I suppose this proves that you can't please everyone. One of the biggest negatives to IWM's standard practice is using unpainted pics; many simply don't show the mini well, creating a first impression that is far more negative than it would be had better pictures been used.
That's probably why it should be shown BOTH ways... painted AND unpainted; unpainted doesn't photograph well if you don't know what you're doing
(ringlight, common color background, max res original (garbage in, garbage out), low compression, perhaps restrict the image to monochrome, and TWEAK contrast after taking pic) -- painted hides the mini underneath so you're never quite sure what you are even getting.
What specifically is failing in the photos in your opinion?
Let's use the assault lance pic as an example:
http://ironwindmetals.com/store/popup_image.php?pID=4059&type=jpgDisastrously bad artifacting becuase it's overcompressed (which probably wouldn't be neccessary if the stupid border garbage that doesn't even match the site was axed), at 413x413 by the time you take away the borders they end up 156x174 -- that's not a zoomed in product picture, that's a THUMBNAIL... thumbnail that zooms in to thumbnails? NOT a great way to sell a product... especially with the artifacting that shows up the moment you zoom in 2x or more. Lose the bandwidth wasting border, up it to at LEAST 320px wide PER MINI... provide painted and unpainted pics... and it should be full of win. What's up there now is the type of thing I'd expect
on some crappy personal website from six to ten years ago.If you've stopped buying a decade ago due to price increases beyond the manufacturer's control, does that really put you in a position to offer a fair critique?
Stopped buying was a bit of an overstatement -- more like stopped buying en-masse. (as the trunk full of old metal shows). I did for example end up picking up that night gyr, but as you said later in your post
What I see online is many individuals planning out their purchases, including group buys to save on shipping costs. Even when anticipating new releases, they'll set aside the money if it's something they really want.
It's a "plan ahead for my purchase" instead of "Hey, I want that one... buy."... Which with planning ahead for the purchase providing more time to talk myself out of it, or to have something more important/desirable come along.
Mini's, particularly for Battletech where they aren't manditory for play, are luxury purchases; if you don't market luxury purchases as impulse buys, you're not going to sell a whole lot of them.
On what basis do you conclude that IWM's product is primarily impulse purchases?
What the three brick and mortar store owners within 50 miles of me say about miniatures purchases, in particular Battletech and why they refuse to stock them anymore... and what I said above playing into that too.
If you would like an outside evaluation of your skills, I would be happy to oblige.
http://battletech.hopto.org/deathshadow/ds_Minis_Unseen.htmlExcuse the decade out of date page, hasn't seen a real update since I took over running classicbattletech.com -- now that I'm no longer running classicbattletech.com I'm planning a relaunch where I'm gonna slap together a tutorial on how to carve mini's.
Please also compile a complete list of the BT line of minis and their strengths and weaknesses based on your personal experiences with the pieces.
Would take a while, but lets go over a few of the real stinkers.
NEW ATLAS SCULPT... This scrawny little thing is supposed to be an Atlas? It's bad when the hunchback is a more robust mini.
ANUBIS -- one of the most piss poor sculpts I've seen -- particularly the LRM launchers which dont' even come close to being the same size, shape or missile placement. Absurdly undersized feet, squiggly panel lines...
CAULDRON BORN "Ebon Jag" - Buddy of mine got this one -- again can nobody do a straight line anymore? Different sized FEET, uneven shape; this is almost as bad as my failed attempt at a reseen Whammy... though nowhere NEAR as bad as...
RESEEN WARHAMMER -- Every time I feel my own attempt at it is rubbish, all I have to do is look at the official one to feel WAY better. This scrawny, spindly little wreck of uneven panel lines, uneven shapes, odd ball 'blobs' for weapon areas is one of the most hideous sculpts in recent memory. The arms twice the mass of the legs certainly don't help matters any.
I could go on like that for around 90%+ of the mini's.
I've yet to see a sculpt since the original 3050 omnimech releases where they look anything but slightly melted/distorted as if the sculptor can't even handle making a straight line or a square edge... Well, there is the Mongoose, that's not TOO bad. The Marshall was a great sculpt except for it's completely absurd DA scale size... But those aren't exactly RECENT, are they?
I dunno, maybe I got spoiled by Battlefleet Gothic. WERE that we could have that level of quality.
You see, I agree that there are some stinkers in the line. I'm not going to argue that at all. However, you've made a blanket statement here without providing any examples whatsoever. It is hard to judge the fairness of your critique without specifics.
Well, hopefully I just covered that.
I sense a dislike of Loose's artwork. That is neither here nor there when it comes to sculpting. When he's done highly curved drawings, yes, they need to be curved in miniature form.
I was more referring to his 'draft' style, where the lines continue past the edge and it's almost an impressionist effect; It's like having a picture of a car by Chip Foose -- you get the idea of the general shape but it's not exactly like he stays between the lines when doing so. That's no excuse on the miniature to have things that are square not be square, to have panel lines that look like a five year old scribbled on a piece of paper with a crayon, to have round bits melted and off-center so they don't line up with each-other (especially true of missile ports on anything recent).
It's not a matter of 'improving' an illustration, it's a matter of getting a straight line. Might be fine for my crappy scratchbuilts at home where I go "close enough" -- unacceptable on something you're supposed to be selling as a product; see the missile launchers on just about EVERY recent miniature to see exactly what I mean... Particularly the reseen.
