Re: Comment on comments (or lack of)

Posted by Guest on 2008/8/29 9:50:53

Ok, lets see whom I can piss off without wanting to piss anyone off. First off, opinions are just that.. opinions. They have no more or less power over you than what you let them. That said these are my opinions.

Leaving comments are important if you can?t tell that person directly, such as through an email, chat boxes, or ideally in person. Even the simple ?It?s great!? lets the artist know who was looking and that it is well thought of?.. if and only if it is genuine. I don?t care if ?Dack leaves a million emoticons, if it is what he really thinks. If anything when he does not leave a message, I wonder what the malfunction was.

As far as 3d vs. manips vs. 2d, once the picture is made, the medium used is irrelevant. It is a visual image and as such there are certain universal qualities that the image can be judged on. Composition, use of color and light, and many other things an educated artist would know about. Those things are universal and anyone? ANYONE... can discuss and have an opinion on. I bug Thayne for his opinion because he is not 3D because I want the perspective of 2D artist. I study manip tutorials to see how they do things because I can adapt the techniques to what I do. I would call these artistic opinions because they relate to art in a universal sense.

I learned a lot from people, Android for one. He is not 3D, but he pointed things out to me and really got me interested in Photoshop. If only there was two of me, so I could learn 3D and Photoshop at the same time. Maybe I would need 3 of me? so I can learn 3d modeling also. But Android is Aces in my book.

There have been times when I have gotten comments on things that from a manip point of view does not work. There was a picture I did where the boots were not as shiny as the lady?s outfit. I knew I used the same material settings on both and it was a rendering or lighting difference. It made me giggle because it showed the difference between the two mediums, manip/3D. To me that is fun and I still appreciated the comments.

I leave technical opinions at times, because there is just something about the picture that really just bugs the holy hell out of me, or someone asks. Rosepab did a picture of Batgirl. I had nothing against the picture, but the leather texture of the bodysuit to me was technically not right. The bump or displacement was too strong or the jpeg used for it was too small so when the program stretched the picture to cover the suit, the texture looked like rhino skin because the pebbly leather bumps were enlarged and stretched. I attempted to suggest a remedy for it. It was not to be mean or nasty. It was meant to be helpful. I figure that I got the same kind of help and would want someone to give it to me. In my warped mind it a responsibility and a ?debt of karma? to pass on knowledge and experience as I am able to repay the help I received. Tart asks opinions at times and I throw out what I think or I would do. I don?t know if he listens, cares, or gets totally pissed at me. I figure don?t ask if you don?t want it. I hope he and Rosepab knows where I am coming from and takes it in that spirit.

I do not leave many posts because if I know the person, I will tell them in a chat box. If I not, I will see if I can find a way to PM or e-mail them. I try to be respectful and polite when I do. I first did this with Sturk and he was a great stand-up guy. Showed me how to do some stuff and sent me a sample of a commercial product he was working on. I learned a lot and I still go back to look at the e-mails. Poor guy, I think I annoyed him to no end though.

What isn?t helpful is when an opinion is asked for and someone chooses to insult rather than help. Imagine working long and hard on a picture of Supergirl, posting it, and someone says ?Oh no, that isn?t the 1970?s Supergirl with the disco era headband. That is how you should have done it.? I had something similar happen. I modeled the goggles that ?Hawk has in the freebie section (check it out.. the model may not be good, but ?Hawk did the textures and those are worth the effort to get to use). I wanted to make them in the style of Cabwoman?s, but not so close that they would be useless for other characters. I studied what pictures I could find of Catwoman and every artist had their take on them. Some had multiple takes in the same comic book.

In the end, I came up with something 40-50 percentish close enough to look like hers. I spend 3-4 months off and on working and learning how to make them. When I finally posted a picture of them on a Catwomanish character, I asked how folks thought they looked. I got a few of the usual, but JoeQuick posted something to the affect that they were not like what Jim Lee drew and left a link to a nice big picture on the net. I admit it would have been nice to have a set of goggles like that and I copied the picture to my harddrive into a folder of things I want to do (big folder?.it?s an 250gig external drive that is filling quickly). I was pissed though. To do that to someone is insulting. Maybe he did not explain it well. Maybe I took it wrong. I tried to be civil about it, thanked him for the link and about trying to do another version in the future. I asked him to comment on what I did do though. I figured no use doing a Jim Lee version if what I am doing sucks. The reply Joe left was doubly insulting and I was ready to fight.

Luckily a couple of the mods talked me down and I haven?t seen anything out of joequick for a while. In a way I find it sad situation, because he does some things in Zbrush that are not bad and I would have liked to talked with him about how he does it and maybe traded some knowledge. Lesson here is that sometimes we do not communicate well at times and if someone does piss you off or you piss them off, remain civil and try to see the other guys point of view.

Finally if you cannot find it in you to be able to look critically and objectively at something, then do not do it at all. At this point, Pete take a chill pill or skip the next bit. PeterCotton does some incredible textures, great renders, and I am assuming postwork. But I will not look at his pictures. I know he is working developing a style inspired by the Japanese manga. I do not know the correct name, but it a type of innocent ?cutie girl? look. I actually spent an entire evening reading online trying to pick-up something so I could appreciate Pete?s work. Try as hard as I might, the girls in his pictures look like my daughters but with huge boobs. Near every year one or the other will go out on Halloween as a superhero, starting with my oldest when she was 3. She was Supergirl. For me it is a 7.0 on the old creepie meter.

This is my problem. Would I like to see Pete do a more mature lady, a kind of innocent ?cutie woman?? Oh hell yes, though I like more mature looking ladies. I think he would do a superb job and if he intends on doing graphic arts for a living someday it would be good practice. Even if not, expanding ones range is always good. But I am not going to denigrate his pictures because of my problem. Will I at times, voice my concerns that it dances on the borderline. Yeah, but not to be mean or make him stop. I will acknowledge he has a lot of talent and hope he has great success.

In short, if it is honest and/or meant to be helpful then a comment should be left and appreciated by the artist. If it pisses you off, take it in stride. If you piss someone off, be willing to say ?whoa hold on, I meant to say?? and try to explain better and a honest ?sorry? goes a long way. Then if you just cannot, because of any reason, keep your mouth shut.

I am done, please form an orderly line and wait your turn to beat the hell out of me.