How anyone can improve at art

I like the idea for this contest, but I hope it doesn't become a formal "contest" like the GD 4E contest. That attracts more of the "skilled" people who are trying to win, rather than the people who are trying to improve their art. Rather than offering prizes (such as a sweet video card), perhaps simple voting and display on front page/topic page will suffice? Special recognition? Different categories? I certainly support this project.

Cheers,

I would definatly join because I just recently decided to improve my non-existent drawing skills. If only I could find a scanner.

Only things is that people could easily cheat by showing one of their really old drawings at the beginnin. Of course, if you don't offer a prize, that isn't as likely to happen, since people won't care as much.

I'd say a better model might be jwalsh's C++ Workshop. The pleasure of improvement should be reward enough on its own. Because of the nature of drawing, however, we could have each participant create a thread - one, and only one - in which they would continually upload their progress.

In fact, this is pretty much what happens on cgtalk, which is what inspired me to start my own thread on pose and proportion (albeit here, rather than there, partly because this is my community, and partly because I think it's good for others to see me willing to take criticism and be corrected by others, in my quest to improve).

Thoughts?

Yes, one thread and only one thread was what I was thinking, otherwise it gets very cluttered and disorganized.

There will be a prize, hopefully more than one. Its motivation, its something to strive for, it makes it funner.

The whole idea behind the contest is 'improvement', learning to grow through criticism and how to be helpfull and constructive, which is why there would have to be people monitoring consistantly over the month. This essentially removes those extremely experienced artists from winning, and gives 'advanced' or even 'moderate' artists a challenge.

Another way to avoid cheating is to offer a prize that only a begginner would want, say for instance there are three semi-decent art sets available. Anyone with the ability to fake that much content over the period of a month wont need one anyways. I think its worth a shot.

Finally, this is a rather tighter (tighter then some), community, if someone is cheating we will be able to tell. If not, they better make their thread overly convincing so that others can learn from it. This way everyone wins. In fact, gathering lessons and knowledge about how to learn and paths to learning is a good reason to do this if someone has the time to compile it into a usefull resource.

This is a good idea. I've been working on my art skills slowly over the course of the last couple of years, and I've been meaning to put in a bit more effort over the next couple of months. My belief is anyone can learn to do decent art if they just put in the effort and practice a lot.

I'm not sure I want to formally compete for a prize since I'm more interested in improving my own skill, but I'd be happy to post what I'm working on to add to the community effort; most likely in my journal.

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Original post by Trapper Zoid I'm not sure I want to formally compete for a prize since I'm more interested in improving my own skill, but I'd be happy to post what I'm working on to add to the community effort; most likely in my journal.

I second that; I would most likely do it for no formal prize. Also, is this going to be 2d hand-drawing only, or can it be a.) tablet-drawing + photoshop work b.) 3d modelling ?

Yeah, I'd support it, although I think I may be at the point where the slope on my learning curve is starting to level out to a degree in some respects, but god knows there's stuff that I really need to work on(like complex perspetive).

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Original post by D Shankar Also, is this going to be 2d hand-drawing only, or can it be a.) tablet-drawing + photoshop work b.) 3d modelling ?

I would think 2D hand drawing and tablet + photoshop (so long as the emphasis remains on straight drawing techniques, not the use of fancy filters). 3D would be a different workshop.

sounds awesome, I would participate as I as well as others here have my artskills field set to null

well I like the response so far, but obviously we would need more people to participate. I think we just might get around 10-20 people if this is presented in the correct manner to the GDnet lounge.

I will write up the announcement post and run it by Oluseyi, if you dont mind sir, and then it can be started.

Where should these threads go so that they dont clutter up the GDnet Visual arts forum, or, is this the best place for them?

Well, this is more appropriate for Oluseyi to answer, but I feel the Visual Arts forum would be best suited. GD.net is primarily for programming and general game dev. business. There are many good visual arts forums such as cgtalk, conceptart, and cgsociety. There aren't that many good programming forums (pure programming, not specific software based, like torque forums). Therefore, GD.net evolved primarily into a programming community, with only 1 tiny forum on visual arts (weird right?). With a large programming community, a C++ workshop can get quite some attention. But with only 1 visual arts forum, where there aren't many people actively posting/participating, a visual arts workshop such as the one we are proposing might not get as much attention as a programming one.

Also, this is a primarily 3d visual arts forum(imo). A 2d workshop might not be attractive if we must display only 2d drawings for 3d artists. Then again, they can improve their pose & structure.

So, I suggest just making a sticky thread with this workshop. Seeing that there are only about 8 people who have agreed to this as of now, and only half of them may even actively participate in the workshop, a full new forum for this "workshop" may be too much. Why don't we just try it out and see if there is much attention? Perhaps down the line, this will have a greater impact in the GD community.

Regards,

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Original post by D Shankar Well, this is more appropriate for Oluseyi to answer, but I feel the Visual Arts forum would be best suited. GD.net is primarily for programming and general game dev. business. There are many good visual arts forums such as cgtalk, conceptart, and cgsociety. There aren't that many good programming forums (pure programming, not specific software based, like torque forums). Therefore, GD.net evolved primarily into a programming community, with only 1 tiny forum on visual arts (weird right?). With a large programming community, a C++ workshop can get quite some attention. But with only 1 visual arts forum, where there aren't many people actively posting/participating, a visual arts workshop such as the one we are proposing might not get as much attention as a programming one. Also, this is a primarily 3d visual arts forum(imo). A 2d workshop might not be attractive if we must display only 2d drawings for 3d artists. Then again, they can improve their pose & structure. So, I suggest just making a sticky thread with this workshop. Seeing that there are only about 8 people who have agreed to this as of now, and only half of them may even actively participate in the workshop, a full new forum for this "workshop" may be too much. Why don't we just try it out and see if there is much attention? Perhaps down the line, this will have a greater impact in the GD community.

Quite a succinct analysis. "I am Oluseyi, and I endorse this message." [smile]

Thanks, hehe. Any timeframe you have in mind? I'm thinking until Christmas, and then having a best picture(s) debut on January 1 (New Year's Weekend).

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Original post by D Shankar Thanks, hehe. Any timeframe you have in mind? I'm thinking until Christmas, and then having a best picture(s) debut on January 1 (New Year's Weekend).

If we go with the workshop model, it's total up to the workshop coordinator how long it goes, and there'd probably simply be a participant gallery at the end, no real "bests."

I wonder if it will cause too much controversy or subjectiveness to have an IOTD or IOTW for this thread (seeing on how it's about improvement and showcasing it). Also I mean the IOTD/W is contained within the thread not put on the main website or anything like that.

I would like to participate as well. Is this starting in 2007 or now?

ASAP, I guess. Oluseyi and slowpid probably have to have this run by the other staff, and maybe find a workshop mod. 2007 is 3 months away; I'm sure we'll start earlier.

I could get into this! Count me in.

Me me me me me!