C+C And Style Discussion (Split from Nayr's Thread)

[StarSock64]

bolded for tl;dr

I thought about it, and I came up with a few different scenarios

Our usual situation is:

someone posts edits as a learning tool, rather than as things that are supposed to be used for something. Or, even if they are for something, perhaps they have the desire to become a better artist and should hold off on focusing on producing. We tell them that, while they may -do- edits if they so please, there's no reason to -post- said edits because there's very little to comment on. This is because there is usually very little of it that is custom (if any at all) and so any comments either end up as "that's how it is in the original" or "you could learn this actually properly if you did customs," or there's so many custom parts that they may as well have done a full custom. Edits also, of course, show very little effort.

This situation is what we're used to, and we responded accordingly. It's even in the rules:

3.Take it Easy with Edits/Recolors/etc.
Some people would like to post edits, splices, frankenmons, tracing, recolors, and that is fine. Just hold your breath, take a shot of the nearest alcohol you can reach and explain him that the nature of said issue sometimes wouldn't benefit him, or that he should avoid do these because x reason you might want to elaborate (kicks in someone's face aren't an elaborated argument). If OP insists on them, then let a mod deal with it and if that doesn't work, just leave the thread alone. DON'T FUCKING POST SHIT ON IT because doing so just bumps it on top of other more worthy threads.

Now, Nayr showed us
-splices, which are edit-level
-customs, which amounted to a combination of eyeballing and pattern memorization, and may as well be called edit-level

As a learning tool, it's next to useless to ask for C+C for edit-level sprites.



However, if these were meant for something (which I am not even sure of, in this case), then the situation would be more like

"I'm using these for a fangame, is there anything I should tweak before using them?"

I was not trying to "force" Nayr into becoming an artist he didn't want to be, I was trying to get him to post art that is actually relevant to the purpose of the board, while stating my opinion that he should try other things, if he would want to become a better artist (and, at that time, I had missed the post where he already stated he didn't want to branch out...).
Since the splices and customs weren't random, useless amalgamations (FE games need random villagers, there were existing characters put into the style, etc.) I guess there's not as much of a reason to discourage their posting and they may have relevance (though there's still not much to say to help).

Even if they're useless or ridiculous or just plain bad, I suppose that's not a reason to discourage their posting, so long as they're solely for production. I mean, if we have someone come in with bad M&L fancharacters for their game, we should probably tell them nobody wants to play a game with an overused style and that their sprites are ugly, etc. C+C regarding art techniques is easy, but C+C regarding style is harder to make arguments about...In the case of refusing to change style, they're probably best ignored. I guess they can make something ugly if they want to, or keep trying to get better at a style that doesn't really matter. Refusing all C+C, especially those about art techniques rather than style, is of course not okay, since that's the point of the subforum.



If they weren't meant for either of these scenarios
then that's just showcasing and kind of awful and that shouldn't be allowed.



So I suppose in the future we'll need to learn the poster's purpose for their edit-level sprites

I really don't feel comfortable telling someone it's okay to purposely stagnate their art, and I won't. I might even comment on the futility of it, because that's just my opinion. People should be allowed to post what they think, it doesn't matter if the poster didn't ask for it. But harassment and unnecessary aggression is another thing. It's all about wording, I guess.


Oh.

Actually I just looked in the rules again

This Board's main purpose is to help people work on their development as pixel artists/spriters.

It's even in the rules. This board is to help people become better artists. Not to "develop their sprites" but to "develop themselves as pixel artists/spriters". And Nayr said he didn't want to become a better artist. You could say he wanted to become a better FE sprite artist, but like, what is there to improve on? His skills are practically pseudoskills. There's a lot of eyeballing and learned behaviors, and there's not much room to learn anything more in that particular style.

I think the staff has some thinking to do, about this here wording.