Low challenge entries - why are you not entering?

[nattybatty55]

I think thats a great point about the 'generation' idea. I've been on here for just over a year and a half and have seen many people come and go- not just in challenges but all over the board. Which a pretty natural thing as many people just 'fizzel' out of coming here as the 'novalty' wears off- if that makes sense.

Again, it's great to see some good discussion in here. I just want to take a minute, though, to ask for some in-put from our 'advanced' participants. More than anything, this is the category that's been lacking recently.

At the moment i usually enter the intermediate level in the Miami challenge and was told that I should soon move up to advanced. However for about a month in the summer I had PC problems and now that I can use my photoshop again I just havent got back into it.

But I agree with the fact that with not having any new eps for months and with the writers strike we've lost possible caps. I reckon people have more inspiration after new eps have aired. Also, RL is hectic again after a free summer and after studying etc I either cant be bothered to open my PS and would rather sit and watch tv [for example] or just simply run out of time.

 

[fo_poozle]

everyone has brought up some really great points in here (some i think i'm going to try in the next icon challenge) i think a lot of things stem from the categories. obviously they have there good and bad points, the good being it keeps things fair and the bad being knowing when to actually advanced to another level. personaly i think the idea of making it almost manditory for people to move up based on an amount of wins can be tricky especially when its obvious that a skill level isn't up to the same standards as advanced enteries. a lot of it has to do with confidence, people should be able to go to the next level when they feel ready to.
and i also like the idea of letting people choose what size they send in, or you could do like Kat does in the miami challenge and have an extra category for the other sides as an option.
as for the lack of advanced enteries most of it, for me anyways, has to do with being busy. and i unlike others don't necessarily like having caps provided for me, i like to go and find my own.

 

[starzsgirl]

What might help in icon and banner challenges is if more of the challenges provided caps.

I provide example caps for the Sig Banner Challenge, when I have the time to do so. I sometimes do provided caps, but there are people who don't like that aspect and therefore don't enter.

the only thing I can't understand are the levels especially the intermediate one ( I mean I saw a lot intermediate stuff which was far better than the advanced one or far worse than the beginne one ), I think that's one possible reason why intermediate is a little bit difficult.

I think I can give an attempt on this answer....Intermediates tend to be the people in between, not just starting out and not knowing a lot about programs, brushes, etc. The category was created to help ease people form Beginners to Advanced since when people were winning a lot in Beginners they were afraid to move up, in some cases.

 

[Smokey]

More of my 2 cents.

I do like the larger icon sizes...120x120 at least, but I haven't been doing them long enough to really have 100x100 "resources", so I can understand the majority of artists not wanting to switch.

Providing caps...I guess it's okay when they're offered as options, but I like being able to find my own instead of having to use one that's provided. For me that's part of the challenge...finding and cropping something interesting. So having them provided but not required to be used might be a good solution.

Finally, my take on the different levels is that they should refer to techniques. Like if you use advanced techniques in creating your icons then you would be in "Advanced". Then the people who use those extra tools are competing with each other, and those that don't use them are competing against each other in the "Beginners". Maybe "beginners" should be changed to "Basic"?

 

[Fruitbat]

Well I am not new to the Fan Art pages I am VERY new at actually participating in the challenges. I have noticed as other have said, some of the stalwarts of the fan art forum have disappeared over the last year. These were the guys that usually bulked out the Advanced and Intermediate categories. Possibly a combination of lack of interest/inspiration, real life getting in the way and for some they may drift back as the new season returns.

I think a lot of people are scared/intimidated to move up, or don’t feel they have the skills to move up. I agree that if someone is constantly winning then they should be encouraged to move up. But as Smokey said its not always the most technically adept icon/wallpaper/banner that wins. A great use of pic or comment can swing the vote in someone’s favor, rather than how much work, skill or how advanced the program used. It is a difficult problem.

I have had some beginners luck and I have won a couple of times but I can count on one hand the amount of art work I have created so I feel happier staying in the beginners category for now.

How about after so many wins pointing the user towards the what category thread, with some examples of their work/wins and let the verdict there influence if they move up a category or not.

Re the icon sizes I think allowing 100 and 140 would be a good idea, seeing that a lot of users/participants have switched to the new size.

Someone did comment about provided caps. Personally I would rather find my own. I tend not to enter the challenges that limit the user to picked caps. Why not provided links to caps for those that don't have the time to find their own but allow the user to use ANY cap that they want, as long as it fits the parameters of the challenge. That way you keep everyone happy.

How about a sticky post just for where to find caps. Where we can post links for all three shows.

Also re the intermediate advanced problem. Some times the amount of challenges and time scales of them can dissuade someone.

I know some only enter Icons, banners or wallpapers but I like to try my hand at them all, and sometimes there are just to many challenges at one time and I just don't have the time. I would imagine if you are entering the Advanced category, this would be an even bigger consideration. So they would have to be picky about what they enter. How about staggering the challenges.

Just some suggestions/thoughts

 

[cinegirl]

Heya! I just came back from an awesome weekend of RL and just found out that this thread was re-activated - great idea! And I will give my two cents concerning this issue, too, when I slept in tomorrow, but wanted to give some info about this suggestion:

How about a sticky post just for where to find caps. Where we can post links for all three shows.

We already have such a thread, even sticky When cofi_shot created the Fan Art Forum Guide back in the days she also added a link list with resources, a pretty good list with Screencaps Sites among it.
Check it out here, it's on the first page under Helpful Resources. Perhaps it's not absolutely up-to-date, but we're trying to actualize as good as possible and we're always more than happy about new informations

 

[starzsgirl]

Someone did comment about provided caps. Personally I would rather find my own. I tend not to enter the challenges that limit the user to picked caps. Why not provided links to caps for those that don't have the time to find their own but allow the user to use ANY cap that they want, as long as it fits the parameters of the challenge. That way you keep everyone happy.

Sometimes the challenge is in how to use the same cap as someone else, which has it's points as well. Sometimes it's easier to be creative with what is given then spend time searching for the right one. Besides provided caps put everyone on the same level since they can't rely on certain caps that they might use all the time. It's good to change things up a bit and provide caps, and if someone doesn't like that then they have the choice to not enter that theme.

Most of the time people want to use their own caps, I'm alright with that. There has never been a rule that says someone can't use a cap that doesn't the theme, so I have no idea where you came up with that notion. Also giving example caps is a good way to help people who don't have time to find them. Plus a whole list of places to find caps is located in the Fan Art Forum Guide thread.

 

[Fruitbat]

Sometimes the challenge is in how to use the same cap as someone else, which has it's points as well. Sometimes it's easier to be creative with what is given then spend time searching for the right one. Most of the time people want to use their own caps, I'm alright with that.

I agree that not everyone has the time or knows the show well enough to go looking for their own caps so giving an example does help.

Limiting the user to provided caps for certain themes can be an advantage. It evens the playing field, and allows us to see each participants take on the picture and such. Like in the 1 V 1 challenges. But for general challenges I was just commenting that I prefer the option to use either/or.

There has never been a rule that says someone can't use a cap that doesn't the theme, so I have no idea where you came up with that notion.

I hope I didn't infer there was a rule , that wasnt what I intended.

 

[CSI_Kat]

Ok what I think I will do next round is instead of having the 140x140 icon be in a separate category - I will allow icon size variety. I will also go back to including a special technique that everyone seemed to like.

As for providing caps - I like to provide them because I do have several people that like them provided - but at the same time it allows people the creativity in finding their own. This last time I almost didn't provide any but a few people asked me to - so I went back and posted some.

As for the staggering of challenges. I know I always try and make my challenge deadline about 3 days out from the other ones that are going on.

I know as a challenge runner I would not want to tell people where they go. I have a few times suggested to a few people that they needed to move up and they actually did well in the next level. One time I suggested someone enter intermediate and they didn't get many votes and I felt really bad later. My vote would be no on making us do that.

 

[Dragonfly]

I did a bit of an experiment with the entries from the current wallpaper challenge. Because it was prompted by the discussion in this thread, and is relevant, I'm going to post it here as well. Consider it some 'food for thought'.

I organized the entries into the categories according to how the participants requested their levels:

Beginner: 11
Intermediate: 7
Advanced: 9

Then, I re-organized them according to how I would place them:

Beginners: 5
Intermediate: 9
Advanced: 13

Bit of a difference, huh? I should note, though, that my results have some people in two different categories, which I hate doing. So if I were to put everyone in just one category, it would be more like this:

Beginner: 3
Intermediate: 8
Advanced: 16

(by moving them into the category they have the most in already)

So, like I said, something to think about.

 

[future_cop]

Hi,I just thought I'd give my opinion in here.I see some people talking about how they can't find other programs to use.I know of four different ones that I used aside from picnik.com over the time I've been doing challenges.The ones I've used are free as well.I myself have never used GIMP

I've used Paint.net which you can find here:
http://www.download.com/Paint-NET/3000-2192_4-10338146.html

However if your worried about memory space on your computer I wouldn't recommend this one.

Also Photofiltre and Photoscape.Which are my favorites

http://photofiltre.en.softonic.com/

http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php

The last one is Artweaver.de
http://www.artweaver.de/index.php?en_version

Now artweaver was difficult for me to learn which is why I switched back to photofiltre.With paint.net it updates its self after you continuosly use it.I started with 3.2 version and after time it updated itself to 3.36.

I would also love to see more people joinging as well.I remember a challenge I was in before I wasn't able to ge ton talkcsi.I think the runner was Kat.I loved it because what she did was take the three cataergories and make them do a certain thing.

Like beginners had to use text and intermidate had I think effect while advanced had to work with black and white while making one color stand out.I think if we did things like that then it would be more intresting to do challenges.Another was scenery instead of always working with the characters themselves there was a scenery challenge in banners awhile back and I also enjoyed that one.

About size,I find it hard to work with the bigger size,there is so much room and sometimes you can only figure out what to do with half of it.I like it for Avatars because it's easy but with chanlleges I feel it's to much space,I like haveing the size 100X100,for me a smaller space is easier to work with then a larger one.I read about doing polls and voting to see what the next challenge would be and it sounds fun,I jus think some people won't enter because it wasn't the subject they wanted to do.

Provided caps is a great Idea,because I sometimes have a hard time finding really great caps to use and other times it's easy.

I just thought I'd lend a hand on a few free programs for those who like me can't aford photoshop,and give my opinions on a few things.

 

[cainesugar]

I know I don't currently run challenges, but I have in the past and know that certain things encourage more entries:

- Providing caps, but allowing people to also search for their own. This way, those who don't have time to dig through episodes can enter, but those who do aren't hindered.

- Simple challenges. I once had an open-ended challenge with restrictions and I got about 6 entries. It helps when Beginners can interpret the challenge just as well as those who are Advanced.

- Long deadlines, but not so long that people are waiting for the voting to go up forever. I'd say a week and a half is good, usually.

 

[MelC]

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

1. RL - yup, no denying and really nothing much you guys can do about it, sorry...
2. CSI - To be honest, I'm not that crazy over CSI anymore, so I no longer feel like I want to make CSI fanarts anymore.
3. Topics - My brain thinks too much, and try as hard as possible to come out with something that is more creative. And therefore, when there's a very tricky subject I think doubly hard, and end up giving up. It sucks, I know and it's totally my fault, no doubt about it.

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]

 

[shazza_018]

Okay guys I've come back because I forget to discuss one more thing that totally slipped my mind

Okay well as some of you who may know and for those of you who don't know I run the Misc. Icon Challenge. Now for a while the number of enteries have been very low, mine have gone down from about an average of 30 to about 15. Now the Misc. Challenge works differently in that there are no catergory but I've been thinking for a while to introduce catergories since it isn't fair to put beginners against advanced so I wanted to know that would be something people would like to see in the Misc. Challenge. Also I may allow people of enter 1 icon in the 140x140 size which will be voted for seperately. I just thought I'd best post this here so that for those of you who enter the Misc. Challenge can give me you opinons on the matter. If there is anything else about the challenge that concerns you, please let me know and I can sort something out!

 

[Smokey]

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.

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.