"I Share Pictures of My Painted Miniatures Because...?" Topic

What motivates you to share your photos?

I don't …. I already know my painting is "average" at best!

Other peoples painted miniatures inspire me.

Validation
Vanity
A way to share in the hobby

Totally ego based….
And sometimes TMPr's will point out my errors in colors etc, which is good.

Well I'm certainly not the best modeller or painter that's for sure but I really enjoy getting feedback from my peers. (negative as well as positive as long as the criticisms are well meant and constructive)

My offerings will certainly receive a standard of critique not available in these parts ;) (my friend's and family) and I think it's my respect for the community's knowledge that would inspire me to do so.

wrgmr1 makes an interesting observation in regards to egoism.
In my case I'm not sure if there's a lot of egoism involved. It's only when I compare it to say my sporting days and my exploits there that I realize that there was something I was truly egotistical about.
In comparison I really don't believe there's anything in this hobby I could ever achieve that could inflate my ego (it's too damn big)

But I accept there's levels of egoism so could be wrong :)

To share different ways of skinning the cat. Painting and building techniques.

I get excited about finishing a project and want to share with others who might have a similar interest.

I'm trying out this whole 21st century technology thing.

I like seeing other people's work, so I share mine. Generally mine is the worst of the group

I crave the attention!

To keep me motivated and to be social, otherwise I'd just buy a scalextric set.

I would only post my painted figures if I wanted the sympathy.

Several reasons:

1. I'm proud of completing a project and wat to show it off.

2. It keeps the couple folks interested in what I'm doing up to speed.

3. I've been inspired to do stuff by a lot of fellow wargamers posting stuff, so I hope I can repay the favor by maybe inspiring someone else.

4. I'm not particularly talented at painting and basing, but I have definitely gotten better, and posting is a way of documenting how far I've come (relatively speaking).

5. Last and most importantly, I love the hobby and love buying new toys. But I hate buying without having seen them (or without seeing good, clear pictures). So, every unit I finish I pot on my blog and on several forums, catalogued by scale, type, and manufacture, so that wargamers seeking to buy some new stuff might be able to find some photos to help them make their decision.

V/R,
Jack

Certainly not because my painting is going to win any awards. Mostly for my own inspiration, somewhat to be social and hopefully to help inspire others to paint some of that lead mountain they have.

Vanity.
I was once a "Best painted army" winner in several tournaments.
Since then I have improved arithmetically, while the field has improved geometrically. I'm ok with that. I'm proud of my work and it doesn't shame the table.

The last time I put my figures up here on tmp, it was because I was annoyed at some people "on other sites" sneered that I was a blowhard who never played or painted.

No one at home is interested or really gets my hobby. I haven't wargamed in almost a year – so how else are my new figures going to get an outing? Albeit a 'virtual' one.

I'm an attention o.0

Reflection, feedback, sharing progress with mates who will eventually get to play with them, to be part of a community, helps me keep track of what I did and when, sense of completion. Lots of reasons, many psychological, but ego is not one of them. I enjoy it – but I'm a complete hack!

When someone whose work I think is top notch says "that's really good!" about something I post, then I feel I'm doing OK

I like looking at other people's work, and I like others to look at my work as well and give me advice and ideas to make my work better, I haven't painted figures in a few decades until just last year when I just dived right in, and yes I may be a little slow to getting around to painting them and my lead mountain is rather big right now, heck I have even done a head swap and shown the results on here "15mm State Troopers" which I believe turned out great they look far better in person and the pictures just don't do them justice.

Hey just my thoughts.

Because I want to lure new players into the hobby. Nice miniatures generate interest, nothing beats that ohh shiney vibe.

"I was a blowhard who never played or painted."

Well John, we know you painted and played, so does that makes all three true?

As to the question at hand:

I'm good at terrain and people seem to like my work. I put some pictures up once and the response was very favorable.
I got deluged with requests for "how to's". So, I did more.
That's what started me.

….because if I showed them to my wife she'd just sigh?

Because half the fun is looking at minis, mine others etc.
If we stopped sharing this site would be just letters and words…I wish people would share more photos, not be so self critical of their own work!! After all, its all for fun, right???

What a profound question.

because we all seek recognition when we create something….which only begs the question why that should be.

I started photographing my work….. as it is so cruel at revealing every tiny imperfection. It encourages me to go back and tidy up what I have missed. Once you have built up a gallery of photos, why not show off the best ones?

Plus feedback and advice. The best response is "Really nice, but should those Mameluke Musicians not be riding greys?" AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH.

But if I had not been told……

Very interesting question, my main reason is I am not part of a group, just a lone modeller/painter/collector and I like to socialise with a larger group by showing off my work, so I would say, to be part of a group with the same interest, rather than staying a loner and just looking at others posts.

It adds another dimension to the hobby – as a youth I always disliked tidying a game away if I photograph it and share ont' web then it carries on …

I like to get nice comments (so vanity) BUT I've also had so much inspiration from other people I like to think I'm able to give a little back.

Our hobby is a primarily visual one. If we didn't care about how it "looks" we would either be pushing cardboard chits around on a hex map, or simply reading a history book. Given that, I post pictures of my minis so others can see my work, just as I enjoy seeing your work.

It's a great motivation, and I learned so much about painting and uniforms from watching other people's pictures. And it's a good feeling, no matter if you're 5 or 35, to be able to go "Look at what I did!" when you are happy with the results. :P

"I was a blowhard who never played or painted."

Well John, we know you painted and played, so does that makes all three true?

Errrr…..
Yes.

In my opinion it's a way to share something that you love with other people, the ones present on the forum, loves too, knowing what kind of effort you need to produce presentable figures.
I don'n know you but leaving in Italy the average reaction is … "at 58 you paint and play with tiny soldiers…..interesting". Having the possibility to share your effort and having a reaction like " good really nice figures" or good but take care to correct this and this" it's much better. This kind of comments give me fuel to sit and paint after a day of (hard?) work.
Clear vanity has his part in it, but I never says the contrary…..

As with 20th Maine I have not much special, but do wish I could show my scratch builds.
Do greatly appreciate those who do

Great question! The visual aspect of the hobby is what I enjoy most. I assume that is true for many of us. I love seeing others' figures and hope they feel the same way about mine. I have become a better painter by seeing what others do.

For the benefit of others. It's actually somewhat time consuming to line up miniatures for photos then posting online. However, I really appreciate those individuals who do bother to post pictures of their work as it allows me an opportunity to see different miniatures painted up and organized into
units. It aids in decision making of purchasing miniatures sometimes I can see size comparisons between manufacturers and of course paint schemes can also be gleaned. So I decided that it would only be fair that I would take the time and post pics in the hope it could be of some benefit for others along the same line.

I don't show mine, as I don't paint my own. But I will, occasionally, show battles.

I do like to see figures others have painted. Some of them are magnificent, and many wargames are better at painting than they give themselves credit.

Creative Outlet.

I look at other postings to get ideas on colors and shield patterns.

I will be posting pictures of mine to get criticism (and hopefully some ego gratification if they manage to get some favorable comments).

1. It shows people that you can be happy with miniatures, even if they aren't painted to an UBER standard every time.

2. I love seeing other peoples painted miniatures and like to 'join the club'.

3. Sometimes it gets useful feedback.

Like Brigadier General said, it's a creative outlet. And maybe someone will like my ideas and batreps.

I do a fair number of conversion projects, so I take WIP as I go along. I like to share the ideas and techniques and get feedback and suggestions.

In general, I don't take and post pictures of my regular minis, except as part of a battle report or to illustrate a point in a scenario write up that would benefit from a visual.

I like to look at other people's work to get me to paint. I get figure out how to post pictures. I'm not tech savvy enough to understand "other domain, alternate whatever etc.

If I did, it would be to inspire dread and terror as well as reassure legions of young painters that even with no hands, they'll be better than me :-)

Several reasons mostly quite selfish.
The only exception is that I like to think that showing painted figures of a certain era MIGHT induce other painters/gamers to pick up the period. Which then might lead manufacturers becoming interested giving me even more choice. So actually quite selfish too.

Because I can't find painted pictures of it online and want to change that.

Balthazar has a point ya know

Warpanda I think your stuff is pretty damned impressive.

Warpanda I think your stuff is pretty damned impressive.

@uglyfatbloke You had me at "damned" ;) thanks

This thread made me think of the last photographic posts I made and it was in regards to making 'ridges' for Crossfire.

In truth when I applied myself to the task I realized I hadn't a clue what I was trying to represent.

I posted my attempts here and elsewhere and the feedback eventually led me to make something I was happy with; so posting can be very functional tool. (Please understand I'm not calling the community a bunch of tools)
One of my failed attempts

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Not sure why it posted three times?