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Sig Battles: Discussion


chrisco97

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You can't pick and choose who can use them, but you can certainly pick and choose how much of an image can come from outside sources. As I said initially, the question is whether the creative aspects that made the entry notable were produced using PDN. If someone takes a stock photograph of, say, a calla-lily, and processes it with PDN effects to make it look like a watercolor, I have no problem with that being an element of a competition sig. Now, suppose someone laboriously paints a similar image, using nothing but the PDN Paintbrush tool. Is that more a PDN image than the processed photo? I'd say no. It may be more creative, but the creativity has everything to do with the artist, and little to do with PDN.

 

There will always be borderline cases, but to me, racerx's airplane sig seems far from the border, on the not-enough-PDN side. Perhaps the alphabet entry was close to the border. I think it's perfectly valid to lobby against an image you feel has too much external content. If others are convinced, they won't vote for it.

Edited by MJW
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I do not know the era of the forums when competitions were separated into "from scratch" and "photo edit" comps, but those aren't the comps we have now.
 
The current competitions are not “made from scratch only” competitions, nor are they “photo manipulation only” competitions, they are competitions that allow both kinds of creativity and art styles. Just like paint.net is both a paint program and a photo editing program.
 
The creativity I enjoy.
My creativity isn't making things from scratch, the creativity I enjoy is building and piecing things together. I enjoy paint.net the way people enjoy making cakes, they use pre-made ingredients such as flour. I enjoy paint.net the way people enjoy scrapbooking, they use lots of pre-made art supplies. I layer my photos the way people layer cakes, and I re-color or add cool effects the way people use frosting.

Making things from scratch and photo manipulating are different kinds of creativity, but I don't think we need to exclude or look down on either types of creativity.

Often photo manipulation doesn't seem as impressive or talented compared to images that have been made with only digital drawing tools, but, when you start looking around at some photo manipulations, and when you start to do photo manipulations of your own, that's when it can become apparent that there is a lot of skill and talent that can go into editing photos. Have you seen what people do with photoshop? Even if they use stock photos, the way they edit the photos is amazing.
 
Being less of an artist and less creative.
I will admit, I am not an artist like those who make great works of art by just using the paint brush and fill tools, nor am I skilled like those who can do dramatic photo editing. I am bad at being creative compared to a lot of people. I'm not original when I use tutorials, and I'm not original when I use stock photos. But, the competitions aren't for artists only, they are for anyone who makes or edits things using paint.net. And I don't think we need to try and shun people just because they are less creative than others.
 
Using other programs.
I can understand being against the use of other programs, but as I said before, I personally have not used other programs to make my paint.net entries. If I use outside things, I use pre-made objects, not programs. The plane was made using outside programs, not photos, meaning, it can't count as being a photo manipulation. You need photos to do photo manipulations, and photo manipulations is what I do.

My outside resources are normally photos, different font types, and sometimes photoshop brushes from brusheezy (brushes might be controversial, so when I do use brushes I use them sparingly). For all of the resources I use, I try to keep within the comp rules of not violating copyright laws. The resources I use are not random pictures from the internet, read my previous post where I went into detail about using free legal photos, the purpose of links is to give credit to the original photos and authors.
 
If you want to get picky, then maybe we should ask what font you use when you use text in your entries. I can't call the fonts I use "pdn", I think Microsoft is the author to most of my fonts. But, there are no competition rules saying we need to give credit to the original creators of the fonts that are pre-installed on our computers.
 
My alphabet sig.
Concerning my alphabet sig, I didn't break any comp rules, and I didn't use any other programs to make it. So it's not a fair comparison to say why it was OK, but the plane might not be OK.

My "A" was 100% pdn, and yes I made my own pencils. For my "B" block, the texture lines were the only things that weren't pdn. My "C" was an edited and colored photoshop brush, I think the brush was originally a photo of two real brush strokes. And the background was made out of three stock photos. I added the stock photos to enhance and help represent what each of my letters were made out of. Pencils went behind my pencil A, toy blocks went behind my B block, and paints went behind my C paint stroke. I probably should have edited the background images more, but since they weren't the main aspects of the siggy, I didn't do much to them. However, I still did use photo blending techniques on them, and re-sized the photos, flipped the photos, as well as used layer blending modes.

 

Consider my alphabet sig like a cake, lots of the parts were pre-made objects, but I put them together and decorated them using paint.net.

Edited by Cc4FuzzyHuggles
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MJW

 


 

 

You can't pick and choose who can use them, but you can certainly pick and choose how much of an image can come from outside sources.

 

 

Seriously???   Did you read what you wrote??  So in other words you are saying what I said in the beginning, It's fine for some but not for others. 

 

 

CC

 

I really don't know where to begin with the novel you wrote above. 

 

 

 

I will admit, I am not an artist 

 

Well at least you admit this even though you are constantly giving advice like you are a professional. 

 

 

 

Consider my alphabet sig like a cake, lots of the parts were pre-made objects, but I put them together and decorated them using paint.net.

 

I don't think I would eat your cake if you use parts of other people's cakes to make them and I love cake,lol.

 

 

 

I didn't break any comp rules, and I didn't use any other programs to make it.

 

I never said you broke any rules but at times you come pretty close. You may have not used any other programs to make your cakes but someone else did. 

 

 

I really think you missed the point of my brief posts. I am sorry that I could not write an essay explaining what I said but I really think it wouldn't have changed anything if I had. 

 

In close I say, Do what you want, you are going to anyways and my words are falling on deaf ears. 

 

I would like to add that it baffles me that the mods let you continually bring up photoshop in a paint.net forum but we get reprimanded for bringing up an old version of paint.net. Makes my mind spin.

Edited by skullbonz

 

                                                              http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/21233-skullbonz-art-gallery

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I'm sorry you don't like the idea of people using stock photos and paint.net as an image manipulation program (a photo editor) for the paint.net comps, but I feel your conversations and attitude towards those who do enjoy using paint.net as an image manipulation program are being a bit harsh.

 

I'm glad you are skilled at making things from scratch, and I also like it when people make things from scratch, but I don't think you need to get mad or so serious towards those who choose to not make things from scratch, and instead enjoy paint.net and the competitions differently than you do.
 
I'm sorry if I have offended you in some way, I have nothing against you, and I personally have liked some of your previous entries, I'm sorry that the feelings aren't neutral. But, the competitions are fun for me, and I would like them to still be fun, but now I'm feeling a little attacked and hurt just because I don't use paint.net like everyone else does.

 

I'm sorry you wouldn't want my cake, I'm just trying to have a little fun and enjoy that fun with others. If you decorated a nice, fun, and friendly cake, and offered some to everyone, I would probably eat your cake. Cakes are fun, and they are fun to be enjoyed with others and shared, that would include your cakes. I hope you can find some peace in your heart towards me and forgive that I like to enjoy things differently than you.

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You can't pick and choose who can use them, but you can certainly pick and choose how much of an image can come from outside sources.

 

Seriously???   Did you read what you wrote??  So in other words you are saying what I said in the beginning, It's fine for some but not for others.

 

 

After giving the matter some more thought, I decided to edit my original response. It occurred to me that in my attempt to phrase my quoted reply in terms of the comment I was answering, I may have been unclear. Perhaps skullbonz thought I meant that one can pick and choose differently for different posters how much outside material to allow. I'm not sure how that would make sense in the context of the rest of my comment, but I'll give skullbonz the benefit of the doubt and assume that's how it was interpreted.

 

What I meant, of course, is that we can establish limits to how much of an image can come from outside sources. Limits that apply equally to everyone; no "fine for some but not for others."

Edited by MJW
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This 'discussion' has taken a turn for the worse :(

I'm in favor of a constructive discussion. This isnt. The personal attacks will STOP. NOW!

I'm locking this thread for three days to give you all a chance to settle down.

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  • 4 weeks later...

You know, what brought me to this website is the same thing which brought us all here... a passion for graphic design. We each have our own style just as different and unique as the clothes we wear but in the big picture, that's what makes it special. It's special because of the richness and diversity of what's created and shared, which inspires others to imagine new things and motivates them to create even more thus repeating an ongoing cycle of progress. It's that very reason why I try to encourage others by simply complimenting them on their work, be it here or anywhere else. A little positive reinforcement goes a long way. :)

Ok so with that said, I have a few ideas to help improve the overall experience and enjoyment aspects of the sig battle thread for the entire PDN community. Lemme know what your guys thoughts are on it.

1) The first person to start a battle chooses a category which the challenger also goes by. A few examples just to give an idea: metallic, graffiti, landscape, fabric, cosmos, black & white, etc... This helps by matching up images of a similar genre so there isn't a big gap between both entries for the playing field to be a bit more evenly matched.

2) Have a time limit on entries such as 1-2 weeks at most. If there aren't 3 votes to win when time expires, the sig with the most votes gets the win. If no challengers enter a sig to start the voting, the round goes to that person by default and the next battle can commence. This would help by cutting down the wait time so there's more action and less "elevator music, call on hold" moments that drive us all nuts.

 

Edited by RFX

RFX5A1.jpg

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  • 10 months later...

Is this yet another comp/ battle heading for the grave ? I submitted an entry to challenge Limon back in December 2015 and sadly not one member has rated either one yet, I always thought it was a fun "no theme" based battle, it would be a shame to see another forgotten thread. :(

BREtKQW.png

 

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