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-   -   Chit-Chat "L'art pour l'art" - DCC (https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=301258)

Ice October 16th, 2014 12:18 PM

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 October 16th, 2014 1:29 PM

Should I be including pixel outlines for the silhouettes?

Ice October 16th, 2014 1:33 PM

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 October 16th, 2014 1:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorallyIncorrect (Post 8471623)
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 October 21st, 2014 6:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fairy (Post 8471365)
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 October 23rd, 2014 10:10 PM

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 October 24th, 2014 6:04 PM

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 October 24th, 2014 6:06 PM

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 October 24th, 2014 7:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amaruuk (Post 8478944)
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. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amaruuk (Post 8478944)
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 October 24th, 2014 8:03 PM

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 October 24th, 2014 8:12 PM

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 October 24th, 2014 9:10 PM

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 October 24th, 2014 9:27 PM

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 October 24th, 2014 10:28 PM

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 October 26th, 2014 12:22 AM

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 October 26th, 2014 8:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeranithasVI (Post 8479913)
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 October 27th, 2014 3:24 AM

It seems there's been a rise in activity here at A&D. Iwonderwhythatmightbe...

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 October 27th, 2014 8:37 PM

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 October 27th, 2014 9:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amaruuk (Post 8481575)
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 October 27th, 2014 9:53 PM

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.

Fairy October 28th, 2014 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amaruuk (Post 8481604)
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.

Eh, a double post here or there never hurt anyone. Don't fret. :)

I used to be a diehard Photobucket user until the Great Undoing of 2014. Which was, to say, the day Photobucket decided I no longer had any bandwidth and disabled all of my images permanently and block my entry into my account. The day after, my computer crashed. So I had absolutely no way to restore all of the art I had lost from Photobucket or my computer. Those were sad times.

Luckily though, I recalled my year old Imgur account and began uploading everything as if it were going out of fashion. So, I preserved all of my old artwork and most of my computer, got a new computer so I could resume my moderator duties, and have since been loyal to Imgur. I went ahead and paid for the year-long subscription; best decision I've ever made. It's so clean and organized!

Anyway, as long as all of your writing is focused solely on your art, in one way or another, the length of the writing doesn't matter. But, if your writing is starting to overshadow your art, FF&W might be the best place for it.

It'll work out I'm not worried. :)

Amaruuk October 29th, 2014 5:44 AM

Ah well I'm not writing a novel or anything, it just looks long because it's

[year]
[text blurb for context about influential life events, subject matter, and what media was used]
[spoiler or 3 depending on how I sorted things]

Rinse and repeat 10 times, so there's no way around it being long. There are over 200 pictures and each blurb is 1-3 paragraphs in the style of my intro, and the section itself has its own intro explaining the purpose.

Oh my, that reminds me of ImageShack. It was the first thing I used before Photobucket, and while nothing went wrong before I switched, I kept what was there where it was, and since it's been years I no longer know my login, and now that ImageShack has overhauled itself completely for no apparent reason, it seems that I can't even retrieve that info anymore and it appears that whatever I had there was deleted because anywhere I've put those images way back when, they just show that "image doesn't exist" thing or whatever. Thanks ImageShack, part of my history down the toilet.

VeranithasVI October 29th, 2014 8:18 PM

I was quite an ImageShack fiend back in the day. There was another website similar but I can't for the life of me remember what.

Finished work early today so I can spend all afternoon doing more important things, such as PC. So happy I'm quitting soon to do some university though!

Amaruuk October 30th, 2014 8:44 PM

Sweet mother of something! The retrospective is done and appended to the opening post of my gallery. I have never done (or seen) something so long in one post so I dunno if it's breaking any rule or is just questionable in some way based on that but I can always change it. It's more of a proof-of-concept at this point anyway.

VeranithasVI October 31st, 2014 9:17 PM

New avatar and signature awoohoo.

Really enjoyed reading through your retrospective, Amaruuk. It was really unique and well done, I really think there should be a pinned thread for all A&D users to contribute theirs. It'd be a cool feature.

Amaruuk October 31st, 2014 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeranithasVI (Post 8484753)
New avatar and signature awoohoo.

Really enjoyed reading through your retrospective, Amaruuk. It was really unique and well done, I really think there should be a pinned thread for all A&D users to contribute theirs. It'd be a cool feature.

Thank you so much! I really at times didn't even know what compelled me to do something so needlessly big in such a small place, but I guess once you start something ya just gotta go through with it and see what happens, even if my general history on the internet tells me interest is inversely proportional to effort. If just one person read through it, it's more than I could ever have expected.

As for a pinned thread, I agree, and if that became the case I'd move mine into there instead and make room in my gallery for actual new things I do :3

VeranithasVI November 3rd, 2014 2:58 AM

Hellooohellooohellooo. Is anybody hereherehere?

Got a few big pieces to go in my gallery this week, and I'm rather excited about them so I thought I'd drop in and get you guys all amped up and whatnot. There's been an amazing surge of activity here recently, with galleries and shops opening up left right and center, not to mention all of the sprite resource threads! Positive steps forward for A&D.

Amaruuk November 8th, 2014 10:28 PM

So I actually got around to turning the retrospective into the thread where y'all can post your own bios. It's possible that it could instead become a prefix for people to make bio threads in the future but for now it's just the one thread for them to do it in a post.

Gigadweeb November 10th, 2014 11:51 PM

So, uh, we might get a new gallery soon, as I'm trying to do commissions so you're probably gonna get a lot of pieces popping up from me.

A guy requested pixel art, which I'm rusty at, so I'm trying to get back into it. Any critique would be welcome, as I want to get to the point where people will actually bother coming to me instead of me coming to them.

http://i.imgur.com/jAYfKlP.png

Just in case you couldn't tell, it's supposed to be a Greek bust. Simplistic shading comes from doing Pokémon sprites for way too long. Might do the Moonlight Greatsword from Dark Souls for more practice later.

Amaruuk November 11th, 2014 4:46 PM

I'd say you're off to a good start, but have some reference open as you work to see how light affects marble, and also anatomy, especially in the neck. You have the clavicles out too far, the sternocleidomastoid muscles (the ones projecting down in the front) should form a V shape meeting at the dip in between the clavicles. I have no idea what is going on with the throat. For the face, I would suggest looking at sculptures and images which have the face broken down into planes, which helps with lighting and with getting the forms and proportions right without having to worry about detail until you need to. This is actually how sculpture generally works, so it'd help even more in "selling" the look of one. Best of luck to you! You do seem to have a handle on pixels in general, so just grab some reference and do studies and you'll nail the other stuff in time :)

Gigadweeb November 11th, 2014 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amaruuk (Post 8495345)
I'd say you're off to a good start, but have some reference open as you work to see how light affects marble, and also anatomy, especially in the neck. You have the clavicles out too far, the sternocleidomastoid muscles (the ones projecting down in the front) should form a V shape meeting at the dip in between the clavicles. I have no idea what is going on with the throat. For the face, I would suggest looking at sculptures and images which have the face broken down into planes, which helps with lighting and with getting the forms and proportions right without having to worry about detail until you need to. This is actually how sculpture generally works, so it'd help even more in "selling" the look of one. Best of luck to you! You do seem to have a handle on pixels in general, so just grab some reference and do studies and you'll nail the other stuff in time :)

Thanks dude. I'll try and fix it up later on if I get the chance, although it's mostly just practice for lineart. If you don't mind, can you point out what each of these are? I don't really have the best grasp on human anatomy or sculpturing (always been a 2D visual art guy, focusing more on drawing and painting).

Fairy November 12th, 2014 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigadweeb (Post 8495578)
Thanks dude. I'll try and fix it up later on if I get the chance, although it's mostly just practice for lineart. If you don't mind, can you point out what each of these are? I don't really have the best grasp on human anatomy or sculpturing (always been a 2D visual art guy, focusing more on drawing and painting).

Right now, although it doesn't seem like it, you've already got too much unnecessary detail. Bring it back to the very basics and start working your way up. I highly recommend looking up a 3D model of a generic human, male head. Any kind of standard bust is going to be helpful for you, in this case. Here's a couple of YouTube videos that will help you get started:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSW6ALspyZI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEiBYgBmhH0

Though they are geared more towards sculpture and 3D modeling, it's going to be good for you overall to get these basics of facial anatomy down.

Second, and I know you're probably not at this part yet, but please be careful when pixeling the texture! It can be very challenging, trying to capture that old school Greek bust feel, and sometimes it's easy to make a lot of unnecessary pixel noise while trying to capture all of the mono-color tones. Damn, I'm sure I remember reading something about good pixel texture creation.. I'll post it here if I find it.

Hope this helps you! Please post the final product when you get a chance! :)

VeranithasVI November 14th, 2014 6:50 PM

So I've more or less been dead for the past week or so. Trying to sort out real life issues and some online ones too, not good for the body or soul. But I'm back now, with all of my issues ironed out and the like. Hopefully I'll be able to start doing art again once Photoshop has installed onto my new PC.

Fairy November 28th, 2014 9:06 PM

Anyone art good over Thanksgiving? :>

JustJeff November 29th, 2014 3:53 AM

Mmm....May I ask what is thy saying?

Ice November 30th, 2014 7:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fairy (Post 8513052)
Anyone art good over Thanksgiving? :>

I'm not fully understanding that sentence, haha.

There seems to be quite the dip in activity in this sub. Any ideas why?

Amaruuk November 30th, 2014 10:10 AM

Yeah, I've noticed that, too. Personally I've just been lazy/apathetic (holidays do that) but after being all hype about the art journey thing, nobody's posted one, even those who were all excited and said they would. Story of my life, the longer I spend on something the less people care :/

I have a whole mess of some stuff I've been doing for a couple months and been meaning to add to my gallery in its own section (it's an ongoing project) but I've been to lazy to bother adding it, even more so since noticing the whole section's activity grind nearly to a halt.

Ice November 30th, 2014 11:49 AM

I wanted to post, but I kind off new before hand that I've lost too many work to post in the thread. I could only retrieve like 14 pieces that I've made before my dex, and those only span 2 years. I try to comment in every gallery once they've updated, because I like to get comments on my work, so I assume most people do, but staying active is hard, because of my health and the fact that I'm still massively behind on my schoolwork because of my evilness.

Amaruuk November 30th, 2014 1:33 PM

Ah, well it doesn't matter how long the post is. I know I did way overkill on my own, haha. Good on you for commenting. I sometimes try to if I am struck with the right thing to say but that doesn't always happen and I don't like being redundant. Good luck with your health and your studies! Having been through college myself, I know at least what some of that is like.

Ice December 4th, 2014 9:46 AM

I voted for MotY and I noticed that we really don't have that much regulars here, atleast in the last couple of months...

Amaruuk December 4th, 2014 10:00 AM

Yeah, there really aren't. I get the feeling the votes are going to be few and samey. I'll post mine either this evening or wait for a few more.

Kyoe December 5th, 2014 8:36 AM

Yeah, I've been trying to spend more time in here myself. It looks like you guys have the same sort of problem the writing section does, just not as bad.

I'm undecided if I'll vote in this section's MotY, since I'm not really all that active in here, or haven't been, at least.

Fairy December 5th, 2014 10:29 AM

Yeah, A&D suffers from "post and go". But, trust me, I've had more members I'd consider regulars in the past month and a half than ever in my two years as mod.

Kyoe December 5th, 2014 10:55 AM

Well, I won't tell you to considered me a new regular, but I certainly hope to prove myself as one. :p

Amaruuk December 5th, 2014 5:30 PM

I feel like apart from maybe 2009, I haven't seen this place bustling with regulars since '05-ish, though I also have been gone from the forum myself for long stretches.

Kyoe December 6th, 2014 12:04 PM

That's actually quite a shame, too.

We could try implementing more interactive threads and events for non-artists as well! Like, we could do a 'New Artists Challenge' and offer an emblem for best art from a new artist.
Or maybe do a 'Art Class' thread, and include some skilled artists from across A&D giving tips and advice to people to better their drawing, pixel art, digital art, etc.
Maybe even have a big event for making a few new PC styles, and make them as compilation styles from people all over PC, or at least A&D.

I don't know, just spit-balling here. xD
The other thing is that it's holiday season, and people are spending less time on PC in general. Maybe it'll pick up even more come next year?

Ice December 6th, 2014 1:33 PM

Those ideas sound great, it's just that we really don't have that much regulars. Amaruuk, Fairy and I seem the only ones that actively try to react in threads, and read and post in this one. And lately it seems merely shops are active, so that makes that we don't even react that much lately. The other people that post here are shop owners, but those active now don't really post outside
their threads.

Amaruuk December 6th, 2014 2:12 PM

Yeah, there were a lot more contests and collaborative things going on. Everyone knew everyone else and looked forward to each others' entries. But alas, just having interactive threads isn't enough to make people participate more. To be honest I don't think there even is a 'trick' to motivate more participation. If people aren't gonna post they aren't gonna post. Sad, considering that I know there are a lot of old regulars who are still on PC but abandoned A&D. Maybe people are just busier as they get older? IDK.

Kyoe December 7th, 2014 7:15 PM

True, you can't force activity. At least there are still some regulars, though.

So, do any of you have an art crush right now? I mean some style of art you're been kinda crazy about, lately. Whether from one artist, a certain method, or a genre of art.

Ice December 8th, 2014 5:14 AM

At the moment I really enjoy surrealistic work. I had a couple of lessons at school were we dived into every major art style since 1900, and I really, really like surrealism, it's just so creative and beautifull.

Fairy December 9th, 2014 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyoe (Post 8524032)
True, you can't force activity. At least there are still some regulars, though.

So, do any of you have an art crush right now? I mean some style of art you're been kinda crazy about, lately. Whether from one artist, a certain method, or a genre of art.

YES yes yes yes.

I've been very much in love with the art of Ebru lately. Which is water painting for those of you who never heard of it! Please check it out, it's absolutely incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2lV1VKWIh0

Not only that, but I've totally fallen for tumblr user and animator/artist Toasty Hat (also known as Empty Feet on youtube). She's probably one of my favorite animators on the internet right now, and has an amazingly deft hand for the trade. Currently, she's working on a Homestuck inspired story called "After Us", based on the comic Homestuck, along with what seems like hundreds of other side projects. Also inspired me to get ToonBoom for myself, so I'm going to treat myself to that once the holidays roll around. Very excited! n_n;

Skip Class December 16th, 2014 3:17 AM

Just thought I'd poke my head in this section since I haven't been in here for a while. totallyhavenotbeenlurkinghereinanyway*cough

As for art style that I've been looking at atm:
I've been focusing on a lot of video game art styles like the way Jet Set Radio does it's cell-shade or the particular artstyles in Bastion and Transistor.

Also really loving the environmental art done in the game Master Reboot.

There's no particular artist I'm looking at atm but previously I was looking at Jon-Lock's art on tumblr/dA as I used it as inspiration for one of my last university projects.

Arylett Charnoa December 16th, 2014 11:47 AM

I currently have a thing for anime art styles. Less realistic, more simplistic ones that make the humans look moreso like adorable humanoid creatures than actual humans. (Because I'm not too fond of humans too much.) With big bright eyes that look like you could get lost in and tiny dot noses. It's something I'm trying to emulate, particularly since it seems to be quickening the rate of my work.

Let me find an example here.

Also, conversely, I am also into the slightly more realistic anime style of Xenosaga with actually defined noses. Here you go.

All this is because of the Xenosaga series making me realize I love the anime style. It's more suitable for me to learn due to it being more simplistic and less about three dimensions and realism, which I struggle heavily with due to some brain deficiencies I have.

Kyoe December 16th, 2014 12:36 PM

Hey, Ebru is actually pretty cool! I used to be really back and forth about what I thought about watercolour and water painting, but lately I've been leaning more towards a positive opinion of it.

Personally I'm really into the work of Thomas Barbey, this past week or two. He's a genevan photographer who's started doing surrealism.

Example:


Other than that there are a few comic art styles I'm liking more than usual...

Amaruuk December 16th, 2014 9:49 PM

Lately I've been leaning in the paleoart direction, some faves being Emily Willoughby and John Conway. Always loved dinos and whatnot as a kid and this has been the year of playing catch-up with that whole scene. Great community on Twitter, too.

More broadly (and only on days where I am not prone to overwhelming envy), I admire the queens of creature art such as Terryl Whitlatch, Brynn Metheney, Tiffany Turrill, and Kate Pfeilschiefter. I am but a mere handmaid compared to them. I am also a sucker for linework a la J.A.W. Cooper or Corey Godbey.

Fairy December 17th, 2014 12:34 PM

Man, I wish I had half the talent as some of those guys. But speaking of being in love with new things..

I've found out I have full and utter access to a 3D printer. Anyone know how to make designs or use CAD or have any ideas on what I can do with it? I'm a bit of a novice with 3D printers, but I'd love to get into it! Some of the sculpture that's being made right now is incredible, and I'm excited to give it a shot! :)

Amaruuk December 17th, 2014 4:40 PM

I use Maya and ZBrush. Ever since I heard about Shapeways and sites like it a few years ago I've been itching to use a 3D print service. Gonna wait till I've moved and then I want to 3D print parts to use in handmade stuff and sculptures or prototyping or just home decor/custom hardware. I goddamned love this near-star-trek world we're entering. I can't wait to turn my future basement into a workshop. As for getting started with 3D print, I know Shapeways at least has its own "how to get your thing ready for print" guidelines which is explained really well including different things to look out for with different materials, but if you don't already know 3D stuff of some kind you'll want to practice that first. There's a lot of YouTube channels or paid sites that have fantastic instruction on that stuff. I honestly learned at least as much from Digital Tutors and Googling stuff as I did from actual college.

Skip Class December 18th, 2014 4:30 AM

ughh so jealous! I really want to use a 3D printer, but that course was only introduced for the first years this year and I'm no industrial design student. Like Amaruuk, friends of ming in first year used Maya. Although they were taught to print on 3 different softwares (Solidworks being one, and another easier autodesk software I'm not sure what it's called). I don't know about CAD, but there's definitely a lot of youtube channels and paid sites (our university used Lynda.com).

Topic just reminded me, someone in our local facebook group made this (with given templates) and I thought it was pretty cool:


Fairy December 18th, 2014 11:43 PM

Ahahaha! That's so awesome you guys! Thanks for the help!

I spent a bit of time just fooling around with the thing, with very little to show for it. I admit, I'm better at painting the product than making them! But I was able to familiarize myself with the printer and the materials and it's been fun! Long, but fun!

I'll post pics too once I feel a little better with my skills. Toy cars for the boss's four year old aren't gonna cut it for A&D hoho.

diamondpearl876 December 24th, 2014 3:26 AM

Are we allowed to make requests here? I see lots of talent and not too many shops open! I'm looking for someone who'd be able to draw an original character from a fic of mine. In exchange I can write a fic about whatever for you, or if you're into the games, I have literally every shiny available.

Skip Class December 25th, 2014 2:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diamondpearl876 (Post 8545467)
Are we allowed to make requests here? I see lots of talent and not too many shops open! I'm looking for someone who'd be able to draw an original character from a fic of mine. In exchange I can write a fic about whatever for you, or if you're into the games, I have literally every shiny available.

Unfortunately you can't really make requests in this thread (since this is more about art, design, graphics etc. discussions) or request threads in this section. Only other way is to personally ask by VM/PM, but most people wouldn't really be interested in taking requests or commissions because it is a lot of work and if they were interested they'd already have a shop opened up.

Kinda sad that the Official Request Thread doesn't exist anymore since I see so many individual threads cluttering the section and having to be locked since they're not allowed. Same with the Graphics Giveaway thread since that was one of my favourite old threads in this section.

Fairy December 25th, 2014 6:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zappyspiker (Post 8546790)
Kinda sad that the Official Request Thread doesn't exist anymore since I see so many individual threads cluttering the section and having to be locked since they're not allowed. Same with the Graphics Giveaway thread since that was one of my favourite old threads in this section.

Actually! Small requests are totally allowed in the DCC. Simple sprites, concept sketches, little stuff so long as an artist is willing. :) It's hard to have an entire thread dedicated to requests now that A&D has A.) taken a hit in activity and B.) been merged with Pixel Art. They end up being nothing but request after request and the only thing that brings me down more than closing a polite request thread is seeing them stack up and neglected for months at a time.

But yeah, diamondpearl876, pitch your request. I cannot promise someone will take it, but it's certainly okay to ask. :)

Skip Class December 26th, 2014 1:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fairy (Post 8547653)
Actually! Small requests are totally allowed in the DCC. Simple sprites, concept sketches, little stuff so long as an artist is willing. :) It's hard to have an entire thread dedicated to requests now that A&D has A.) taken a hit in activity and B.) been merged with Pixel Art. They end up being nothing but request after request and the only thing that brings me down more than closing a polite request thread is seeing them stack up and neglected for months at a time.

It's really good to see that A&D has been getting a lot of activity lately. Until I decided to come back to PC a few weeks ago, it was nice watching from afar, seeing it build up again from the few active threads it had a few months back.
Though it's interesting to see the pixel and graphics section now merged into one since that didn't happen till after I left. I never really looked into the pixel art subsection so it's really awesome seeing a lot of pixel art!

Ninja Paladin December 28th, 2014 8:47 AM

Whelp I've wandered back so that's a thing and I have to admit I miss the old request thread as well, it was fun to dive into for boredom fillers.

Skip Class January 3rd, 2015 3:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ninja Paladin (Post 8551230)
I have to admit I miss the old request thread as well, it was fun to dive into for boredom fillers.

^ this pretty much. I've held shops here (but more on other forums) over the years and they got more and more stressing. Especially with that old thread and back when it was popular, I'd like to dive into it and do sig or icon request for people without having to feel pressured that it was my shop or anything.

Kyoe January 5th, 2015 12:54 AM

Yo, guys, sorry for disappearing for a bit.

@3D Printing Topic
Huoa! Man, good for you Fairy! I'd love to be able to play around with one of those! Unfortunately I don't have any experience with them at all so far, though.

I'll be looking out for those photos, too!


@Official Request Thread Topic
I can understand closing it for lack of activity, but it's still sad to not have one. It could potentially raise traffic to A&D, and more importantly create a level of interaction amongst everybody too. Personally I can't see a way to emulate or change it to remove the danger of stacking requests, though.

The nature of the thread sort of creates a market for free commissioning, but leaves it to the artist to pick what they want to do. Anything more individual would carry a level of obligation or expectation, which wouldn't be good, but when it's that open you can't really soften any sharp edges easily....

Anyone have suggestions? It would be really cool to resurrect it.

faf January 5th, 2015 9:45 PM

I can't believe I haven't posted here yet.
3D prints are actually really cool but really expensive to own. Though it's handy if you don't feel like physically sculpting.

As for the request thread, maybe we could reward users who do requests (I'm unsure if there's an emblem for that)? I do think it miiight help to resurrect the request thread. Another idea is a Secret Santa type of thing somewhere around Easter? And for increasing activity perhaps some art games such as "add something to the drawing" or a "battle free for all".

So, I'm going to go to my art classes tomorrow. I'm currently working on my triptych for painting (Xerneas vs Yveltal) and unsure what we are doing in printmaking.

Ice January 6th, 2015 12:29 AM

A dutch forum were I used to be active had an art game were multiple people would work together to make a fakemon, by placing a piece of line-art one by one, coloring is done piece by piece by different people, and even the shading. It's a great practice for starting pixelartists, and a fun way to engage with the community. Maybe we could set something up?

Skip Class January 6th, 2015 2:22 AM

I'd love to set up having a Sig of the week/ icon of the week like we used to - even if it's only fortnightly or monthly even. That was the thing that caught my eye when I first tried learning GFX here, I wasn't able to enter as much, but from the few I did learn a lot.

The graphic giveaway thread is back, but isn't getting much activity as much as it used to. I mean, if we do start things, you'd have to make sure they are going to get active.
We've had a lot of cool projects over the past like the PC Art Pokedex, review thread and graphics/photography schools. Of course we can't bring everything back, but we can definitely start new and different projects this year. Just gotta make sure they get that activity running.

faf January 6th, 2015 10:27 AM

@MortallyIncorrect- So like a collab thread but with Fakemon? I would love to see it and making Fakemon is a lot of fun! Having some groups work on different Fakemon and then letting the community judge them to determine the winner sounds like an idea too. That is if there are a number of people interested.

@zappyspiker- While I don't do graphics, I do know that there are people who are interested in graphics and it can also be handy to increase activity. And I agree that the events shouldn't be used at once because of activity. I'm thinking doing them one at a time and then introducing more can be helpful. And I concur having something new can help too.

Ice January 6th, 2015 11:09 AM

I don''t think another try at an competition or something would work that well, I think a collaborative effort would work better.

Also, I think we've decided that a request thread is a good option.

CJBlazer January 7th, 2015 8:37 AM

Hey everyone. I'm no artist but I was wondering where do I go about requesting sprite work for my hack game? I'm sure its in Arts and Design but I don't see a request thread. I really need these sprites done of my custom trainer.

Ice January 7th, 2015 8:58 AM

Well we are discussing opening a general request thread, I guess it would start-up soon enough, once the basic rules for it are decided.

Fairy January 7th, 2015 10:59 AM

Hey, if you guys can come up with a good, solid way of bringing back the request thread, I'm all ears. Some of these things were well before my time on PC, let alone as a mod, so I don't know exactly how they operated. I'd need the help anyway. If y'all got a plan, I'll make sure it gets heard.

And we used to do this totally awesome thing, the "one line drawing" but with fakemon. Another tragic loss of the PA and A&D merge. Members would start with one line, and the next person would gradually add to it until there was a completed sprite! It was so, so much fun to watch and participate in. If you think it will generate activity, or at the very least some laughs, I'm all for bringing it back! :)

All you gotta do it reach out to me, I'm always happy to hear any suggestion for A&D. Most of you have been here longer than I have.

CJBlazer January 7th, 2015 11:11 AM

I think a request thread would be nice. There are only two shops from what I can tell but they do specific types of art. The request thread could be for any art.

Also another suggestion I have. What if we opened up a chatroom for this department where artists can discuss things live and if you have a request being done you can talk with the artist and observe them as they complete your request.

Just a suggestion from me.

Fairy January 7th, 2015 11:27 AM

I went ahead and made that sprite thread I was talking about. :x

http://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?p=8569889#post8569889

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJBlazer (Post 8569875)
I think a request thread would be nice. There are only two shops from what I can tell but they do specific types of art. The request thread could be for any art.

Also another suggestion I have. What if we opened up a chatroom for this department where artists can discuss things live and if you have a request being done you can talk with the artist and observe them as they complete your request.

Just a suggestion from me.

Ideally, yes, but my concern is about the requests that will -- and it's not necessarily anyone's fault -- add up, be ignored, disrespectful remarks, spam in the form of bumping, etc. The fact that there are so few shops is usually an indicator that there's very few people willing to do requests right now; and those shop owners aren't going to stop making graphics to make a custom trainer sprite, you know? A skill they may or may not have in the first place.

So I worry about these things, needless or not. It just feels like inviting bad juju for A&D while it's so inactive. But like I said, with a convincing enough argument and a well composed model of operation, I'm more than willing to hear you out and give it a shot.

And that's what the DCC is for! We had an Oekaki (spelling?) but it fell into destitute a few years ago and never picked back up. So anyone, creatively inclined or not, can talk about art and establish connections for requests or just chit-chat! :)

But hey, thanks for posting your suggestions! Maybe I can talk to Steve about bringing the Oekaki back?

Somniac January 12th, 2015 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fairy (Post 8569861)
Hey, if you guys can come up with a good, solid way of bringing back the request thread, I'm all ears. Some of these things were well before my time on PC, let alone as a mod, so I don't know exactly how they operated. I'd need the help anyway. If y'all got a plan, I'll make sure it gets heard.

And we used to do this totally awesome thing, the "one line drawing" but with fakemon. Another tragic loss of the PA and A&D merge. Members would start with one line, and the next person would gradually add to it until there was a completed sprite! It was so, so much fun to watch and participate in. If you think it will generate activity, or at the very least some laughs, I'm all for bringing it back! :)

All you gotta do it reach out to me, I'm always happy to hear any suggestion for A&D. Most of you have been here longer than I have.

I never managed to participate in the previous request thread but I frequent them on other websites.

I feel like the concept of a request thread works better in practice when the requests are generally just quick doodles rather than anything larger which would require a bigger commitment. Clearly I can't speak for others, however I know that If I were to browse a request thread it would most likely be because I'm bored and want something to kill an hour or two with (and giving others a good laugh is always a pleasing way to do so).

There are other social-based websites which often have threads about drawing, and they always go down well when the requests are just 'Draw this character riding a dragon because lol'. A shorter time between the request and something being posted is another benefit as the person who requested is less likely to get bored and wonder away, and thus can respond as soon as the request is fulfilled, which personally is most of the reason that I enjoy doing requests; the reactions from everyone else and the requester when you do a really good job or just come out with something really silly / amusing.

On another note. After I came home from a party I woke up to find I drew this. I really have no words other than 'What?'

Loki January 14th, 2015 2:32 AM

The only thing about request threads is that when I was around, there were a ton of people requesting things but nobody fulfilling those requests, you know? And the problem with an emblem would be that once you get the emblem, you don't need to fulfill requests anymore, cause the incentive ran out. It'd have to be a continuous reward system of some sort. (Although I think people should be doing it from the heart, but that's too optimistic I'm sure.) I remember I always sensed a bit of disappointment for some of the requesters as well, when they got things that weren't exactly the quality they'd hoped for.

Ultimately the request thread of my time died because there was simply no point in requesting anything at all; Nobody would actually do it anyway.

As for signature and avatar competitions-- those would definitely be fun to see around again, though I haven't been paying enough attention to the level of GFX in this section lately to know whether it could actually get off the ground or not. As a suggestion for starting out small though, I always found that 1 v 1 challenges with a pre-selected stock between graphic artists of about the same skill level and on good terms were always the most fun!

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...?

Ice January 14th, 2015 8:06 AM

I know 1 on 1 challenges usually bring a lot of incentive. Only problem is that if you don't localize it to one thread, it'll spam a subforum to hell. You really need a special sub for it if it catches on. And if you can match the skill of people it becomes a lot of fun and a great way for beginners to practice and receive criticism.

Loki January 14th, 2015 11:38 AM

I don't think it ever really caught on so much to start spamming the forums though-- even when it was more popular. I think subs are dangerous territory, because I remember half the reason the competitive threads died was when I proposed branching them off into the Graphics and Design Competition sub. Before the sub forum was made, we had almost every kind of competition you could think of but ultimately, they all died because organizing them into a subforum killed the amount of aimless traffic that's necessary to get uninvolved voters....

Ice January 14th, 2015 11:48 AM

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.

Skip Class January 16th, 2015 5:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loki (Post 8579560)

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...?

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.

Centipede Chan January 20th, 2015 7:38 AM

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.

Yume Tsuki January 20th, 2015 3:57 PM

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.

Fairy January 20th, 2015 9:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zappyspiker (Post 8581990)
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.

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?

Skip Class January 20th, 2015 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fairy (Post 8588060)
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?

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?

Circuit January 21st, 2015 3:21 PM

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.

Fairy January 21st, 2015 8:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zappyspiker (Post 8588128)
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?

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by NinjaAiden (Post 8589009)
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.

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.

Ice January 21st, 2015 10:51 PM

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?

Skip Class January 22nd, 2015 4:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorallyIncorrect (Post 8589456)
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?

^ 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

Ice January 22nd, 2015 7:47 AM

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?

Circuit January 22nd, 2015 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorallyIncorrect (Post 8589798)
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?

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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorallyIncorrect (Post 8589456)
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?

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.

Ice January 22nd, 2015 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NinjaAiden (Post 8589927)
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.

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.

Fairy January 22nd, 2015 5:59 PM

Have I mentioned that I love you guys?

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorallyIncorrect (Post 8589941)
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.

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.

Amaruuk January 22nd, 2015 8:39 PM

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.

Ice January 23rd, 2015 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amaruuk (Post 8590540)
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.

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.

Circuit January 23rd, 2015 4:24 PM

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.

Fairy January 23rd, 2015 7:44 PM

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.

Xebelleon January 26th, 2015 11:04 PM

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...

Circuit January 28th, 2015 4:40 PM

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!


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