Pictures deleted because I have been told I am rubbish

Goodbye PF

Hi Paul,
Your painting of the textiles on this piece are excellent. Along with the worn paint on the rip cord this is a nice example of this bust.
Well done.
Cheers,
Keith

Pretty good for only the second one.... keep at it. You will definitely see an improvement with each one you complete.

Roger.

Thanks guys

I almost thought I had done a quite good job with this one, until the private PM's started coming in, apparently the consensus is its not so good after all. Think I shall give up posting my attempts for now. Thanks anyway for the few that tried to help.

Goodbye

Paul

I can't believe what i'm reading

Hi Paul
erm.. can't really comment without seeing the pics but one thing I would say is that as long as your happy with your result then that's all that matters, I know some individual's on these forum's can be quite cutting in their criticism of people's work, my tip for this is to look at the pictures of these individuals work it can be quite eyeopening often the phrase "those in glass house's shouldn't throw stones" comes to mind
anyhow good luck with your future projects and don't get disheartened

take care

Simon

Can't believe it. Didn't see it before you deleted image but the above comments are at very least encouraging and I thought your first bust was an excellent effort for a first timer. Busts are never easy.
I'm astonished that any member here would PM another and 'rubbish' their efforts, at least they should have the guts to do it on the public forum...I think I know what peoples reaction would be if anyone made disparaging comments about another members work. We have some of the hobby's best painters on this site and these guys regularly give enthusiastic encouragement and advice to others who are developing their skills.
Don't know if you will visit again and see this
Regards
Derek

Hi Paul, you have seen my thoughts on your good work. Nobody with any dignity on this site would make such comments ANONIMOUSLY from the members here on PF. There are a few great painters and sculpters on this site but the rest of us are tagging along to trying to get better by helping one another. It is a great injustice that we should loose members due to some out spoken coward. It will be a sad day if you do leave the PF site and I wish you well hoping that you continue with the hobby.
Cheers,
Keith

Hi Paul
i saw your pictures and i like you am a bit of a novice here. I thought your bust was fine and great for a second attempt. I hope people were not too rude and if they were then 1. they are not worth worrying about and 2. they have forgotten that they once were only painting their second bust, i wonder did they post theirs back then!
chin up bud.
John

Artis or not an artist, when we show our work to other poeple, we have to be prepared to receive good and bad feedback.
Paul I did not see your work, neither I know what form of message have you received. If it was a rude approach, just ignore it and continue what you like to do. If it was a constructive critique, take a deep breathe and learn from it. Both solutions will improve your skills nevertheless.

Happy painting to all.

That private post I sent WAS trying to help. If you cannot take constructive criticism, don't ask. I sent it in private out of consideration. I also included what was good. If ya can't stand the heat GTFO the kitchen.

Hi all,
Reading this thread almost made me not put a picture up as i have never posted one as i wasn't sure if i was confident enough yet. But the more i thought about it i thought hell no! So i think it is the ideal time to post my first pic. Gulp here goes! It is Maurice Corry's NI bust set as a Royal Engineer search team member.
Sorry about the picture i have to perfect that yet too. I have spotted a few things i need to work on here, feedback welcome, any PM's may be made public!!

John

Glad you've decided to start posting your work . Its feedback is a great way to keep on learning, but you should had done it by starting a new thread on the wbench/painting sections. Will be easier for all to keep this place organized

Hi
Good point Tarracus, sorry still new to this lark. Point taken, is it too late/possible to move it?
cheers
John

ask to an admin for it..or just create a new thread, and remember you always have the Brutal Honesty - Critique Center section if you can handle or searching for hard criticisms!!

ask to an admin for it..or just create a new thread, and remember you always have the Brutal Honesty - Critique Center section if you can handle or searching for hard criticisms!!

Gerard

Gordy will come along and move it. Just send him a PM with the request. If you want serious critique and suggestions I would put it in the "brutal Honesty" section. But if you are overly sensitive about criticism then I would steer clear of Brutal Honesty area.

Back on the point of the "PM's", I knew there was something up with this from the second I started reading the posts. Steve was only trying to help you, he is in my painting club and has critiqued me since I first started. He can be a little rough around the edges with his approach to typed critique but you need to understand it was out of love. I am being serious, Steve loves this hobby and wants everyone to get to the highest level they can obtain. It is unfortunate that you have chosen to take his words as hateful or degrading of your work because many valuable lessons can be learned from him. I hope you can continue to grow in this hobby and get help and instruction from others on this forum. But if you can't and want to move onto something else I wish you sincere luck with it. just remember that the next hobby will have veterans associated with it and might one day offer advice that drives you away to another hobby.

Given that the details of this post are becoming clearer I would like to say that Steves input and comments to this forum are always courteous, honest, considered and often humourous. I'm sure that his PM to yourself Paul was no less. You did say that your decision was based on a concensus so presumably there were other PMs apart from Steve's that were less than supportive. Perhaps then Paul you should reconsider your decision and not worry about those who criticise without offering constructive and instructive comments, and value the well intended advice of those who take time to support the development of others skills.
Derek

Paul - I truly think you should reconsider your decision to leave the forum. Email, forum posts, any written communication etc., is one of the toughest forms of communication. Especially when sensitive information, critiques, can be very easily misinterpreted as something completely different than the way we "received" it. Whereas eye contact / face to face is completely different - a reassuring "nod", body language, tone of voice, plays a big factor in how we receive communication from someone we don't know or talk to often. Not too long ago, I dealt with a situation where an employee refused to help another co-worker and fired off an angry response to an email just because the other person didn't say "hello" and "thank you very much for your help" and therefore thought they were being looked down upon. This wasn't at all the situation and the original sender actually felt bad that they had come across that way - because they were in fact appreciative and weren't looking down on the other. But, we're humans and some people are more sensitive than others. I know that I am at times.

You took the bold step of posting some of your first works to be displayed and critiqued (at your request). In the "brutal honesty" section, you were concerned about some of the suggestions and ideas that you received on a thread you created displaying a completed piece, and immediately jumped to the conclusion that the critiques you received were a sort of personal attack - or something along those lines. When in fact they were very constructive and not meant to discourage you. But it's understandable, again as we're humans, that it can be a little intimidating having work critiqued by "veterans" of the hobby (though constructive and helpful advice can be provided by beginners as well as veterans). Sometimes we might be too critical or hard on ourselves and subconsciously see our work as rubbish and accidentally take the critiques provided as confirmation. Einion made a statement in that particular thread that really stuck with me: although the "brutal honesty" section may be for more advanced/skilled artists, the beginners (like us) actually benefit the most. It's a process, there's always room to grow and knowledge to be shared (as with almost everything in life ). Sure, there may be posts or critiques which you may not agree with or cut deep, but it's an opportunity to build/strengthen yourself to not take it personally or be discouraged by. There is a wealth of knowledge on this site, a massive bank of it, all for us to delve into and use it as an aid to develop our skills and grow our own techniques.

I've been painting miniatures for going on a couple of years now (also painted minis as a kid) and I have yet to post one single pic. I'm actually limiting myself by not posting to have my work looked at and reviewed so that I can improve - I guess I'm stunting my own growth . However, I'm definitely a lot further than I would be if I didn't have this site. While I'm sure there have been some, most people don't start off with "box art" quality painting on figures. Sometimes I get frustrated because I see these spectacular works and so wish that I was at that level, and that's just not practical. But I've gone through the profile of some of these painters that are absolutely amazing, that have posted so many works, and you can see their dramatic progression from the beginning to today- I draw inspiration from that... knowing and believing that I'll be a decent figure painter someday. Though I don't lose sight of the main reasons why I paint minis, and that's because I have a lot of passion and thoroughly enjoy painting, regardless of the end result.

Gosh I hope I don't get blasted for posting all of this and so hope that I'm not out of line. When I saw the "goodbye PF", I thought "what if this guy had stuck around and eventually became a source of inspiration and help for future beginners to look up to, giving back the same way received?" I'm willing to bet that that's one of the core reasons why this site was started and is successful for... "we greatly improve our chances of staying on the right path and being successful by taking note and advantage of the legacies left".

Anyway, this thread sort of struck a chord with me and I just started laying down my thoughts - I'm also out of town on business, away from my family and bored lol. You're doing it right by posting your works and taking advantage of the knowledge and experience from PF folks all over the world with different styles and techniques... don't quit or give up on that (even if you're sticking with the hobby).

Sorry for the exhaustive book folks...

-Ronnie

Ronnie, I completely agree with what you said. You're definitely not out of line. There is a lot of great experience and expertise here on PF and I promise 99.9999% of them are just trying to help. Whenever we finish a model it is natural to feel proud of it and that can make it hard to hear that things aren't perfect and that there are parts that can be improved. It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or an expert, novices should still be proud of what they've accomplished and pros can still improve. While I hope Paul reconsiders, my real fear is that his reaction will scare others away from posting their work. I know there is a lot of great stuff here... but it's important that novices or intermediate painters and sculptors post their work too and are active in the community. As has already been said, they are often the ones who can benefit the most. I also think it's nice to know that not everyone out there is perfect. It can be encouraging to look at someone else's work and say 'hey, they're having the same problem with faces/eyes that I'm having' or whatever.