Low challenge entries - why are you not entering?

MelC said:
I've been slacking in entering for challenges recently and these are my reasons, although I dont think this will help...

and another reason. Now, be warned. This might sound a bit b*tchy but it's the main reason why I stay away.
4. Biased voting - In the past, I have already sense there's been biased voting. Biased in the sense that they vote for the SUBJECT of the fanart rather than the fanart itself. If the subject is something they drool over, they'll give it extra points, regardless of the quality of the icon. In the recent challenges (I wont point out which exactly), it has become more and more apparent. Right up til a point I think there's no point in participating anymore, since the only way I can win is to make a fanart of their object of affection. It really has p***ed me off. Which is why I just stay at LIMS, at least over there you give reasons why you think it's the worst. Although it's not compulsary to give a reason for best, but I think people spend more time really looking at the fanart rather than drooling at the subject.

Sorry if I sound like a total b*tch, but I just being objective.. So basically, I should stop talking cause if not I'd be rambling. [shut-up icon]
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I Must admit over the last couple of months or so I have noticed this more so your not being a bi*tch.

Smokey said:
I kind of agree with this, but I'm not sure how it could be avoided. This is one reason I like doing the categories that are for a specific show, because it seems like sometimes people tend to favor their favorite show entry as well as character. Specific character themes also would help, but that would be too limiting, I'm afraid.
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As Smokey said there is not a lot that can be done about this. Some will vote for their favorite character/show regardless of how good the other entries are, which is a shame..:(

I always hope that I vote for what I consider to be the best interpretation of the challenge (which may not always be the most technically adept entry) but if I come across two pieces of fan art that I think are great and I cant choose between them I will tend to lean towards the one that is from my favorite show..:(


Only thing I can suggest is that at the header of the voting just add in along with the other not to hints. Add in the option, Please vote for the best entries in each catagory NOT your favorite character/show.... something along those lines....
 
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First of all: thank you MelC for bringing up the point of "biased voting", I completely agree and am just happy that no mod had to mention it, s/t people feel patronized when a mod is coming up with certain issues - I don't mean anyone special, just a common observation :)

I'm sure that most of you are trying to estimate the challenge entries in a correct way, but s/t you can clearly tell that this is not the case. Sadly there's not much we can do about it, as Smokey and Fruitbat already mentioned.

Though I have a suggestion: in the LIMS everyone needs to comment on WHY he/she voted for a certain icon, why not adding this as a rule to all "normal" challenges, too? That way people have to think about their choice and perhaps judging on a more professional level and not only on their likings. Think and discuss about it, it's just a suggestion but it might work. :)
 
cinegirl said:
Though I have a suggestion: in the LIMS everyone needs to comment on WHY he/she voted for a certain icon, why not adding this as a rule to all "normal" challenges, too? That way people have to think about their choice and perhaps judging on a more professional level and not only on their likings. Think and discuss about it, it's just a suggestion but it might work. :)
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I agree, Vera. It's something to try at the very least, because I've been noticing biased voting in the banner challenge as well as other challenges. I've noted that is someone makes an icon or banner of a lesser character they tend to not get a lot of votes compared to the votes for a main character. And this is why I like to do Lab Rat, Detectives, or different themes once and a while to switch things up.

It also makes me sad when people announce in their votes or congratulation posts that they know who made what. I really think the meaning of true anonymous competition has been lost over the course of generations. Though there really is no way to stop this from happening perhaps this thread might help.

Also a friend had a thought about a challenge idea, using one cap for the challenge and seeing what everyone did it with. How does this sound? WOuld anyone be willing to do this for a banner challenge?
 
This may sound a little bit snobbish (or something like that) but...

How much of people commenting on why they like a certain icon going to change they way others make icons? I hope that's understandable because it confuses me and I know what I'm trying to say. My first criteria is that it has to please me. I have to like it before I send it in. I went through most of the summer without winning even a recognition award but I make icons the same now as I did then. I'm not going to say - 'They voted for #7 for this reason and I should have done that.' just so that more people will vote for mine even though I didn't like that icon myself.

I think what I'm trying to point out is that everybody has different taste.

Susan
 
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There is a difference between different taste and voting for a piece of art that is made my a friend or of a character of choice. Yes people will disagree, but to vote for someone's work just because they made it is unfair to the rest who also work hard.

I don't think commenting on why they chose the piece is going to change how others make their Fan Art, but to help understand why they are voting for that piece. It's more of a critique tool that is used in many art classes, not just for voting for icons, banners, and wallpapers.

And if someone wants to take the comments that another makes about a piece and apply it to their work, it's more than welcomed. No one is saying that people have to follow the comments that people could make about the specific artwork, it's a simple suggestion to try and solve and underlying problem.
 
Hi. :) I don't enter a lot of challenges because of my crazy working schedule, but I do try to submit my work when I have time and vote when I remember (lol). I, too, have noticed the matter of biased voting and how it probably have discouraged people from entering challenges. I think stating reasons when voting is a great idea if people comment on the technique instead of writing something like "how can anyone not love *insert character/ship name*". People need to remember we're not having a popularity contest on characters/ships/shows here.

On the other hand, I think the fan artists need to think about why they enter the challenges. Do we simply want to win, or do we want to learn from others and improve our own skills? IMO challenges are just for fun, people shouldn't take the results too seriously (but of course, the fairer the results are, the better). The most important thing is that we see what people can do with a subject and get inspired while winning is a bonus. We should take the comments that people make about other fan artists' work because we want to improve, not because we want to win. :)

All in all, I think reminding people not to do biased voting and having them comment on the entries they vote for technique/skill-wise might be the best solution.
 
wolfesgamergirl said:
It also makes me sad when people announce in their votes or congratulation posts that they know who made what. I really think the meaning of true anonymous competition has been lost over the course of generations. Though there really is no way to stop this from happening perhaps this thread might help.
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I think one good thing to do is for the challenge runner to mix up the icons when they post them for voting. Sometimes I see groups of three that are very obviously from the same artist. I guess knowing they're all from the same artist isn't the same as knowing WHICH artist, but I still think it would be good for them to be mixed up a bit.
 
Smokey said:
I think one good thing to do is for the challenge runner to mix up the icons when they post them for voting. Sometimes I see groups of three that are very obviously from the same artist. I guess knowing they're all from the same artist isn't the same as knowing WHICH artist, but I still think it would be good for them to be mixed up a bit.
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Sometimes they can be mixed up and sometimes people have a similar idea, especially if they used the same tutorial. And as for mixing them up sometimes it's easier for the runner of a challenge to group them together. It gets very crazy when there are three categories and they have at least 10 entries, if not more. The ease for the runner has to be factored in as well since they are the ones who need to be on top of things.
 
wolfesgamergirl said:
Also a friend had a thought about a challenge idea, using one cap for the challenge and seeing what everyone did it with. How does this sound? WOuld anyone be willing to do this for a banner challenge?
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I think that's a great idea! One of the things I like about provided caps is seeing what different people do with the same image. (Also, that helps me learn and improve my own technique when I see what someone else has done with the same cap that I've used.) This would just be narrowing the options a little further and making it more challenging. I'd definitely enter!

Just one suggestion, though. It might be best to use a large HQ promo pic for that, so that you can take different parts of the pic for your banner / icon. Some caps are a little limiting because of the quality.

As far as giving reasons goes, I think that some people would still write "because H is awesome!", and if it's enforced that it has to be technique, then you might be asking why people are not voting as well as why people are not entering. I'm sorry if I'm being pessimistic and cynical, but it seems like a lot of work putting into words why an icon really grabs you. Sometimes it's not an easy thing.
 
AliGtr said:
wolfesgamergirl said:
As far as giving reasons goes, I think that some people would still write "because H is awesome!", and if it's enforced that it has to be technique, then you might be asking why people are not voting as well as why people are not entering. I'm sorry if I'm being pessimistic and cynical, but it seems like a lot of work putting into words why an icon really grabs you. Sometimes it's not an easy thing.
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This I've got to agree with. My current avi I love. I don't really know why I just fell in love with the cap so I made an avi out of it. I cannot put into words what grabbed me about it.

There's also the problem that not all of us (raises hand in admission :alienblush:) know the techniques. When Kat had us judging the icons in the Miami challenge not only on our 3 favorites but a certain technique it was hard for me. The program I use is mostly a scrapbooking type program. It does not use the same words. I can't do something like blending and someone had the tell me what it was before I could vote on it.

Bye the way - I do not own the computer I do my fan art on so I cannot download anything on it without permission. I own a '98 machine and I dare you to find anything that will work on it. I can't even find a virus scanner that will work!:(

Susan
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wolfesgamergirl said:
I'm curious to know why hardly anyone is entering the Sig. Banner Challenge. Any thoughts?
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I don't know if it goes with anyone else, but with me I consider banners the hardest to make. I can usually, fairly easily, find a way to make my ideas work with icons and wallpapers. But when I get an idea for a banner I'm frequently getting frustrated having to crop and resize multiple times just to get the right part of the cap in the banner. I've been know to give-up and wait until I think of something else to try. :(

Susan
 
blackflag said:
wolfesgamergirl said:
I'm curious to know why hardly anyone is entering the Sig. Banner Challenge. Any thoughts?
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I don't know if it goes with anyone else, but with me I consider banners the hardest to make. I can usually, fairly easily, find a way to make my ideas work with icons and wallpapers. But when I get an idea for a banner I'm frequently getting frustrated having to crop and resize multiple times just to get the right part of the cap in the banner. I've been know to give-up and wait until I think of something else to try. :(

Susan
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I'm the same way. Banners are difficult for me. I just can't get the hang of getting the sizing right. And yes, it gets frustrating when I can't make the cap I want to use work.
 
I don't enter a lot of challenges only because I use photobucket for editing my pics and I can't compete with artists that use photoshop and such. Also I'm not a talented artist. I try and that's about it.

What I do find frustrating is that some theme runners keep changing the date. I know they want as many icons as possible BUT when I take the time out from my busy life to get the icons in on time it's annoying to see the date has been extended. Maybe you need to start with a more realistic date for everyone. If you keep changing the deadline then people will not take the time to get the icons in to begin with. Does it really matter that you only have 6 icons for the advanced level? Instead of allowing the usual 3 votes maybe alter the rules to allow 1 or 2 votes.
 
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