who wouldn't
god I'd love to sell out
nothing I could produce could be worth the austerity of artistic integrity
be a shill: make that skrill
Better start making a portfolio full of painted gems. Gems and buttons. Buttons and gems. Buttons that let you buy gems. Buttons made of gems. Gems that make buttons. Butts that make gemons. Gettons maple butters. Bubble gable gen-con. And Jem and Holograms.
Then you'll have a partofolio that'll get you the ventu-dollars in the slicksocon vallerie.
EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
A good piece of advice I heard here a long time ago was to make about 30 pages of comics before you even post them online as a thing. That way you have a backlog to read through, you've got some experience under your belt for writing and drawing, and you have an idea on the rough amount of skill and scope it will take to continue it long term.
Then post it on the internet and keep making more quality comics. Maybe through them into tumblr and make a thread here in PA: Art request. I learned what Whomp! and Next Town Over were from their art threads.
Yeyeyeah, this thing's gonna be rad. It also features samurai robots and soda dispensers that dispense brains instead.
And yeah, start your comic. Don't wait till you gain traction by doing something that isn't exactly what you want to be doing. Say, fan art is an easy way to get a massive following, but I don't wanna be doing Naruto fan art to get people to follow me, when what I want to be doing is my own stuff. Do your own stuff and you'll attract people that like your stuff, not people who like something that is tangential to your stuff.
I'd argue that consistency and communication are also important, although second to actually making good work. Lots of great artists go unnoticed because they're a black box, or they get bored and jump from site to site.
This stuff should be obvious, but produce work regularly, and not only will you improve, but more people will see your stuff more often, and remember it. Try to talk to people you respect and learn from them, don't be a dick, and you'll do fine.
Yeah, it's really weird to think about. I wonder which ones of us are still going to be here in 10 years. I've definitely noticed that I've become less active since I started art school, but I try to stick around still. I'm pretty sure I won't forget this place ever though, since it really has helped me grow a lot.
gavindelThe reason all your softwareis brokenRegistered Userregular
Forums and usenet groups are like archaeological bands of the internet past. Some are still active, like communities of mole men hiding from the light of modern web design. Others have died, their remains ossified into the fossils that future sociologists will pick through when they speak of the dawn of the information revolution.
And I'll make a habit of popping in once or twice every few years to say hey! And everyone'll be all 'who dis?' and then I'll probably be like 'oh nobody, haha' and we'll all go on with life. Future sociologists will be like 'there he is again, sort of participating. fascinating!' (because you know they'd find all past-people fascinating, what with our manual automobiles (which seems like an oxymoron, but somehow isn't) and our aging)
Yeah I've definitely fallen off the forums a lot more lately, mostly because of time, but because my history with this place I think I'll never leave completely.
I have thought about what would happen if the forums were to shut down. I guess everyone could keep in contact via Facebook, but that really wouldn't have the same feeling of community.
RE: Facebook forums: It probably would cut down on the usefulness and candor of my critiques if I had to worry about someone's entire extended family telling me I'm an asshole for pointing out their PRECIOUS and SO TALENTED son/daughter/sister/brother/cousin/uncle/aunt/mother/father/grandmother/grandfather/bloodbrother/godchild etc etc. had accidentally drawn a hand with two thumbs.
EDIT: Also these conversations really bum me out because I feel like everyone's going to drift away over the years, and I'll still be here haunting the place by myself, like a lonely immortal vampire/Highlander type who has just persisted on while everything they once knew has fallen away.
RE: Facebook forums: It probably would cut down on the usefulness and candor of my critiques if I had to worry about someone's entire extended family telling me I'm an asshole for pointing out their PRECIOUS and SO TALENTED son/daughter/sister/brother/cousin/uncle/aunt/mother/father/grandmother/grandfather/bloodbrother/godchild etc etc. had accidentally drawn a hand with two thumbs.
EDIT: Also these conversations really bum me out because I feel like everyone's going to drift away over the years, and I'll still be here haunting the place by myself, like a lonely immortal vampire/Highlander type who has just persisted on while everything they once knew has fallen away.
I'll be here with you Bacon
The two liches of the AC
where do you reckon we should keep our phylacterys
RE: Facebook forums: It probably would cut down on the usefulness and candor of my critiques if I had to worry about someone's entire extended family telling me I'm an asshole for pointing out their PRECIOUS and SO TALENTED son/daughter/sister/brother/cousin/uncle/aunt/mother/father/grandmother/grandfather/bloodbrother/godchild etc etc. had accidentally drawn a hand with two thumbs.
EDIT: Also these conversations really bum me out because I feel like everyone's going to drift away over the years, and I'll still be here haunting the place by myself, like a lonely immortal vampire/Highlander type who has just persisted on while everything they once knew has fallen away.
I'll be here with you Bacon
The two liches of the AC
where do you reckon we should keep our phylacterys
Hide them in the holiday forum, visible only at a limited time of the year and buried deep in antiquity
I'll probably stick around too, for the most part.
I've taken some time from the forums before (the worst was when the AC was flooded with new posters years ago, who I think were just here to post their "new webcomic idea", get really defensive at any critique, and then attack the members who were trying to help them...I think half of them were just trolls).
Even if I need to take a break, I generally really like almost all of the people on these forums, and it's a really nice social outlet to come back to. The AC also remains one of the only places I've found on the interwebs that is reliable for solid critiques, rather than pages and pages of mindless praise.
I mean - praise is great too (even necessary, I'd think, so the artist feels encouraged) but yeah...the largest art forums out there unfortunately don't seem to really offer much in the way of constructive feedback.
Its not really regular. You can start one up at any point here in chat (just make a hangout, post the link) Generally they are more popular in the evenings in the east/central timezones, but there have been some late night and daytime ones.
I'm mostly just lurking about anonymously, but I'd be pretty bummed out too if this place wouldn't be here anymore. I thought I'd chip in and let it be known.
Cheers.
www.instagram.com/ceneven
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EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
A lot of us post here during work hours where hangouts aren't typically possible. Most of my activity on these boards are between appointments or on days where I have a lot of no-shows.
As long as the forums exist at large, the AC isn't going anywhere. You guys can talk about whatever you want in the chat thread, If you can manage not to get hot under the collar about stupid shit, which was happening when I first started modding. I would like to see more participation overall, but right now things are still at a pace where I can reply to threads when they come in, that's not the worst.
I'd like to encourage you all to increase the cross talk, especially in threads, though. You may not have a giant critique to bestow upon someone, but actually saying something is really what is appealing about the AC. If you are reaching for that awesome button, consider leaving a comment. The AC only dies if you all are willing to sit silently and watch it become a desert, and I just don't see why that'd need to happen. Also look at threads other than the doodle thread.
But really some of the slowdown is expected. The AC used to be full of people yelling at new artists because they sucked, and that was entertaining for the forum at large even if it was somewhat destructive. Now that you cant be shit heels to each other we lost some folks who that was their primary interest. I'm okay with that.
The forums are always going to be appealing to new artists rather than people who are set in their ways and just looking for pageviews/tumblr followers, and so when we find the members who are ready to work and interested in the kind crits we dole out, the hope is to retain them. The reason that alot of us have been here for 10+ years is because we came here with our shitty work and worked on it until we were better, and actually got guidance to do so. Posting on the other big forums is ultimately disappointing, you either get praise or silence, no one likes silence.
Show the AC to your friends, comment on peoples work, and it'll pick back up. I'm not wholly upset with the traffic right now, but when the MOST RECENT column is just a mosaic of my fucking mug, I judge you all a little. You can just say "I like green" and it would be better than nothing.
I don't think any of us were really suggesting the AC was going to "die" - this forum has always been one of the slower ones, but it also cycles in new members over time. The real reason people permanently leave I think is generally just that they end up having really busy lives IRL, and can't spend as much time in the forums.
I can't recall people ever really getting "hot under the collar about stupid shit" to an excessive degree in the chat threads - do you mean about the flood of new posters acting like jerks? That's the only incident I can really remember. Maybe that was one of the times I wasn't visiting the forums very often.
The chat thread has - in my memory - always been more or less really relaxed, which is really nice. I know some other forums have Hella Drama on the regular...but I only remember the AC having that when yeah, that "flame war" thing happened for like a week or two back in the day, which - agreed - certainly didn't help us to seem too welcoming. :P I feel that's not really ever an issue anymore, though? Just the slowness. Which fluctuates, so it's fine.
I'm not really sure how to bring more people in here organically. If we were busier I almost feel like that in itself would help attract more members.
There were some enraged conversations about comics in here when I first started, for some reason.
The forum being busier does encourage people to post, and that's why I want to see more cross talk. If people lurk and see that there's only two types of posts, people posting art, and giant multiple paragraph critiques, they think they cant post casual opinions about work. I get tumblr asks about people saying they saw my work on the forum and liked it, and I try to encourage them to post. They feel like tumblr is more appropriate for their passing comment, but I want people to understand that the forums are fine for it.
I guess all I'm saying is that if you are are looking, then a minute or two posting is the difference between a slow forum and an active one, and while suggestions for activities and such tend to get people jazzed up, the subsequent participation is usually lacking. When new members come around and they see a bunch of dead activities, they just sorta assume that nobodies home.
I realize that most of you don't have time for the old comic activities that we used to do and that kind of thing, but I think that a few of you have enough time to leave a sentence or two once a week. It really makes a place more appealing if it seems to be populated. Most people dont know yall are lurking, like I do.
yeah uh hey if any lurkers are out there stop lurking
we don't bite!
we nibble
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EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
With what I do, I always fear talking as more of a layman is gonna do more harm than good. Most of you folks are fantastic and while I have a design and layout background my drafting skills are crap at best.
Posts
trying to go the other way is super difficult
Awake within the Dream and without
Then dream within the Dream and without
I mean
that's how I'd do it
*shrug*
god I'd love to sell out
nothing I could produce could be worth the austerity of artistic integrity
be a shill: make that skrill
Better start making a portfolio full of painted gems. Gems and buttons. Buttons and gems. Buttons that let you buy gems. Buttons made of gems. Gems that make buttons. Butts that make gemons. Gettons maple butters. Bubble gable gen-con. And Jem and Holograms.
Then you'll have a partofolio that'll get you the ventu-dollars in the slicksocon vallerie.
Twitter
This is more exciting than any movie trailer, knowing the quoted above is being produced.
My Portfolio Site
Then post it on the internet and keep making more quality comics. Maybe through them into tumblr and make a thread here in PA: Art request. I learned what Whomp! and Next Town Over were from their art threads.
And yeah, start your comic. Don't wait till you gain traction by doing something that isn't exactly what you want to be doing. Say, fan art is an easy way to get a massive following, but I don't wanna be doing Naruto fan art to get people to follow me, when what I want to be doing is my own stuff. Do your own stuff and you'll attract people that like your stuff, not people who like something that is tangential to your stuff.
This stuff should be obvious, but produce work regularly, and not only will you improve, but more people will see your stuff more often, and remember it. Try to talk to people you respect and learn from them, don't be a dick, and you'll do fine.
God, look at all those long gone screen names.
(that's a great link, @Agentflit )
I have thought about what would happen if the forums were to shut down. I guess everyone could keep in contact via Facebook, but that really wouldn't have the same feeling of community.
EDIT: Also these conversations really bum me out because I feel like everyone's going to drift away over the years, and I'll still be here haunting the place by myself, like a lonely immortal vampire/Highlander type who has just persisted on while everything they once knew has fallen away.
Twitter
Does anyone have one of those 'here's all the gang!!" drawings sitting around? Like from the TSO migration or whatever?
I don't think The AC is full of high emotion these days haha
EDIT: Bacon that's a good drawing prompt
I'll be here with you Bacon
The two liches of the AC
where do you reckon we should keep our phylacterys
Hide them in the holiday forum, visible only at a limited time of the year and buried deep in antiquity
I've taken some time from the forums before (the worst was when the AC was flooded with new posters years ago, who I think were just here to post their "new webcomic idea", get really defensive at any critique, and then attack the members who were trying to help them...I think half of them were just trolls).
Even if I need to take a break, I generally really like almost all of the people on these forums, and it's a really nice social outlet to come back to. The AC also remains one of the only places I've found on the interwebs that is reliable for solid critiques, rather than pages and pages of mindless praise.
I mean - praise is great too (even necessary, I'd think, so the artist feels encouraged) but yeah...the largest art forums out there unfortunately don't seem to really offer much in the way of constructive feedback.
My Portfolio Site
And watch.
Silently watch from behind the veil.
Cheers.
I'd like to encourage you all to increase the cross talk, especially in threads, though. You may not have a giant critique to bestow upon someone, but actually saying something is really what is appealing about the AC. If you are reaching for that awesome button, consider leaving a comment. The AC only dies if you all are willing to sit silently and watch it become a desert, and I just don't see why that'd need to happen. Also look at threads other than the doodle thread.
But really some of the slowdown is expected. The AC used to be full of people yelling at new artists because they sucked, and that was entertaining for the forum at large even if it was somewhat destructive. Now that you cant be shit heels to each other we lost some folks who that was their primary interest. I'm okay with that.
The forums are always going to be appealing to new artists rather than people who are set in their ways and just looking for pageviews/tumblr followers, and so when we find the members who are ready to work and interested in the kind crits we dole out, the hope is to retain them. The reason that alot of us have been here for 10+ years is because we came here with our shitty work and worked on it until we were better, and actually got guidance to do so. Posting on the other big forums is ultimately disappointing, you either get praise or silence, no one likes silence.
Show the AC to your friends, comment on peoples work, and it'll pick back up. I'm not wholly upset with the traffic right now, but when the MOST RECENT column is just a mosaic of my fucking mug, I judge you all a little. You can just say "I like green" and it would be better than nothing.
I can't recall people ever really getting "hot under the collar about stupid shit" to an excessive degree in the chat threads - do you mean about the flood of new posters acting like jerks? That's the only incident I can really remember. Maybe that was one of the times I wasn't visiting the forums very often.
The chat thread has - in my memory - always been more or less really relaxed, which is really nice. I know some other forums have Hella Drama on the regular...but I only remember the AC having that when yeah, that "flame war" thing happened for like a week or two back in the day, which - agreed - certainly didn't help us to seem too welcoming. :P I feel that's not really ever an issue anymore, though? Just the slowness. Which fluctuates, so it's fine.
I'm not really sure how to bring more people in here organically. If we were busier I almost feel like that in itself would help attract more members.
The forum being busier does encourage people to post, and that's why I want to see more cross talk. If people lurk and see that there's only two types of posts, people posting art, and giant multiple paragraph critiques, they think they cant post casual opinions about work. I get tumblr asks about people saying they saw my work on the forum and liked it, and I try to encourage them to post. They feel like tumblr is more appropriate for their passing comment, but I want people to understand that the forums are fine for it.
I guess all I'm saying is that if you are are looking, then a minute or two posting is the difference between a slow forum and an active one, and while suggestions for activities and such tend to get people jazzed up, the subsequent participation is usually lacking. When new members come around and they see a bunch of dead activities, they just sorta assume that nobodies home.
I realize that most of you don't have time for the old comic activities that we used to do and that kind of thing, but I think that a few of you have enough time to leave a sentence or two once a week. It really makes a place more appealing if it seems to be populated. Most people dont know yall are lurking, like I do.
we don't bite!
we nibble