Conquering a Recurring Social Obstacle [Every Psudan - Read This.]

To take this quote and expand upon it:

Hitorio wrote:

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 nest 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.

...this simple-yet-important concept - actually letting our fellow Psudans know the intention of our works - is the solution to quite a large problem that's been plaguing these forums from my perspective.
...Psuda is supposed to have the atmosphere of a bro-tastic community. Ideally, it should be like your second gallery - it must be welcome to become such. Hell, you may even be inspired to post more colloquial, non-art-related threads here. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. I bet my fellow Psudans feel this and I definitely feel this. Instead of seeming super laid back, it seems like not much more than a critique station...and I know from conversations with Psudans that we're much more than that. We're not that one-dimensional when it comes to our itneraction with people's artwork.

Here's what I mean:
When someone posts artwork of any kind without specifying some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of what they did - without providing the track unto which our discussion runs - it really is kind of like throwing a piece at us and telling us to say "whatever." ...and here's where the errors come up. Psudans are serious artists...and, through our comments, we want to communicate such. We want to let you, the artist, know that we can actually help you in your pursuits for higher-level artistry and that we're dedicated to that doctrine. In doing so, we express that through correlated posts when given the opportunity. That opportunity: you've just posted a new pic.
...unfortunately, the primary and reflexive manner by which we express our strength as an artist community is by critique. I'm not saying that critique is bad, but that ends up being the only thing we do. and what is the most reflexive type of critique that we offer? Technical critique. I see this very commonly in people like Edyrem.
Let's say that some guy posts a sketch of some character that he drew on iscribble. He likes the design - that is, the choice of clothing that he picked for the character. In posting, he shows this off to us - however, he doesn't let us know that it is the design that we wants us to focus on - to leave comments about and such. He just gives us the gotdamn pic and says "I drew this.". In Psudan muscle-memory-reflex manner, a couple guys get on the thread and drop general technical critique about anatomy and such. The artist logs back in to get some comments on that character and finds that the comments relate to how accurately he could have drawn the wrinkles and eyes and shit. Well - that's a fucking letdown. ...and now, he's subconsciously and consciously discouraged from sharing designs and, through more threads like this, is conditioned to only want to post on Psuda if he's made a pic that is up to the standards of such general technical critique. He doesn't want to post any more pics unless they do have those accurate wrinkles and eyes, as they suggested. Those design spreads stay right on his fucking computer.
...because we gave off the wrong aura. ...and he didn't let us know of his intentions for the pic. We seem like fine art critique robots that don't respond well to anything but technical efficiency. This isn't true, but in our pattern of commenting, we've allowed him to sew that thought about us into his mind.

...I had this mentality for a couple of years now, which is why I have rarely posted any animation or drawings here. 99% of everything I've drawn over the years has been nowhere near a finished piece - it's only been the product of a specific area of training that I wanted to work on - say, sketching a tube, then a physics diagram to show how the wrinkles would fall on the tube if a towel were wrapped around it...or perhaps a very casual test in painting and blending that I did not saturate with all the skills that I've learned throughout my life. I mean - if I posted those there, I'd surely get comments about how weak the pic was in those unsaturated areas! So fuck posting those pics. I'll wait till I do something finished. Years pass. Didn't happen. I tried again some months ago with a concept art pic of two faces. What happened? Edyrem judged it as if it were supposed to be a finished pic. ...partially because I didn't explain the nature of the pic...and partially because that's the kind of critique that Edyrem is inclined to throw at any pic like the one I did. I was displeased. I didn't post again.

because of this, I gauge that 10% of the complete essence of an artist is shown on Psuda and 90% is hidden behind the curtains. This is inefficient. It slows our growth. It's fucking ghey.

...this. Shit. Must. Change.
...like I said, I want this place to be open to share much of our developments as artists - conceptual, writing, philosophical, pics of training, finished pics, half-assed animations, etc. We've got to stop holding back from the rest of the community. We've got to overcome such a barrier and we've got to be more colloquial - we must achieve the brohood that this community was supposed to represent...without that kind of subconscious fear of "not adequate enough to post or show."
...it's important to let us inside your mind about what went down when you drew the pic. Structure your opening posts so that we know what we're dealing with here - so that the wavelength of conversation can be matched and so that you won't be as turned-off when posting.

Want to work as a team and become a community of beasts in the future? This is part of how we get that.

Agreed bro.....Agreed
I don't have much else to say or add really.
So does this means you'll be posting sketches now? You don't know how much I love sketches

Why....yes it does, negroid. >: D

...it's also gonna be more inspiring, say, if we start up art threads kinda like "Edyrem's Art Thread" and scroll down what we did in the past to inspire ourselves to continue the thread. I'll try to begin one of those.

Lmao. Negroid.
Thats a good idea. I'll try and start putting up meh sketches n stuff soon.

But yea, if the drawer starts to do this, viewers might say something to really help that person that they wouldn't have said before.

I think I'm gonna, fucking, kick you in the teeth if I ever meet you in-person.

Some of us people on this website have posted animations, and some took a long time. We'd probably be willing to talk about our own animations a lot.

What are you saying here, that we aren't posting enough of our own work? If we're posting the best of our work and only briefly discussing the final result, then I am glad to watch people post only what they are comfortable to post.

We can discuss eachother's art more than we have. Or we could do more team exercises. I don't want to do either of those things, but it's a matter of preference.

I'm gonna dodge the fuck outta that kick since the reason that it was launched was so misplaced.
You completely missed my point. It's almost understandable, seeing as how you don't relate to it, but if you read the post and understood every sentence, that kinda thing shouldn't happen.
I wasn't saying "post more" or anything along those lines: some sort of shallow way of trying to increase activity. It was more along the lines of "Don't be afraid to post more since the source of your hesitation is being destroyed."

...your mind's manner of processing things, while interesting in an expressive artistic light, seems a bit fucked up when in debate.

I still have a young mind, and so it's a bit harder for me to develop an in depth opinion on this, but I feel this really needed to be said.

I have a feeling more people would want to post more if they were encouraged in a critiquing comment by having their potential in one area recognized, rather than saying, "well it's ok, you might want to work on the hair/eyes/ect." ...I see no encouragement in that at all.

Maybe if we were to just simply add a little inspiration like, "dude I see true potential in the way you (didsuchandsuch), but you might want to work on (suchandsuch). But keep going with (example) you're really progressing man keep going! ". Now to me that seems a little more encouraging, and makes me want to animate/draw a piece of art that shows I've worked on what's been recognized as a faulty, as well as continuing what's been recognized as my strengths in a goal to get more heartwarming comments.

But In saying this, I do not mean psudans are not doing this already. There are plenty of us replying with heartwarming comments that invite more creativity and encouragement which leads to more work created and posted on psuda. And that's something that we should ALL do.

10/10 post. That shit literally has +5 as of my voting. That's a record so far, haha.

So beautifully said. I've been feeling this for a while but never had the heart to write about it. Just haven't quite put my finger on it. But you made the point clear:

Express what your emphasis is on the art in order to stimulate a more rewarding thread for yourself.

As for your example about when I had a debate with you on your painting skills... I agree fully, after reading that thread again.

This shit definitely has to change... We're turning into a robotic skill gauge when this place should be human. Gone will be the days of a cyborg Psudan. Let's see each other's micro-growth, from the groomed and polished, to the naked and muddy.

This was a profoundly important writing, my friend. And I salute you for taking the time to write this. I truly appreciate the deed you have done.

For a while I felt like I was the only one who was trying to post their little and large artworks, but knowing that this is also on your mind is encouraging. I've got some things hidden inside my butt crack that I will surely unload for you all to see.
Threads =/= galleries. Anything should be acceptable if it's something the OP made.

We definitely should get into the habit of saying what was on our minds while drawing something, from now on. It would give discussions better flow.

I daresay we should make an art out of posting art.