Chit-Chat "L'art pour l'art" - DCC Page 16

Started by Fairy May 7th, 2013 4:47 PM
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Fairy

she / they
in the flowers
Seen January 27th, 2023
Posted January 6th, 2023
I went ahead and made that sprite thread I was talking about. :x

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

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?
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Somniac

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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?'
Spoiler:

Loki

x

Seen March 23rd, 2022
Posted June 14th, 2020
6,822 posts
17.8 Years
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

Seen October 16th, 2022
Posted February 3rd, 2020
3,448 posts
8.8 Years
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

x

Seen March 23rd, 2022
Posted June 14th, 2020
6,822 posts
17.8 Years
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....

Skip Class

previously zappyspiker, but rainbow keeps trying to get me to skip class

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New Zealand
Seen July 7th, 2021
Posted July 24th, 2020
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14.8 Years

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.


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Centipede Chan

Age 26
Female
United States
Seen October 14th, 2021
Posted April 4th, 2021
1,069 posts
9.1 Years
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

(/ ゚ヮ゚)/彡 ┻━┻

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Posted 4 Days Ago
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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

she / they
in the flowers
Seen January 27th, 2023
Posted January 6th, 2023
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?
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Skip Class

previously zappyspiker, but rainbow keeps trying to get me to skip class

Age 28
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Seen July 7th, 2021
Posted July 24th, 2020
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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?
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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Circuit

Wiring your Circuits

Age 27
Male
Berlin
Seen January 6th, 2021
Posted July 29th, 2020
4,815 posts
15.2 Years
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

she / they
in the flowers
Seen January 27th, 2023
Posted January 6th, 2023
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

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.
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Ice

Seen October 16th, 2022
Posted February 3rd, 2020
3,448 posts
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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

previously zappyspiker, but rainbow keeps trying to get me to skip class

Age 28
Female
New Zealand
Seen July 7th, 2021
Posted July 24th, 2020
4,713 posts
14.8 Years
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


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Ice

Seen October 16th, 2022
Posted February 3rd, 2020
3,448 posts
8.8 Years
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

Wiring your Circuits

Age 27
Male
Berlin
Seen January 6th, 2021
Posted July 29th, 2020
4,815 posts
15.2 Years
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.

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

Seen October 16th, 2022
Posted February 3rd, 2020
3,448 posts
8.8 Years
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

she / they
in the flowers
Seen January 27th, 2023
Posted January 6th, 2023
Have I mentioned that I love you guys?

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.
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Amaruuk

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Age 34
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15 Years
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.




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Ice

Seen October 16th, 2022
Posted February 3rd, 2020
3,448 posts
8.8 Years
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

Wiring your Circuits

Age 27
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Berlin
Seen January 6th, 2021
Posted July 29th, 2020
4,815 posts
15.2 Years
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

she / they
in the flowers
Seen January 27th, 2023
Posted January 6th, 2023
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.
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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

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Berlin
Seen January 6th, 2021
Posted July 29th, 2020
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15.2 Years
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!