Chit-Chat: "L'art pour l'art" - DCC

[Ice1]

It's too bad I don't know how to work with photoshop, otherwise I would've certainly joined, Veranithas. Maybe I'll practice a little so I can join your next contest.

 

[Entermaid]

Should I be including pixel outlines for the silhouettes?

 

[Ice1]

That would make it a lot easier. I was personally planning on tracing them once I got home, but a pixelart outline spares me the work.

 

[Entermaid]

That would make it a lot easier. I was personally planning on tracing them once I got home, but a pixelart outline spares me the work.

Whatever encourages more participants! I will make sure to do this. Thanks :)

 

[VeranithasVI]

Hey, good on you man for talking the helm on this. I've been soooo utterly busy so investing so much time to running contests has become excruciatingly cumbersome to get anything done!

Oh, and I've put in a request for your thread to be posted on PC's twitter / facebook, so expect activity to rise steadily (hopefully!). :)

Not sure if you're talking to me or The Dark Avenger, but either way thanks Fairy. Your signature looks amazing, by the way.

Time's a-running out for my contest, folks. Click the word contest in the last sentence to be taken there, read them rules and get your submission in before you miss out on a chance at sweeeet sweeeet prizes.

Also, you have until November 3rd to enter The Dark Avenger's ADC #1, which has a really cool idea behind it and some neat prizes to be won, too! Click that entire last sentence to be taken to that thread, read the rules and get to submitting!

 

[Fairy]

I'm adding it to the splash as we speak. :]

Also I'm lifting the revival rule for this thread so people can continually update this with their own art news, single pixel / traditional / digital pieces (for those who don't qualify for the three+ minimum for a gallery) looking for critique, and general chatting with artists.

I'll get to updating the rules to reflect this. :)

 

[VeranithasVI]

I'd really like it if this DCC became more active; I'm going to be trying to promote A&D in the next few weeks so hopefully we see a spike in activity soon! I'd be nice for all of the artists on PC to be able to use this thread as a sort of general discussion thread.

 

[Amaruuk]

Hey, I had this thought of doing a retrospective walkthrough of my history as an artist on PC as a section in my gallery thread, and then thought maybe it'd be neat to do it as the OP to a separate discussion thread and open the floor for anyone else who might want to walk us through their growth as an artist. I think it'd be conducive both to self-reflection and to showing newer artists that "Everyone starts somewhere and you can do it, too!" Do you think this would be a good idea?

I would also like to add to this whole talk of contests and say that yes, we totally need activities like that here to bring in more, err... activity. I miss the old pixel art contests! One suggestion I'd have is that in addition to the fakemon and trainers and basic things like that which are a good start, have some broader themes or parameters, and instead of subject matter restrictions, have say a palette restriction or something to that effect. It'd broaden horizons beyond "Pokemon game sprite" and inspire people to think outside the box (pokeball?) a bit more. I know the old contests are what inspired me to get into pixel art back in the day :3

 

[Fairy]

Hey, I had this thought of doing a retrospective walkthrough of my history as an artist on PC as a section in my gallery thread, and then thought maybe it'd be neat to do it as the OP to a separate discussion thread and open the floor for anyone else who might want to walk us through their growth as an artist. I think it'd be conducive both to self-reflection and to showing newer artists that "Everyone starts somewhere and you can do it, too!" Do you think this would be a good idea?

Well, that sort of seems just like a gallery, yeah? Like a progression of art as you create it. But, if you mean something like a biography of your personal journey as an artist, with good commentary and reflection on how your life at the time impacted your art, I don't see why not! I'm a big believer in at least trying new stuff to see if it works. Go ahead fashion yours up, then PM it to me. I'll check it out, get hstaff approval, and we'll take it from there. :)

I would also like to add to this whole talk of contests and say that yes, we totally need activities like that here to bring in more, err... activity. I miss the old pixel art contests! One suggestion I'd have is that in addition to the fakemon and trainers and basic things like that which are a good start, have some broader themes or parameters, and instead of subject matter restrictions, have say a palette restriction or something to that effect. It'd broaden horizons beyond "Pokemon game sprite" and inspire people to think outside the box (pokeball?) a bit more. I know the old contests are what inspired me to get into pixel art back in the day :3

Yes! I've been dying to bring back the WPC (which would probably be monthly now, considering my schedule) since A&D's merge with PA.

I'd love to host a pixel contest with, like you said, the goal being "pokeball" and the theme "midnight". Or something like that, you know? That would be fun!

 

[Amaruuk]

Oh I meant Pokeball as a joke on "outside the box" as a box contains things and yeah. Lame pun was so lame it didn't even register X3

Yeah it would have just been a section in my existing gallery and not a new thread but then I had thought that maybe it'd be cool to make it a thing everyone can add their own post with a retrospective gallery to. Obviously spoilers would be a must, maybe copying the general layout of year-by-year (or whatever measure of time the poster chooses) with a different spoiler being a dump of pieces and a blurb about that stage in their art journey. My biggest hope for this if it were a thread, aside from inspiring young'uns, is to draw back some of the big artists that I know still float around but haven't got a thread/aren't active in this area anymore.

Now that I think even more about it, this is kind of like an art version of the Member Encyclopedia, but instead of a section, it's a thread. Maybe the first post would be an index, and the rest, people's stories, one post per artist. I guess it really might be redundant given that people can just make gallery threads but maybe a focus on the artists' journeys is enough to make it different? I dunno. I think I'll start by making my own retrospective in my gallery and see how that goes before turning the concept into a larger community thing. But I think having myself and others look back and analyze in just what ways they have grown as an artist would be really neat. Maybe just have that last thing right there as an open discussion and leave out full galleries if people don't feel like going into that much detail or haven't been art-ing for very long.

 

[VeranithasVI]

I like the idea. It'd be a fun thing to see everybody's artist history, as I know that a lot of people don't necessarily want to post their early work in their gallery. I know I don't, I used to use GIMP instead of Photoshop and all of my work from that era just looks tacky.

 

[Amaruuk]

Haha, well I didn't go through a GIMP stage but in terms of digital art I did start with MSPaint and Paint Shop Pro 8/X before I graduated to Photoshop. And dear lord, the tackiness, particularly the blatant use of PSP8's pattern fills. Totes gonna put it in my post though, because it's hilarious to have been told I'm intimidating but then be like "SHAZOW! Behold what passed for my 'art' 9 or 10 years ago!" and have a good chuckle. 'Cause at least I'm not one of those mind-blowingly godly 15-year-olds that make me question how I spent my earlier years, holy **** I'm not even middle-aged and kids totally make me feel obsolete sometimes Plus I want to show newlings and normal, non-god 15-year-olds what potential they have if they stick to it, keep an open mind, and whatnot.

Oh man what's also hilarious is that way back in those days, this section was super active, and my most garbage doodles still managed to get inappropriately superlative and glowing praise. Sucks that activity in this section has kind of been hit or miss since then. It's been through a lot of changes too. I have a good feeling about the future of it for some reason, though.

 

[Fairy]

A&D's Biographical Blog.

Done. I love it. Let's actually try to work it out!

A&D is.. hm.. a very temperamental section. It's always had these ups and downs; periods of inexplicable activity and inactivity. I think the problem lies inherently with the section and what it is. People want to plug their work, without reading the rules, and without posting in any others threads. :( It's hard, when you're enthusiastic about posting your hard-earned artwork but no members reciprocate, when the solution is as easy as sharing that same enthusiasm with the other artists here and posting in they're threads first, yeah?

All I can do is lead by example. A few committed followers goes a long way too. :)

 

[Amaruuk]

Yeah, it's taken me this long to learn that, too, about the core of the section - that if I want something to happen I have to step up and pave the way, and not get too disappointed if no one follows (which is one of the biggest things that put me off the idea of leadership).

Yeah I've noticed that things like graphics shops (which involve requests and therefore generate interaction) get a lot of activity but galleries just don't no matter who you are, what you draw, or what level you're at. Used to be more evened out and lively and, uh, community-y a long time ago, then later it got a bit clique-y and off-putting and now I dunno, it seems like a blank slate ready for possibility. The new types of contests that are running now look promising, and I certainly like that since last I was here, the segregated subsections which I feel led to unbalanced activity have all been merged into one big family because art is art, dangit.

As for the thread, I am currently still digging for all the old stuff I want to add (I'm surprised how much of it I still had despite losing two old computers and that I used to host with ImageShack once upon a time which is a big jerk and redid its whole structure so I can't access it anymore or find my old login because it's all gone). I will append a retrospective to my gallery to sort of give an example of how it'd be organized and then go from there I guess.

 

[VeranithasVI]

I feel very, very ill. Halloween party and tequila, not a good mix at all! Been in bed practically all day, now that I'm up and active I think I'm just going to make some banners/sig pics and what not to relax.

 

[Fairy]

I feel very, very ill. Halloween party and tequila, not a good mix at all! Been in bed practically all day, now that I'm up and active I think I'm just going to make some banners/sig pics and what not to relax.

D:

Yes, excessive liqueur tends to be an excellent way to ensure a very ****** entailing day. But, at least you've got something to take your mind off of it!

I've been working on my Aradia piece lately, trying to play around with gray-scale shading and general composition. I felt like my pen/ink skills would have given me a strategic advantage, but it's actually posing a bit of a challenge, using these transparent tones. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun though, lol.

 

[VeranithasVI]

It seems there's been a rise in activity here at A&D. I^{wonderwhythatmightbe...}

I'm pretty stoked about it personally! New sprite shops, resource threads, galleries! This means good thiiiiings. I've been quite busy sorting out work these past three days (plus I was severely hungover on Sunday, didn't leave my bed other than to complain in this DCC haha) so I've been a little bit of a ghost recently, but I'm back for another very, very long period.

I sorted work out by the way if anybody was worried. Doing some glazing work for my dad the next few weeks, going back to school next year to become an English teacher! Yay for career progression.

 

[Amaruuk]

That moment when you're still assembling images in a thread update but Photobucket goes under maintenance. I have never seen it do that. Guess I'mma finish tomorrow night! It's rather long-winded and wordy but hopefully not too much and will be a pretty good proof of concept, methinks. I'm actually learning a lot about my own trends and patterns in the history of my art and it's kinda fun :3

 

[VeranithasVI]

That moment when you're still assembling images in a thread update but Photobucket goes under maintenance. I have never seen it do that. Guess I'mma finish tomorrow night! It's rather long-winded and wordy but hopefully not too much and will be a pretty good proof of concept, methinks. I'm actually learning a lot about my own trends and patterns in the history of my art and it's kinda fun :3

I'm really excited to see it, to be honest Amaruuk. The art in your gallery is phenomenal and I can't wait to see your artist bio and the work leading up to your current work! Looking forward to tomorrow on PC, now.

You should use imgur.net if it's available, though. I host all of my things there, it's quick and easy and you can make private albums for work you don't want to be found anywhere except where you submit it e.g. pc. Just a heads up in case you didn't know! :)

 

[Amaruuk]

Ah, imgur. I don't have an account but I lurk it a lot at work when I'm being a lazy butt. The community there seems nice and very "human" (for lack of a better description), and I have certainly considered joining eventually. Photobucket did come back a bit ago but I reeeeeeally need to get to bed.

EDIT: Dunno if you can double post in this thread but I'mma just edit this instead to be safe. Anyway, I underestimated how long I still had to go. Like holy **** there's a lot of writing (I am a wordy birdy when try telling anything about my life because MOAR CONTEXT) and I keep finding stuff to include and... yeah. I still have 3 more years to do so it should actually be tomorrow or Thursday that it'll be all up, as I can only really work on this in the evenings because day job and whatnot.