TDD's two cents....

Alright guys, here's some things for you all to think about.

Firstly, when I joined this forum two or so years ago, the graphics forum was booming with so many promising members, everyone worked together to achieve better in their designs and many of these people had great potential.
People like Durial20, Haunted, Kurt_Cobain, Phevil, She Mines It/SMI/Vision Ex, etc.

There were also all the members that had more enthusiasm then actual skill, but that was cool because these members and others would all offer their knowledge and help the other people advance in their graphics, it was awesome to be able to see a thread where people actually helped each other, and didn't simply say "It's good", they would pick out what was good, but at the same time point out what could be improved and also explained how it could be improved, these were not just 4 word replies but in-depth which made them excellent. These days the best replies I see are by two, maybe three members, everyone else seems to post the same shit which is basically always "It's good" or "10/10".

When a member posts in this forum, they are after advice on how they can improve, whilst receiving praise for their attempt at whatever it is, when everybody simply posts that the creation is good, that person is not going to improve at all as they believe what they have done is of amazing standard and that there is no need to improve... there is always room for improvement.

I want to bring this forum back to its former glory, but I cannot do it alone, it is not my responsibility alone, it is all of yours. To bring this forum out of the shit-hole it is currently in, you are all going to have to put all your efforts in, and help improve your fellow members, If you can see something that could be improved in a fellow member's creation, then tell them what it is you believe could be improved and how they can improve it, this way when they try something new, they can incorporate this into the new creation and raise their quality of work to the next level.

If everyone was to spend some time giving critique to a person's creation, instead of posting "it's good" then everyone can benefit from the post, not just the creator of the art as other people will be able to look at the creation and see exactly what it is the poster is going on about, and they can even try it themselves - the best way to learn is by seeing and doing... but when it comes to designing, it is also beneficial to see what other people have done that can be improved, then apply that to their own creations.

I myself am going to be taking an extra half an hour out of each day to spend time and post significant posts to help people improve, and if I have enough spare time, will create some tutorials for people to see and learn from. And I hope you can all do the same.

I will also give this advice... If you want to improve your graphic designing skills dramatically, google the following terms and spend a few hours researching the following things:

-Color Theory
-Hierarchy in Design
-Typography

-Sans Serif
-Serif​

Now onto another issue on my mind:

GFX Sales. It is simply a joke, and you the community, have made it so. People are overpricing for something that should be worth 1/4 of what it is being sold for, simply because they can and because the seller knows they can exploit other members simply because the other members do not know the value of good design. Most of you probably saw my attempt to fix this, through my rule implemented to moderate the prices, Sythe called it communism (Screw you! I'm no communist!). So rather then moderate the prices, I will again put it into you, the members, to fix it.

I believe the reason people do not realize how much a decent design is worth is because of the first problem I wrote about in this post, so if people were to stop just saying "That's good" and actually critiquing work, then I think the over-pricing of work would cease. I also would like for you, the members, to sit down and take a good hard look at your own work, then put a value you deem to be fair on it (A good way to value it is to put yourself in another person's shoes, and ask yourself how much would YOU be willing to pay for it) then come back in two days time and do the same thing, and take the average between those two values, and use that... being fair of course.



I will leave you all with this last message:

This forum is in your hands, how useful the forum is to members, is in the members hands. What you do determines how this forum operates, what happens to it, etc. Want it to sink further into a shit-hole? Then keep going the way you are! Want it to improve and want more benefits and more activities like SOTW/One-on-One tutoring/etc.? then pick up your act and help your fellow member out!

Big read, but that is my $0.02

 

I'm not big in graphics, I've tried to learn multiple times, but quite often your efforts just seem meaningless. I totally agree with you Mat, that in the sense of actually taking the time to appreciate art, rather than simply show your knowledge, will greatly help those who are attempting such a feat at improving.

As for the market prices, I say it'd be nice to have some people actually appraise the value of certain works of art. For instance, yourself, going around and telling people how much you think it's actually worth, by grading effort, design, style, and the like.

It would very well increase the traffic to the graphics area, I believe.

Nicely put man .

 

Great Speech TDD, I also agree with you, on most forum posts all I see is "nice job", "dude can you make me one". When I first joined in Early August '07 I saw lots of encouragement and constructive criticism.

 

I would try to appraise the value of the people's creations, but Sythe would probably call me a communist again, so I'm putting that in the hands of the community.

 

The community hasn't the talent you do. Just because you give a value in your eyes, doesn't mean others have to abide by it. You're just putting your thoughts of their work into perspective. If that stops inflation by disallowing users to continue raping the buyers, then so be it. It was unintentional, and purely circumstantial.

 

I would love to try to contribute to the gfx forum, and making it a better place. I finally have my hands on the full extended version of photoshop, though not a place to discuss how I got it...

My point is that I do know what you are talking about, and I am a beginner GFX'er. I am currently learning all kinds of different techniques on signatures, and themes.

For the sales on signatures: Maybe someone should make a thread, and have it sticked, saying how much a signature would cost. There would be different levels of the signature quality; For example:
1. Bland/basic/some-what boring
2. Decent/some detail
3. Good-looking/nice detail
4. Outstanding
etc. Also, there can probably be an example of a signature for each of these levels.

 

The problem lying here is that all of that is relative to the end user's perspective of what good GFX are, so it would still be as inefficient as it currently is now.

 

^ Agreed, even though I suck and have no right, I still used to think my gimp shit was good, now I'm slightly better, I realize it was rubbish.

Anyways, nice speech.

 

Ahhhhh I remember those days....

 

Xtern still uses that sig I made him.

 

Amen to that.

 

Thanks TDD, I'm looking at the color theory article on a website, and it seems interesting. Hopefully the other terms you suggested won't be boring >_< . Anyway, graphics was booming when Boom Headshot (aka Phil) and others were here, now it seems stale.

 

TDD has a large gaping vagina.

But still makes a good point. I've finally gotten back into graphics, now that I've gotten PS CS3. SO I'll be more active here. >_>

 

very nice guys

 

actually i would say you guys are pros

 

i understand i mean im pretty sure everyone would want to improve on this or even start on it like myself and a few others...

but TDD

maybe you and the other highly skilled,experinced,etc should take vids sometimes...

to be honest i think that would help very well.

 

I agree TDD.

I'm hoping to be a bit more active round these parts since I've seem to have found a talent for Photoshop.

 

COMMUNIST!

GFX will never thrive on gaming based forums.

 

I will help you to the end TDD

Im just starting out in graphics design tho =/

Will study what you have said

 

It doesn't have to thrive, but it doesn't have to fail either.