What Am I Doing WRONG? Handling Critique 

"You should try this..." is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. My painting is my stress relief. I try new techniques here and there, but for the most part I'm very happy with my mediocrity. I also know it's not my place to critique other painter's paint jobs. I will tell people all the time how awesome their work is. Kind words mean a lot more to people and will be remembered more in the long run anyway.

You should give compliments freely to other painters, much more so than critique. I try to leave comments whenever I see a miniature I even vaguely like something about on places like Instagram, particularly on the more normal folk because lord knows we need the encouragement. Besides you never know when a kind word is just the thing that's needed.

Our miniatures gaming group is primarily my fiancé, son, and his friends. My fiancé doesn’t paint any of her minis… she gets me to do it (though I’m trying to get her to take a stab at it). My son and all his friends each have a different way to paint. My son is super detailed oriented and paints every little thing on a mini, but he’s also the slowest painter. His buddy gets the basic colors he wants and he’s done. Not a lot of detail, but pumps out the minis. His other friend sticks to a basic paint scheme with limited colors, but gets into washes and dry brush. I use the most washes, contrasts, dry brushing and edge highlighting. I’m also a decent speed painter. I never critique any of their work unless they ask how I did something or if I can give them any advice. Now my son and I are always bouncing ideas off one another and saying what we’d have done different and why, but we’re comfortable with critiquing one another’s work. I figure everyone has his or her own ways of painting. Even if I do not like it, but they do, I keep my mouth shut. If anyone asks me how I did something, I’ll tell them and maybe slide in an example using one of their minis to show how to achieve an effect. I also point many people to the content creators that I watch, such as Tabletop Minions, Guerilla Miniature Games, Black Magic Craft, Eric’s Hobby Workshop, Bill Making Stuff, Sonic Sledgehammer Studios, Black Matter Workshop, Wyloch's Armory, 52 Miniatures, and on and on. If I learned something from them... like the beauty of makeup brushes or using Skeleton Horde to make an aged metal effect... I tell them where I learned it and to check those creators out.

Reminds me of my two favorite lessons from Uncle Atom: It's ok to just be ok, and they can't all be bangers. I just painted thirty Wargames Atlantic cannon fodder. I thought I painted them all to the same tabletop standard, but some are much better than the others, and some are pretty terrible. Like Bob Ross said, there are no mistakes, only happy accidents.

Met a hobbyist at my FLGS the other day. He was lamenting his decision to build most of his Sisters of Battle with bare faces. I suggested he consider using a simple wash to achieve a looks good at arms length effect and save his effort for characters. I also advised he could go back and add more detail later if he wanted to. I think simply affirming his desire to not put that much work into each figure was what he needed.

A man much wiser than me once said: "Don't take criticism from someone you wouldn't take advise from"

In architecture school we would also have 'crits' where the entire purpose was for the group to question all your decisions and execution, some people would leave them crying. The miniature painting community critique is always so constructive in comparison, i've never encountered any negative vibes from this space which is likely why so many people describe it as a 'safe space' in the comments.

This is a great topic, I’m glad you broached it. I’ve had issues on both sides of this, either giving or receiving unsolicited advice. At least for me, it took a good few years of maturing to understand the advice you are giving here. Thanks.

Hi, I always think of me as a not so good painter, sometimes I look at my minis and think "meh.. I have to work better, I must learn how to do things better " but many times I show my works to my brother in law and my nephew, they're mini painter too, a so they do with theyr works, and I think it helps us to make it better, but also to trust in ourselves and think we're getting better and we're doing a good job

I’m way more interested in colour schemes than technical proficiency, both in my own painting and in others, and I find that’s always an easier thing to praise in others' work and means it’s more of a easy communal talking point and I’m being really genuine when I say i like how they look. 😊 A good colour scheme is what you notice during a game, the overall effect of lots of models. There are a lot of pro painters out there whose style doesn’t agree with me, from that appearance of being almost over painted and the colours not really doing much for me (and pretty much all NMM is like that for me) but the technical skill on display is blindingly obvious. I think I’ve got the dead eyed stare technique down pat for receiving unsolicited advice already 😁

Remember, the word critique does not mean criticism. I've become very aware that a lot of RU-vidrs seem to think the words are interchangeable. To 'critique' means to make a detailed assessment or analysis, so it could therefore be completely positive and not contain any criticisms at all. In other words, be like U.Atom says and give positive critique if you can, unless criticism is absolutely invited - then make it constructive criticism that is given to genuinely help, not patronise or berate. A good vid. Now to back to my self-loathing.....

Always ALWAYS point out what you like about it, or what you felt went well. It’s not just about criticism, it’s about knowing what the positives are too.

I think people coming to the hobby during the pandemic, especially, looked at a lot of the "best" in the hobby and wanted to do that level of stuff. And that is a real mountain to climb. I had someone say "I just want to be a good painter" to which I asked "what is a good painter?" Because everybody does it slightly different, or approaches it with different expectations. What I would say is a good approach to encourage a painter is to highlight the things they are doing well, and make a suggestion on another part that you feel they could improve on. Sort of like "Your metals turned out really nice, they are tidy and smooth, but I think if you thinned your wash a little more, or, tried putting a varnish over your model before washing, you might avoid a little bit of the muddy look you're getting" We have two "new" painters in our local club and they are knocking it out of the park with the stuff they do. They only ever ask for advice when they are really stuck, but their style and approach suits their painting skill so well it's hard to tell that they only picked up a brush a few months back. And I love seeing them come in to play and show off their recent builds and paints. I don;t think anybody is -bad- at painting, so long as they want to improve, there will always be people around to carefully guide and encourage them.

After someone gave me unsolicited advice that started with "this is so bad it gave me cancer" I have started going out of my way to say something nice about every hand painted mini I've seen. Some folks need to learn how to give criticism and critique without being jerks.

Just to build on this a little, if someone asks me for art advice (I'm generally a studio painter but this is applicable to miniatures or any other art project) about something they've recently finished or are stuck on, I like to ask them "what aspect of your project annoys you the most?" And then give one tip (or suite of tips) that let's them focus on the thing that's most annoying. They don't get bogged down with information that might not be relevant in the moment and focusing solely on the most annoying part can turn a project around with relatively little effort.

“Oh wow! How did you do that!?” Is the best opener.

I never disparage someone else's paint job, because any painted mini beats bare metal or plastic. If someone asks for painting advice, I'm happy to help, but unless they ask, I leave it alone.

Been painting and modeling for 35 years. Never give advice unless specifically asked for it. Often people want encouragement and not honest advice. When I am handed a figure and asked what I think I will encourage the things I like and say nothing else.

I think this video was superb. I do wish that someone had told me about critiques before I had gone to art school; rough experience the first time it happens. I think the advice is spot on, especially the part about knowing your audience & staying quiet if you have nothing nice to say, really. Loved it!!

I giggle when I get "Have you tried a wash? It really helps". I am 44 I was was painting when washes became a thing. If my model doesn't look washed it's because my wash is to light, is the wrong colour etc But, please, please ask the person did you do A did you use B? And always, always start with its looks great maybe try Y to take to the next level. I love that because your acknowledging my effort whilst offering your experience, I am always appreciative of that!

I'm one of the 3 top painters at the FLGS and I constantly get praise, questions, etc. Y favorite thing to do is meet people who are just getting into the hobby and showing them the best paints on the rack, the gear that would suit them better etc. It's always fun getting to help newbies and 9/10 times it's super well recieved and appreciated. This hobby makes my dopamine flow.

When someone doesn't ask for critique, you can find a way to compliment the piece in a way that pushes people into better habits. "Oh I love the highlights on the helmet. That looks really cool" if they did a good job on the helmet and messed up a lot of other highlights. Or just find one good thing about the paint job. If people ask for critique, I always try to sandwich with genuine compliments. And only pick one or maybe two things to critique. "I love that color scheme! Have you tried using thinner paint or spreading your paint out more on the model? It could potentially help with a smoother finish. But those colors really pop! Keep on slaying the grey!!"

I love the video. I actually learned how to make and use a wet palette from you a while back. Just learning to thin my paints made painting more enjoyable and I'm more satisfied my results. My models still look like a small child painted them but I'm happier with them. Before the knowledge you shared all I knew was what GW had posted videos about. Image the amounts of fun I was having and the cost as a new painter learning from GW.

a common praise I like to give that's easy to find is to compliment their color coordination

I appreciate anyone's effort on their painting journey. I will always give thumbs up on anybody taking the dive and getting paint on their minis! If I am, say, playing a Skirmish game at an FLGS or Con and my opponent has painted minis ( great or not) I appreciate that. I will give advice if asked, but at the end of the day the quality of their paint job is immaterial to their willingness to put themselves out there and play some games! We would do well to remember this! My idea being that more people that play the games we are interested in and enjoy, the more games we can actually get to play! Good video and definitely food for thought!

I am lucky to be a part of a pretty rad modeling group on FB and we are all about positive reinforcement. I always try to find something positive to say about other people's work and let the conversation flow naturally. I've had so many people who have told me they are new/learning really open up and start asking me questions and advice just from saying something positive about their work and letting the conversation flow naturally.

Love your channel sir. I’ve been watching a long time but think I related to this one more than any.

I brought in a model I was happy with to my local gaming store, but I wanted to get better with my techniques and such. I asked the manager to critique my mini and to tell me what I could improve on it and he looked at it for a few seconds, laughed a little, and said I was better than him. I was stunned. He has models all over the store and they are in my opinion better than mine. I then asked about the color white as at the time I was using Citadels White Scar and was having trouble with it thinned or not. Eventually talked to a couple people who were painting and they gave me good advice. Always wondered why the manager kind of blew me off like that. A thought is that I was trying to show off? I don't know, but I never did ask for advice again from him on painting. I suppose it's sometimes hard to get critiqued when you want it. Good advice on the video.

One thing the army taught that was actually useful in civilian life was this principle: Praise in public, criticize in private.

I always like to pick out something specific I like when I check out someones mini, either the colour scheme, the technical and detail work, or just the idea or story that shows through. That way it is more genuine than just saying "thats nice..." and it gives us something to talk about. Personally I like to get someone trusted and ask them if there is anything they feel could be added to my paint jobs, which leaves it open for all sorts of ideas to be discussed.

Man would I love one of those sweet Reign in Hell T-shirts!

I'd love more videos specifically on Warcry. I've rewatched your videos a couple of time at this point, but RU-vid is a barren wasteland of folks I actually want to listen to talk about Warcry

In the best Christopher Walken voice. “Wow…those bases…they’re…amazing”

I'm a part of a few painting groups online. I never critique unless asked, but try to compliment often, especially newer painters who obviously are just starting. I think it's important to support new painters positively, never being critical unless asked. Even then I tend to phrase things as what they 'might try' instead of a prescription of what they 'should do'. I feel it's beneficial to make it feel more like a suggestion than an instruction. I've watched a lot of pro painters, from the awesome Sam Lenz to Kenny Boucher to the legendary Vince Venturella and the quirky Scott the Miniac. They ALL have a unique approach, and while many techniques make an appearance nothing is exact between any of them (I've NEVER seen Sam pick up an airbrush), telling somone how it should be done can really shorten their potential, because you may point them in a direction that doesn't work for them. It's best to simply compliment and reinforce what they're already doing so they'll choose to expand themselves and find what works for them the best.

Thanks for this video. Giving constructive criticism is my approach. If I see someone new to the hobby I try to encourage them. I want to see more people in this hobby, so harsh, negative criticism is self defeating, IMO... In my own case...the most common comment I get on my paint jobs, is " You took art in high-school? " Yes....I did...but that isn't where I learned this...is my stock reply... Thanks again , Your approach is the most welcoming I've seen ..don't change please!

I try to give about 90% compliments and 10% advice. I usually only try to give advice when it's asked for. This is applicable to many other aspects of life as well, especially when someone is new to something.

Im a pretty good painter and because of that im kind of scared to comment to much on anyone else work because i dont want to come off as patronising, i genuinely love it when anyone has put in any effort into the painting.

Fantastic video. Keep up the good work.

I'm which Uncle Atom tried to teach the entire complex process of being a social human being. I applaud the effort, I really do.

Love the part where you said "my brain trunks off when critique" 🤣🤣😂 I can relate 💜

Hey, you know what you should do with your videos? Keep making them. :D (I regret nothing.)

I've had one unfortunate experience of having a game where it started off with my opponent just giving me unsolicited advice on my paint job. It was frustrating because I'm really proud of what I've done and I do ask for suggestions at times. But it kinda soured the game that day.

With mini painting, like a lot of creative pursuits, we beat ourselves up by comparing our work to someone that’s been doing it a lot longer. I am a firm believer in the growth mindset. No one came out of the womb painting space marines. It’s a hobby. We’re trying to have fun and learn. Great video! This advice works with all critique too.

I just found this channel and it's now my go to thing to watch when I paint 40k. Sorry but the guys over at nerdarchist are already my go to for when I paint dnd figures hahaha

Excellent timing on this video. This weekend, I finished some minis and my group commented on them. I expressed to my wife, "wow, this group really helps me feel good about painting." We as a group, are very careful to praise. Any changes I suggest are directed at self: Wow, uncle atom has this great wet pallete idea! I tried it and it is a game changer for me. There is no "you should try it too".

Great video. The advice applies to pretty much any discipline and the wisdom behind the advice only comes after a few good years of living. Well said Atom.

If nothing else I will hey you painted your models that's amazing

A thoughtful, excellent video. Thank you. And Uncle Atom -- WHERE CAN WE BUY THAT SHIRT? We need about five of those!

So, feeling a little dumb, totally thought this was going to be a video where you critiqued how people hold miniatures and stuff.

Something i do try to do is to provide resources...so for example if someone asks me how i paint, i would refer them to Tabletop minions youtube or Miniac, or Vince Venturella. Something I am curious, where online do you think is the best place to get a critique ?

If someone asks for critique/advice I might point them to someone in the club or online who knows better than me. The only feedback I'll ever offer if asked is that painted is better than unpainted. If someone ever tries to offer me feedback, usually someone a bit younger filled with internet knowledge I'll point them to an unpainted box or two on my shelf at the game club and ask them to demonstrate, I'm too dense to understand what he means. I try to not be too rude, they'll learn. :D

Getting critique on painted minis means I would need to paint them first... right? So technically grey plastic and shiny metal is a perfect shield against paint critique *g*

Would you recommend getting an airbrush just for priming / zenithal priming. I live in Sconi as well and currently use rattle cans. I believe you had given your thoughts on the matter in a different video, but I cannot remember what video or your opinion. Thanks.

I agree with your points and it's helped me, when getting advice, to ask for specific feedback. Things like: "How would you improve the skin tone?" "Does the NMM read as metal to you, how could it be better?" "This effect doesn't seem right, what are your thoughts on fixing it?"

Best unsolicited advice ever. I paint for fun and to my standard and I don’t care what others think. There are others that want to just play the game and could care less about their paint job. Unless someone ask for help or an opinion, zip it.

Where do I get the Reign in Hell T-Shirt ?

I'm relatively new, I started last year but took a 6 month break due to health issues and now I'm back at it. Sadly my hands go numb and can make longer sessions difficult. I'm just lost at my next steps. Like I understand dry brushing, highlighting, etc but what I should aim for next alludes me.

My first minis were heavily drybrushed single tone Battletech mechs too.

when asked for advice, I find it helpful to keep it phrased within the context of my own experience. Like "You could try x y z. I had trouble for a while painting faces, and still do, but x y and z really helped." It prevents the conversation from feeling like one person is speaking from a position of authority and keeps it within the realm of "we're all on this journey together and maybe one of us has walked down this path already and knows where the potholes are."

I can remember complements I got from years ago. It’s a hobby have fun

My critiques had a ‘good-bad-good’ sandwich requirement. I have difficulty articulating when they critique tactics. Good or bad, good rolls or bad rolls. Postmortem is fine, but the interactions beyond that is difficult.

I feel this so much. I shared my first minis I painted on instagram like 5 years ago and was like "I am proud of how these came out" and the handful of comments I got were all "you should try this" or "the shading would look better if you did this". Needless to say I didn't post any painted models for about another year or so after that.

I so enjoy unsolicited feedback :-) which is usually met with a verbal Noted! response followed by a silent ignore & play on. Feedback both positive and negative is a process for improvement and needs to be contextual and in the correct mutually agreed forum. Really enjoyed the video Pa Chow.

Uncle Atom's gentle lessons on being a good human being

I have found one place (Which means that this could possibly apply in a number of similar set ups), is the GW store itself. Not so much just walking up to someone and saying you are doing it wrong. That is the job of the store keepers and they never do it that way. But there were a couple of guys gaming next to me and one was complaining about undercoat. Black was too hard to paint over and white produced a finish that was from the set of My Little Pony. So I just threw out there, "Use grey". I noted you immediately lose the shiny finish of white and you don't need six layers of yellow to fade out the black. I also noted you could use varying shades of grey for that darker/lighter finish or to under shade the model. The guy was delighted and we carried on with our games. I also played a dude that had a Defiler. Without passing judgement, it looked like a Harlequin paint scheme that had been shaken badly while the colour was still wet so the diamonds and such had all intertwined without actually blending. Quite impressive from my point of view. He had seen the Defiler I was using which was red with gold trim and features picked out and was disappointed in his own model as a result. I told him, one, his model looked chaotic, job done. Two, it was his original idea and my opinion on how he mixed the colours without blending them. Three, do the next one different, but in the mean time if this one was turning peoples stomachs, it's doing its job and gaining advantage.

As a mildly successful commission painter the only critic I care about is the one getting the work done otherwise it's a thanks for the input and on I go. Giving advise is only on request and should be thoughtful and not aggressive which seems to be the problem with mini painting reddit

I like that new T-shirt!

You can't even handle my unsolicited praise - that video was excellent, your t-shirt is cool and you probably smell amazing

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

Here is what you should do: Keep up the good work!

sound advice for all spheres of life! one question tho... what's with the Necrons with purity seals?

I think it also depends on how well you know the person. An artist friend of mine zipped it when looking at some of my awful minis and I didn't even realize until years later that she was biting her tongue. This caused me to continue with awful techniques for YEARS and I wish she'd given me a little direction. BUT the socratic method is a good approach. "have you looked into highlighting?"

My problem with being new is the only other person I'm close to in the hobby is my son who started at the same time. So our skills are about the same. Hopefully this will change when we move to a larger city with multiple game stores in a month.

What is the mini you pooped up as your first one painted? It looks insane like a 90’s cartoon personified

You are SUCH a nice guy

When you can't think of a compliment, the fact they painted at all is always a great one, haha.

The fact that someone spent time on their models is good enough for me (and im surprised that there are others who do not feel this way). Paint jobs on minis should be avoided as much as politics and religion, unless it is to compliment and praise. And if you really want to be safe if someone asks for help, point them to a neutral 3rd party resource (good RU-vid video, or something). Once you establish yourself as someone's better/superior, negative feelings abound.

Giving praise to parts /bits /whole minis that look good can also be a nice subtle way of critiquing. If the recipient is paying attention they can come away from that interaction feeling good and possibly working towards more of those successes in the future.

I think the easiest things I can find to compliment people for is color choices. If they are complaining about their work then my first go to if I’ve seen previous work of theirs is to point out the progress they’ve made on their work

Adam.. this is great advice for sophisticated, intelligent socially aware individuals, gamers are usually two out of three on this list.

I hate unsolicited advice in the moment but often benefit from it after reflecting a bit.

As a BFA I appreciate the 'pulls a grade out of a hat' comment. Rings true.

i once painted a really cool osl only miniature and posted it on reddit. and then some wheat wacker came and were like looks good but i would never play vs an army like that. and it's not even like i wanted to use it since it was a 1 off but it still hurt like he was saying yea it's good but not a legit paint job

Apart from mini’s I’m not at all artistic and I also have fingers like sausages so as long as the paint job looks somewhat OK I’m happy.

Critique their painting? I have enough trouble trying to get them to trim the sprue connections before trying to assemble.

I never give any critique unless it’s asked. As for praise, I will only give it if I really like what I’m seeing

Ok this advice is money for almost everything… well done!

Hey you know what you should do with your videos? Keep making them. 👍🏻

I have been painting for three years, but that doesn't mean that every bit of those three years has been equal. I have had months where I was averaging 20 models a week, and I have had the first four months of this year where I did two, not per week, but in total.

Unless it’s directly asked for, especially online, I won’t give criticism. A lot of people just want a place to share their hobby and the pandemic really put a damper on that so they go online. I don’t want to take the wind out of anyones sails for all the reasons mentioned in the video. One thing I see online that really bothers me. Someone will post a high quality first mini, and the comments will be nothing but people saying they’re making stuff up for internet points. There are so many excellent resources online that a new painter can definitely make a good mini the first time around (nothing being said for the amount of time it may have taken). Its a really terrible way to greet someone’s first mini.

I may be biased, but I'm surrounded by decent mini painters, so most of what I end up saying is praise and occasionally minor suggestions.

Hey you know what you should do with your videos? ;) Just keep doing what you are doing.

Compared to writing group critiques, all the one's I've received about my painting skills have largely been innocuous, if one discounts the 'your paint is too thick' comments, which given I'd changed from enamels to acrylics was fair.

Whenever I post something that's DONE on discord my friend starts an argument with me about adding a little extra.

Honestly, you're always going to end up getting unsolicited feedback, especially if you post pictures of your work online. This isn't suggest don't post it as generally you'll also get far more positive compliments than anything else when you do post online. If you ask for feedback/critique never dismiss it out of hand when it is given as people are trying to help but always try to frame it in the context of where you are in your journey. So if people d start suggesting things you've not heard of before or things that involve spending money you don't have/want to you can put them away in your back pocket for revisiting in the future. As for giving advice/critique always try to frame it around something positive, no matter how small the positive may be in your eyes. Also, where possible, try to layer your advice from simple quick wins through to far more complicated/expensive things. This gives the person the opportunity to take things they can do and things they want to do in the future onboard but always gives them something that they can attempt without having to spend anything more.

Decent topic

I always repeat their problem and then say a painter we both like and respect had the same issue and this is how they solved it, or if the person in question thinks I’m a better painter, I say, I had the same issue and this is what I did. I never say “you should do xyz”.

Painting wise I've never really given much advice modeling wise I give lots of advise but 99% of the time it's when someone asks a question.

I keep asking this throughout my day, but not regarding minis, oh no

Is the Gamefor app coming back with Covid restrictions being lifted?