An update on my previous post about Elfwood. You can get caught up by reading it here but in a nutshell my painting When Giants Attack...Cincinnati was rejected because the moderator deemed it fan art. So I responded by informing them of the difference between a fan artist and professional artist and by removing my art from the website. That email was sent on December 8.
On December 23 I got this email:
*Hello Billy
firstly an apology for taking such a long time to respond to your email.
Normally Elfwood moderation responses are more timely, but unfortunately
Elfwood Support had quite a "spam" attack over the last ten days.
I take onboard your succint arguements, and agree entirely that Elfwood is
predominantly geared towards the "amateur" artist, in that Elfwood
moderation does not take into account the "artistic skill" of submission
(although we do draw the line at 'stick-art').
Elfwood does however enjoy the presence of a few professional/commercial
artists, if only to provide another internet presence to showcase their
talents.
With regards to the disputed artwork. I agree that the moderator in
question was perhaps too hasty in dismissing "When Giants Attack" as fan
art. Having viewed the artwork, I think it falls into the "parody"
category, given that the monster depicted in no way resembles Godzilla, and
as such, shuld have been accepted.
At Elfwood we have approximately 90+ moderators, of which approximately 50+
are processing submissions at any one time. Usually when in doubt about a
submission on any basis, opinions of other moderators are sought. This,
unfortunately, was not so in this case.
Not all of our moderators are as widely skilled as could be desired, and
sometimes items will be rejected when they should not be. I hope you
appreciate that this is in no way a reflection upon your skill and
integrity as a professional artist.
kind regards - Maxine Cox - Elfwood Support*
Interestingly this reply came not from the Head-Mod as it normally does but from Elfwood Support. Which suits me just fine because as I've noted and Ms. Cox points out (n)ot all of our moderators are as widely skilled as could be desired.
Just as I suspected this email shows that not everyone at Elfwood has their heads up their asses! Thanks to Ms. Cox for the professional response. Unfortunately this does not change my feelings towards Elfwood.
The problem does not lie with Elfwood itself. The problem is with the concept of a moderated art gallery. Moderated art galleries are very much like Communism, they both look good on paper but human nature manages to screw everything up. Let me explain: Simply put Communism is a system in which there are no rich people, no poor people and the government takes care of you in a worry-free Utopia. We all know how that turned out! Moderated art galleries are similar because when you visit one of them you can rest assured that the art you are viewing has been approved by a moderator that has been trained to only accept work that meets certain standards of quality...except that the moderators are humans. Flawed humans.
Art is subjective. There are no hard, fast rules that apply. One person's art is another's garbage. Example: I don't think Andy Warhol was an artist, just a screenprinter that was a marketing genius. I'm sure there are those that would disagree! Another example: As mentioned in the previous post Epilogue has a rule that art on a plain white background will not be accepted. I recently met an artist that does work for major gaming companies. Work that is of the highest quality. Work that consists of characters on a white background because it is interior art with wrap-around text. Work that even though anyone that has glanced at a game would recognize it wouldn't be accepted because it is on a white background.
And then there's the fact that humans tend to be a bit more lenient to their friends and a bit more strict on enemies. It's natural. Or fans of vampires may be more receptive to allowing lower quality vampire art. Or art that is predominantly blue will appeal to moderators whose favorite color is blue. I think you get the picture. That's why moderated art galleries will fail.
I have a simple solution to the moderated art gallery. Moderate the artists not the art. Have artists submit a body of work and if they are accepted they can put whatever the hell they want after that. Or stop moderating all together!
And as I said before, if you're an artist a moderated art gallery will do nothing for your career. They will only cause you stress. Set up your own gallery. Learn to moderate yourself. And keep track of what images get views. The public will tell you what you're doing right.
Happy New Year everyone!
Billy
Thursday, December 31, 2009
yadda yadda Elfwood yadda yadda yadda
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
2009 in review
2009 is almost gone and what a year it's been. I remember going into '09 was scary as hell. The economy had tanked and folks were losing their jobs and their homes. What was in store for Billy Tackett Studios? I was afraid that relying on the sales of prints and sinking so much time and money into the line of shirts may have been a bad move. But from our first show of the year, Con Nooga, to our last one, Who ARTED?, you guys have shown us that we're doing the right thing. You have welcomed us into your cities and towns and treated us like family. You've shown us that you appreciate what we're doing and for that we are forever grateful!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
blah blah Elfwood blah blah blah...
I guess I should start this out by referring to my previous post where I talk about online galleries and social networking sites. In it I talked about my disdain for art sites that were moderated and made mention of my particular dislike for Elfwood. I would like to take the time to elaborate on the dislike. Vent a little. Publicly.
So I've heard people talk about Elfwood for years. One day a year ago I decide to get a gallery there. I upload a bunch of stuff, Zombie Sam, Fannie the Flesheater, Sgt, Rot. Y'know, the regulars. Months later they are approved. Apparently I hit the site right in the middle of an overhaul or something.
So one day I upload my Frankenstein's Monster pic:
Both works of art, along with thousands of others, were referenced from this publicity shot:
First of all I see why the image would not be allowed. No biggie. It just bugged me that they thought I "copied" someone else's art rather than use a photo for reference so I sent this reply:
*REquest for further explaination for the rejection of Frankenstein's Monster. The image was not copied from the painting, it was referenced from a publicity photo. The same photo the mentioned painting was referenced from.*
The moderator's reply:
*I'm sorry, but I agree with the moderator in question that the picture is a copy from that link submitted http://i.inhaps.com/frankenstein_painting.jpg Elfwood has a strict copy rule, whether it be tracing or freehand copying, so your image will not be allowed in Elfwood. The general rule of thumb we have is that if it's recognizable where it's from, then it most likely will be rejected as a copy. If you want to read up on more concerning that rule regarding copying and copying vs. reference we have 2 articles from our e-zine with examples that explains the rule:
http://www.elfwood.com/woodworks/2003/issue06/copying.html
http://www.elfwood.com/woodworks/2003/issue07/copyvsref.html
The rule also applies to parodies, since they're often judged to be copies as well. The reason I'm mentioning this is that when looking at your gallery just now I remember a report we've recently received about your gallery. You have 8 parodies based on celebrity photos and war propaganda posters that are all considered to be copies by Elfwoods rules. You will at some point be contacted by the ERB (Elfwood Review Board) about them. While they're very creative and beautifully executed they're judged to be copies and as such you will be asked to remove them.
Monica
Elfwood Head Moderator and Forest Manager*
OK, so apparently I raised too much of a stink and she just "remembered" getting "a report" about my gallery. Convenient. My response:
*...And not that it matters but the drawing was referenced from the attached publicity photo. The same photo the painting you refer to was referenced from.
So if the others aren't allowed why were they OK'd in the first place? *
Hers:
*Moderators are humans and they make mistakes, which is why we have the ERB (Elfwood Review Board). They deal with anything already published in Elfwood that may violate the rules, and they work mainly from reports received from the public. When we received the notice about your other pictures being copies (parodies) I contacted the moderator in question, whom wasn't familiar with those sources.*
That was July 1. I did not respond after that. I figured I would prepare my arguments and take on this omnipotent ERB. My chance never came. But if the Head Moderator said my stuff was not allowed surely the ERB would be beating down my virtual door with virtual pitchforks and virtual torches. That never happened. Why? Because of this:
What is this? This is the screen you get after you upload an image. This is where you choose a few keywords for your art. See that highlighted section? "Parody". I never got contacted by the ERB because parodies are allowed. I guess Monica was right when she said "Moderators are humans and they make mistakes". Point proven.
Fastforward to November 23. I upload my latest piece "When Giants Attack...Cincinnati".
I got this email on Monday:
*- Rejected: 'When Giants Attack...Cincinnati'
Reject: Other reason...
Sorry, all pictures based on existing visual media, such as movies, cartoons and computer games [Godzilla movies in this case], are Fan Art and, provided they are not copies, should be uploaded to your Fan Quarter account. Your artwork is very good, you should definitely consider openinng a Fan Art gallery though.*
Here is my response:
Notice I said "It has become painfully aware to me that your site is designed for amateur artists". This is what I just read from Elfwood's About Us page:
*" ...Elfwood's mission is to provide a place for amateurs from all over the world to share, teach, and inspire a new generation of dreams...
...We strive to promote the creation of art and fiction as a serious and meaningful hobby for the young generation, introducing them to painting and writing, helping them to create their own material and finally giving them the option to publish what they have created. This is a value we cultivate at the site in relation to young people. It is our goal to continue our work with young amateurs in the field of art and fiction...
...Letting all amateur fantasy artists and writers show their work for free, helping them to get a name and reputation, as well as useful, creative comments and new contacts...
...We intend to keep Elfwood as a free-to-join site, without any fees or strings attached, giving new and upcoming artists an unparalleled opportunity to publish their material here...
...If you are an amateur fantasy artist, we would love to feature some of your work on this site....*
Boy, do I feel like a dumbass. Here I was bitching about the how unprofessional this site is!
Here's a little bit of advice: This site is specifically designed for amateurs. Nothing wrong with that...if you want to stay an amateur. you will not get a "name and reputation, as well as useful, creative comments and new contacts" from Elfwood. if you want "useful, creative comments" talk to a professional. Want new contacts? Talk to a professional.
Everybody starts somewhere. If you want to evolve professionally or creatively you have to rub shoulders with people that have traveled the path before you. Elfwood may be good for making friends but that's about it. Here's my final evidence for that:
Elfwood offers tutorials. I decided to scan through and clicked on one titled Painting Hair in Photoshop by Kelly L. Johnson. Zipping through the images the tutorial looks pretty standard until I get to the finished product:
You want good tutorials go to deviantArt... no, better yet go to www.conceptart.org and read their tutorials and spend a few hours going through the forums. There's some pros for ya!
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Being a professional artist - Tip #Whatever
Occasionally I used to do a post about being a professional artist. I can't really tell you to do this, this and this and you will make it. What worked for me probably won't work for you and you can get that kinda information from other places anyway. There's no shortage of artists out that would rather talk about their careers than to further them. The info I try to give is the little stuff that really isn't so little. Gems like "If you're gonna to make a career out of art you have to approach it the same way as any other business", "If you wanna get your name out there you gotta use it for emails, websites, yourself etc" and "Being a professional and acting like a professional are two completely different things".
Here's the new tip: If you are going to maintain an online gallery (which you MUST do) don't depend on sites like Elfwood, deviantArt, MySpace, Flickr, Facebook, Photobucket and so on and so forth. I'm gonna list a few reasons why you shouldn't use these.
1. Dependability. So say you have all your images in a Flickr gallery. This gallery address is the same one you've been giving out for five years now. It's on your business cards, your t-shirts, you even had it painted on the side of your house and, being the savvy marketer you are, you paid your 19 year old neighbor to have it tattooed on her lower back! But wait! The Wall Street Journal proclaims that Flickr has just gone bankrupt and a company run by the Norwegian Mafia has bought the domain and will now put up a porn site dedicated to transvestite amputees. So when people go to your gallery to see your wonderful watercolors of unicorns and fairies guess what they'll see now...
2. Accessibility. Some of these site requires that you sign in order to view the images. Not everyone that wants to see your pictures will want a deviantArt membership.
3. And some of these sites are slow as hell at loading and they're plastered with obnoxious ads that are designed to draw the visitor attention away from the page at hand. It's free for you but they have to make money somehow, right?
4. Do you want an art director from Wizards of the Coast looking at your pics and seeing comments your friends and foes alike leave such as "Looks like ur mommas sxy ass" or "ur so gay"?
5. Control. You have absolutely no control over your art on these free sites. Sites like Elfwood moderate what you upload so if they don't like your stuff they won't let it on their site (see rant below). And sites like Photobucket are responsible for what is uploaded which means if someone bitches about one of your pix they delete it. No questions asked. I have my copyrighted images taken off of websites all the time. All it takes is an email. I once had some images of Nazi uniforms in a Photobucket gallery for use as reference for the Dead White & Blue Comics graphic novel. One day they were all gone. Don't know what happened to them. My guess is someone was offended or something.
6. Some of these sites now allow visitors to put your images on merchandise like coffee mugs, clocks etc. And you don't get squat for it! Someone else is making money off your work and you get no credit and no cash. You can usually opt out of this but that sometimes requires you make the gallery private which takes it out of the search engines' reach.
These sites are social networking sites or image hosting sites. They should not be the online face of you, the artist. Your website needs to be how you want your potential clients to see you. It should be themed and easy to navigate. Doesn't have to have a ton of bells and whistles. You can get an inexpensive web host and use a pre-made layout.
These site do have their places though. Image hosting sites are a good way to save bandwidth for your site and social networking sites are a good way to...well...network socially. Especially the art related ones. I've used a few myself over the years. Below are my assessment of some of the sites I've used.
Facebook- A good place for keeping in touch with people you know or knew in the industry.
MySpace- Not a good place to get your work out there but a great place to keep in touch with folks who are already familiar with your work. I use it as a kind of email list, sending out bulletins and posting blogs about new art or events. The down side is that once you get over 2000 friends you no longer get bulletins updates and once you get over 5000 you can no longer search your friends list. Kinda makes it less personal. Another down side is that people abuse the site and spam the livin' crap outta you!
Several times I have friended an artist or band that I admired only to be inundated with bulletins and messages wanting me to "Check out my best bud's page" or "Add so-an-so" or "Come to my event which is over 900 miles away" or "Take my quiz" or "Join my online game" etc. If you're gonna use MySpace for your art business use it for just that. No games or quizzes or crap. And if you're gonna use it to announce an event or show, which is regional, target those people that are in the region. They are the ones that might actually make it.
*NOTE* Keep in mind that a majority of people that frequent art sites are artists followed by art admirers and in distant third would be art directors.
deviantART- Not a bad place to connect with like minded artists. There seems to be a lot of drama with kids and amateurs but if you're selective about who you connect with you can meet some cool folks. Keep in mind that there are a lot, and I mean A LOT, of cg artists and anime/manga artists here so analog (also known as traditional) and realist art tends to take a back seat. The good thing is pretty much anything goes here. You can see some of the most crudely drawn fan art to some highly professional illustrations by some of the best in the industry.
Epilogue- A fantasy/sci-fi art site. This site is moderated which means your your submitted art must meet their "quality requirements" before it will be allowed. I understand the reasoning behind this; to raise the quality of the site. And the site does have some really nice galleries. I'm even proud of the fact that my own gallery is ranked fairly high even though the site is not horror friendly. The problem with moderated sites is that the moderators are given quality guidelines and art is very subjective which means guidelines are subjective. Here are a few of the guideline problems:
"Background / Setting All images should have at least a suggestion of setting or scene, even if it's minimal."
"Technique Because Epilogue represents the best, highest quality artwork, we will not accept artwork that is lacking on a technical level. This does not exclude stylistic or painterly techniques."
I take these "guidelines" to task because they do not take into consideration the intent of the artist. They are at the whim of what the moderator likes or dislikes. I have submitted pieces that were rejected only to have the accepted when they were re-submitted a month or two later.
Epilogue also has a "Reject Reasons explained" page. Let me elaborate on a couple of those:
"No background or setting - Epilogue only accepts finished-looking art with some form of background or setting. This can be as complex as a full landscape, or as simple as a stylized design in the background--as long as the image looks finished and complete. No matter how good the technique is, images of characters "floating in space" will not be considered."
- The basic shapes underlying the details may be weak
- The textures aren't realistic in an image that's intended to be realistic
- The levels of detail are needlessly inconsistent in different parts of the image
- Some areas of the image appear unfinished (a gradient-fill sky in an otherwise lovingly-rendered image, for example)
- The style is confused or inconsistent.
It was rejected for no background or setting. Why the hell would I want to ruin this piece by adding a background? That would ruin the composition and drama created by the shadows. Strangely enough this image was allowed:
This image was rejected because it was "Unrefined or lacking detail".
Again I understand why site feel the guidelines are important but artist's intent should be taken into consideration. That is the folly of all moderated sites not just Epilogue. Which brings me to...
Elfwood - I have had a gallery on this moderated site for a year. Yesterday I took down all my art. Elfwood is Epilogue for amateurs. I say this not because of the quality of work but by the comments made by some of the moderators. I have had some interesting back-and-forths with them which has lead me to ask the question: How many moderators are there and where do they find them? I'm not slamming all of them but I know for a fact that there are a couple that have no business doing what they do. I'll be posting more on this drama later but for now...
Elfwood is a very poorly designed site. I'm pretty net savvy and it took me for ever to figure it out. I have yet to browse the works of other artists there because I don't have time to figure it out. I get absolutely no site traffic from here. It really isn't worth the time for the set up and the learning curve.
Another bit of advice: Stay away from public critiques of your art in forums! If you feel the need to ask complete strangers to anonymously tell you what is wrong with your art stretch your nutsack out on a concrete block and ask your weird Uncle Frank to give it one good whack with a hammer. it amounts to about the same thing and doesn't take nearly as long. If you want critiques find an artist you admire, on one of these sites or someplace else, and ask nicely for one. And sack up because it may or may not be pretty.
PART 2 coming soon...
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Who ARTED?
JEFF GAITHER
MARK KIDWELL
DICK STARR
J. COBB
TRAVIS FESSLER
SUSAN FESSLER
JIM O'REAR
DANIEL EMERY TAYLOR
GEORGE BONILLA
MIKE MAYDAK
JAIMIE FILER
HEATHER TACKETT
MADISON LAWHORN
TYLER HAROD
SAM FLEGAL
SHANE MOORE
ROB MEYER
RICK HOFFMAN
EL WRAY
AMBER WAVES
DEREK TOEBBE
GAYLE HOFFMAN
TIM GOLD
LIZZ GODFREY
RICHARD KERN
RACHEL BREWER
KAREN DENGLER
JOSH RICHERSON
JAYME RICHERSON
AMI TAYLOR
COURTNEY BOUTWELL
JUSTIN STEWART
MEGAN CLEPPER
BILL MACFARLAND
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Horrorhound
Hey kiddies, just droppin' a note about the last big blood fest of the year. I'll be set up at Horrorhound Weekend in Cincinnati OH this weekend. Who's gonna be there? Funny you ask. Just Gunnar Hansen, Linnea Quigley, Don Calfa, Michael Gross, Tom Savini, Kane Hodder and artists like Dick Starr, Cypography, Joel Robinson and myself. Oh, and someone named Elvira is supposed to be there as well...
Friday, November 13, 2009
Morehead Art Guild Show tomorrow
I'll be displaying 3 original pieces in the Morehead Art Guild's Annual Art Show at the Carl Perkins Center in Morehead KY tomorrow. Just so there's no confusion: I will not be selling prints or shirts at this event. I along with my wife Heather and youngest daughter Madison will be entering original art and photography.
Hours will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Registration for artists will be Friday between 6 and 8:30 p.m. and continue Saturday morning from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Entry fee is $15 per artist for three pieces. Additional entries may be entered at $5 per each additional entry.
The exhibit has five divisions: fine art, photography, sculpture, folk art and computer art. Fine art and photography (analog or digital) have professional and non-professional classes. All of the divisions will compete for Best of Show, the winners will receive a trophy and cash award.
Ribbons will be awarded to all classes and each category. There will be several purchase awards presented ranging from $100 to $500. Cash awards and trophies will be given for the winners of the Betty Gregory Award, The People’s choice Award, Rich Heritage of Kentucky, the President’s Award, the Mayor’s Award and the Morehead Woman’s Club Award.
Live demonstrations will be offered throughout the day by artists Dreama Perry, Jerry Mifflin and Sandy Gullett.
The judging will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The judges are Yvonne Honeycutt Baldwin, Morehead for Fine Arts.
Door prizes will be given out throughout the day. Refreshments will be served at noon; a donation of $5 is requested.
For more information, call Pine Grove Gallery at (606) 784-6238
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
CharCon re-cap
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