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Questions and Answers

Ah, things have settled, somewhat, and have given me enough time to go over our changes post and answer some questions and worries people may have.

A few people have brought up other sites like ConceptArt.org and CG Society as models of sites that have large communities and high quality. There are different dynamics playing about here. Nobody is looking to "break into" the anthropomorphic fandom, or any fandom, really. They are, however, looking to break into concept design and 3D graphics as careers. The core base on those sites are professionals and companies. The core base of art patrons on sites like this one are other fans.

This is not to say we are not going to be taking a page (or two) from these sites. Already we have a Sketchbook Pages group, the idea shamelessly ganked from CA.org awhile ago. The new ArtSpots site will be more accommodating to things like tutorials, interviews, articles, and similar activities. In short, one of our aims is to become similar to a ConceptArt for the anthro fandom. We feel this goal can be better achieved by taking down the wall that separates the skilled artists from the ones still learning. Better able to have a dialogue, that way, oui.

(A little tidbit. Early in ArtSpots life, we had a technical admin from CA.org contact us, curious if our code was available. If I recall correctly, they were pondering the idea of letting users have their own gallery spaces. Whether the were not able to work this in or are still debating coding it themselves, I do not know. I have not talked to anyone there in a good long while. Food for thought, still.)

Part of the merge was also to try and remove the stigma from posting pieces like sketches to a gallery. I find that a skilled artist's sketch is usually much more interesting to look at then the finished piece that results from it. I am not talking about random doodles, although those are fun too, but rather showing a step during work. A lot of artists, including many ArtSpots artists, were afraid to post anything but what they felt was the best. I wanted to remove that fear.

The Maître de guilde status, otherwise known as master, and the Salon are going to be included to help further our goal. A few people had questions about this. Let me answer those, too. The Salon will include works on an individual piece-by-piece basis, mostly submitted by masters. If a compagnon submits a piece that is included in a salon, they become a Maître de guilde. We are still working on the details. A lot of this is still being worked out to be more self-explanatory. It is not the easiest of tasks. :)

And… for those who are dismayed that there might be nothing to work towards, or that having your artwork next to a previous ArtSpots-only artist removes some of the thrill or pride that existed, I just have to say this:

You thought we were tough before on applicants getting into ArtSpots? That our standards were too high? This new change will allow us to be, how shall I say, utterly ruthless and—this, this is the most important part—without regrets. >:)

now you have me curious, nervous as hell yes D: but curious!

I also want to mention something about the content issues that were brought up earlier. We are a PG site, and do not allow porn/purely fetishistic art and never will. We were expecting a boost from our Anthrocon presence, what we were not expecting was other sites going down at the exact same time, causing an even larger influx. We take care of such art as soon as we can, many times before it even leaves the first page of recents. The merger does not constitute us softening the rules for such material. As a matter of fact, the rules for the site are being re-tooled as I speak. Right now, even, oui! And, I shall remind people, flags exist so that the community can help bring problem pieces to our attention.

This was another reason for the merge, believe it or not! Why try to split up a positive note like a PG art site, and diminish its influence? As far as I know, we are the only active PG anthro art site. Why block that to artists who also want that but might still need some work to improve, and encourage them to go to other "anything-goes" sites to get eyes on their work?

Naryu said: now you have me curious, nervous as hell yes D: but curious!

*rubs hands* Goood. Gooood. ;)

Oh lawd, I'm never going to get in at this rate. xD
Still, I anxiously await the new features!

Ohhhh, fantastic!
:)
I love this website!
Bring on the PAAIN! >:D I am so READY.

When Artspots was originally created, certain artists were chosen to be allowed to bypass the assessment process and freely given galleries on Artspots (That translating into Companion status now), whereas everyone else had to apply for that.

Will this happen with the Salon & Matire De Guild status?

Can you reveal any information about the kind of selection criteria you're going to be looking at for Maitre status? Will it be loose or strict, etc?

Are you concerned about setting the bar too high with Matire de Guild & the Salon versus the level of "payback" people will get for it? When you get to a certain level of skill, I imagine that people don't usually need to "prove it" as it were.

*flexes shoulders*

:)
Muhahahah! Excellent.

Edward of Woodstock said: When Artspots was originally created, certain artists were chosen to be allowed to bypass the assessment process and freely given galleries on Artspots (That translating into Companion status now), whereas everyone else had to apply for that.

Will this happen with the Salon & Matire De Guild status?

Can you reveal any information about the kind of selection criteria you're going to be looking at for Maitre status? Will it be loose or strict, etc?

Are you concerned about setting the bar too high with Matire de Guild & the Salon versus the level of "payback" people will get for it? When you get to a certain level of skill, I imagine that people don't usually need to "prove it" as it were.

Quite honestly, we haven't determined exactly what the selection criteria will be. It is quite possible that Mr. Seurat has some ideas that he has not yet revealed to the rest of us cheetahs, but I will tell you a bit of what I know.

The Salon applications will not be like ArtSpots' applications. The basic criteria will be the same fundamentals as ArtSpots- Anatomy, Perspective, Lighting/Value, and Composition. But there may be additional criteria as well. Pieces will be judged on individual merit. An artist may submit three images, and maybe only one or two will be selected for the Salon. There will be limits on how many pieces can be submitted per time-frame, but we have not yet decided on these limits.

As for bypassing the Assessment process. This is not something we have discussed just yet, so what I say is my own opinion and not written in stone. I do not believe anyone or any art piece will bypass the assessment process for the Salon. We might see a piece that we would like to see in the Salon gallery and strongly encourage the artist to submit it for assessment, but it will still go through the process just as everything else.

Also, having work in the Salon will not necessarily mean an artist will have the title of 'Matire De Guild.' This is another thing we have yet to make a decision on, but it is very probable that the requirements for that level will require at least a bit more effort than just that. =)

Totally agree... *smiles in a senseless-not-undestandable way*

I like it! The spirit of improvement and learning in a nice and structured manner. :) Bring it on!

For the love of the Upperbeing and small fluffy puppies - could you please consider implementing a daily upload limit? I've complained about having to wade through 5-10 pictures from the same artist, so imagine my dismay at having to trudge through PAGES of a single artist's work.

Sudan Red said:

For the love of the Upperbeing and small fluffy puppies - could you please consider implementing a daily upload limit? I've complained about having to wade through 5-10 pictures from the same artist, so imagine my dismay at having to trudge through PAGES of a single artist's work.

We still technically have one that can be flipped back on. It is not so much an upload limit, but rather only showing you X amount of images from artists on the recents. So if Artist A uploaded 10 images, and Artist B uploads 7, you'll only see 5 from each. It helps make browsing recents more manageable. (However, if you look at the recents from watched/faved artists, you'll see everything.)

I think we're a little apprehensive about instituting an upload limit, because we want to encourage people to participate on the site and start galleries here.

Give me a few days though and I'll have something workable in place.

Many thanks and biscuits speed thine way to thee.

This may sound petulant, but I don't want to see 5 pictures if 7 were uploaded. I _do_ want to see all of an artist's work, just not uploaded by the dozen on the same day. Otherwise I may just as well check the Compagnon filter on and miss out on JaxPad art.

Sudan Red said:
Many thanks and biscuits speed thine way to thee.

This may sound petulant, but I don't want to see 5 pictures if 7 were uploaded. I _do_ want to see all of an artist's work, just not uploaded by the dozen on the same day. Otherwise I may just as well check the Compagnon filter on and miss out on JaxPad art.

I'm confused as to what exactly you're expecting them to do, as most artists really don't like the concept of an upload limit, especially if we have a lot of new art to add. Having an upload limit would drive me nuts personally. I mean you could just up the amount of Thumbnails that display on a single page, so all you have to do is scroll past if seeing that much art by the same artist in the same clump really bothers you.

Armaina said:
I'm confused as to what exactly you're expecting them to do */snip*

Impose a daily upload limit? :) With regards to adding lots of new art, if I recall, there is this neat feature that you can backdate your uploads with. Drowning out other people's art with dozens and dozens of images is just plain inconsiderate.

VCL had this issue with a lot of Artists of a lower skill level uploading stuff that often wiped out other artworks. By the time one got done skulling some, and filtering stuff you didn't have time or desire to actually look through the ones you WANT to see.

I like the idea of limiting the thumbnails, so that even if someone did upload like say 20 images in one day, that they wouldn't be overbearing to everyone else. Most newer artists who have not been involved in the community don't always KNOW all the etiquette rules of online gallery communities. *shrugs* It's not that they are BEING rude, it is that they don't realized the behavior itself is considered by many to be rude. Those who know better and do it.. well those jacks are just that... jacks and should be chucked out of the playing deck. ;) *chuckles*

Seriosly though there is a difference between the two.

Also an upload limit could be something that helps the site run more smoothly. There are days when Artpsots won't load for me very well. Evern after a restart. THAT can kill a community quick. ;)

So having an upload limit of a Daily amount across the board is in some cases a good idea. In others... hmmn not so much. It does kill the desire to upload artwork. I quite Side7 for that reason (plus they were agonizingly SLOW and lagged. GAH!) VCL has an Upload limit I do believe, and it's not been a big issue at this juncture as far as I know?

But then its Model is different from Artspots.

I have to give the Staff her a hat-wave for trying to find a way to deal with this. Its not easy and not everyone is going to be pleased.

I agree with an upload limit with a backdating option. I for one like to see quality over quantity, if you really have so much artwork to upload then upload it on the day that you finish it, not wait untill you have a huge mound before you put it up. I use artspots as a portfolio site and for artistic growth, When i update, which isn't often, i usually only upload one or two peices at a time, therefore a limit of 5 would be quite acceptable per-day. I think not only would it cut back on artistic flooding by the less experienced, but I think it would also make those artists make artwork 'count' when they did upload it.

Well there's certainly already a back dater... Your watchers still see what you upload (As it turns out, I was caught out when one of my older ones was commented on) but they don't show up on the recents. Big help for uploading good but old works.

As I recall, we had a few issues last time we tried limiting uploads via backdating. When editing an image, for example, sometimes it wouldn't save because of the date it was on. The way it worked was you could upload 5 per day, meaning today, you can upload 5. If you wanted to upload a 6th, you need to date it for yesterday, unless it already had 5, etc.

But when editing an image sometimes this became an issue. It is a bug that could be fixed, I'm sure, but all I know is that we've tried "fair" methods of handling limited uploads, and for one reason or another, they've all had issues. Also...

Foxena said:

I use artspots as a portfolio site and for artistic growth, When i update, which isn't often, i usually only upload one or two peices at a time, therefore a limit of 5 would be quite acceptable per-day. I think not only would it cut back on artistic flooding by the less experienced, but I think it would also make those artists make artwork 'count' when they did upload it.

This is suffocating us as a site. We started out accepting only high quality work, accepting only artists of a certain skill-level when they appplied, etc. This contains several bottlenecks, a primary one being lack of content. But, it also is the prevailing attitude for only uploading "worthy" works. That would be fine and dandy, but people want to see all an artist has to offer, sketches, doodles, as well as their best work. This is why people will not bother coming here when they can see all an artist has to offer somewhere else.

Quality control is nice, but the way we were handling it was very Web 1.0. In this Web 2.0 and upcoming 3.0 world, overarching quality control does not work. This is why with our new redesign we're going to be more about featuring artwork than limiting it.

In short, we will not survive as a "portfolio" site. We will survive as an overall art site that features quality work.

So I beg of everyone, please upload ALL your work, including those fun doodles you post to other sites, because darnit, I want to see those too in one place: here. :)