Artist's Easel: Suggestion Thread

[Coru]

Artist's Easel Suggestion Thread


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Okay, this is something that is a bit overdue now. I want help to try and liven up this section once again and all my previous attempts haven't seemed to work due to lack of interest, so this is why I now ask you, what do you want? I have tried doing stuff I want to see become fun and popular but obviously that isn't what people on here want, so it would be really nice if I could get a few ideas from the people who participate in this section so we can all work together to make this section lively and creative like it once was a while back.


What do you want to see happen in the future of this section?


Regular competitions
Artist showcases
Tutorials
Anything else


Your opinions are as important as anyone else's. Thank you, and I look forward to all the suggestions!

[Vishnal]

I'm really grooving on possible competitions + tutorials. To elaborate on both:

Competitions- I've always found icontests and banner/tag/signature contests a lot of fun, and from what I've seen they generally get entries. (Especially in the case of icontests.) Additionally, since PXR seems to have quite a few people interested in spriting and drawing/more traditional art, I could see contests for those going over well o: Of course, these competitions can rotate!

Tutorials- Perhaps encourage people (esp. regular members) to make their own tutorials? Not sure how often tokens are utilized, but maybe one can be awarded to frequent contributors/people who submit enough tutorials? Also, perhaps revive/remake the resources thread?

Additionally—and this may take more effort + multiple people helping out—but perhaps you could have an "art school" or something where members/staff tutor other members/staff interested in learning some form of art.

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As for other ideas, would anyone be interested in an icon wall? What you do is submit icons you created and they'll be added to a "wall". Aside from a couple other guidelines—most common sense (e.g., you can't submit others' icons)—that's about it. You could also utilize the token feature for frequent contributors, too o: There was one on PC a long time ago, and I recall that one going over pretty well. I also created one on EGC's second incarnation, and it was fairly popular!

[Coru]

Good ideas, all of these I have tried but it seems like I may have made them too big and scared off the casual artists so your ideas seem quite refreshing and fun and I love the idea of an icon wall, If I look around and find out a little bit more about it, I may in fact start one up.
The token idea is also nice. I intended to make tokens for the sake of the contests I tried to boot up a few months back without success so they would work very well, i think. A little thing to get people active.

I thought of the tutorial idea a while back just like your suggestion, a revival of the resources thread could be done too. I was going to start up a section wide tutorial/school system where tutorials that people make can be archived and also people could sign up to 'teach' through PM a certain aspect art and spriting to people. I started one in the spriting section and it wasn't successful and didn't gain much interest. [http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?3429-Pokemon-Crossroads-The-Spriting-School]

It seems like Speed-X has taken over that in terms of a proposed revival of it, but a similar system could be made for the main section for Art/Graphic Art/Editing? It would need a few changes though.

I like the ideas. :)

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I really liked Speed's spriting school idea where tutorials were available anytime and people moved through at their own pace and earned qualifications. If i have time one day I will try and get that going!

I'd be up for graphics/banner contests. :D

[Coru]

@Vishnal (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/member.php?u=141)
I've searched around and cant really find many good examples of Icon Walls, It's an idea that would be great, so are there any examples you know of that I could look at to see how they set it up and how they work?
If you want to, you could help try and set one up considering it was your idea, so we can try and get some activity flowing again. :)

I think when we have the Icon Wall set up, I can start to create some small competitions on here when I see some interest start to return and with the help of the artists here and some of the mods that would like to help bring a bit more attention to the area, we can start to build up activity again.
@Pokemon Trainer Sarah (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/member.php?u=26) I'll gladly help you try and get those tutorial ideas going if you need any help with that. :)

Hopefully this will be the start to an uphill climb for Artist's Easel. This is exciting. :)

[SassySnivy]

The icon wall idea sounds wonderful! Maybe we could have two walls: one for small, 50x50 icons that people can sprite / draw, and one for 100x100 or 150x150 for people who are more into working with the large scale of things. If we did this, it'd be cool to host one wall in the general art board and one in the sprite board.

Of course the big thing about this community is incentive. It seems like if there's no big incentive, there's not that much motivation. I love the idea, but I'm wondering if there's anything we could do to give people a little more incentive to contribute. Maybe only make it contributable during certain months for the duration of the month?

[Vishnal]

@Vishnal (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/member.php?u=141)
I've searched around and cant really find many good examples of Icon Walls, It's an idea that would be great, so are there any examples you know of that I could look at to see how they set it up and how they work?
If you want to, you could help try and set one up considering it was your idea, so we can try and get some activity flowing again. :)

I think when we have the Icon Wall set up, I can start to create some small competitions on here when I see some interest start to return and with the help of the artists here and some of the mods that would like to help bring a bit more attention to the area, we can start to build up activity again.
@Pokemon Trainer Sarah (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/member.php?u=26) I'll gladly help you try and get those tutorial ideas going if you need any help with that. :)

Hopefully this will be the start to an uphill climb for Artist's Easel. This is exciting. :)

If you want, I can post what I wrote up for EGC + a sample of the wall itself once I can get on my laptop, just so you can see what it sort of looks like~

EDIT: Figured I'd post a sample of the layout (guidelines + some of the icons I posted) anyway. Not all the guidelines for EGC apply here, of course XD (Though, it could be cool if members' icons got added to the default avatar collection for others to use o: Not sure if that's something you'd want.)


http://i.imgur.com/2H14jz1.png http://i.imgur.com/s94KVUo.png http://i.imgur.com/FRemVlO.png

★ ☆ EGC's Icon Wall ☆ ★



★ What is this?

The Icon Wall is, well, a wall of icons. Simply put, you post icons that you've made in this thread, and they'll be added to the wall!

You do NOT need to be a graphics aficionado in order to contribute, nor do you need a graphics program! If you lack a graphics manipulation program, you can use sites like Pixlr (https://pixlr.com/) and Lunapic (http://lunapic.com/).

☆ And the point of this is...?

Glad you asked! One of the benefits to posting your icons is that people will see what you have done. However, that's not the only thing. By constantly contributing to this thread, you'll have a better chance of being nominated for the Artistic Contributor badge. Pretty cool, huh?

But wait, there's more! If you post Pokémon icons that are 100 x 100 or 130 x 130, your icons may become part of EGC's new default avatar collection. That's quite an honor, don't you think?

★ Rules

Ah, yes, everyone's favorite section. Please, please, PLEASE read all of the rules before contributing to the Icon Wall.

☀ THE ICONS MUST BE YOUR OWN. This rule is very important. If we find out that you took someone else's icons and posted them for the Icon Wall, you will be infracted for plagiarism and will no longer be able to contribute to the wall.

☀ It is highly encouraged that you post new icons. You may post icons that you've made in the past, but new icons are preferred.

☀ You can only make five differently sized icons. Those sizes are 100 x 100, 130 x 130, 150 x 150, 180 x 180, and 200 x 200. If you make 170 x 170 icons or 199 x 199 ones, they will be ignored.

☀ Only post square icons, please. Any icons that are rectangular in shape--even if it's subtle (such as 129 x 130)--will not be added.

☀ Please use the following file formats for your icons: PNG, JPEG, or GIF. Additionally, if you want to add animated gif icons, they MUST BE NO LARGER THAN 1MB. This is to prevent people's computers from lagging. Plus, the max filesize for avatars/signatures on here is 1MB anyway.

☀ You can only post fifteen icons total per day. For example, you cannot post fifteen 100 x 100 and fifteen 130 x 130 icons, but you can post seven 100 x 100 icons and eight 130 x 130 icons. If you do post more, then the first fifteen icons will be added, but any others you must post again later.

☀ PLEASE TRY TO LIMIT THE NUMBER OF TIMES YOU POST PER DAY. This rule is here in order to prevent PC +1 posts (i.e., posts that are made for the sake of upping postcount). It's fine if you post a few times to add more icons, want to ask/answer questions, or comment on people's icons, but if we feel you're posting for the sake of upping your postcount, we'll start deleting any non-icon posts.

☀ If you are the last person to post, you may post again provided that 24 hours have passed since your last post. The Icon Wall is like a gallery, so posting multiple times in a row is allowed so long as you wait a full day for each post.

☀ If you have any questions, please contact the staff. Not really a rule, but this is important as well.


☆ The Icon Wall

We're finally here! The Icon Wall is divided into five parts based on icon size. They will be ordered from smallest to largest. There will be [title] tags attached to each icon so that people will know who posted them. If you are prone to changing your username often and/or have a preferred nickname (e.g., I go by Haru), please give me an alternate name and I'll put that in the tags instead.

Note that all icons added to the wall may be used by anyone at any time. So if you don't want any of your icons to be used by others without your permission, don't include them.

100 x 100 Icons
http://i.imgur.com/eBZJZ1m.png http://i.imgur.com/EeYft7d.png http://i.imgur.com/8hYWVzI.png http://i.imgur.com/ue7qnhY.png http://i.imgur.com/zG2hsjm.png http://i.imgur.com/nRblblM.png http://i.imgur.com/dMSzVL5.png

200 x 200 Icons
http://i.imgur.com/RcvsszN.png http://i.imgur.com/n8LUMxS.png http://i.imgur.com/phqCKMl.png http://i.imgur.com/s1lDNTT.png http://i.imgur.com/ifeoqnk.png http://i.imgur.com/lVFfBvC.png

[SassySnivy]

So...these are some fab ideas so far! Anyone have anything else in mind? :D

[Chibi Altaria]

I've got my gallery (but that's me related .-.). I guess I could try some tutorials? God only knows since I've updated my skills I can work out some banner tutorials, or easy sketch ones or something.

I actually really like that Pokefusion thread we've got going. If we could update that more regularly I'd be all for it. C: /canidoit?

We (Xanthe and a few others?) tried the art school once back on PE2K but it didn't work too well as a lot of the members went inactive and it was hard to find the time and motivation to teach others. Although if Speed wants to start up a spriting school that runs at her pace, I'm all for that. :3

Or if you like the idea of a forum-wide project, how about sketching all the Pokemon? It doesn't need to be some epic work of art to hang in a gallery, but just a simple sketch. Wouldn't it be fun if we could draw all the Pokemon? :D I know there's something similar to this, but it could work again if revived.

Also contests, yay! I don't mind hosting any of those, either. Prevents me from participating in them, but I'd submit just for fun. :p

EDIT: OH OH! Would anyone be interested in doing collaborations? These can be for drawings, sprites, graphics, whatever! Could be something fun to get the whole community involved.

[Chakramaster]

Tutorials would be nice. I've little experience with Photoshop and every little bit more helps improve on those skills. I've seen a few, like Pokemon Trainer Sarah had a tread that gave a tutorial I believe it was. So that's all I can think of right off though. More Photoshop tutorials =D

[Chibi Altaria]

Is anything being done with the ideas here? O:

[Coru]

Is anything being done with the ideas here? O:

There will be soon. I am super busy at the moment, having a coursework deadline and a Graphic Design exam/deadline all next week so I can't really do anything at the moment, but once it's all done, I'll have a month or so before my next set of exams and I think that will be the space I will set everything up.

As of the moment, the ideas I have for this section are as follows, some being suggestions from this thread and some ideas I thought of.


Set up an icon wall that has been mentioned a few times in here
try to reboot the contest system I set up last year by making them simpler and trying to appeal more to everyone so we can start slow and then start to make the competitions more complex and interesting when people have showed interest.
Setting up a tutorial system where people can help each other by posting tutorials for art and possibly spriting [However, Speed-X already did this for spriting, so I may just stick to the art side and leave that part to him] so the artists can help each other improve and it can inspire collaboration
Collaboration projects (Not sure what yet, but a really good idea I had was we would draft up an 'ideal Sun & Moon Regional Pokedex' with types and animals/items/myths which they would be based on and people can then claim what they want to and then we will have a collaboration of our own ideas for what we would want to see in PKMN Sun and Moon. Any suggestions for collab ideas?
Trying to incorporate the token system more so the artists will be rewarded more for sharing art, critiquing others and contributing the the sub-forum.
Somehow incorporate deviantArt into the section a bit more so it will be easier for people who use deviantArt to get noticed on there and also try to get some of the artists from there to find interest in our art section so we can gain more members and artists, therefore increasing activity.

What do you guys think?

At the moment, the first things I would do once I have got next week out the way would be the icon wall and token rewards that I would like to implement.
More work would need to go into the contests, tutorials and collabs, so I will work on those and they will be set up one after another so it is gradual and won't be too much all at once. I also don't know how we could bring dA more into this sectuion but if anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears. :)

If we can create a solid checklist of ideas we want to be implemented, I will create a checklist thread and pin it so everyone can see what will be set up with time and I will tick it off each time I get it sorted and we can continually add to it when we get more ideas and could become a system for me and Braixen or any other mod that wants to help/future art mods to try and continually bring in new things and update the Art section.

[Blaquaza]

Could we host a 'Make your own Alolan Pokémon' contest? I have a feeling that this is something that would allow everyone's creativity to run wild, because you could take any existing Pokémon and reinvent them to have a new type and basically be an entirely different species. I have a feeling it'd make for some great results, too. :)

If this did end up happening, I'd say the only restriction would be that you couldn't use any new Pokémon, so only the 721 from up to Gen VI.

[Coru]

Could we host a 'Make your own Alolan Pokémon' contest? I have a feeling that this is something that would allow everyone's creativity to run wild, because you could take any existing Pokémon and reinvent them to have a new type and basically be an entirely different species. I have a feeling it'd make for some great results, too. :)

If this did end up happening, I'd say the only restriction would be that you couldn't use any new Pokémon, so only the 721 from up to Gen VI.

Sorry the reply is a little late but this is something that I've wanted to do since they were announced so I think this can definitely happen. What we would need to do though is try and bring a bit more attention to Artist's Easel so more people will enter and find a good incentive to join in with the contest. I did create a whole system where you get points based on where you place in contests and you can then redeem them sort of like the ticket system in arcades but it never took off.
I'm creating the Icon Wall at the moment so it should be up sometime today or tomorrow and after that I don't know what to move onto next so if people can suggest some good things we could offer as an incentive for contests or suggest ways we could create a contest system, then maybe they could be worked on and regular monthly/bimonthly contests could be set up within a month or so. :)