Curse

YunSooJin · Aug 04, 2009, 04:55 AM // 04:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Verene

On dA, you really need to push to make yourself known, or do what's popular right now.

On an unrelated note, I'm amused that you did a drawing of a character named Alanna, Araiia

Alana is my real name and I so rarely ever see anyone with or using any form of it, so I'm always amused by that. Also, one of my favorite characters from a book is named Alanna

the children's book with purple magic thingie? And she's pretending to be a boy, but really a girl etc trying to be a knight?

Verene · Aug 04, 2009, 05:19 AM // 05:19

Yes! Song of the Lioness, by Tamora Pierce. She's been one of my favorite authors since I was a kid - I don't care that I'm 23 now, her stuff is still great. Alanna the Lioness, who has purple magic and a purple-eyed cat named Faithful

Several of my friends are convinced that the book character is somehow based off of me, even though the first one was written a year or two before I was born, as I am also short, red-headed, have the same name, have a black cat, am rather temperamental (especially with dumb people), and I absolutely love magic XD

/nerd

I've done some Tortall fanart, but I'm too lazy to scan it. And one of my GW characters (the same character that my GWG username comes from) is named for two characters in her books.

YunSooJin · Aug 04, 2009, 05:22 AM // 05:22

Yes. I loved Tamora Pierce when I was a kid. I remember I was all excited when she started writing a new series, but honestly I didn't enjoy that one very much. I found Alanna and Jon (?) to be much more interesting as stories.

Ok! Enough thread derailing =P

edit: I'm male but I thought Alanna was pretty freakin cool.

BlueXIV · Aug 04, 2009, 06:15 AM // 06:15

Psh. I think the thread has been derailed so much already that it's become an general art discussion thread, which is perfectly fine by me :P

ZenRgy · Aug 04, 2009, 07:52 AM // 07:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Widowmaker

Thing about dA is people have to actively search for you work unless they see it on the front page when you first post it.

Which is about a 2 minute window of opportunity if you're lucky.

That is why things like Star Wars, FF, and so on get a lot of faves, people know to look for it.

And that's why dA is a joke of an "art" portal.

Morag D · Aug 04, 2009, 08:26 AM // 08:26

extensive Lol @ faves and views on DA.. couldn't agree more (btw, Verene, I really like your stuff, I faved that butterfly picture a while ago

). While I'm lucky to say that my most faved piece is indeed what I'd consider to be the overall best piece of my gallery, the most viewed one is a a crappy old sketch of a bare-chested WoW character - which tells you a bit about the average wow player (no offense

) and DA in general. But I just like having my stuff up on a page somewhere that is incredibly easy to use (I'm hopeless with websites otherwise) and where I can see what friends draw and get some inspiration. I've long since resigned to the fact that I will never be a star there.. lol. I'm hungry now.

Nian · Aug 04, 2009, 08:36 AM // 08:36

@Verene,
I actually think SLR does not photographer make. I have a canon I got as a gift with a widescreen lens and I take really crappy pictures with it although a 55mm lens would be better suited for me. People take better pictures with their pocket cameras which are not even that bad nowdays and very compact & nice to take with you because they weight so little. I know many pros even do this because SLR is simply a pain to drag around.

I love that fish in a bubble photomanip.

@Chicken of The Seas,
There is actually something quite interesting in that puppy picture. The puppies look tired and they're in a cage with one paw on the bars. Little bit emotional.

Btw it would be cool if more people posted tutorials here of some of their drawing techniques or just their progress pictures. I can't think of anything to post aside from basic stuff otherwise I would. 8)

tasha · Aug 04, 2009, 10:19 AM // 10:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenRgy

And that's why dA is a joke of an "art" portal.

While we're discussing around this area I thought I'd jump in. I used to draw a lot as a teenager and was ok at it. I stopped while going through uni, but since I've graduated I've been picking it up again. Now I'm far from amazing, or even good (in my opinion), but I'm interested in getting better. I understand that this comes from drawing every day, but having somewhere where someone could take a look and give a couple of pointers every few months would be helpful. I have a dA account, I know its far from the best. Thing is I'm no where near the standard to go post on a professional forum (like ConceptArt) or such and don't know where I could go. Thoughts?

Tzu · Aug 04, 2009, 10:53 AM // 10:53

just one last note on the dA fav system... the window of opportunity-thing is too true, there are SO many awesome artworks out there which are near impossible to find if you use the "sort by popular - all time" filter, which happens to be the default.

Let's use Samus as an example. My girl crush and the awesomest female in gaming history, which lately has become "top of the pops" thanks to SSB:Brawl.
When I search for "Samus Aran", this, this and even this places >20pages x 120 deviations AT LEAST before something like this and the awesomeness that is this. Actually, after browsing through those 20 something pages, I just CBA to go on anymore, slightly sickened by the amount of GG-cupped Zero Suit Samuses in various positions with things like Marth, Snake and even Mario... wtf Q.Q
I don't even remember how I found half of my Samus art collection on dA anymore.

Back to topic, I never really used this one myself, but maybe someone will find it useful: colouring technique tutorial

Duranin · Aug 04, 2009, 03:43 PM // 15:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tzu

Back to topic, I never really used this one myself, but maybe someone will find it useful: colouring technique tutorial

I remember that tutorial <3 I tried it back when I still used Photoshop, but I suppose my lack of experience in greyscale shading made it not work out too well for me.

Nian · Aug 04, 2009, 04:16 PM // 16:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by tasha_darke

While we're discussing around this area I thought I'd jump in. I used to draw a lot as a teenager and was ok at it. I stopped while going through uni, but since I've graduated I've been picking it up again. Now I'm far from amazing, or even good (in my opinion), but I'm interested in getting better. I understand that this comes from drawing every day, but having somewhere where someone could take a look and give a couple of pointers every few months would be helpful. I have a dA account, I know its far from the best. Thing is I'm no where near the standard to go post on a professional forum (like ConceptArt) or such and don't know where I could go. Thoughts?

Post here for C&C? DA users are not likely to give any anyway. They will just comment with oneliners like "Cute".

Verene · Aug 04, 2009, 04:41 PM // 16:41

Hehe, thanks, guys

Nian - I know an SLR doesn't make one better or anything. However, I am the only one in my family that doesn't have some background in traditional photography (my grandfather has boxes and boxes of photos he took while overseas in the army in the 50's, my mom did a lot of it when she was younger, and my brother's done it a bunch too), so I feel a bit left out. I'd like to at least learn that sort of thing, you know?

Tzu - huh, that tutorial seems really familiar, but last time I saw it it wasn't in Flash mode. Neat.

Also, general art/discussion thread is something I was thinking we needed around here anyway, so yeah

BlueXIV · Aug 04, 2009, 04:57 PM // 16:57

@tasha, don't be afraid to post on CA.org. Not quite as scary as you'd think. It has it's share of beginners as well, and generally everyone is pretty nice (you wont find elitist pricks there).

It's just... pretty intimidating because there are so many awesome artists there, but they'll help you out if you go in with a good attitude. I was too embarrassed to post there at first as well, but I regret that now, because I get really good feedback :\

@Tzu, Q_Q, I only look at dA from links that people send me/from art sites. There are too many things there that burn my eyes D:
Oh and I wouldn't recommend getting stuck on that coloring tutorial, too methodical, and if you follow that, you wont get many cool color variations in your art

Edit: Btw, do you think we should start a C&C thread? For things GW related and not?

Morag D · Aug 04, 2009, 05:54 PM // 17:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueXIV

Btw, do you think we should start a C&C thread? For things GW related and not?

yeah, I think that would be really good - at least those people who really want some feedback can actively look for it. I'd be all for it, death to my ego

Verene · Aug 04, 2009, 06:20 PM // 18:20

I think something like that would be awesome - like Morag says, if someone wants actual feedback, they'll be able to post and get some.

Nian · Aug 04, 2009, 07:00 PM // 19:00

@Blue,
I used to think CA.org was very intimidating aswell and especially since I drew anime back then. I haven't posted there much 'cause I'm lazy but I've read the sketchbook threads and such and it is actually a very friendly place like you said. No discrimination. You get good comments but also encouragement and there are people of all skill levels.

The funny thing is everyone who makes a sketchbook there I've noticed improve their skills dramatically at the end. Even people who pretty much start from scratch.

Quote:

Edit: Btw, do you think we should start a C&C thread? For things GW related and not?

That would be a cool idea! General C&C thread where everyone could post their works and comments without having to feel intimidated and be encouraged to actually share critiques. I could use some feedback too on the WIPs of YunSooJin's commish.

@Verene,
That sounds cool. You have people who could teach you and you could borrow those expensive equipments too.

My dad does a lot of city photographing as a hobby and knows a lot about cameras but I'm just so uninspired to learn tbh. Feels like the SLR are just hindering the desire to photograph by giving too much freedom and stuff to adjust for a beginner like me.

Espadon · Aug 05, 2009, 02:30 AM // 02:30

My hands are too lanky to make a small camera like an SD500 work -- things just shake too much. I feel a lot more comfortable using SLR format since it's heavier and easier for my hands to grab onto, but that's about it.

Well and the fact it's faster to manually adjust exposure and focus sometimes if you're taking ref photos of tricky situations like rainy backlight and stuff like that.

imo any artist worth their salt would be able to turn even something like dA into a worthwhile experience. Even CA.org won't help people who don't want to improve >_>

BlueXIV · Aug 05, 2009, 03:53 AM // 03:53

Oh I'm not saying dA is worthless or not useful, I'm just saying dA is hard to extract random good tips from. If you have a circle of friends who give CnC, that's great, but if you want to just jump in to a community and get serious critiques, dA falls a bit short.

Verene · Aug 05, 2009, 04:02 AM // 04:02

I've gotten more and better critiques here in the span of about 6 hours than I have in over five years on dA, so yeah

Widowmaker · Aug 05, 2009, 12:35 PM // 12:35

If you want critique from artists you admire at dA, ask them. Some will be too busy, some will tell you where to go, but some will be happy to talk to you about it. Many people are happy to talk about what they love and many will be flattered you value their opinion enough to want to know.

Just depends on how busy they are.