SOTW / AOTW Discussion & Results - Page 12

July 16, 2008, 9:20 AM

I have a suggestion for SOTW and AOTWs
When a competitor submits his/her entry, S/he must enter the stock s/he has used for it. this is better to be a link to the certain image.

What is good for it is that we'll know how much efforts s/he has put on the sig/ava
There should be a difference between someone who has made an amazing sig outa just a stock and someone who finds a pre-designed image, and just adds a text and C4d to it.
The second images may have a good BG style.

For example take a look at these two
http://www.medievalists.net/games/As...s_Creed_27.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...edPicture1.jpg
Someone who makes a good sig outa the second one deserve the vote rather than someone who just adds some minor effects to the first one.

Off course it's my opinion and maybe I'm wrong about it. it's just a suggestion, no offense to anyone.

July 17, 2008, 11:40 AM

That only sounds fair, yes. I actually thought about that a few weeks ago, but forgot about it until now.

Also...-coughs- AOTW, Mark. You forgot. xD

July 17, 2008, 1:14 PM

So, I could make a tag that looks way better than someone else's but if I use a render and don't touch it and they use a solid image, they're more likely to get the vote? It doesn't sound very fair to me at all. If I make the better looking tag then I should get the vote, it doesn't matter how much longer they may have spent on it because that's all down to personal preference, everyone has their own unique style.

I think I may be misunderstanding what you're trying to say here, but if I'm on the right track then for the record: I never just use a render, a C4D and slap text in there. I often use brushes, gradient maps, and the marquee tool is something I've been using recently.

Like I said, it's all about personal preference at the end of the day, people have their own styles and just because they spend a longer time making it doesn't mean they deserve the vote, what we vote on is the best looking one, nothing more. Time taken and resources used shouldn't even come in to play here.

I understand the fact that some people prefer working with solid images and they make some great work and all you're doing is trying to ensure equality here but that's where you're doing wrong. People who use solid images tend to make amazing stuff, yeah, but it's hard to make something with a solid image for some people so they strive to make amazing stuff with pre-rendered images to keep up with those who don't. All this will do is push those who use renders back again.

If this idea gets implemented here then I'm seriously likely to stop making competition entries, because I really can't work with solid images.

Again, I may have misunderstood what you're trying to say in your post but if I'm on the right tracks then what I've said above stands firmly. If not, then I've just wasted a good 10 minutes of my life writing this out. *sigh*

July 17, 2008, 6:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shahab

I have a suggestion for SOTW and AOTWs
When a competitor submits his/her entry, S/he must enter the stock s/he has used for it. this is better to be a link to the certain image.

What is good for it is that we'll know how much efforts s/he has put on the sig/ava
There should be a difference between someone who has made an amazing sig outa just a stock and someone who finds a pre-designed image, and just adds a text and C4d to it.
The second images may have a good BG style.

For example take a look at these two
http://www.medievalists.net/games/As...s_Creed_27.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...edPicture1.jpg
Someone who makes a good sig outa the second one deserve the vote rather than someone who just adds some minor effects to the first one.

Off course it's my opinion and maybe I'm wrong about it. it's just a suggestion, no offense to anyone.

music is a lot like making graphics.

People care not for your skill, but rather the items you create. If we all cared about how much skill it took to make something, then rap would be like music of the heretics or some shit and slash and other musical icons etc. would be back on top

though it's nice to have your skill appreciated, at the end of the day, as John put it, is all up to personal preference. People here have some pretty wild preferences though, believe it or not.

July 17, 2008, 7:10 PM

Like I told Casanova earlier, you guys do make a good point there. At the end of the day, it's all about the outcome regardless of whether you spent 30 minutes - 2 hours doing signatures. But at the same time, I also do quite understand what Shahab is saying. I guess in a way, providing the images is only a matter of contributing to someone's decisions and I don't really see the harm in that, to be honest.

However, I would also like to point out (since I failed to mention it earlier) that just because someone takes a BG that already has effects and work with that, doesn't mean that artist doesn't deserve any votes. Again, it all comes down to personal preference. People have different and unique way of working with stocks, and it all boils down to the fact that the artist STILL made effort to make it look pleasing to his or her eyes.

So yes, just wanted to explain that either way, people will still vote to what generally pleases them.

July 17, 2008, 9:12 PM

Sorry if what I said was not clear. My English is not as good and fluent as yours
I don't say if someone puts more time and skill on a pic, gets the vote.

You can see some wallpapers made by a game fan or company with a high level of GFX.
Some people may use these images, and then add a text and just a few brushes to it and claim it as their own work. well, what we have here? An amazing sig. but the point is that it's amazingness is not because of those brushes s/he has added to it. It's because of the original image s/he used for it. the effects that already were there and are not made by the competitor.

By putting both stock and entry sig, we can see which parts have been made by the competitor and how good THOSE parts are and vote based on it.

I explain it with music.
Someone efforts and creates a music out of nothing. S/he makes the violin, guitar, bass, piano and the outcome is a med-class music.

someone else, adds just a bass "bum bum bum" to a music which is not his creation.
And the result is perfect. but this perfectness is because of the base music, not the bass he has added on it.

hope this music example clears what I'm trying to say.

July 17, 2008, 9:28 PM

I agree with Shabz.
It really isn't your own work when you use a pre-made graphic and touch it up a bit.

July 17, 2008, 9:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shahab

Sorry if what I said was not clear. My English is not as good and fluent as yours
I don't say if someone puts more time and skill on a pic, gets the vote.

You can see some wallpapers made by a game fan or company with a high level of GFX.
Some people may use these images, and then add a text and just a few brushes to it and claim it as their own work. well, what we have here? An amazing sig. but the point is that it's amazingness is not because of those brushes s/he has added to it. It's because of the original image s/he used for it. the effects that already were there and are not made by the competitor.

By putting both stock and entry sig, we can see which parts have been made by the competitor and how good THOSE parts are and vote based on it.

I explain it with music.
Someone efforts and creates a music out of nothing. S/he makes the violin, guitar, bass, piano and the outcome is a med-class music.

someone else, adds just a bass "bum bum bum" to a music which is not his creation.
And the result is perfect. but this perfectness is because of the base music, not the bass he has added on it.

hope this music example clears what I'm trying to say.

Ah, I understand now.

You're saying that if someone uses a solid image with lots of effects already in it they should post the original as well as what they've done with it so we can see the difference in the two. Yes, I get it now.

I apologise if my little rant seemed harsh but I thought you meant something completely different.

Of course, not everyone (myself included) uses solid images all the time. Most people tend to prefer using renders.

July 17, 2008, 11:53 PM

Shahab makes a legitimate point, obviously if one takes a completely finished sig or whatever and makes a minor alteration, it's really too lazy to count as your own effort. But if there's visible effort being done to alter the graphic in a new way, it should count. I really see nothing wrong with it unless you claim that it's all your own material.

Submitting a link to where you got your stock or whatever is easy enough, and prevents dishonesty, but it does have it's problems. Alot of times I'll see a stock or C4D that looks really cool and I'll save it in case I ever want to do something with it, and I won't come back to it until months later. Half the images I have I don't remember where I found them, or if I do I don't have the name of the person who did them. That will complicate the matter because you'll just be getting people saying "I found this on DeviantArt" or "I found this on google." In the end, it won't make that much of a difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by C l a y m o r e

I agree with Shabz.
It really isn't your own work when you use a pre-made graphic and touch it up a bit.

Look at this realistically for a second. We all "use a pre-made graphic and touch it up a bit." Did you make that anime character in your sig? I doubt it. Did I make that image of Meta Knight in my sig? No, I took it off a wiki. How many of us create our own C4Ds and brushes instead of just browsing DeviantArt? Not many, I'm willing to bet.