CA lose its touch?

[Sunny]

Ive been here at CA for over 10 years. Maybe I was here in its hayday but I noticed its died down quite a lot! There used to be some real skill bouncing around these halls but it looks like the numbers have dwindled. Is there a new place?

[Beeston]

Everyone who gets jobs leaves the students behind and the overall quality of the posts go down.

I think.

[Black Spot]

Well it's been off line twice recently, it'll bounce back.

[Sumgai83]

You know what? I used to think of cartoonists and caricaturists as "unskilled". Until I looked at their other works and "Oh right, you need to know how to draw a real face in order to distort it".

And of course they're not entirely top tier. Not like Kim Jung Gi or those tons of people who flood the whole internet with great work that makes me go "@#!#!! I need to work harder to catch up, because the only way that they're going to draw less is that they get married and have kids."

But nonetheless, I think they have quite a bit of skill. So...I forgot what's the point of my reply, but I think it's time to get back to drawing for me. Because the guys who don't post in the forums are using that time to improve on their work, and that scares me.

[Deadlyhazard]

What exactly was CA.org like back in the day? I've only been lurking consistently since late 2010, and I've heard a lot of people say what you're saying since. The days of Craig Mullins posting, Sparth, etc...

[Nemome]

Perhaps it's because ConceptArt didn't really change over all the years.
Of course, we had a major site update a few months ago, but the forum itself didn't really change, except that it has a new style.

There are so many old threads and sections that got forgotten over all the years so the site tends to look a bit confusing and "dusty". No offensive point here, just my opinion.
For example the tutorial section.
It's great that we have one but for me it seems like that no one really visits the section because it looks so mixed up. Huge jumps in quality, rarely updates, ...

And then we also have forum sections that aren't used anymore by anyone. In the mentoring we have class sections where the class is over for years and it still has its one section. Or Android's Daily Self Portrait section, even though he's been inactive for several years (last time I saw him post on the first of novembre - SP Day).
It's not that this content should get deleted, no! But it could get moved to an archive section or something like that.

And then sections like FineArt could be used more, but that's a matter of the users.

And all the Livestream stuff that is happening right now. Most of you may know the livestream app from Wolkenfels where you can look up all livestreams related to art that are online right now.
Something like that implented into this site would be awesome too. Livestreams are such a big topic currently, so why is conceptart not "up to date" there?


Just my 2 cents, but a huge forum clean up would help in my opinion to get also former users looking into our forums again (and perhaps getting active).
And again: I love these forums and these points above were just suggestions. Please don't take this offensive.

Nemome~

[ceddo]

On a slight tangent, it'd be great to have a time machine-like feature for CA, e.g. enter a date and browse the forum as it appeared on that date. That way, people can explore & benefit from all the good stuff that was posted in the past

[QueenGwenevere]

Here you go, closest thing to a web time machine: http://archive.org/

(Results vary, though... Some data is just gone forever and ain't nothin' you can do about it...)

[Nemome]

I would love to hear the opinion of a moderator or admin considering the points i mentioned above.
It's never too late to change stuff.

Are most of the users agreeing to my points or what would be your points to get everything up to date?

[HarbingerofIllRepute]

*Heave, cough, cough* Back in my day we used to paint with mud and sticks AND WE LIKED IT! *hack, wheeze*
(Types on stone and mammoth bone keyboard)

[Black Spot]

Here you go, closest thing to a web time machine: http://archive.org/

(Results vary, though... Some data is just gone forever and ain't nothin' you can do about it...)

I like the list of posts to the forum there -scroll down.

The site was revamped and things did get changed around a lot in the update last year. It still hasn't been finished yet. Some of the old threads have a lot of useful information if people could be bothered to read them. Sure it's vast, but a total gold mine of stuff.

[Elwell]

I like the list of posts to the forum there -scroll down.

They need you on the case!

[wardrum]

Perhaps it's because ConceptArt didn't really change over all the years.
Of course, we had a major site update a few months ago, but the forum itself didn't really change, except that it has a new style.

There are so many old threads and sections that got forgotten over all the years so the site tends to look a bit confusing and "dusty". No offensive point here, just my opinion.
For example the tutorial section.
It's great that we have one but for me it seems like that no one really visits the section because it looks so mixed up. Huge jumps in quality, rarely updates, ...

And then we also have forum sections that aren't used anymore by anyone. In the mentoring we have class sections where the class is over for years and it still has its one section. Or Android's Daily Self Portrait section, even though he's been inactive for several years (last time I saw him post on the first of novembre - SP Day).
It's not that this content should get deleted, no! But it could get moved to an archive section or something like that.

And then sections like FineArt could be used more, but that's a matter of the users.

And all the Livestream stuff that is happening right now. Most of you may know the livestream app from Wolkenfels where you can look up all livestreams related to art that are online right now.
Something like that implented into this site would be awesome too. Livestreams are such a big topic currently, so why is conceptart not "up to date" there?


Just my 2 cents, but a huge forum clean up would help in my opinion to get also former users looking into our forums again (and perhaps getting active).
And again: I love these forums and these points above were just suggestions. Please don't take this offensive.

Nemome~

I would love a "hide forum sections function"(trim the fat, there's too much..). A kind of personalize template attached to your account. This is all I really want to see:

[Nemome]

Fuzzyvessel Would be also a way to go for the users who have been active on this site for a longer time now. But for new people here, it just looks so overhelming because everywhere is a section.

[Deadlyhazard]

The live streaming note is incredibly important. The problem is livestream.com (where every artist I've seen is streaming) isn't really that great of a live streaming site. Twitch.TV and Own3d are ten times better but unfortunately they're only for video games.

What would be awesome is starting a site, added onto this one, that's solely made for live streaming of artists. I would love to see some of the better artists on the site painting in 1080p+ quality. I think that would definitely breathe a lot of life into the forum but I'm not sure about the plausibility of that ever happening.

[Psychotime]

I would love a "hide forum sections function"(trim the fat, there's too much..). A kind of personalize template attached to your account. This is all I really want to see:

What, can other forums do that or something? It sounds just ridiculous to me. It's one thing to have a visual style attached to an account, but this sounds pointless.

[Arshes Nei]

There is a "hide function" It's called the collapse function on the forum. Your loss though. Hit the arrow. Stop complaining

[Nemome]

Deadlyhazard Livestream.com isn't as bad as you think. You CAN stream in a very high quality if your internet connection is strong enough. For example Titus Lunter: He was streaming his Titus Tuesday and I was totally suprised because in full screen mode I didn't even notice that I was watching a stream. I could even read every menu word of Photoshop.
And as you can see on Wolkenfels livestream list, it's manageable give users a good overview of who is streaming and who not.

[Velocity Kendall]

man am i sick of hearing how CA was way better 10 years ago its bumming me out. make it good again by helping the folks in the crit section or posting awesome art, not whinging about lost glory days.
sound like algenpfleger..

[ConnyNordlund]

Well I guess it's a bunch of different factors. One being that the forum needs to evolve cause the forum looks really boring in general and it's very redundant to follow people's art threads and stuff. But I think that's about to get better, since there was some dude posting a lurking tool and I'm guessing Manly hired him.

Since the forum needs better features, places like Facebook, Deviantart and Blogger are a better pick because these websites have made it easy to follow updates.

I can also tell you what it isn't, which also pisses me off from time to time. It isn't that "CRAIG MULLINS AIN'T POSTIN ANYMORAR" or whatever else. If people think that's a problem, then they need to stop being lazy and get good themselves and pull their head out of their ass and realize there's still some really good people posting on here and the people that don't, are busy.

[Shorinji_Knight]

A lot of the establishing members either quit or were banned awhile back over the TAD thing. They tried to patch things up, but the damage was already done. A large number of people migrated to cghub. Over the last few years it has recovered a lot and started growing again with new talent. To keep the site relavent they had some massive down time for the upgrades. At least they're doing something to save it. For awhile there, it looked like it was going the route of epilogue.net (dead for years... and still always talking about upgrading but never doing it). I think this site can still come back stronger than ever, it just needs events like the upcoming UK workshop. Also it would help if they gave the weekily challenges more visability.

[Black Spot]

When the site was down I did a bit of googling. It was interesting to see opinions of the site posted elsewhere. Majority of people tend to think we're scary and the talent here is amazing, making them afraid to join. The flip side was that this was a great place to get critique and the members are pretty honest. Would you say that was a bad assessment of the place? When I joined it was the attitude and character of the members here that attracted me - no mealy mouthed sycophants.

I don't see FB or Blogger as a real alternative due to the lack of a forum style, and DA's forum is a worse mess than here.

Even if some of the big guns have left, what the hell is stopping you working your guts out to be the next one? Don't know about anyone else, but I'm working my little cotton socks off.

[Deadlyhazard]

Deadlyhazard Livestream.com isn't as bad as you think. You CAN stream in a very high quality if your internet connection is strong enough. For example Titus Lunter: He was streaming his Titus Tuesday and I was totally suprised because in full screen mode I didn't even notice that I was watching a stream. I could even read every menu word of Photoshop.
And as you can see on Wolkenfels livestream list, it's manageable give users a good overview of who is streaming and who not.

I still think the UI is garbage and hard to navigate. Have they changed the way ads work? It used to be extremely intrusive and the streamer couldn't control the ads at all -- whereas Twitch. TV for example has it set so the streamer can stream the ads at a specific time.

I would like to see if 1080p is available on Livestream.com because I've never seen it and I used to frequent it. That's extremely important IMO, maybe I'll check it out again if I see someone notable streaming.

[AnnaHollinrake]

As someone reasonably new who is really trying to 'get into' CA the forums are hugely daunting just because there is so much and I have no idea where to start. I'd like to get feedback on my work and help others out but honestly aside from updating my sketchbook I don't really know what's going on.

Saying that, this is the first time I've ever been in the lounge and straight up there's a 'new here' sticky. If it was just a little clearer and there weren't a billion different forums and sticky threads I'd probably be less lost.

Or maybe it's the headache that makes it hard to process everything. Probably that.

[JeffX99]

When the site was down I did a bit of googling. It was interesting to see opinions of the site posted elsewhere. Majority of people tend to think we're scary and the talent here is amazing, making them afraid to join. The flip side was that this was a great place to get critique and the members are pretty honest. Would you say that was a bad assessment of the place? When I joined it was the attitude and character of the members here that attracted me - no mealy mouthed sycophants.

I don't see FB or Blogger as a real alternative due to the lack of a forum style, and DA's forum is a worse mess than here.

Even if some of the big guns have left, what the hell is stopping you working your guts out to be the next one? Don't know about anyone else, but I'm working my little cotton socks off.

Regarding opinions/feedback elsewhere. I do think that is an accurate assessment or critique. BUT, I think it says more about the individual and their level of professionalism and awareness than it does about CA. IYKWIM? Not much can be done about that I s'pose.

And I agree, doesn't seem to be any real alternatives. Personally I don't like the way some other forums are set up (CGHub, DA, etc.). I'm actually one of the few that seems to like DA but only for some reasons - it's certainly a different animal - a bit more set up to have personal conversations and share work than actual discussions and professional interaction.

Just my two cents...I have more in my pocket but will hold back for now...

[SmallPoly]

While some of the more famous artist have moved on, there's still plenty of supremely talented people here (and I'd like to become one of them). I'd agree that the dead parts could use some pruning. I'll also note that I found CA intimidating for the longest time and didn't start coming here on a regular basis until I was getting tired of CGSociety and certain aspects of it's moderation.

[Nemome]

I agree with the point that people should stop complaining about all the "pros" that left conceptart.
In this point I have the same opinion as most of you - There are still plenty of awesome people on this site than inspire at least me everytime they update their sketchbook.

And I also have to agree that there are no real other forums that can compete against this forum. Most of them like CGhub are completely different, even though their concept is the same. Conceptart.org has its own style and it's pretty awesome that it is still lasting for such a long time.
But this shouldn't stop the forum to get cleaned up here and there.
Nothing against the old gold mines that you find from time to time, but you also find dead corpses that aren't worth looking at, haha.

[Sunny]

The pros are what made people here try harder. I think its accurate to say that a lot of people find work and leave, not needing to continue their persuit because they are in a new rich learning environment. Ive also noticed that CA has become diluted. All the forum additions and new features turns what was an efficient machine into something that tried to offer more, but ended up becoming weaker.

Talking about how CA used to be better isnt bad. Its unfortunate that its come to this but its a good thing to do because it brings attention to the subject. If you used to be a better person but have become weak its not bad to wonder why.

My real growth in art happened here and I saw some great artists, its no surprise they moved on. They have grown up, gotten jobs and families, and are successful artists, but I definitely feel that the feeling of community has left. Its like a mafia family thats left.

Maybe everything has its day. Maybe new life will spawn here. in any case it probably does need a rebirth of some sort.

[QueenGwenevere]

When the site was down I did a bit of googling. It was interesting to see opinions of the site posted elsewhere. Majority of people tend to think we're scary and the talent here is amazing, making them afraid to join. The flip side was that this was a great place to get critique and the members are pretty honest. Would you say that was a bad assessment of the place? When I joined it was the attitude and character of the members here that attracted me - no mealy mouthed sycophants.

I don't see FB or Blogger as a real alternative due to the lack of a forum style, and DA's forum is a worse mess than here.

True, I don't know anything quite like this place either... I usually come here for a sanity break when I get fed up with the people on other sites. This place has a certain personality which I haven't found anywhere else. A lot of the people who think CA is too intimidating are people who might be more comfortable on DA or Wet Canvas or someplace anyway.

And I haven't experienced any other forums where you can really have the same kinds of in-depth and leisurely conversations. I like DA's gallery and comment system for some things, but the forums are a joke. FB is kind of overwhelming and seems designed for short throwaway comments - everything on there is here today, gone tomorrow. And their interface for posting art frankly sucks. Tumblr is even more fast-paced and their stupid comment system makes conversations a major pain in the ass. Blogger doesn't handle images well, and comments are sparse. Etc., etc...

So yeah, it's nice that CA exists. If you want it to be more lively, hey, that's up to us forum users, ain't it? Let's all make stuff, post stuff, and argue about it!

Even if some of the big guns have left, what the hell is stopping you working your guts out to be the next one? Don't know about anyone else, but I'm working my little cotton socks off.

Yep, that's been my attitude ever since I joined! Working right now, in fact! Excuse me while I go wash all this pthalo blue off my hands (and feet... How the hell did I get paint on my feet?)

[Psychotime]

The only thing DA's forum is good for is trolling. Most people who use the site aren't even aware it exists.

I must admit I've been procrastinating on getting more involved with CGHub.