Ok either i suck at searching or the only threads that've been related to this topic are over 3 weeks old : http://forum.minitokyo.net/showthread/28402/
and http://forum.minitokyo.net/showthread/27369/ and neither of the
threads got much response
so if theres another one out there, you know the deal, close this one >_>
Anyways back on topic: Why do you make art? Not like artistic statements irl but rather the stuff you see in submissions : wallpapers, fanart, doujin, etc.
1-Do you wall for yourself like when you see a scan you like, you want to wall for you desktop?
2-Do you make art for others like those that run a site and get requests for certain anime walls?
3-Do you make art to get criticism and opinion in hopes of improving your skills for a future in graphic design or other arts careers?
4-Do you make art for glory, to bring attention to yourself and make yourself popular?
5-Do you make art to show your skills and mastery over things like the pen tool or vectoring?
6-Do you make art to just put something out there thats new and original and non-cliche?
7-Do you make art for your own entertainment, because you're bored and have nothing to do?
Theres lots of reasons people make art, and lately, it seems people have forgotten orginally why they began doing the
things they did. Everyone wants to believe they wall for themselves and to get better. However, if you look at the
gallery, it seems that people are walling just to get attention to themselves or to earn favs and levels and such. Or
they're walling just for their friends, not improving at all and making the same old walls. Theres not much
originality anymore, at least with walls. Other art , like doujinshi, is still really high quality but they don't
get as much attention.
People lately always complain about not having enough favs since their friends are supposedly making good walls, but can you show us more than 10 awesome walls,that you don't see everyday, made within a week's timeframe. Mostly, I see people jumping on those cliche walls, the ones with planets and stars or half naked girls, ecchi and stuff. They're cliche because people began to realize that thats what people thought looked good so now lots of people want to make walls like that and the quality is just deteorating. I mean, you can still make a cliche wall thats awesome and deserving to be praised but it'll take a lot more effort than before.
Things like doujinshi and abstract usually have lots of originality in it. Though straying away from the mainstream things isn't always a good idea, its nice to see different things everyonce in a while though that doesn't mean they usually deserve high praise. Its hard to be different but its better than being cliche.
Personally, im not much of a artist or waller, but i've been around lots of great artist for a long time now and seen lots of different walls and art so you tend to pick some stuff up and your eyes get better at spotting the small details in a piece of art. If you compared the pieces of art that made high praise a year ago to whats being praised now, you'll see a big difference in the level of skill. We're all people and capable of achieving a mastery of such artistic abilities but that leaves the question as to why are things the way they are now.
Whats changed isn't really the walls, but rather the people. Long ago, there were less people and these people were
often exposed to great pieces of art so they knew what was good and what was crap. Now, theres lots of people who just
like to praise anything they think is good.
You don't really have to like a work for it to be great. People have different taste but even if you don't
like something it can still be magnificent, like if you didn't like the Mona
Lisa you know that thats still a great piece of work, just not something you're into. Lots of people
don't seem to understand that so thats why things are they way they are.
On a final note, not everything is art. Pretty colors + Sparkles + stock images doesn't equal art, or at least great art. (From the dictionary) Art is High Quality of conception or execution, as found in works of beauty; aesthetic value. (well at least thats one meaning of it)
