Group effort to comment

[DK]

Hey everyone, I know I haven't been posting myself, so this may sound kind of hypocritical of me, but lately, as I've been browsing through sketchbooks, I noticed most people aren't commenting on each others work as frequently anymore in general. any reason for this? Does anyone have an issue with it? Thought I'd put it out there either way.

Maybe it's just me over-analyzing the situation, but while going through quite a few sketchbooks, I came across a number of threads filled with images and no comments. I can imagine how that may upset someone and stop them from continuing to post and/or discourage them altogether. I'm sure every single one of you want to have some sense of being noticed, even if getting better at art is something you are working on to achieve mostly by yourself. I know it's supposed to be a tough journey, but does it need to be lonely one? It's a forum after all, so I think we should help push and motivate each other as a community.

So, I was thinking... Is there a way for us as a group to change that? I don't want to put a burden on anyone, but is there a way for the whole community to pitch in and help motivate each other by posting in each others threads once in a while? It doesn't always need to be a critique and it should never feel forced, but just once in a while you might drop in and maybe you see something you can help out with or comment on something you like.

I'd like your thoughts on the issue and how possibly we can get the community to feel active and working together. Maybe you don't see an issue at all here? Who knows, lemme know.

Thought I'd throw in this video because it kind of relates

[wayfar]

Crimson Spotlight:

A spotlight on you sketchbook, make the front page by helpful critique and or participation in commenting in sketchbooks. Can be based on a voting system. Could have a little spotlight icon next to people names you could click to vote for them.

Each week it would change and maybe limit to 2 or 3 people as to not clutter up the home page too much. I guess it's kind of like the CA spotlight thing above their forums but I think this could be more interactive.

People want to be noticed, encourage them to participate in the community by offering a bit of spotlight. I don't know if this would be too technically complicated to implement, just a thought.

Here's a quick example:

[Tygerson]

First off, I can't complain. People here have been very thoughtful to comment and leave suggestions in my sketchbook. My drawings are beginner level, so that was a very pleasant surprise.

Anyway, it might be hard for members to identify those who post, but have a dearth of comments. Glancing down the list of sketchbooks, I don't know if the replies are mostly comments, or posts by the originator. The only way I know of to check is to open and scroll through each sketchbook.

[Simonarpalmer]

I never know what to say to a sketchbook, it's just sketches and studies and whatever, what is there to say? A finished piece on the other hand shows what level youre currently at with your painting skills, there's always things to comment and critique on there. Just my opinion of course! :-)

[DK]

Wayfar- looks like an interesting idea, but I think it takes away any legitimacy out of posting a comment. If everyone starts commenting in each others threads because of trying to get a spotlight, it will probably lead to many forced comments, which I want to avoid. Unless people actually do want something like this.

Tygerson- Already saw you steppin up and commenting in a few peoples threads. That's kinda what I want to maintain, but with every/most posters doing it.

Simonarpalmer- Well, if you see someone struggling or taking a wrong turn, you can help push them in the right direction or just encourage someone you see working really hard. You never know how much a single comment can mean to a person. Even something as simple as "Keep going, you're making really nice progress" might really help push someone forward.

[EduardoGaray]

Waifar is suggesting something like the spotlight system in CGhub and conceptart right?
I dont know too if something like that would be easy to implement but everything that revitalizes the community is a good thing.


Edit: just saw your post Dennis, i see your point. Forced posts should be avoided, a spotlight of useful stuff on the forums could be good idea, because there is always gems of knowledge that go unnoticed until someone spot them.
So, maybe users could "suggest" useful posts or threads to be in the main page so the information can reach everyone?
I dont know, just a silly idea. :P

I also always try to make time to comment in other people SB, and i lurk the SB forum everyday but like Simon says, if i dont have anything to say, i usually leave without commenting.
But if i like the stuff i will probably "like" the post haha.

[Madzia]

I joined community recently and for me confusing is division or not clear description of personal artworks section. I treat sketchbooks as worse finished works. Or more as 'sketchbook' is place where you can post whatever you redrawn from books and pictures and 'finished works' is place for original ideas. And for critique is separate section so I'm not sure if I can actually critique in others xD Just as I said I am new here and I'm learning how to be around and thous three sections confusing me the most.
I don't know if you also speaking about this but I noticed lot of people just post in own sketchbooks thread and don't care at all about the rest. Because there's always some number of browsers in "sketchbook" but noone besides regular users write anywhere else.
My idea would be joining this sections. I know that it might create chaos so I'm not sure about this :) but people would have more opportunities to look on others portfolios containing whole range of studies AND finished works. So everyone would have one thread with personal stuff not three separate for wip, finished and critique and re-post pictures in every single one.
Also is it possible for thread to have own miniature containing lastly added image? They would advertise them self :)

[wayfar]

I think Madzia is in the right direction. If I wanted to post in my sketchbook, post a finished work, get a crit or sell something, I have to go to 4 different sections. You could do all of those things in one thread and it would be more of a direct hub of a persons stuff.

Maybe this would be a good way to direct the flow of traffic into sketchbooks.

How about a Personal Artwork section and a Artist's Portfolio section right where the "Introductions" sub forum is? An introduction in your "Sketchbook" or whatever would be sufficient I think. (Plus having this right at the top would be like saying, "hey this is who we are and this what we do" that's introduction enough.)

And an Artist's Portfolio section would be a great way of displaying your finished art work as well as getting a more effective overall critique (individual crit can be left in the "sketchbook" thread). Anyone who wants to do this stuff for a living needs a portfolio right? I think having a section where you can "groom" your portfolio in particular would push a lot of people more in the right direction. This would also maybe push people to churn out more thought out finished work to post there.

Just another thought.

[DK]

I noticed after I made this topic the commenting has risen a bit, so to all those who are contributing, I want to thank you.

EduardoGaray- No worries, I've been paying attention and I know you're always trying to contribute/help and comment in peoples threads when you can.

Madzia- Sketchbooks are where you place all of your work, finished or unfinished, sketches or finals. It's a place where you can gather up all your work and people can browse through it to see how you've progressed. The finished work thread on the other hand is only for finished work and for people who only want to see finished work. The critique section is a place for a piece that you are about to finish, but you need a paint-over or advice to push it to that final step.

I can see how there is some confusion on what these separate forums are for. Some people think the sketchbooks area is only for sketches? That's not true at all, in fact when I was posting at CA I put all of my finished works in my sketchbook and never posted in the finished work thread and I saw quite a few people doing the same thing. I treat the finished work area for those who are especially looking for finalized work. I also kind of just added it there because most forums have something like this.

This could have something to do with the separation and lack of commenting. Not sure. I'll change the descriptions under the forums so they make a little more sense.

wayfar- Well, all four of those forums you listed are already in one hub called "Personal Artwork" if I put them all in one forum they would be harder to find. Wouldn't they? In any case I will definitely make the forum titles and descriptions more obvious to clear up any confusion.

[OtherMuzz]

Only new here, but I'm on a bunch of other forums.

I just try and get in the habit of posting in 3-4 sketchbook threads every time i update, and do at least one paintover and theory drop. Not sure how you can enforce this, but really people tend to follow the habits of everyone else, so you just need a good chunk of people doing this and the rest would hopefully follow.

I think it might help if you can get across the idea that analyzing other peoples works are a GREAT way to learn things for yourself.

[SpectreX]

There is also a Group of people who don't dare to give critics.
I for one feel like I'm not good enough to critique.

And I know that most say that everyone can critique to some extend.
But then who am I to give critique on someone's work who is better then me.

I do try to give my view/suggestion of things when I have a certain view/suggestion :)

[OtherMuzz]

Spectre, In that case I'd suggest wording it like, "i think that part looks off to me, How about you try this?"

As i said before, you actually learn a great deal from critiquing others as you are analyzing what others could be doing better and you get to apply that back to your own work!

[JakeB]

I haven't got any solid ideas for how to encourage actual feedback, but I do agree that getting everyone a little more involved would be a positive thing. Critiques are great, but there's something to be said for just dropping by someone's SB and saying something positive. Especially when, as Dennis said, the SB is all images and no comments. Just starting out, it can get pretty disheartening to just post with no responses.

I don't have a solution, and I'm not saying everyone should just spam "Awesome" into every thread, but I think there's definitely value to a comment, even if you don't feel confident in giving a full critique (I know I don't a lot of the time).

I dunno, seems like it boils down to "comment more, don't be a dick" Hopefully someone will come up with an actual solution. :D

[Madzia]

Some people think the sketchbooks area is only for sketches? That's not true at all, in fact when I was posting at CA I put all of my finished works in my sketchbook and never posted in the finished work thread and I saw quite a few people doing the same thing.

Exactly because of that it was confusing. If someone haven't been on other forums like CA they don't know how this works, including me :D Thanks for changing descriptions, this will help a bit.

Also you're saying 'finished works' are for people who only want to see finished works. I don't know if this is actually good approach. If the sketchbook can contain finished works and you want to increase comments in sketchbook, "finished works" and "sketchbook" should be joined together. This will not make harder to find only finished works cuz almost everyone have webfolio addressed in signature anyway. I think people more want to look on the progress, how someone got better over time, not only see finished works. People are lazy in meaning they would rather scroll to infinity than open every topic in couple different section. I personally would rather browse though one long thread of personal stuffs than two threads of the same author in two different sections.

[Psychotime]

I personally don't see any point in a personal portfolio thread on any forum. There are so many much better alternatives.

[ImSkeptical]

Maybe instead of having rep and like, have a vote to sticky the post somewhere. After a certain threshold is reached that happens. The reason I suggest this change is I think there might be some value in the only option of showing you thought something was cool being commenting with a post, even if it is just 'I like this'. Just kinda promotes it as a habit.

[OtherMuzz]

I don't think any change to the forums is going to help people comment, we are talking about a forum culture problem, you have to foster it by example and good habits.

[Damien Levs]

Dennis, I for one have noticed a lack in commenting, and it is not just here. It is CA, CGHub and Imagine FX. I feel there has been a shift across the whole board. I am fairly new here, but I have been on Ca, iFX for quite some time and it seems there is a lack of interaction in those places too. To be honest, i'm sort of feeling a bit meh about Conceptart.org these days. I'm not entirely sure. It just feels something is missing.

Here, well...I like it here. It's smaller and feels a lot more homely. So if we are under the same roof here, we should help each other.

I have commented on few Sketchbook threads here, but when I see work I really like. I don't want to just put something like "Dude, You rock! I totally dig your style. Post more. MOAR!"
I also feel like I am too inexperienced to critique. There has been times I have written a reply and decided not to post because when reading it back to myself. I sometimes feel like it could sound a bit like i'm up myself. I do not want to come across that way. I'm not like that. So that's what outs me off posting comments.

But you're right. We need to encourage each other. Make suggestions, we should grow together. C'MON! All I see these days is the human race killing each other off (maybe I watch too much Sky News and CNN), so lets pull it together, get together and create some fricken ART!!!!

:D

PS. I don't think any changes need to be made to the forums. I think we just need to get involved with each other more (hope that doesn't sound too weird, I didn't intend it too) :P

[Tygerson]

Okay, I kind of sense a kind of self-consciousness here when it comes to commenting. We start thinking, "Well, if I can't think of something properly witty, poetic, insightful, instructive, and humble to say, it's probably not worth posting."

I think, especially for beginners, it's enough to know someone even looked at your work. It's okay to say something simple, like which image you think they did really well on, or offer any kind of encouragement.

[OtherMuzz]

Something interersting is that most of the people posting here have less than 100 posts :O.

Lets hope they stay (i'm here for the long haul, it's just another forum to my regular forum rotation, this is kinda just replacing ca for me)