(bit long really)
More opinion...
I rather like seeing unpainted conversions - as much as I like seeing nice paintjobs
. I don\'t think that they\'re inappropriate for this site - pretty much anything at a finished \'stage\' is fine by me. Not so keen on WIP\'s from a purely subjective viewpoint, however this site has developed to be much more than a mere gallery of finished stuff to be a kind of community for the mini side of the hobby, and I think that it\'s valuable to have WIPs both for the viewer and the poster.
Although the poster should realise that there\'ll be the occasional (or should that be frequent?) person who\'ll miss the \'wip, please comment on x\' message at the bottom and give it a 2 for being unfinished crud. Which I\'ve done more than once
On the \'conversion=skill, painting=art\' - I quite disagree. Partly because I hate the use of the category \'art\' and think it\'s a meaningless word these days (too subjective, unfalsifiable, invalid - if you can\'t say it\'s not then you can\'t say it is).
I don\'t think it takes any less \'artistry\' to add value to a model by making it unique, your own, by essentially creating something new from existing materials than to give it character with well-executed painting techniques. Believe me, greenstuff is just as tough to get the hang of as layering. In fact, I find it much easier to pick up painting techniques than sculpting.
I recently made a model using extensive conversion work. Before I even applied the undercoat he had personality, an implied background/history, I\'d adjusted the proportions and made a graceless model quite nicely posed... it\'s a cool figure (and I remind you that I disapprove of the word \'art\', and so prefer not to use it with regard to my own stuff or anyone else\'s, so \'cool\' will have to suffice here ).
I\'ve also painted figure after figure with the same colour scheme, half-heartedly executed and adding little value to the original model. And I\'ve painted models and put in a great deal of effort, coming up with something I consider quite worthwhile - but by being completely, coldly calculating about the entire thing. This colour with that colour, this technique to provide that effect...
my point? I\'m sure I had one somewhere... I think that painting, sculpting and converting are all equally worthwhile, and all just as deserving of a term like \'art\'.
Anyway, a slightly funny aside from history - Roman marble copies of Greek bronzes are still considered \'art\', even though they added nothing to the original bar a few treestumps up the butt or under the arm for structural reasons... and they used to *paint* those too (bright nasty colours), but the versions with all the paint worn away are still considered to be of artistic merit
.
Anyway, interesting thread this, gives me a chance to vent my over-opinionated spleen a bit