Other Chat DCC

[Neo Emolga]

Yeah ever since I got PayPal it's been a great feature to helping buy things. Although, I hate the it asks about PayPal Credit EVERY time you try to use PayPal now. Accidentally applied for it because I was rushing through it without reading. Thinking it was just a confirmation part. Luckily I was able to call and cancel it. I had to block emails from it afterward though cause I kept getting emails from them

OUCH, yeah, I imagine you're not the first and won't be the last person who unintentionally made that mistake.

I hate it when things like that are selected by default. >.<

[Noblejanobii]

Yeah I hope to set one up someday. I might need it for college after all. Plus I am a business owner now and since I'm 18 I can actually have a paypal.

[Chibi Altaria]

PayPal is awesome. Safer than a credit card and super easy to use! I use it for pretty much all my online purchases. And now for my online selling, as well! :D

[Neo Emolga]

I mainly just use my Paypal for paying. You guys are nifty for having online shops, though. That's pretty neat suff!

I need to get better at art so I could actually make a few commissions.

[Suicune's Fire]

I need to get better at art so I could actually make a few commissions.

Lol I know right? I used to think I could do plushie commissions too...nope. xD Not good enough at that!

[Caite-chan]

I wish I could make a little something to be able to sell so I can make a little money.

[Chakramaster]

I mainly just use my Paypal for paying. You guys are nifty for having online shops, though. That's pretty neat suff!

I need to get better at art so I could actually make a few commissions.

What are you talking about Neo? You've got your spectacular banners that are awesome. That's good art!

I've never been good at anything art related really. I mean I'm gonna try drawing something again soon just to see if it has improved at all...but I don't expect any changes. Especially since I haven't even drawn anything since high school (2009 or before). It'd be nice to find something to make commissions from though =3

PayPal is really great for more than just purchasing yeah. I mean you can have paypal as the transaction for your own store. Heck, stores today are starting to add PayPal pay at cash registers so you can pay that way (though it's a bit more complicated than it should be).

[Neo Emolga]

Lol I know right? I used to think I could do plushie commissions too...nope. xD Not good enough at that!

Oh yeah, those look HARD! It's like you have to work on it backwards and from the inside out and only when you get to the very last step do you reverse it and finally get an idea of what it's supposed to look like. Plus there's so much cutting, measuring, and stitching involved. I haven't done that kind of stuff for a long while.

Yeah, there are people who have skill and talent for that kind of thing, though. My big thing is it would require me to get so many types of fabric, a sewing machine, and I might need some professional training classes to get started, because my skills in that stuff are really only amateurish at best. That and I don't know what I'd start making, although making a thousand Emolga plushies look like they're invading my house would be very hilarious. The first dozen may look a little goofy, but by the time I got to Emolga #1000, he'd look incredible! XD

What are you talking about Neo? You've got your spectacular banners that are awesome. That's good art!

Thanks, but I'm just not sure if people would pay for them. There are people out there that often do these things for free (heck, I certainly used to). And ironically, one of the Joker quotes from The Dark Knight that I remember the most is "if you're really good at doing something, you never do it for free." So yeah, charging someone money for something I enjoyed doing anyway just seems a little... villainous. :P

Now, if I did the stock images (such as draw my own Emolgas, Pikachus, and so on) for someone else instead of using anime or official stock images, that I think I might ask for a little money, because that's much more work involved.

Competition for art commissions is pretty fierce, especially on DeviantArt. I think before I start even thinking of charging for art, I need to get better at the drawn stuff. And I need to kick myself in the butt to STOP USING OFFICIAL/ANIME IMAGES AND MAKE MY OWN, GOSH DARN IT! Especially when it comes to banners. It's too tempting to just settle with the pre-made stuff because it's faster and easier, but it's not nearly as satisfying.

I've never been good at anything art related really. I mean I'm gonna try drawing something again soon just to see if it has improved at all...but I don't expect any changes. Especially since I haven't even drawn anything since high school (2009 or before). It'd be nice to find something to make commissions from though =3

To get good at something, it often involves having a kind of hunger to get good at it.

1. Have drive to be really good at it. If you REALLY want to get good at it, you'll read up on all the things you need to get started (tutorials, guides, and stuff), and you'll be willing to put in the time and energy. You might need to invest some money also, such as buying Photoshop and a tablet.
2. Practice like crazy. It has to be a combination of both work and fun, because if you're enjoying the work that you're doing, you'll keep going with it and you'll want to get even better. But if find yourself questioning why you started in the first place in times of frustration or shortcomings, you might need to revisit the reasons why you want to get good in that skill. Find what triggered your passion in the first place. Sometimes it means revisiting that one piece of art that you were really impressed by.
3. Be open to experimenting with new tricks and techniques, but don't expect to be an expert with them right away! Sometimes things work, sometimes they don't. Want to guess how many times I've hit Edit>Undo when making banners and graphics? Probably in the millions by now! Sometimes, just trying something freakishly random might actually result in something that sticks.
4. Amaze yourself. Keep a collection of both old work and new work and you'll see how you're advancing. It's... a pretty awesome and mind-blowing feeling and that will give you motivation and drive to keep going. I look at my old banners and then I look at my newer ones. What a difference!

But yeah, that's usually the stuff that's involved when trying to learn a new skill.

[Chakramaster]

Thanks, but I'm just not sure if people would pay for them. There are people out there that often do these things for free (heck, I certainly used to). And ironically, one of the Joker quotes from The Dark Knight that I remember the most is "if you're really good at doing something, you never do it for free." So yeah, charging someone money for something I enjoyed doing anyway just seems a little... villainous. :P

Now, if I did the stock images (such as draw my own Emolgas, Pikachus, and so on) for someone else instead of using anime or official stock images, that I think I might ask for a little money, because that's much more work involved.

Competition for art commissions is pretty fierce, especially on DeviantArt. I think before I start even thinking of charging for art, I need to get better at the drawn stuff. And I need to kick myself in the butt to STOP USING OFFICIAL/ANIME IMAGES AND MAKE MY OWN, GOSH DARN IT! Especially when it comes to banners. It's too tempting to just settle with the pre-made stuff because it's faster and easier, but it's not nearly as satisfying.

Well...I'm sure it may be worth a shot sometime? Yeah I know now you mostly do free ones for events or for those that won the PSG. Probably occasionally some that fit in the "other" category too just for the heck of it. Yeah I love it too....it's just too bad my best skills are involved with playing video games xD. Oh never. People do it all the time and it's all in good business, not villainous.

yeah creating your own takes way more time than finding an image and creating a design template for a background or something in PS. Though I'm not anywhere near the level most others are at it here so I can't say for sure how "easy" it may be.

DA has some really super talented artists. If anything, it's a place to learn more about what you CAN do. I mean, why break what works? If the ones you use or find works, then by all means continue! Heck, like I keep saying. It's the PSG and your awesome banners that lead me here in the first place. Oddly enough it was the banners at first cause it made me think, "Hey, maybe I can get one of these awesome banners one day." So yeah it wasn't JUST the PSG. So don't think random people might not like them! xD

To get good at something, it often involves having a kind of hunger to get good at it.

1. Have drive to be really good at it. If you REALLY want to get good at it, you'll read up on all the things you need to get started (tutorials, guides, and stuff), and you'll be willing to put in the time and energy. You might need to invest some money also, such as buying Photoshop and a tablet.
2. Practice like crazy. It has to be a combination of both work and fun, because if you're enjoying the work that you're doing, you'll keep going with it and you'll want to get even better. But if find yourself questioning why you started in the first place in times of frustration or shortcomings, you might need to revisit the reasons why you want to get good in that skill. Find what triggered your passion in the first place. Sometimes it means revisiting that one piece of art that you were really impressed by.
3. Be open to experimenting with new tricks and techniques, but don't expect to be an expert with them right away! Sometimes things work, sometimes they don't. Want to guess how many times I've hit Edit>Undo when making banners and graphics? Probably in the millions by now! Sometimes, just trying something freakishly random might actually result in something that sticks.
4. Amaze yourself. Keep a collection of both old work and new work and you'll see how you're advancing. It's... a pretty awesome and mind-blowing feeling and that will give you motivation and drive to keep going. I look at my old banners and then I look at my newer ones. What a difference!

But yeah, that's usually the stuff that's involved when trying to learn a new skill.

I remember I did want to get good at PS years ago. When I finally got it from a friend on a flashdrive I tried reading up guides or tutorials. None of them helped at all. In fact, I couldn't learn how to properly resize without blurring the image too much until about 3 months later. Guides were not helpful in learning the best way to cut out renders or make use of the extra layers (seriously, I used to put EVERYTHING in one layer thinking this was how and kept wondering why it moved everything when I tried moving one thing ._.). Though now I've gotten better and understand most of it. I mean, look at EmeraldSky's sig/banner for reference of my latest attempt.

(More on EmeraldSky's banner) That was actually my first attempt ever in adding in snow effects to it. It turned out I found a really good guide on how to add it. It was way more steps than I ever would have thought of too, but I can't say I wouldn't want to learn more like it. Especially if they have an easy to follow guide like that one was. Then it's just learning myself from there on to extend on it.

Oh if I posted a list of my old work to my latest you'd definitely see the difference. It's pretty amazing. Some old have spots in them where I forgot to erase some brush marks, or have white spots from a badly cut render, etc.

I'd totally love to learn how to use PS better though...maybe after I get my new laptop and if I can upgrade to the latest PS. I'm still running on CS3 =3

[Neo Emolga]

Heck, I got into Flash animation on Newgrounds just because I saw too many people killing Pikachu in Flashes, and I was determined to turn the tables around.

Boy did I ever! Here Pikachu kills butt-loads of Newgrounds characters instead! It's old (and I can make something MUCH better than this now), but it's classic. No regrets on this one. XD

I haven't made Flash animations for a long time because one, it's a dying sensation and two, they take an ENORMOUS amount of time to make. Given, the end result can be amazing, but ugh, it's crazy amounts of time and work.

I'm glad people really like the PSG, though. Maybe someday soon I'll host another one. They do require me to be pretty darn active and without Tazz, there isn't as much support for it, but we'll see.

With Photoshop, GAH! You NEED to know the ins and outs of layers for that. With my current banner, there's a whopping 14 layers in the primary banner, and then another three in the secondary finalized version (the way I make it look 3D-ish plate with the glow plasma-like effects in the background). I mean heck, one of the very first things I do when making a new banner is just create a bunch of layers for later, even if I don't think I'll need them.

And CS3's not bad, you'll be just fine with that one for a while. I used to be using CS and did just fine with that one for quite a long time before I got CS6 for Christmas.