Advice for those who post in the Art Threads

As we may/maynot (but should) know, relativity is a powerful concept.
-A frog is not an odd creature until you surround it with 100 goats.
-The ugly duckling was supposedly ugly because he was the only non-duck in the pack.
-If you were to lay eyes on 100 standard people, then a decently attractive one, the impact would hit you more than if you were to watch 100 objectively beautiful people on TV.
-If you get one episode of heightened animation in a series of relatively low animation quality, it seems awesome.

...what we've kind of been doing when opening ourselves up to criticism is shooting an arrow into an open field and turning behind us to our peers like "How was that shot?" I'm all like: "I don't know what the fuck you were aiming for, but let's sharpen up that form."

...we can go further by applying the concept of relativity to the context behind our artworks - meaning we tell the audience what we were trying to achieve. This lets them know how close we came and gives them directions in which they can send their critique.

There are artists who enter different types of mentalities when creating different types of pics that aim for different things when they put the pen to the canvas...and the ensuing critiques are about the same objective way of making it better without regard to the specific context behind what is posted. It's not that bad of an issue, really. But let's help that critique a little - teach it Kung Fu.

I wanna hear shit like "I'm hitting the bird's next in that third tree to the right!" You do that, crit will focus that much more. Intention is quite important and should run parallel to your works. Share your mind during workflows.

YOU CORNY ASS SON OF A BITCH.
Im just kidding son...kidding. Seriously I was just kidding

I agree with what your saying. Alot of people imo are usually just trying to get something animated.
I've always though the goal was to see the scene, picture, angles in your head and be able animate or draw that.

But yea, it would really help people improve and even reinforce things.

YOU need to update you deviant art.
But then again you said your in a like cocoon or something right?

Mr. Jones wrote:

YOU need to update you deviant art.
But then again you said your in a like cocoon or something right?

*Chuckle*
I was formerly in a cocoon of sorts, but now I am free and constructing new shit! That DeviantArt has been unfairly ignored. Haven't updated that journal in like two fucking years. I must nourish it. ...it's on my hit list.

...I can make that post sound much less corny if I said it in person. My tone of voice usually turns such phrases into festering amalgamations of pwn.

lmao. Kk
Im glad your still actively striving bro.

But if you feel good witch where you are, you should make a dev art named Hitorio (Or thats what I would do at least). Kinda like a fresh new start/standard naw mean SON?

Yes, I was pondering that for *cough* a couple years now *cough*
...but I think I'll do it once I complete my next animation. >: D Start it with kind of a bang.

Good thinking sir.
Couple of years. lolololol
I'll be stuck watching Rioshu instead of Hitorio for a minute eh? lol
Well peace bro Im off to the institution people call school.

oh Jones, diligently persuading users to use DA

@Hito
Good thoughts shared, although I got confused by 'advice for those who post in the art threads'. I thought this was gonna be directed at people replying to art

But anyway, you're endorsing a very positive habit. Although, even in the case that OPs don't explain their goals or intentions, people could ask.

That's very exciting.

Will you help me with something, then? I have been told to do some work for $1200. It's not much money for the work, but I don't have to make a living off it.

I have been given a song that vaguely has a plot that my video must follow, but my employer is not an artist or a leader. I alone am the director and everything-maker, but he has demands, so this is not a video centered on my interests. I am not supposed to polish any of the frames more than they have been, with colors or whatever.

Here is the .swf, as it is so far:
http://www.fileize.com/view/0f0b2b90-889/

It's private to me, especially because of that ugly blank gap in the beginning. It has been difficult, to think of this other person's video on his behalf.

I will not work for this guy again, but I am glad to be working on this project. I think I will be finished in 3 weeks.

What do you say?

What exactly do you want help with?
I really liked what I saw. The way you drew the guy, is that the style for the anim?

Yeah, yes. I don't know what to ask for. If you have anything to say, and even especially if you think it might somehow help me, then please say it.

Hitorio is so convincing that he understands criticism and cares about learning. I don't have any artist friends or teachers to help me, so I hope that someone here might have some clever thoughts.

Uh, I get a sense that your kinda sad, un-pleased, or just hate doing work for this guy(Could be wrong here).
So i'll say this.
If your down or hate working for this guy dont sweat it. The animation looks interesting, and you know you can do a good job. If you hate this guy, just always imagine an " Im a jerk" sign on his forehead every time you see him.. The way I look at it, dont let anyone get to you. When you finish the animation be glad you were able to get through it w/o being mentally injured. Strongsz likes the bull yess?
Your getting paid for this, so its ok if its not a plot you really like. When you have the 1000 in your pocket enjoy it and use it wisely. If you look at it from his point of view, you should get what your paying for.

If there's a plot in there, it's definitely not showing.
The animation is REALLY hard to follow due to the sloppy style of animation. Basically, compositionally, it blows. I don't get why he doesn't want cleaner artwork than this, if he wants to tell a story with this video, he needs to send it out clearly, which is not happening right now. also, I assume that you will export it and the audio will have a higher quality when mixed?

It's also quite weird to see a big difference in animation quality from shot to shot.. some parts move perfectly, while others are weird.
sometimes the lineart is clean and straight, other times wobbly as fuck.

Hmm... in order to provide the maximum amount of input, I'll need to step into your shoes a bit and approach this from the inside out. That being said, I'm having serious trouble understanding the lyrics of the song. Due to that, I have no sense whatsoever of the story that's supposed to be followed. What's the name of the song? ...or perhaps you could post lyrics.

The light-heartedness of the melody (ukelele) leads me to believe that the general essence/feel/mood of your animation is on the right track. You've got the little cam swirl upon the mini-planet, the goofy descending run. Of course, like I said above, without knowledge of the story guidelines, I can't be sure. Tom's comments on the composition - the animation being really hard to follow... I don't share that thought - at least, nowhere near as strongly as he. The only part in which I'm not 100% sure of what happened was the part in which there is some sort of worm in the bushes... and it grows a face? ...that the spotlight character bursts out of.

...according to what I see here, you won't have much of a problem coming up with the actual visuals, but your struggle is in coming up with the story and finding ways to visually communicate the song. "It has been difficult, to think of this other person's video on his behalf."
...let us see what you see by giving us the song and we can be in a better position to work that out.

My favorite bit was the very short third one. Nice form on the arms/shoulders on the guy. I reckon you're learning/improving as you're making this.

I once might have gotten a job like this before... this guy I know has some mediocre acoustic music and talked with me about a music video (with similar primitive details to yours)... didn't really end up happening, though

Have you asked your client where he might want you to take the animation from here? At least the feel he wants?

@Hitorio
Congrabulations on Posts: 1000

Oh man. Oh thank you, for saying these things.

I am not under any confidentiality agreement, but I would appreciate it if you would not type many words or names that my employer might Google.

Here are all the written notes that I've been given:
https://imgur.com/a/f66Zm

I also have been told a number of additional conditions, that I promise would be very difficult for us to discuss through blocks of text. The song will be re-recorded, and I can upload it if you want, but I have not been listening to the song any more than what seemed vital.

You're right that I don't admire this guy, but I don't dislike him on any personal level. I would like to stress how, I want to give this man his money's worth for his video, but I have to interpret and storyboard and fix all the mistakes and bere this entire video, which isn't my idea in the first place, while oh man I really do demand that he get at least his money's worth.

Tom, I'm glad you've said that, because I have one less thing to worry about. I now know that it is a bad video, instead of only suspecting it. He doesn't want cleaner artwork than this because I must work for soo many hours, for a very low hourly rate, that every hour I spend will spread the rest of me thinner. My rate is only approximate though, until the work is done.

I like when each frame matters and has meaning to me, but I never know when people are going to see my designs as graceful or aberrant until someone points out how dumb I am. It is like a worm thing? Oh! Darn. Then I screwed up its appearance, and dont have the freedom to fix it right now.

Yes, I think the video will turn better towards the end of what I've show you. I have stopped trying to sync the music to the video, and I now that I've had time to think ahead, I've thought up some cool stuff to put in that wont be too confusing or unfinished. The original story that I was given will also be improved tremendously.

I have been asked for a few really unfortunate things that I have to make, if you want to hear a couple. One is that I must make some sort of a drawn border that can frame certain footage that I will not be working with. I have not seen the footage, but I have to draw this border, and even though it isn't much work, I think it's a terribly pointless idea. The second thing I must do is animate a scene that is extremely time-consuming, like 30 seconds, that is so simple and easy-to-make that I can do it in a day. I am not at all comfortable with publishing work that sounds so low-quality.

For the border, just pull your passion away a little bit and coldly do as he says for that part; it's not your fault if it sucks.
But you could certainly give him your expertly input. You're the pro here.

Here's the finished animation, for anyone interested:

http://www.fileize.com/files/8e83204f/673/Blue_skies_f.swf

It'll be incorporated into a longer video.

I really like some parts.

Thanks again for talking to me about this.

^Post that in a new thread in the animation section, suh.

Nah. Naw. I just thought it would've been rude to not show you guys how it turned out.