Was it something I said?

feanix

Sometimes you have a thread going in pimping and you jsut can't get feedback at all. The work isn't so awful that it doesn't merit commenting and it's certainly not so good as to render people utterly speechless.

Are there things you can do to make people not want to comment on a progress/WIP thread? Unspoken rules? Breached ettiquette?

Andreas

Unspoken rules? Maybe your cat pic to actual artwork ratio might be a little screwed up... try posting more cat pics?

Maybe your work is a little...dull? Is it just dumpsters and concrete blocks? Can't be bothered searching...

feanix

This isn't a specific cry for help, it's just something that happpens to many of us middle tier posters a lot. I'm hoping for poeple to post things that make them not want to post feedback so we can improve our threads and chances of getting feedbasck

DrunkShaman

feanix wrote: »

Sometimes you have a thread going in pimping and you jsut can't get feedback at all. The work isn't so awful that it doesn't merit commenting and it's certainly not so good as to render people utterly speechless.

Are there things you can do to make people not want to comment on a progress/WIP thread? Unspoken rules? Breached ettiquette?

You can make a friendly note under your post saying "THAO SHALL NOT POST USELESS COMMENTS"

Saman

Hi, feanix. I haven't seen your thread but this topic has been raised before. There are a lot of people posting art and not all of them are interesting enough to reply to. I know how it feels when your post just gets ignored but the best thing is not to take it personal. There are a lot of things that can affect this; how interesting your work is, if it needs critique, when it was posted(people who would reply might not be awake or not visiting this site) and more. Here is a good thread that explains it pretty well;
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81530&

feanix

Ahhh, thanks so much Goraaz! Sorry guys! *shaaame*

monster

I've been hanging around Polycount since before it was called Polycount. The best way to get replies it to reply to others and leave good feedback. I'm guilty of replying more often to threads started by people I've met in person or have Polycounted with a long time. I also reply to animation posts more often since I'm an animator.

Don't take it personal. Some people are pretty busy. But don't just seek advice online. Ask classmates, co-workers, and family for feedback as well. Out of everyone I know, my wife gives me the best feedback, and she's not even an artists.

Mark Dygert

If you seem like a delicate little flower people might not want to tell ya what you're doing wrong.

If there aren't any replies you can assume one of two things:
1) It's so amazing their jaw broke their keyboard.
2) It's mediocre or really bad and they don't have time to post telling you so.
With the way keyboards are built these days, most people should assume #2 is happening and try harder. Even if #1 is happening it doesn't hurt to assume your work sucks and you should do better. Even grand masters had things they had to work on, its just that at their level most of those things really don't appear to us lower life forms. But if you stop growing and learning, you're dead, so keep improving.

Also... how many people have you tried to help? It's a two way street and people are more likely to help someone they have some kind of connection to, perhaps someone who reached out and tried to help them?

Sometimes artists need to not be so quite and introverted and reach out to others a little more instead of always expecting others to reach out to them...

I ranted about this somewhere I can't find the thread tho... oh well I'm sure its around here somewhere.

EDIT: Yea what Monster said and Goraaz linked to it already: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81530&

feanix

I'll definitely try to up my communication with other artists!

The biggest problem is when you know you work is mediocre but you don't know how to make it any better. Ultimately, that's why you post on polycount. You hope that some random genius will say "X is wrong, it's throwing off the whole scene!" and you'll be all like "OOOOHH YEAAAAAH....."

But if you just get nothin' you feel like you'll never get out of the forest of ignorance.

But yeah, I will comment more on other people's work!

Sean VanGorder

Mark Dygert wrote: »

it doesn't hurt to assume your work sucks and you should do better.

This.

If I don't get much feedback on something, it just makes me go back and work on it till it's something worth commenting on.

DrunkShaman

Wasnt the entire idea behind pnp is to post your work and go back to your desk to compare and see how to improve it?

TortillaChips

Unfortunately for people like feanix and a lot of us students I see around polycount, the need for crits is for 2 reasons. Though I seek crits and comments on my work to improve and become a better artist, it's also a part of the course to gather them. The system in place is that you need to get professional criticisms for all your work, because x% of most modules cares about that and not the actual work. Then as much as you'd like to begin another project or improve the one you have, you have to go write about it, or do another module that isn't related to 3d (like narratology *shudders*). So if there are a lack of crits, I understand that it's because it's generic, soon I'll be finished and can hopefully improve more in my own environment, and make stuff until it's worth commenting on like SeanEG said, and being more involved in polycount rather than constrained by the course.

Autocon

People generally post on things that are AMAZING or HORRIBLE. I see far less posts in things that are mediocore. People want to give the amazing work praise and tell the people with horrible work how much they need to fix.

Just an observation, dosnt hold true to everything.


Also interesting work will get posts, boring things people have seen a million times will get less.

Dylan Brady

I'm not sure if this is actually true, but I've noticed the people that get the most excitement going on their pieces are the ones who have a unique style.
If you just post another anatomy study or another dumpster that's been puked on by a hobo, no one cares unless its the BEST fucking Aanatomy study/dumpser puke.
But if you do something unique that really shows your putting some thought into concept your probably going to get more discussion (I love this idea/I hate this idea)

For me the only time I've even gotten a reply was when I asked, but when they did reply, I noticed that everyone had been keeping track of my progress the whole time, and just not saying anything.

So I guess keep posting and working and be true to your inner critic? thats what I'm doing and hopefully one day Ill be cleaning the jizz off my sketchbook like some guys here :P

/pointless rant

feanix

Oh dear... jizz... gives a new meaning to the idea of polygon whores...

kendo

At the end of the day you cannot really control if people are going to respond to your work or not, the only advise i can offer is to expect nothing and then you wont be disappointed.

feanix

The Rocky Horror Picture Show wrote:

I ask for nothing, master!
And you shall receive it in abundance!

I guess, but if you expect nothing then why bother posting? After that it's just an exercise in pointlessness/narcissism...

iconoplast

feanix wrote: »

After that it's just an exercise in pointlessness/narcissism...

Welcome to the internet!

haikai

I know those starting out or trying to get over "the hump" are looking for specific criticism that can help them grow, but I think something everyone should also do is read through other threads. Look for similar work and see what kind of critiques they get that you can apply to your own work.

Often times the only critiques needed are really basic, fundamental things that are said again and again. There are so many "My first head sculpt in zbrush" and such threads and I could almost copy and paste my feedback from one to the other. I've tried to be proactive about giving feedback, but there are only so many hours in the day, and it's admittedly discouraging when you spend a lot of time trying to communicate what you think is wrong, but your feedback is misunderstood or simply blown off (this isn't always the case, of course).

When you post, try to be specific about what you need. Post up your references so we can see what you're striving for and where you need work to get there. :thumbup: