Wirehead Studios

Wow, that's some deep stuff. I too am a fur, but to a lesser extent. For me it's the whole role playing thing... I love role playing, perhaps a bit too much. The art doesn't bother me though... if ya think about it, most of the loony toons were anthropomorphs. ;)

Now I'm confused.

*Footman's head explodes

Con, been at you again?

Loony Toons are indeed anthros.  And I also love role playing.  Playing a human is boring.  There are so many other things to try out.  I'll admit there have been times when I wish I was my char.  Hey better than a poor grad student, eh?  '-)  And if yer interested, I dabble with some anthro RPGs.  It's not "real" role playing, but it's as close as I'm gonna get where I'm at.  Contact me if you're interested in playing along.  Would be nice to see one or two of you there.

And Pho, no prob my friend.  I do my best to explain myself, even if it means embarassing me.  Yes, when I'm annoyed, I often try to imagine myself as one anthro or another, padding along beside me, wind in my fur, snarl on my face, daring anything to stand in my way.  Again, it's a form of stress release.  Helps me feel better and move on.

This thread's changed from about my hard work to "furries r us" O_o

Yay (http://footman.doesntexist.org/tails1.jpg) hooray (http://footman.doesntexist.org/knuckles1.jpg). I'm a mad man (http://footman.doesntexist.org/sonic3.jpg). :P

And here's a teaser for my story's sequel (http://footman.doesntexist.org/xteaser1.jpg). :)

Heh (http://footman.doesntexist.org/rouge6.jpg).

I've noticed your use of lighting and overall style isn't bad, now just clean up those jaggies on the lines!  I notice that more than anything, which tends to ruin the rest of it. :(

Tad uncontrollable, I'm afraid, but I'll try to fix it on future drawings.

still looking good, actually, looking even better!

I try. ;)

Boo yah! (http://footman.doesntexist.org/group1.jpg) I'm nuts! (http://footman.doesntexist.org/Z-Rouge.jpg) :D

Is it just me or don't I see these negative/abusive posts? (I'll assume you deleted them right away :))
Locking the topic however, won't change much, since Foots will need a place to show off his work (and thus must start a new thread), right?


Pho's post (other than remind me fo the horrid invention of glow textstyle that will haunt me forever) made me realise that I haven't been a good critic here yet . And although this is more or less Nirrad's field of competence, I'm a bit of an artist myself ;]

So here you go Footmon:

Pros:
- You've got a consistent style going (you're probably one of the few that could keep a starting comic looking good & consistent).

- You capture the mood and composition of the original works (where copied) very well. For those images you didn't copy, if any (I'm no judge, I hardly know the characters) you really got the look right - they match the original concepts.

- Some of the judgements under the Cons are affected by my personal loathing of the more simplistic forms of anime/sonic :]

Cons:
-  At first I was a bit more positive about  your work, because I thought the bat was, in fact, of your own design. Needless to say, I was a bit shocked to find her after Dic posted a link to some forum or other :)
Ofcourse, the best way to learn to draw is to look at examples and copy them, I'm sure we all have at one point. I know that the fun in any creative process is in making something of your own, and I personally don't feel the thrill of that when making copies - gen items & weapons not included ofcourse ;]

- Even manga is based on certain rules of human/bipedal anatomy, and some of the artwork shows some serious cases of broken-bones ;]

- Your drawings appear as outlines & colour. That is to say the image doesn't feel whole to me. It's good style practice and very educative (not to mention lots of fun :)) to try to use shading and colours to define shape, and not rely on outlines.

A very good example of how you can make realistic & great looking stuff without fully outlining everything (http://www.planetquake.com/tabun/tmp/loomis_outline_tone.jpg) - by Andrew Loomis.

- The colours or somewhat bland - they're all very close to the primitives and there's very little variance, other than the dodged highlights. I say again, this probably is more of a personal thing against simplistic anime ;]

- The colouring is not very smooth in places, and in combination with the jagged edges Pho mentioned, this gives the portraits a messy look. Messy styles can be great, but you can see it when 'twas or wasn't intentional ;]


Keep going and try some different approaches every now and then. Pencil sketches can be really fun and help out. Where the mouse is pretty good for colouring, it's pure hell when trying to sketch or outline in photoshop.

Tab, it appears that the individuals in question removed their posts themselves.  I closed the topic temporarily to get their attention.  Since this has been resolved for now I'll be more than happy to open it back up.  I've removed my warning as well.  Best to just forget the whole incident and move on.

I'm going to refrain from posting anything here for a while.

I am 16, NOT 27. I'v only been doing this for about 2 WEEKS, NOT my WHOLE LIFE. I'm sorry that I'm not LEONARDO DA VINCI and that I can't do as good a job as VAN GOGH.

And with that said, I bid you all farewell, or more appropriately, I bid you all IPTABLES.

I'm sorry if you can't take criticism, but either learn to deal with it, or stop proudly showing achievements. Learn from it and overcome that stab of pain you feel.
I know it's hard, and I'm sensitive about critique myself - but if I'd react like this to such a (relatively mild) comment as the above, Generations wouldn't have seen any of my skins, nor would I still be learning as I am now. As many of you know, I'm nowhere near satisfied with what I made so far, and as hard as it is to be a true critic of your own work, I'm trying to be as harsh as I can.

Maybe sooner or later you'll agree with me that harsh comments are actually way more pleasant & constructive than people yelling 'awesome!' at anything you churn out, no matter the quality or effort. On the other hand, if it demotivates you as much as you demonstrated in the #wirehead channel & here, maybe art is not for you? I can't wait to see what you'll come up with, after you've come to your senses again :]

None of what I posted & still post is meant to be negative and deconstructive. Remember, It's just what I think. If you disagree, I'll refrain from giving crits in the future, but if our roles were switched, I'd feel that as a loss. Sorry -
I'll just go back to 'pheering your l337 photoshopping skills' then :]

Finally, to lighten the spirits, in reaction to  the content of your last post:
- You are young, but so was mozart. In other words - Age means shite. It all depends on when you start, not when you're born. This differs for everyone. You've just started out, so keep thou shirt on, Hamlet.
- You've been doing it for only two weeks? Then you have all the more reason to be less sensitive and realise that what you've done is quite an accomplishment. Also, the sooner you start developing your skills and learning, the easier it is to start off right! Ignoring comments & crits started me off in an entirely wrong direction, in which I felt proud of craptastic skins - thankfully, I got a bit of an eye-opener when discussing art & computer gfx with Acryl, a year later. Still, it was hard to let bad practice and ego-struggles go after all those months.
- You don't have to be either da vinci or van gogh, unless you wish to be a dead person. ;]  Nor do you have to be sorry for not being either famous or a miracle worker. Again, the point of working with comments is not to be good, but to get there, and beyond - Focus on your own accomplishments and defeats, not those of others.

Just  my 2cts, part II. Ignore it if you can't handle it, but don't act like I'm the one barking up the wrong tree here. I'm just trying to help!

Criticism is something good, i listen alot to ppls comments on my maps for an eg. without feedback i whould never release anything also it keeps me inspired to learn more, be better.

that reminds me reboot.

after playing your q1 map . I found out IT SUCKS
I couldnt get my hands on 1 descent weapon .
(lightninggun or grenadelauncher  in gladiator class is not descent .)
it now belongs to my mast hatefully maps together with . oasis , whatever and de_dust

I guess I take the devils advocate roll when it comes to criticism.  You see, I've always been of the attitude that "If someone doesn't like what I do, then that's their problem, not mine."  I seldom value the opinions of "critics".  Now, when somebody has a suggestion that's different.  Feedback that makes sense can be very beneficial, but just attacking someone's work is merely antagonism.  Maybe it's a semantical difference, but I tend to see the word "criticism" in a negative light.  The point is that Footman is trying, he is improving, and he did take a big risk of people tearing down his work by posting it publicly.  That takes GUTS.  I admire it when somebody stands up to crowds.  It's damned cowardly to just hide in a crowd and tear somebody down, but it takes a lot of courage to stand alone.  I give Footman a lot of credit there.

Now regarding talent, there's two types - innate, and learned.  Innate talent is when somebody just does something and does it well, but has no real idea why.  Learned talent is a skill that is honed over time.  Taking Mozart as an example is a bad one.  All the "greats" from ages past not only had innate talent but also worked their asses off at what they did.  They also did not write songs after 2 weeks of learning.  Not every singer gets gold records, and not every artist makes masterpieces.  Does that mean they should not try?  The people in this world have all become far too used to expecting instant perfection out of things and people.  Footman is showing his work from the beginning, and developing his skills along the way.  I think he's doing damned good for only having been drawing for two weeks.  If he works his ass off and gets better as he goes why not encourage that process instead of just trying to tear it down?

Tab, I know what you're getting at but people respond to criticism in different ways.  Some people give up at harsh criticism, others become more determined to improve.  Some, like myself just ignore it (or tell the critic off, as I sometimes do) unless I can find the same fault myself, regarding my own work.  Remember that you cannot use yourself and what motivates you as a measuring stick regarding how others should react.  That is for them to decide.  Every creature is different.

Footman:  Keep doing what you do, if it pleases YOU.  Some might argue that working on Generations is a complete waste of time because we have few players, and Quake 3 is a rather old game now.  I keep doing it because I LIKE to.  That why I've said in the past the only way I won't finish the mod is if Jesus returns or the Earth explodes.  The first, well, in a perfect world the mod would code itself, and the second my computer would kind of accompany the planet.  It's hard work, but I enjoy it, and I'm determined to see it through.  If you no longer wish to share your work in progress then I understand, but don't be discouraged.  Take this as an opportunity to make up your mind as to whether you want to improve despite the critics, or give up early because of a few harsh words.  It's entirely up to you.

Oh yes, and Games Keeper please stay on topic?

Ok im gonna go a bit off topic but i really need to reply on Games keepers post: If you don't like the map that's ok. o think your the kind of player who likes small maps i noticed that when i played aginst you.

About the weapons: if you ever played the original q1 map you whould have noticed that the map had very few weapons i actually added MORE weapons on that map, i had it tested several times with real players online all said that the weapon layout where ok.
When you play this map you NEED to walk around the map, finding where the weapons are.
Diffrent maps requires diffrent tactis.

I don't have any troubles getting the weapons but rember this is a large map which also requires more players to get the action going.
Another thing: when you make a remake of an classical map you must in some way follow the original, if you don't it whould not be a remake.

I never said I liekd the original.
I only went trough the map 1 time in quake1 andwell it was a nice map then.
old favorite 1 is hipdm1 and q1dm8

Alright, alright, I'm not mad anymore. Apparently, my hand went through the wall. And I'm going to stop skipping my anger management classes.

tab: Well, you tend to throw insults at me, so I pretty much took some things as insults. Then again, ALMOST EVERYONE likes to throw insults at me, jokingly, or not, usually not jokingly. :/

Have I ever insulted you?  Or rather, have I done so in a NON teasing manner?  If I have, I apologize.  Things being seen in text, sometimes it's hard to see that some of us are indeed teasing.

Well, not you, you're one of the few who leave me alone. :P

Had an eye-opener since my last post, which was posted shortly after I was appalled at the way Footman responded to my posts. The following was typed in a much clearer state of mind.


I'm sad to see you think I'm trying to insult you, I have no intention of doing so and (as I said before) the reason I'm actually giving feedback is because I DON'T dislike you in any way. Believe me, if I insult someone, it doesn't look anything like what you've seen above. I've typed a lengthy reaction to an anger/pain/frustration reaction of vadertime (and/or mojojojoe - my memory's not what it used to be) on these boards a while back. A lot of it is applicable to your outburst & the way you interpret my obviously too harsh crits. I do not mean to compare you to either of them! 80% of that long post is just applicable to everyone (and to myself in particular).


And Pho: I like and appreciate your view on things, as always.
If one has guts, one must not be afraid to use them ;] - Also, ofcourse Footman responds to feedback according to his nature, I'm not trying to convert anyone. It is, however, hard to remain standing if this is the default response to feedback, and communities such as this one will probably have to endure something like this many times for everyone to realize it and act accordingly.
Critism leads to suggestions for improvement, and is based on what's wrong with the work in the eyes of the one dishing it out. I'm afraid I don't care much about which part feels good and what could be skipped, the two go together in my book and although no crit should ever be given with suggestions for improvement, no suggestion is made without a reason either.


The point is made, however, and I will refrain from offering feedback. The way it's served obviously doesn't achieve the effect I'm going for, it doesn't help anyone and therefore defies its purpose. I had no intention of either hurting Footman or starting this huge-ass rant/discussion that we now find ourselves in (even though it is educative).
Although I do not wish to alter the way I 'crit' work since it is the only way that feels right to me, I can refrain from posting it and keep it to myself as I have in the past. If anyone wants my opinion in the future, they may ask for it and accept the results ;) - That sounds like a fair enough deal to me. When I do give my opinion, it'll be harsh at times, but it's honest and truly what I think, like it or not, value it or not.
I happen to frequent boards where people post their work in order to get that kind of feedback, and obviously this is not the case on these forums. This, in retrospect, I could've already known by judging the reactions to my work.

My sincere apologies to Footman (and any or all that were also offended or demotivated). Foots, I really do mean it when I say I have nothing against you - we've been through that before, but the other way around :)