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Hello, all! I hope I found the right place for this discussion!

During the past year or so, I noticed, how people seem to (IMHO) underappreciate some work of their fellow hobbyists on different websites and in different groups, and tend to upvote/comment more on famous/popular miniatures.

A very good example is CMON and `Eavier metal group on facebook.

Usually a neatly painted space marine (paint`s not going over the edges of details) gets a far bigger praise, then a "less spread around the world" mini. Even though the latter is done with a use of different techniques and demonstrates a far superiour skill level of its painter. If a space marine (for example) is done very nicely, "likes" will skyrocket and surpass any other work uploaded to the group/ect.

An example:
Today I saw an Adeptus Astartes painted in a HH legion scheme. It got nearly 300 "likes'. It`s tidy, has some highlighting. but not too much more.
And then there was a miniature of an (i presume) egyptian man from the ancient times, done by a lesser known manufacturer. It has fantastic tones, details, blending, marvelous work with contrasts and nuances. 70 people decided to upvote that particular work. Things like that tend to happen every day. Seems bias? Looks like a popularity contest to me. A group, which is supposibly about painting tends to spend it`s attention more on familliar product, instead of skill.*

-it`s a SM - BAM! more points
-it`s from SW or Comics - sure thing!
-is it fron GW? - I like it, cause I know what it is. ( I love a lot of GW minis, so I`m not trying to hate on their models, but it`s a trend I noticed)

I find it very unfair. I know, people don`t paint minis for the "likes', they are not petty like that. But it`s a good indicator, of what public prefers. If we take an analogy to the extreme: "star wars" and "hunger games" seem to be more popular, than Kubricks` movies.

Does anyone else feel this way? Any thoughts?

*Oh, and nearly noone critisizes anything. Are poeple afraid to hurt other`s feelings? But that`s a bit of a different topic.

There is a power in Group think and most popular people has a following.

There is one thing in painting an amazaball miniature and there is the whole other thing of marketing it.

I'd say a big part of it is also based on what people are looking for. Sometimes, I'll go through random images in the Dakka gallery looking for inspiration for my next project and hand out a few votes along the way, but if said project is 40k-based then I'm much more likely to stop at look at a 40k piece than, say, a Guild Ball mini. That GB mini might be fantastically painted, and if it's really, really eye-catching then I'll pause and give it a vote anyway, but I'm much more likely to skip over a well-painted GB mini looking for 40k inspiration than a similarly well-done Space Marine.

The phenomenon is definitely there, I see it in my own blog; I cover a rather erratic range of minis, and while I can sometimes get a page of comments on a couple of Space Marines, I'll get maybe one or two on a Infinity or Carnevale or even Batman mini. It's just the way it is, for people to vote or comment on an image, they need to see it, and most of the time, people are going to see stuff they go looking for, rather than just whatever's at the top of the list.

I don't see that it's a huge problem, though. While there are plenty of ranges I'd love to see get as much attention and time in the spotlight as a Space Marine or X-wing model, that's just not going to happen. It doesn't necessarily devalue the art on display. To take your example, the 70 people who liked the Ancients mini might be a larger proportion of the people who viewed it than the 300 that liked the SM; there's no way of knowing, but I'd say it's pretty likely, as this is a double-edged sword. The proliferation of SM might in fact result in a well-painted one being deemed mediocre as there are so many millions out there to compare it with, while a mini of the same quality from a smaller range might be appreciated more, even if it's less people doing said appreciating.

I don't think it's down to what the public prefers - I love looking at amazingly painted models more than well painted models. I think it's more a combination of people wanting to support painters who have not yet reached that master level so that they can remain motivated to reach that master level, and that sometimes certain techniques found at master level may not be pleasing to other people's eyes. Personally, I don't like it when master painters keep blending flat areas like the shoulders of Space Marine Power Armour, or master painters who use a lot of weathering to make their collections look more gritty and dulled down. There's nothing wrong with these techniques, but I just prefer models that don't use these techniques and pop out more as a result of it (at least to me).

It can also be to do with how many people that painter knows. Like Desubot said, painting a great miniature is one thing, advertising it is another.

I wouldn't want that to ruin any good painter's confidence though. Just keep doing what you do and your followers will only increase from there

As for criticism, it's best to leave it as constructive stuff. People can put a lot of time and effort into their models; even if the overall paintjob is inferior to what you've seen, or what you can even do, you shouldn't tear it a new one because of it. Offer advice on improvement, and suggest areas they can work on, so that the person can improve, but just criticising the work is both inconsiderate and rude. That's why you don't see it much.

G.A

Indeed, criticism must be constructive and polite.

I'm not that keen on a "supporting new painters theory" though.
There are too many miniatures left without a single comment, where people explicitly ask for advise or could use some nonetheless. Rookies or not.

The group I mentioned above and many others are not dedicated to any particular setting, so I'd assume people come there to gaze upon, help and be helped, find inspiration no matter what range shown minis are from.

SnotlingPimpWagon wrote:
I'm not that keen on a "supporting new painters theory" though.
There are too many miniatures left without a single comment, where people explicitly ask for advise or could use some nonetheless. Rookies or not.

It doesn't even have to be new painters. Check out the channel in my signature - Emma isn't a new painter, but she's nonetheless not a well known one. I subscribed to her stream to help someone who isn't very well known to be able to continue with her works, because I like them a lot. That's more what I'm getting at when I say supporting painters who haven't yet reached a point where they are unable to get any better.

I can't explain why some painters will get people commenting on people's works while others don't, outside of perhaps their painting style or the models in question they're painting. I'd also say a lot of people would rather just look at models rather than look and then post a comment or follow someone.

I think that it is that most people have painted a marine, and thus appreciate a well painted one more, I have seen some other factions painted well and have said well done but never critisized on that specific paint job as I have not painted any of those minis.
As for the point of a well painted job on other type of minis, I do believe that most people think (and they might be right) that some minis will look better with a certain level of painting skill than another mini. I think think imo that I could paint a necron better than I could my spacemarines, but that's my opinion...as is this comment.

I think the majority of people looking at stuff and voting are not looking for "anything painted", but rather areas of interest to them. I think it's just that simple. There are few people who are simply fans of painted figures.

40K is probably vastly more popular than any historical period of wargaming.