Chit-Chat: "L'art pour l'art" - DCC

Yeah I get your point. The only experience I have with challenges is on a dutch forum that was popular because of them. They received the same amount of activity as the rest of the forum in total, so that kind of screws with my perception I think.

Loki said:

The graphics giveaway thread was fun too when we first brought it around... I think I left before it died though, why did it disappear...?

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I can't completely remember, but either someone locked the thread and forgot to make a new one or the thread just drifted away out of activity.
We started a new one recently, but it hasn't really gotten much of an audience or interactivity :(

Almost forgot about the G&D competition sub. Feels so long ago~

Whether competition or something different, would really love for something to be going around for the graphic and digital artists since the pixel artists have the Create a Fakemon game going for them.
In comparison to a few years ago, there seems to be a lot more digital artists now than GFX designers and in terms of skill level, majority is on a lower skill level than what the average (I guess?) used to be.

There are seemingly more people who are doing icons and avatars more, so maybe even a some competition or battle by starting off with icons (not just the crop/c + v icons) to begin with since they're a bit easier than tags.

I have an issue right now. I need good guides that are short and simple but to the point with drawing anime characters and such. And backgrounds, I hate drawing backgrounds, but I need to learn how to so my stuff isn't so plain.

Oh yes, I also know a dutch forum that uses automatically generated 1 on 1 challenges, which had a matchmaker built in it based on what challenge you wanted, the bot would automatically give an assignment, and the people that have to take it, and generate a poll once the sprites were posted in the thread.

Sadly though, people sometimes submit their participation but then leave the challenge be. Making it pretty much spam.

zappyspiker said:

I can't completely remember, but either someone locked the thread and forgot to make a new one or the thread just drifted away out of activity.
We started a new one recently, but it hasn't really gotten much of an audience or interactivity :(

Almost forgot about the G&D competition sub. Feels so long ago~

Whether competition or something different, would really love for something to be going around for the graphic and digital artists since the pixel artists have the Create a Fakemon game going for them.
In comparison to a few years ago, there seems to be a lot more digital artists now than GFX designers and in terms of skill level, majority is on a lower skill level than what the average (I guess?) used to be.

There are seemingly more people who are doing icons and avatars more, so maybe even a some competition or battle by starting off with icons (not just the crop/c + v icons) to begin with since they're a bit easier than tags.

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Oh god do you remember competitions? Apparently I'm still the moderator of the archived section. I was surprised to learn that lol.

Seriously, I think someone should take up the helm on icontest again. I.. lost my passion for it after activity dwindled down to pathetically low and the winners all ended up being staff (not that that's a problem if it's deserved but..). That and I just don't have the time to do it anymore. But if you want, feel free to go through some of the threads I made for completed icontests and make one up to post! I'm always happy to delegate A&D's workload lol. Takes a village, so they say! :)

@Yume; huh?

Fairy said:

Oh god do you remember competitions? Apparently I'm still the moderator of the archived section. I was surprised to learn that lol.

Seriously, I think someone should take up the helm on icontest again. I.. lost my passion for it after activity dwindled down to pathetically low and the winners all ended up being staff (not that that's a problem if it's deserved but..). That and I just don't have the time to do it anymore. But if you want, feel free to go through some of the threads I made for completed icontests and make one up to post! I'm always happy to delegate A&D's workload lol. Takes a village, so they say! :)

@Yume; huh?

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haha of course I remember competitions! I did enter a few a couple of years ago and they were a load of fun and helped a lot. And I always thought it was really awesome since it was the community who decided who the winner was and not the person who held the competition. Especially since there's a whole new set of people here since, I'd love to see everyone in action.

I'd love to help out and create the icontests again if wanted? Know you've got a lot on you already and I'd love to give you a hand with getting this out for the community - especially when I've currently got a bit of free time on my hands for the next while. Contest themselves are great for improving (as I've always seen it). Since the average level of the graphic artists in here carries a lot of newer and beginner level artists, I think starting them up again would be great - not just for the newbies, but also for more experienced and even bringing some older artists once in a while to post sometime. Icons are small, but you can still do a lot with them than just the simple crop. But yeah, I'm eager to bring this back, maybe with an emblem as a prize as it used to be?

I love the idea of competitions and contests, as they could really help out newer artists, and even older, more experienced artists to challenge themselves and create something new and unique. Having the community decide is also a nice addition, as the most popular, and therefore generally better piece, will be noticed, and that artist could get recognition for it. There seems to be at least some new activity, myself included, here, and maybe the competitions are what A&D needs to really kick things off again, and attract more attention. Perhaps a weekly contest that had an announcement like the tournaments do when you log in?

I like the idea of an emblem as a prize, but it could lose incentive for winners to keep competing. And while immediately after they win that's not such a bad thing, it also means that's one less person competing later on, and you've then begun to lose people interested in the contests and competitions. Even if more people swarm in, if the prize isn't something continuously worth competing for, people will stop competing eventually. I think that perhaps winners could receive a spotlight for their Gallery, art or the winning piece, perhaps in the form of a pinned post or again, an announcement. I'm not overly familiar with how all these things may work, I'm just brainstorming here, but if you want ideas, I'm more than happy to give them.

zappyspiker said:

haha of course I remember competitions! I did enter a few a couple of years ago and they were a load of fun and helped a lot. And I always thought it was really awesome since it was the community who decided who the winner was and not the person who held the competition. Especially since there's a whole new set of people here since, I'd love to see everyone in action.

I'd love to help out and create the icontests again if wanted? Know you've got a lot on you already and I'd love to give you a hand with getting this out for the community - especially when I've currently got a bit of free time on my hands for the next while. Contest themselves are great for improving (as I've always seen it). Since the average level of the graphic artists in here carries a lot of newer and beginner level artists, I think starting them up again would be great - not just for the newbies, but also for more experienced and even bringing some older artists once in a while to post sometime. Icons are small, but you can still do a lot with them than just the simple crop. But yeah, I'm eager to bring this back, maybe with an emblem as a prize as it used to be?

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Dear, I'm always happy to have help and I'd love for my regulars to have just as much involvement in A&D as I do. Just because I've got some blue name doesn't mean I'm any more entitled to start a competition or any less invested in it! I want the artistic community to always have a home here, no matter what they use it for; competition, sport, adoration, sharing, anything! I love A&D and I want to see it thrive. Just shoot me a PM (naturally at your own pace and assuming this is a responsibility you want) and we can really get this ball rolling! <3

NinjaAiden said:

I love the idea of competitions and contests, as they could really help out newer artists, and even older, more experienced artists to challenge themselves and create something new and unique. Having the community decide is also a nice addition, as the most popular, and therefore generally better piece, will be noticed, and that artist could get recognition for it. There seems to be at least some new activity, myself included, here, and maybe the competitions are what A&D needs to really kick things off again, and attract more attention. Perhaps a weekly contest that had an announcement like the tournaments do when you log in?

I like the idea of an emblem as a prize, but it could lose incentive for winners to keep competing. And while immediately after they win that's not such a bad thing, it also means that's one less person competing later on, and you've then begun to lose people interested in the contests and competitions. Even if more people swarm in, if the prize isn't something continuously worth competing for, people will stop competing eventually. I think that perhaps winners could receive a spotlight for their Gallery, art or the winning piece, perhaps in the form of a pinned post or again, an announcement. I'm not overly familiar with how all these things may work, I'm just brainstorming here, but if you want ideas, I'm more than happy to give them.

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This x 32457340874483

That's exactly why I made the forum splash the way it is; with an events tab for any ongoing contests, an awards tab to showcase what I'm offering for winners/participants, and a featured tab to really showcase the winner's work. And it's nobody's fault, but the splash seems to go unnoticed more often than not and it's incredibly time consuming to update. Still, it's just that extra 2% of information spreading, hype, and appreciation in my eyes. A labor of love, perhaps.

Originally, I offered some pretty damn awesome prizes too. For icontest, the winning icon would actually become the emblem, along with more generic second, third, and participant emblems. Winners would get custom usertitles back when that was a staff only perk, and their galleries/profiles would get featured in A&D's splash. I'd even give blog privileges and increased avatar sizes for big, high profile contests. Nowadays, Antemortem and I are conspiring to have winning pieces featured on PC's facebook and twitter accounts!

Just something. Something that really touches on how much we respect art and how much we care, yeah?
Sorry I turn into such a sap over this kind of stuff lol.

Maybe have an emblem for 1 wins, 2 wins, 5 wins an 10 wins? And having your own emblem as an Icon sounds amazing, but it would probably be more fun if you could see it appear on other peoples profiles, so maybe let the winning one be the emblem you get for participating, and a set one for the winner?

MorallyIncorrect said:

Maybe have an emblem for 1 wins, 2 wins, 5 wins an 10 wins? And having your own emblem as an Icon sounds amazing, but it would probably be more fun if you could see it appear on other peoples profiles, so maybe let the winning one be the emblem you get for participating, and a set one for the winner?

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^ This definitely.
I was thinking of other ways to get people to consistently keep putting entries in even if they've already won an emblem. I also remembered the last time we had winner decides what next weeks theme would be.
Also last time we'd always post a separate thread for voting with each tag/signature or whatever entry would have their names besides their piece of work so it'd show who you'd be voting for. What do you guys feel about that?

@Fairy: Will hit you up with a PM when I get up in a few hours xD

The theme thing could work, and in combination with the emblems there is more then enough initiative to join.

I also had the idea for a Hall of Fame thread, where pieces of art can be nominated, and once they get three nominations they can be showcased there, of course with a link to the original thread, and big credit to the creator. Maybe people receive an emblem for getting in the hall of fame?

MorallyIncorrect said:

The theme thing could work, and in combination with the emblems there is more then enough initiative to join.

I also had the idea for a Hall of Fame thread, where pieces of art can be nominated, and once they get three nominations they can be showcased there, of course with a link to the original thread, and big credit to the creator. Maybe people receive an emblem for getting in the hall of fame?

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This sounds cool, but maybe that's because I'm envisioning something like the Pokémon Hall of Fame with a big fanfare and everything haha! I like this idea though, a pinned post called the Hall of Fame that features the winning piece for the week's contest. Each week the displayed piece changes, and a link to the winner's Gallery/Deviantart or whatever could be featured. Also, a count could be kept of who enters the Hall of Fame and how many times, and depending on the number of times entered, emblems could be given. A really nice idea, I love this.

MorallyIncorrect said:

Maybe have an emblem for 1 wins, 2 wins, 5 wins an 10 wins? And having your own emblem as an Icon sounds amazing, but it would probably be more fun if you could see it appear on other peoples profiles, so maybe let the winning one be the emblem you get for participating, and a set one for the winner?

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To be honest, if one of my icons was good enough to feature as an icon I'd probably want it to show it off haha XD I'm indifferent to this. To me, having my own icon for winning, or a designed 'winners' icon doesn't really matter. Having evidence that I participated and did well is what to me, as a potential contestant, is important.

NinjaAiden said:

This sounds cool, but maybe that's because I'm envisioning something like the Pokémon Hall of Fame with a big fanfare and everything haha! I like this idea though, a pinned post called the Hall of Fame that features the winning piece for the week's contest. Each week the displayed piece changes, and a link to the winner's Gallery/Deviantart or whatever could be featured. Also, a count could be kept of who enters the Hall of Fame and how many times, and depending on the number of times entered, emblems could be given. A really nice idea, I love this.

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This sounds more like the Featured Artist thing in the header. I was more thinking of topic were the art pieces could stay for a long time, for when they're really amazing. It should be hard to get featured in, but also have a big pay off, instead of just a week. Although I like the enthusiasm hahaha.

Have I mentioned that I love you guys?

MorallyIncorrect said:

This sounds more like the Featured Artist thing in the header. I was more thinking of topic were the art pieces could stay for a long time, for when they're really amazing. It should be hard to get featured in, but also have a big pay off, instead of just a week. Although I like the enthusiasm hahaha.

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That's what I'm hoping to do with having art featured on PC's twitter and whatnot. So it's something a little more special, yeah? Not to mention, I can always create an indefinite announcement thread to post winning work. Think of the Small Updates & Changes thread in CQ&F, only instead of posting notable changes to the forum it would be reserved for truly spectacular pieces and winning works.

Not to derail this rousing discussion of events, but whatever happened to whoever else was gonna do a post in the Artists' Journey thread (and wasn't it going to be stickied or turn into something?). Only one other besides myself even did one and it's now sitting on the edge ready to fall into the abyss that lies beyond page 2. I know doing something like that takes more time and effort than most are probably willing to put in, but I was really looking forward to reading other people's posts after the hype that seemed to be happening here in the DCC when I was putting it together.

Back to the actual current topic, I like the sound of all this. Some new things, some revivals, all sound like good things for the section even though I personally don't think I'll be doing them much since I'm more into painting than digital collage. I may add to the icon wall thing even if nothing I do is relevant in any way haha. I would love to see the old pixel art contests brought back. Those were a "classic PC" thing that I definitely partook of, especially when the themes were broader or were more like "do whatever, but use this pallette or make it this size or this many colors." I'm not into fakemon so I'd love something more open for people to really flex their pixel-muscles, especially since there's some really good pixellers here right now.

Amaruuk said:

Not to derail this rousing discussion of events, but whatever happened to whoever else was gonna do a post in the Artists' Journey thread (and wasn't it going to be stickied or turn into something?). Only one other besides myself even did one and it's now sitting on the edge ready to fall into the abyss that lies beyond page 2. I know doing something like that takes more time and effort than most are probably willing to put in, but I was really looking forward to reading other people's posts after the hype that seemed to be happening here in the DCC when I was putting it together.

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I think you're right with the fact that it's a lot of work. The story is interesting but doing the whole write-up is a lot of work, and I don't think most people are willing to go through that. It also relies on people having a backlog of multiple years, and their willingness to showcase. It was a great idea, I just think that you need more dedicated people to make it work, instead of mostly part-time artists.

For an artist's journey thread you need artists who are committed and dedicated to their art and have something to update. A lot of people won't see much point in posting there, as they won't have a lot to say, other than it's a side hobby and they'll improve slowly. Unless enough people become regular posters, that kind of post will die out very quickly, simply due to lack of interest and posts.

I believe it's cathartic for an artist to express their journey and appreciate their development. While they may not generate much response, It's certainly deserving of a thread in my eyes.

wanting to build a LEGO model of Unova's Pokemon Center to a decent minifig scale. Getting slowed down by "how to roof" the darn thing. More out of uncertainty with "is the roof red or orange?" though.

With LEGO Arctic theme, its easy enough to get some orange slopes. Red slopes seem hard to get these days, Other than sloped DUPLO...

That'd be pretty cool to see. I'm sure orange could work, but in my eyes red would be better (if you can get the pieces) as the roof has been red in all the games. Even with orange it could look really cool though, go for it!