General Rules of the Graphics Section

[Rich]

Welcome to the Graphics forum! If you don't already know me, I'm Rich, your local graphics moderator. Me and the other graphics mods have decided to combine the rule threads in the graphics section that already exist, then add a few understood rules of our own. You may recognize some of the stuff you said if you had posted a notice in the past that was stickied, seeing as how I copied some of that stuff since you all can word it so eloquently. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me or any of the other graphics mods! That includes me, GTX, Dan, ♥, and Prodigy. Enjoy your posting!

1. Ripping

Ripping is defined as stealing other people's work. This may be copying a tag and changing it a little, or copying an entire work without changing it. Ripping has not, is not, and will never be tolerated on these forums. At all.

2. FanArt Usage

Fanart usage shall not be tolerated in this GFX forum. Unless you have proven permission from the original creator, then you CANNOT use Fanart whatsoever. Whether you found it on someone else's photobucket, or someone cut it out in another forum for people to use. Fanart cannot be, and will not be tolerated UNLESS you have proven information stating you can use it.

3. Flaming

In order to express the seriousness of this, a quote from an admin himself:

If I see anymore flaming remarks in the graphics section, I'm not even going to bother warning you guys anymore. This stupidity has gone on far enough. Simply put, stop flaming each other, you guys get nothing out of it. If you want to CnC with "honest" opinions, then do it in a decent and respectful manner.

4. Replies to Spam

These will not be tolerated. If you see spam, report it and let the mod take care of it. DO NOT flame in return. If you do, then you are no better than the person who flamed in the first place, and will be due to have as much punishment as they have.

What is spam? Stupid pointless annoying messages, in my book. In other words, don't chat, don't flame, and give useful ratings on various sigs. If you can't say something constructive, don't say anything at all. And these threads are not to idly chat, but to comment on artwork and answer questions.

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Finally, look at this thread and read these rules. Every rule you see here applies in the graphics section as much as anywhere else.

Happy posting!

[♥]

Lately people using 3D abstract renders has become a problem. For some reason, people think that they can use whatever they find. This is not the case! There is a difference between render packs and pieces of art that people make for showcasing. If the artist says "Ok" to you using the render then by all means, go ahead. However, if it's a collaboration between themselves and others or if they made it to be a piece for showcasing then DO NOT USE IT. It is ripping, just like using fan art in a tag/LP/wallpaper is ripping. I realize this became a problem when somebody made a resource thread and put up renders that are not for free use. Some people saved them and have been using them since, not aware that they are ripping another's work.

Here I will differentiate them.

This is an example of renders that are up for free use:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/...e+-in%3Ascraps

An easy way to tell that they're up for free use is that the artist who made them took the time to .zip or .rar the files into a convenient folder for you to use.

This is an example of a render that is NOT up for free use:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/...e+-in%3Ascraps

The easiest way to tell if it's not up for free use is by checking to see if there was any post-work done to it to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

Do not use a render if you have any doubts, instead contact someone or try to find the original artist to get their permission.

[Veritas]

I second this, and this should be stickied in my opinion.

[Dogenzaka]

Well thanks for the free renders (the actual free ones) lol they're good.
Sorry about using EnvyMe's, I had no idea it wasn't for free use because I think I downloaded them from CME x__x

Either way, if I can get the permission, it'd be nice. I sent EnvyMe a PM about it on DA, hopefully he/she will answer.

[Ryu]

This issue has caused several problems in the past, so I'll sticky this for now. It's important that everyone here is aware of which renders are usable and which are not.

Also, if you're not entirely sure whether a render [pack] you've found is free for use; always be sure and ask. Often you can just comment on someone's devArt page or contact them via email, MSN, AIM or Yahoo. It only takes a few minutes and some patience, and by simply doing that you'll avoid the possibility of being accused of ripping later on.

If you have any questions regarding the subject, individual render packs, anything in that direction, please feel free to ask here or ask me personally. Any rude or otherwise discouraging replies will of course be deleted and their posters warned or banned. ;3

Edit; editing the thread title if you don't mind.

[♥]

Don't mind one bit.

But yes, there are precautions that can be taken. Don't just assume that everything on the internet is yours to use.

[Dogenzaka]

I re-did my tag without that render.
I pentooled a similar looking design


I took that pentool, shrunk it, re-arranged it, duplicated it, smudged, erased, blah blah, used it to its potential instead of the render.

And I used some yellow splatters.

It looks a little different, but thankfully not too much ^_^

[♥]

So, with the sudden influx of newer members, the Graphics section has been taking some hits. There are several members who're gallivanting around this section who can't give acceptable critique. So, this isn't to put them down, rather, it's to help them learn what acceptable critique is.


Unacceptable Critique:

I like bothe of them..........

Nothing is really said here. it's spam, plain and simple. We need a LOT less of this. If you have nothing worthwhile to say, don't post at all, please.

Destructive Criticism:

Text is horrible, stock is horrible, brushing or smudging or whatever you did is horrible, the whole thing is horribly boring. What program did you use to make this?

These types of posts are what's killing this section. It's rude, stupid, arrogant, and completely unneeded. It's not even critique, it's an outright attack on the person's work.

Acceptable Critique:

work on the colors, they're kinda meh-ish +the white lighting and the black light-thingie dont mix well, they're too contrasty or something, meh-ish again

but the bg is overall nice, just a bit random,... a few tweaks here and there, and it'll be better, like the stock and the lighting above it.... typo maybe?

This is borderline acceptable. It's blunt, but it does critique the other person's artwork, but only barely. While this is fine, we'll want more of the next example.

Great Critique:

Lesse
The tag is extremely blurry. Instead of Motion Blurring then reducing the opacity/setting it to Lighten you could try to create motion through less conventional methods. Try to work with the flow, instead of just using Motion Blur, because M. Blur hardly ever looks good when applied to an entire tag. On the flow, it's well defined on the left side of the tag, but on the right you have fractals and textures that completely throw it off by going in circles. The stock takes up an incredibly large amount of space on the tag, which just isn't working. There needs to be lighting and a foreground. Sharpening it would help it.

And it could do without the text. Still, keep working on it.

His problem isn't making colors stand out, it's his choice in colors. Monotone tags are boring, dull, there's no life in them. It seems as if you just eyedropped and did it all with one or two brushes. That's the meaning of generic. Now if you were to try to use the color theory in your tags then they'd start to look better. Try working with complementaries, split complementaries, and analogous colors. Red > Green. Yellow > Purple. Blue > Orange. Those are your complementaries, try working with those before you try anything else. They'll help your tags pop out. Also try working with depth and flow. These are a bit harder to define, so I'll just let you get used to the color theory before I put too much on you.

These are perfect. They're not sugar-coated, but at the same time they're not attacking the piece. It goes in-depth on the tag, giving them tips and advice on what to do, and they keep their critique on a lighter tone.


So come on guys, what we need is better critique. If you can all remember to put some tact to your posts, then we'll see this sub-forum flourish like it was a year or two ago.

[Veritas]

Seconded. Sticky this now, please.

[Milky]

Sticky this now... .

[C4E]

Thank you Sparkle.
This has been happening a lot lately and at least now i know im not the only one getting bothered by it.

[♥]

yesss unstickied for now.

So, everyone, please read. I know stickies don't get read, so have at it.

[NeoTwilight]

Can we report people who are posting SPAM-ish and/or destructive criticism here or on a different thread maybe?

I don't have Photoshop so I can't give perfect critique like those examples, but I get the basic idea....
I'm more inbetween acceptable and almost perfect in my opinion. However, many people who post on the GFX forum give pointless ratings and stuff like that which gives nothing to the artist except for higher self-esteem. Can we report this somewhere or should we just let it go?

[♥]

If you see anything that's just plain spam or destructive, PM it to either Frozen Inferno or Manchester Black, so they can do something about. Alternatively, you can send the links to me and I'll get it to one of them

[Monkey]

Originally Posted by NeoTwilight

Can we report people who are posting SPAM-ish and/or destructive criticism here or on a different thread maybe?

I don't have Photoshop so I can't give perfect critique like those examples, but I get the basic idea....
I'm more inbetween acceptable and almost perfect in my opinion. However, many people who post on the GFX forum give pointless ratings and stuff like that which gives nothing to the artist except for higher self-esteem. Can we report this somewhere or should we just let it go?

There's a "report this post" button next to every post underneath the username of the "post-ee".