Ok what\'s the deal?

[Grey Mouser]

This isn\'t a rant about this site or the way the stats work, and it isn\'t a rant begging for people to slam me, so please don\'t do that. What I want to know is why a 7 and even a 6.. on my work. Is it my mini choice, mostly non GW. Is it my work or style ? perhaps my photos? Why are my mini\'s a 7? I have 3 very friendly comments that are 8\'s... very nice (thankyou, thankyou!)

But I want to know what would make them a solid 8. Call me stupid crazy etc... because I know I\'m just begging to be sniped... but I want to go up, not down and my latest mini is droppping off by half a point in mere votes and I thought it was one of my best attempts to date. I\'m sure I\'m not a minority other people want the same knowledge.. and some would say shut up and be happy with the 7 but the artist in me says NO!! Give me some feedback so I can improve please.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dragonsreach]

Ok I\'m going to have a look and come back to you on this.

 

[Trevor]

Well, to get an 8 average you have to have people voting 9 on your minis (because some will only vote 7). Basically as the score rise, it becomes harder and harder to get a higher score.

Voting has also become harsher, a 7 is now a very good paintjob.

Looking at your work it is very good, but your pictures could be a little clearer. To get that 8 you really need something that bit extra, a conversion, ultra smooth blending (like Cyril), awesome freehand, something like that.

Keep up the great work, you\'ll get there soon

 

[Flashman14]

ya .. Trevor is exactly right on about people having to vote 9\'s for you to get 8\'s.

I\'m in a very similar position but there has to be a certain something to get up in there and I haven\'t quite figured it out yet myself. The only reason I have a high 7 is because the figs are particularly small.

Your work is very solid with no notable flaws and some excellent basing yet somehow they just aren\'t knocking me down with the other 8\'s and 9\'s out there. (this is not an attack) but part of the reasons these scores are harder to get is that we\'ve been bombarded with breathtaking, out-of-this-world minis that\'s made it less likely to get impressed by everything.

The only possible suggestion I have is to lighten the pics - the fronts in particular are a bit dark. A small gamma adjustment on your camera would do the trick or slightly adjust your front lighting.

Not particularly original information but hoping to help ...

 

[Sturmhalo]

Oh god... not the voting system again!

Wine or vodka? Which shall I start first?

 

[supervike]

always the smoother...

Start with the wine, and work your way to progressively harder stuff. Stop when you either:

1. Pass out
2. Are drinking pure grain alcohol
3. Think Rosanne Barr is kind of foxy.


Remember to drink a glass of water after every alcoholic drink (lessens the hangover)

This has been a public service announcement brought to you by Supervike!

 

[Grey Mouser]

Ok I figured that might be the response... LOL. And I know the OH NO NOT the Voting system again!!!!... really I\'m not complaining and whining I promise... I just want to improve LOL... I don\'t need any wine and cheese with my wine LOL.

 

[Grey Mouser]

Originally posted by Flashman14

The only possible suggestion I have is to lighten the pics - the fronts in particular are a bit dark. A small gamma adjustment on your camera would do the trick or slightly adjust your front lighting.

Not particularly original information but hoping to help ...

Yes thats a start ... Thankyou.

 

[finn17]

Hmmm.....should I admit this or not....

Originally posted by supervike
Stop when you either:

3. Think Rosanne Barr is kind of foxy.

I\'ve always liked a bit of a challenge....:innocent:

 

[supervike]

you shouldn\'t have ....

That is definately a challenge.

Most mortals would die with alcohol poisening far before she would look foxy....

But, you are a bit more.......devilish

 

[Sturmhalo]

Well I\'m just about to finish the bottle of wine (I can still type a coherent sentance and I even did a little painting after the half bottle mark - gave up when it got a bit too dark though). If I still need booze later I shall open my bottle of Absolut vodka citron. Don\'t worry Supervike, I\'m a pro, I\'ve had plenty of water and a proper meal.

Rosanne you say? After a few drinks I will do pretty much anything , but even that\'s a bit far fetched for me (nought wrong with a bit of meat on a gal though). Ooh... I bet that upsets someone, sorry. Alcohol seems to shorten the distance between my dick and brain. Sorry again everyone. Where\'s that bloody vodka?

Back on topic. Bumping your scores up a level is very difficult. I\'ve been trying to break the 9\'s for a while and can\'t quite make it. Must learn to add pointless freehand to every model I paint and stick them massive oversized display bases.

lol

 

[finn17]

You mean....

Originally posted by Sturmhalo
Alcohol seems to shorten the distance between my dick and brain.

...there\'s supposed to be some sort of a ..gap???
:flip:

 

[Grey Mouser]

Originally posted by Sturmhalo
Back on topic. Bumping your scores up a level is very difficult. I\'ve been trying to break the 9\'s for a while and can\'t quite make it. Must learn to add pointless freehand to every model I paint and stick them massive oversized display bases.

lol

OMG! The Master has revealed a secret I\'ve been waiting and waiting to discover.. so if I paint elaborate meaningless freehand in every possible location and make my bases huge blocks of terrain, like oh say a terrain board for example I might get a 10?....Surely you jest... hmm maybe a few too many hours in the top ten section LOL.

 

[Itchy]

Yeah... and for the models that don\'t have cloaks (meaning they have lots of exposed skin) you have to make tattoos... we always find ways to add in freehand . And yeah, you need to make a Cityfight sized diarama to get any higher points... better start to work, and remember, any slight blemish and we\'ll vote it down. If there\'s no blemishes? Then we\'ll vote you down anyways and blame it on a poor quality pic!lol KIDDING!

 

[Trevor]

Painting REALLY small things seems to be working well for me at the moment.

Basically you just need to do something that makes the mini stand out from the crowd.

 

[DarkStar]

Maybe you\'ve overlooked this...

I\'ve been a member of this site since around the end of last year and in that short amount of time I\'ve seen the ratio of French miniature painters here go from about 25% of the total to around 75% (These are just observed stats, what it seems to me, not actual percentages). The Italian mob has increased in large leaps and bounds as well. Now something you have to realize is this, in these countries, one can choose not to work for a living, accept money from the government, and just paint minis all day. At the age of 16, most of these artists are better than we will ever become in our frantic westernized lives due to the fact that we have to devote at least some time out of our day to go to work, commute etc...and therefore cannot focus solely on developing our skills. When you realize that you are competing against some of the WORLD\'s best, getting a 7.5 is not that bad. I take that back, ALL of the worlds best post here. My strategy is to learn French and Italian and post my comments in those languages as well as in choppy broken english. I think my scores will improve greatly.
On a side note, in these countries, which are quickly becoming the dominant producers of the fine artwork that is making it harder and harder to impress the jaded souls of us CMON\'rs, Art is supported, encouraged and generally looked upon as a worthwhile pasttime. Here, in the US of A at least, Art (that is not related to advertising) is still highly marginalized, frowned upon as a \"waste of good time\" (any time spent in enjoyment is not wasted time IMO) and generally disregarded as a disorder to be treated with drugs...\"Oh look\" they say, \"Tommy\'s drawing again, it looks like a demon or something...he probably has ADD! give him ritalin and break his crayons before he ends up homeless or worse jobless!\"
So, perhaps one should look at a 6 as a French 7, a 7 as an Italian 8 and an 8 as a Golden Demon placer. 9 and 10, not unnatainble, but better start learning to study the great masters, who incidentally were all French and Italian, and the odd Dutchman.lol

 

[DarkStar]

Me again, check this out; whenever you feel bad about your scores...go to the gallery of \"Dark Showcase\". This guy is an AMAZING artist. Way above par...and out of the 8 pages of minis that he has posted, less than a 10th of his work scored above 7.5. This dude humbles most people, he\'s not a visionary, but he\'s darn good. To be scoring as well as him, well, that says something about your work...it\'s all relative bro...over time, watch your scores go down due to the law of averages on CMON, so enjoy them while they\'re up there! When I first started posting here, my scores were in the mid 4\'s to the high 5\'s, I would have killed for a 6...then it went to 7, then 8, now that I\'ve hit 8, I think that I\'m satisfied, but guess what? The mini that hit 8.4? All kinds of random freehand on an overblown base with plastic crystals, fake snow and hand sculpting. lol If I would have posted my comment in French, Italian or Spanish, It probably would have got a nine!!!

 

[ZeCorto]

The part about studying the great master is actually true. Most of the best painters you see on this site (please note: irrespective of nationality) have had some art training, some have had a lot. It is one thing to have good technique, but what makes a mini really stand out is good color theory and realistic highlights. If you want to perfect your highlights, I would suggest Caravaggio and Georges de La Tour.

 

[Smoth]

Originally posted by Grey Mouser
Ok I figured that might be the response... LOL. And I know the OH NO NOT the Voting system again!!!!... really I\'m not complaining and whining I promise... I just want to improve LOL... I don\'t need any wine and cheese with my wine LOL.

in that case ask us to look as specific minis. I have had situations where some people will have most 4-5s in my opinion and one shine up to 7-8 so I would have to say it depends on the specific mini.

 

[Sturmhalo]

Originally posted by Grey Mouser
OMG! The Master has revealed a secret I\'ve been waiting and waiting to discover..

....Surely you jest... hmm maybe a few too many hours in the top ten section LOL.

I should be so bloody lucky! Top 100\'s best I can do (and I\'ve been bumped out of that recently due to my lack of new postings!). Darn pesky kids.

Originally posted by ZeCorto
The part about studying the great master is actually true. Most of the best painters you see on this site (please note: irrespective of nationality) have had some art training, some have had a lot. It is one thing to have good technique, but what makes a mini really stand out is good color theory and realistic highlights.

Not entirely true. I\'ve got a degree in fine art, but that has had no bearing on the way I paint (I mostly used photography anyway). I\'m not claiming to be a master painter or anything like that, but I do know I\'m pretty damn good at what I do. With me it\'s all innate ability. It\'s just one of those things I know how to do! I didn\'t really need to go to university after all! Although, if I did study art theory more (tedious on the whole) I might fight my way closer to the top ten!