in the 6-7 range. Better blending, good color selection and perhaps nice basework gets you in the 7-8 range. Getting up to the 9's and 10's requires not only excellent painting but using advanced techniques like OSL (object source lighting), NMM (non-metal metallics), free hand designs, imitating textures, etc. These aren't firm rules, but that's the feeling I get for where figures tend to get rated.

 

[TrystanGST]

For those elusive 9s and 10s, don't forget basing and photography. Those apply to 6s and 7s too, but they're not nearly as critical. Well except for the photo part. That can sink any mini.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Yeah, stuff from 2008 or earlier often seem to have overly high scores.

Nope! Scores from 2008 and earlier are consistant with the era and techniques developed and practised at the time.
Five years on and the boundaries of quality work are being pushed further, and I expect in a further five years the scoring for 2013 will seem equally as unbalanced in comparison to the higher end miniatures.

 

[Bailey03]

I thought that was what I was saying. By today's standards those scores seem overly high, but that is because the quality of the work, techniques, etc has improved over time. So, judged by our standards the scores seem high. Judged by the standards of 2008, 7, 6, etc they are correct.

 

[Kelly Kim]

Don't forget that people expect much better pics than they did years ago. Back in 2001/2003-ish, you could still get away with a crappy photo setup, or even a scanned miniature. Nowadays, people are used to seeing pics that could easily be published in a major magazine or print ad.

Even the "professional" pics of yesteryear are of a lower standard than they are now. I remember seeing pics in White Dwarf of some really nice models and being mildly impressed, only to be completely blown away when I got the chance to see the same models in person while I was working at GW. These days, sometimes I'm not certain if the pic is better than the real life model now (especially in the case of models painted in NMM... which looks fantastic in 2D, but perhaps not as nice as TMM in real life).

 

[KruleBear]

Welcome to the boards and I second the value of starting a WIP thread. I like your start and with a WIP you should see big improvement. It also seems there is a bias for certain types of minis regardless of the paint quality. I guess that is why it is " cool mini" and not " cool paint job".

Mike