My Views on a few Issues

My View on a Few Issues

Im going to be addressing a few issues in this article. The first of which is whoring/tutorials. Then I'll talk about 'inspiration'. Then I'll move on to the making your own resources argument.

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Some people think that tutorials shouldn't be given out people that are new to GFX design whore the styles to a point where you only see one type of signiature everywhere. Perfect examples of whored styles are smudge style sigs, pixel-stretch sigs and pop-outs. Alias makes a lot of great tutorials but his tuts are always whored. He created the pixel-stretch style and made a tutorial on it. For a period of time after the tut all you would ever see was pixel-stretch. You still see the odd pixel-stretch around just now. The same thing happened with his soft grunge tutorial and it happened with a lot of his tuts. The more recent smudge-style of signature is seen all the time just now. I'm not actually sure who started this style because there are so many of them. it get annoying when you see the same style in every-one's signature. Only a few artists can now capture pure originality and trap it into a signature. Something that is overlooked as a whored style is grunge. Grunge is the most whored style of all as almost every single sig has some aspect of grunge in it. Most new and appealing styles get whored anyway but tutorials just help them on their way. I have mixed opinions on this. I think that good tutorials don't give you a step by step guide to making a sig. Good tuts should give you a technique that you can customise and create your own style with. I don' t think tutorials are good if you copy thme word for word and get a textbook reult. Thats what starts whoring. You need to make your own techniques and add them to techniques you have picked up to create your own style that no-one else uses. If every one did this there would be no whoring.

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Another issue is 'inspiration'.People will make a signiature that looks almost exactly identical to someone elses and then taking all the credit and saying they were 'inspired' That is just wrong. Ripping = Stealing and that is stealing the idea which is as bad as ripping in my eyes.

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Some artists think that if you are truly skilled you will use only resources you have made like your own brushes. I actually agree with this because it will make you a better artist.It will also ensure that people can't whore brushes you make if you don't release them to the public. At the moment I don't do that but I plan to start using only resources created by me which I hope will make me a better artist. A great example of an artist who only uses his own resources is flipn0tic. He is a great artist and he doesn't use anyone elses brushes. There are artists whose sigs look just as good as his but they used downloaded brushes. This makes Flip a better designer in my eyes.

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Thank-you for reading this article. I may be writing more depending on what people think of this one.

~Silver


P.S. This took me a long time to write so it would be greatly appreciated if I could get some constructive feedback and critisicm.

I think that if someone does GFX for a long time now and is only making sigs, he is very limited. Start doing larger works, it gives you freedom for your mind.

not bad i disagree with the not tuts for noobs part tho how else would they learn

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Originally posted by Metal@Sep 30 2005, 10:14 AM
I think that if someone does GFX for a long time now and is only making sigs, he is very limited. Start doing larger works, it gives you freedom for your mind.

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I do do larger works m8. The article was about sigs. I do a lot of large pieces now.


@Makaveli: I think of noobs just tried to mae their own style as son as they started and never looked at tuts they would be much much better designers

I kinda disagree on the part of the step by step for tutorials. I mean, they're here to help noobs, not for pros or something like that. It's just to help them out..hopefully, they learn some new techniques. That's how I learned, when I first started, I followed the tutorial step by step, exactly as it said, but as I improved, I only look at tutorials to check out any new techniques that I can learn..so maybe that's what they do now...

Anyway, I agree with your inspirations part..that is VERY true!! I also agree with the good artist part, but I'm not up to that stage yet..Can't do big works yet, though I'm working on it :D
Very nice article there mate.

IMHO tutorials provide the stepping stone for noobs to start designing..

What does IMHO mean?

In my humble opinion..

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Originally posted by Lumix@Sep 30 2005, 01:51 PM
In my humble opinion..

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or in my honest opinion :)

or in my horrible opinion ^^

To stay ontopic, I think everyone has been a noob and they learned from tutorials. I still watch tutorials to see how other people make there work.

I really like this article. I explains most of my theories in a nutshell. I really like how you pointed out the fact that good tutorials are the ones that don't have the step by step, but have open ended parts so they can expirement and try things on their own. Also I like how you included about dl'ed brushes and defaults. New designers need the brushes to learn the basics of depth, flow, and direction, and when they become comfortable with photoshop, they can switch to thier own resources and feel much better about their work. This might clear up some things for many people.

Thank you for all the comments. Ive been getting good feedback i all the placs Ive posted this. Life is good :)

hmm. I was thinking. Based on this article. Do u think I should apply for Article Writer?

~Silver

There is no such thing as true originality. All ideas originate from another idea, thus the term original is irrelevant.

Taking styles and learning it isn't whoring. Eventually when the designer is ready, he'll use all the techniques he has learned over time and create something of his own.

Alot of digital artists were inspired by real painters. People don't call that work ripping.

Tutorials are good for alot of reasons. They teach you the basic tools of photoshop. Alot teach you how to work with the alpha layers, which most are clueless on. They teach you level control, as well as different techniques that make a piece whole.

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Originally posted by {-Silver-}@Sep 30 2005, 03:37 PM
hmm. I was thinking. Based on this article. Do u think I should apply for Article Writer?

~Silver

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No, your article is completely biased and one-sided, and your writing style is unprofessional and childish. It is written in a style in which it is the writer's intention to make hiself look like "the bigger man" or majestic and wise, but more often than not it backfires and has the opposite effect.
It's an interesting article, however, and if it was written properly with both sides of the arguement considered, and with all aspects covered properly with a neutral attitude, then I would suggest applying for Article Writer. But it's not advisable at this moment in time.

As for the section on "Own resources", when you paint in real life, do you make your own paints? Or brushes? Or paper? I highly doubt it, infact I'd be willing to be money on it. It applies in exactly the same way to digital art. So what if someone uses resources created by someone else to create work with? It's the final product and effort gone into making the piece in my eyes.
I see what you mean about the person being the better artist, but it makes no logical sense to have such a view, for the reasons I have previously stated.

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Originally posted by ZeekUnreloaded@Sep 30 2005, 04:19 PM
There is no such thing as true originality.* All ideas originate from another idea, thus the term original is irrelevant.

Taking styles and learning it isn't whoring.* Eventually when the designer is ready, he'll use all the techniques he has learned over time and create something of his own.

Alot of digital artists were inspired by real painters.* People don't call that work ripping.

Tutorials are good for alot of reasons.* They teach you the basic tools of photoshop.* Alot teach you how to work with the alpha layers, which most are clueless on.* They teach you level control, as well as different techniques that make a piece whole.

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I agree with this on the whole, and you bring up some interesting points.

When is an artist truly an artist? Is it when they create some kind of representation of something? Or is it when they create something not done before?
It's an age-old question, and my view is that an artist is anyone who creates something is an artist, whether they like it or not. It is true that there is an "artistic" way of thinking, but many people who produce work don't have that thought process, especially when they are relatively new to art, and even more so when it is digital art. I see it as a gift, because it changes your way of thinking, of how you look at the world. Art is a sort of drug, if you will. Just think, how would you feel if someone took away all means of visual expression? I know I certainly wouldn't be happy! It has the same effect if you are deprived of addictive drugs.
Anyway, the point I am trying to get across here (allbeit in a long-winded manner) is that there is no "right or wrong" way to produce art, and it's entirely up to the person who creates it to do as they wish. Art theft, however, is an entirely different matter.
If you steal someone's art, it is like you are stealing their identity, their soul. It's wrong and there is no other way to put it. If you can't see that it's a bad thing to do, then you must have an awfully ignorant and/or selfish attitude.

The reason some paragraphs are in bold is to make it noticeable that they are infact seperate, rather than a long section of text.

I understand my writing style is sometimes difficult to read, it's my "Englishness" coming out in my words. If you have trouble understanding some parts, just ask and I will happily divulge on what it is I am trying to say.

Thanks for such an interesting topic, {-Silver-}!

Im taking ur suggestions and opinions in to account and I will write an improved version of this article. Thanx for the views

Silver

sounds like your talking from the heart!

lol. ok thanx for the comment

how many sigs do you see with that robot render in your current? to me, slapping on some random ass render, and adding brushing and text is not art. i, myself try not to do that, but usually, my individuality is not respected. climb-x being one of my favorite forums of all time, respects many aspects of individuality. but when someone like you with such trendwhorish sigs makes a thread about other people trendwhoring, it annoys me. dont be a hippocrate.