At the most basic level, people can get away with this when representing deceased heroes of the past for whom there is no photographic record. But for modern subjects whose photos are available, such inferior work is an insult to viewers, bringing to mind the expression, "It's easy to portray a ghost, hard to portray a man."
單以最基本的形象而言，要是塑的是關公、張飛等沒有照片佐證的古代英雄豪傑，大致還湊合得過去；倘若雕像是有相片對照的現代人物就不免「對不起觀眾」，要嘆聲「畫鬼容易畫人難」了。