Judging Criteria

Judging Ethos

Judging art is subjective, so making it a competition to be judged presents some challenges. The Miniature Painting Open is first and foremost a "meet", where artists can share their work and showcase it to the community. However, we love to reward people's work, so giving medals is supposed to encourage and celebrate each artist's creations.

You have been selected for your expertise in technique, understanding of different disciplines and appreciation of artistic choices. Your role will be to grade the figures in the show based initially on their merits, not on searching for faults.

You will be asked to set aside any personal bias as best you can. We aim not to show preference towards any style or particular way of painting.

With so many styles and disciplines of figure painting, you should consider how successfully each artist has executed their value proposition, balanced with complexity and other areas to judge success. If they aim for the best finish and sharpest lines, how well have they done this? If the aim is to tell a story, how clear or evocative is this?

You should aim to identify the best pieces in the category. This will set the standard for the show and base the grading of other figures against that. This allows for the standard of painting to grow and adjust naturally each year rather than hit a set criteria. This will not skew the general level if an individual piece is a significant level above the rest. This piece, however, could be what gets a Best of Show or other special prize.

Once the golds have been selected, try to decide if the other pieces are silver, bronze, commended, or nothing. If a piece is borderline, you should discuss it further with your team to reach a fair decision.

Once your judging team has reviewed all the figures, adjustments can be made if needed. Often, once you look at the bigger picture, you can be sure figures have the right medals. There is not a set volume of medals, but organically, there are likely to be fewer golds than silvers, etc.

Judging Criteria

There are so many areas in which to excel in the art of figure painting. These are some, but not all, of the areas you should look for:

• Colour - colour composition, use of intensity and saturation levels
• Light - volume interpretation, use of values and lighting
• Technique - rendering quality, surface finish, textures, intentionality of visible brushstrokes
• Ambience - atmosphere, environmental integration and coherence, tonal unity, basing, weathering
• Originality - creativity, visual impact, risk, overall distinctiveness
• Storytelling - clarity and strength of narrative, implied message
• Composition - visual hierarchy, balance of forms, dynamics, and weight distribution

At the Standard level, you will be looking for painters to excel in one or two of these areas to gain medals. In Master, it is expected that artists will be able to excel in multiple areas. Painters who showcase understanding and a high level of execution across many of these areas will get the most significant awards.

With no strict criteria or scoring system, discussing merits and flaws is the key to reaching a conclusion. You should ask your teammates questions, listen to all opinions, and be open-minded to changing your own. A healthy debate can bring out the best in the team and create the fairest environment for competitors. You should vote on the medal if you can't reach a unanimous verdict. For example, if two judges think it is gold and one judge believes it is silver, it is gold.

For a three-way split, such as a bronze, silver, or gold from each judge, meet in the middle. In this situation, asking the opinion of the other judging teams or the head judge is also encouraged to help make the right choice.

You reserve the right to move up a Standard piece or display to Masters if you feel that Masters is a more adequate level in relation to the piece's quality. Models will only be upgraded if the upgrade guarantees the entrant a medal in Master (as a Master medal is considered a greater accolade than any number of Standard medals, irrespective of colour).

Models shall never be moved down from Master to Standard.

If a painter is upgraded from Standard to Master, they will be upgraded for all categories they entered, so they are not split between levels. This is only to benefit the painter if you believe their work is so good that it deserves to be moved.

For the Best of Show award, each team may select the pieces they think are eligible for discussion and bring them to the table for selection. If there is a piece that an individual judge loves, then they should bring it to the table. Every judge's favourites must be considered. Once pieces have been selected, you will try to decide on the Best of Show through discussion. You will vote among the judges if a clear choice cannot be made. In the event of an even split, the head judge will tiebreak.

In Summary

Remember, the show is about the artists, not you, the judging team. You must do your best to honour their hard work and remember what it is like to be on the other side. You have been selected to judge not just on your ability but also on your integration and care for the painting community.

Thank you for all your hard work, and we hope you enjoy the challenge!

The MPO Team