This is something I've been wanting to talk about for a long time. I've gone through each of the non-stickied threads that are displaying on the current page, and I've tallied up which threads fit into a few categories.
This is what I found:
Nintendo characters: .3 + .3 + .5 + .2 + .3 + .2 + .5 + .5 + 1 = 3.8
Popular mascot characters: .3 + 1 + .5 + .1 + .5 + 1 = 3.4
Typical guy/etc. with no real design: 1 + .1 + .3 + .2 + .6 + 1 = 3.2
Other: 1 + .3 + .6 + .7 + .3 + 1 + .6 + .4 + .5 = 5.4
Any "1" means that all the sprites in the thread on whatever page(s) I looked at fit into that category.
The decimal numbers represent the way I split the scores up when the sprites in a given thread matched more than one category.
That makes a ratio of 10.4:5.4, or almost 2:1 of the total of the top three categories vs. the "other" category
What does this ratio represent?
Well, the point I'm trying to make is how uninspired and lacking in personality the sprites in this subforum are.
How many times have you seen basic Nintendo or similar character sprites in the same dull style? How many times have you seen "guy with no theme who wears the plainest clothes?" Yes, it's nice to have fun doing whatever you want. Yes, you don't have to take art that seriously. Yes, a lot of you are still learning and want to stick with easy things. But still, the amount of stagnation here is astounding.
I have to force myself to even look at the sprites in this section, they're so boring. I can't imagine most passerbys would care to stop and look, either. Art is a lot more fun when there's some vigor between you and the people you share it with. If you just want to make sprites that can only elicit a "meh," then I have no idea why you even do it at all.
Besides the audience, this section isn't good for the artists, either. I feel like this place breeds laziness and a lack of enthusiasm. Like, this is seriously a rotten place to try to be an artist, no matter how serious you are about it.
I think that influence is a very important thing to manage as an artist, and when you're stuck in a culture with a bunch of people of who don't have the guts to try something new or who don't have the guts to design a character that requires some actual personal input, then how can you improve? Trying a no-brainer sprite every once in awhile is fine, but seriously, where is the ambition?
Where are the animations? Where are the scenes? Where is the style experimentation? Where are the larger sprites? Where are the color studies? Where are the mockups? Where are the actual character designs? Where is anything?
It all makes me pretty sad. I feel like being here is making people forget that there's a much larger world of art to enjoy, and that you don't have to be stuck having a mediocre amount of fun as a pigeonholed artist who can't do anything. You can actually have the heart to learn how to make things that are worth making if you just gain the ambition to try new things. I don't want to keep seeing this stupid generic crap over and over again. It just doesn't do much for anybody.
Yeah, technical improvement is good, but that's not even my main point here. Learning the basics is very important, but seriously, what good are they if you keep making subject matter that's not interesting?
Think about the sprites that excite you. Is it the contextless renditions of characters standing idly that you've seen 10,000 times? I suspect that's probably not the case.
Is it the screenshots of games that have an ambient world? Is it the lively characters that bounce around and make you smile? Is it the intensity of fighting games, or the variety of enemies in platformers, or even the experiments of your peers online? Whatever it is, you can do all that too. Not right away, no, but you're never going to get there if all you do is play it safe and act uninterested.
Please, if I'm allowed to ask, please put more effort into what you're doing. I'm sick of coming here and watching people squander their potential. It feels like the people here don't even realize that they have potential to begin with. I don't care if art is your life or art is your hobby, just have the guts to make something that's enjoyable.
This is what I found:
Nintendo characters: .3 + .3 + .5 + .2 + .3 + .2 + .5 + .5 + 1 = 3.8
Popular mascot characters: .3 + 1 + .5 + .1 + .5 + 1 = 3.4
Typical guy/etc. with no real design: 1 + .1 + .3 + .2 + .6 + 1 = 3.2
Other: 1 + .3 + .6 + .7 + .3 + 1 + .6 + .4 + .5 = 5.4
Any "1" means that all the sprites in the thread on whatever page(s) I looked at fit into that category.
The decimal numbers represent the way I split the scores up when the sprites in a given thread matched more than one category.
That makes a ratio of 10.4:5.4, or almost 2:1 of the total of the top three categories vs. the "other" category
What does this ratio represent?
Well, the point I'm trying to make is how uninspired and lacking in personality the sprites in this subforum are.
How many times have you seen basic Nintendo or similar character sprites in the same dull style? How many times have you seen "guy with no theme who wears the plainest clothes?" Yes, it's nice to have fun doing whatever you want. Yes, you don't have to take art that seriously. Yes, a lot of you are still learning and want to stick with easy things. But still, the amount of stagnation here is astounding.
I have to force myself to even look at the sprites in this section, they're so boring. I can't imagine most passerbys would care to stop and look, either. Art is a lot more fun when there's some vigor between you and the people you share it with. If you just want to make sprites that can only elicit a "meh," then I have no idea why you even do it at all.
Besides the audience, this section isn't good for the artists, either. I feel like this place breeds laziness and a lack of enthusiasm. Like, this is seriously a rotten place to try to be an artist, no matter how serious you are about it.
I think that influence is a very important thing to manage as an artist, and when you're stuck in a culture with a bunch of people of who don't have the guts to try something new or who don't have the guts to design a character that requires some actual personal input, then how can you improve? Trying a no-brainer sprite every once in awhile is fine, but seriously, where is the ambition?
Where are the animations? Where are the scenes? Where is the style experimentation? Where are the larger sprites? Where are the color studies? Where are the mockups? Where are the actual character designs? Where is anything?
It all makes me pretty sad. I feel like being here is making people forget that there's a much larger world of art to enjoy, and that you don't have to be stuck having a mediocre amount of fun as a pigeonholed artist who can't do anything. You can actually have the heart to learn how to make things that are worth making if you just gain the ambition to try new things. I don't want to keep seeing this stupid generic crap over and over again. It just doesn't do much for anybody.
Yeah, technical improvement is good, but that's not even my main point here. Learning the basics is very important, but seriously, what good are they if you keep making subject matter that's not interesting?
Think about the sprites that excite you. Is it the contextless renditions of characters standing idly that you've seen 10,000 times? I suspect that's probably not the case.
Is it the screenshots of games that have an ambient world? Is it the lively characters that bounce around and make you smile? Is it the intensity of fighting games, or the variety of enemies in platformers, or even the experiments of your peers online? Whatever it is, you can do all that too. Not right away, no, but you're never going to get there if all you do is play it safe and act uninterested.
Please, if I'm allowed to ask, please put more effort into what you're doing. I'm sick of coming here and watching people squander their potential. It feels like the people here don't even realize that they have potential to begin with. I don't care if art is your life or art is your hobby, just have the guts to make something that's enjoyable.