The WPCC Lounge

[The Recherche 29,967]

It's astonishing that it has already been one whole year since his final log-in. It is a shame that time never compensates for grief... but I suppose that is the natural flow of life. Either way, though I was never granted the opportunity to become acquainted with him, I am still very grateful for what he has provided me and many others so far. Had he not created this thread, I likely wouldn't have encountered many other splendid users on this Forum... and I can't imagine how radically different my experience may have been without them.

Rest In Peace, @TempestShadow. You certainly deserve it.

[CypherHoof 26,482]

1 hour ago, The Recherche said:

It's astonishing that it has already been one whole year since his final log-in. It is a shame that time never compensates for grief... but I suppose that is the natural flow of life. Either way, though I was never granted the opportunity to become acquainted with him, I am still very grateful for what he has provided me and many others so far. Had he not created this thread, I likely wouldn't have encountered many other splendid users on this Forum... and I can't imagine how radically different my experience may have been without them.

Rest In Peace, @TempestShadow. You certainly deserve it.

*boops the wordsmith pone*

They were never an outgoing pony - almost nopony here knew much about them, so when they went missing, it was very hard for us to find out what had happened - but I guess we all felt we had many years to get to know them better, and that was taken from us just like @TempestShadow was.

Perhaps a lesson there for us all - the future is not promised to us, so if an opportunity is given to reach out a hoof to a fellow pony, take it - because there is no guarantee it will ever come again.

Let us wish our broken-horned friend found their Equestria.

[Rixton 1,105]

I did not know  @TempestShadow, nor the the circumstances of his vanish, but he left a wonderful place behind him, I hope he just moved on from this site, nothing worse happened.

[CypherHoof 26,482]

12 minutes ago, Rixton said:

I did not know  @TempestShadow, nor the the circumstances of his vanish, but he left a wonderful place behind him, I hope he just moved on from this site, nothing worse happened.

Sadly, and as I understand it, during the winter storms this time last year, they went out into the dark to try and rescue some escaped animals - and didn't make it back

Their final post here may give some context?

Edited March 2, 2019 by CypherHoof

[Rixton 1,105]

4 minutes ago, CypherHoof said:

Sadly, and as I understand it, during the winter storms this time last year, they went out into the dark to try and rescue some escaped animals - and didn't make it back

Their final post here may give some context?

I am very sorry to hear that. That storm seemed cruel...I did not know him, but it makes me very sad...

[CypherHoof 26,482]

1 hour ago, Rixton said:

I am very sorry to hear that. That storm seemed cruel...I did not know him, but it makes me very sad...

Not many of us did. The WPCC was one of the ways they were reaching out to try and make more connections, but... .*sigh*

*sends extra hugs to @Alexshy*

[TheRockARooster 50,856]

I've changed my avatar and cover photo to Tempest Shadow as a tribute to our beloved friend.

[CypherHoof 26,482]

2 minutes ago, TheRockARooster said:

I've changed my avatar and cover photo to Tempest Shadow as a tribute to our beloved friend.

That seems fitting. I have reset mine to the one I generated this time last year, for this reason

 

 

[Ganaram Inukshuk 3,682]

Meanwhile I'm still here. Hugless... Never mind, I'm ruining the moment. I'll wait my turn.

[CypherHoof 26,482]

Just now, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

Meanwhile I'm still here. Hugless... Never mind, I'm ruining the moment. I'll wait my turn.

*hugs*

 

[Ganaram Inukshuk 3,682]

If you don't mind me asking, where (if anywhere) can I go to get art feedback? Like, "what did I do right/wrong, and how can I improve" feedback. My usual go-to places no longer work.

This question has been on my mind ever since anxiety attack Glimmy.

Edited March 2, 2019 by Ganaram Inukshuk

[CypherHoof 26,482]

7 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

If you don't mind me asking, where (if anywhere) can I go to get art feedback? Like, "what did I do right/wrong, and how can I improve" feedback. My usual go-to places no longer work.

This question has been on my mind ever since anxiety attack Glimmy.

I would assume "here" for selected values of "here" - but as I am not artistic, I have no idea. Perhaps somepony else has?

[Rixton 1,105]

6 minutes ago, CypherHoof said:

I would assume "here" for selected values of "here" - but as I am not artistic, I have no idea. Perhaps somepony else has?

I would recommend the "Visual art\Other fan works" section: https://mlpforums.com/forum/31-other-fan-works/

[Ganaram Inukshuk 3,682]

I've already tried the forums art section... for years.

[Fluttershy Friend 25,446]

3 hours ago, CypherHoof said:

Perhaps a lesson there for us all - the future is not promised to us, so if an opportunity is given to reach out a hoof to a fellow pony, take it - because there is no guarantee it will ever come again. 

I think exactly in the same way, friend. We don't know what will bring the next day. I wanted to meet Tempest personally. He was OK with that idea. We both thought we have a lot of time to visit each other. The life showed brutally that we had not. *sighs*

As I've written on his profile page today and earlier (I take a look there from time to time), I hope he is happy among his favourite ponies.

 

[Ganaram Inukshuk 3,682]

Meanwhile, I stumbled upon Polandball again and realised this:

Have I been subconsciously mimicking Polandball's facial expressions for the past three years?!

[CypherHoof 26,482]

Just now, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

Meanwhile, I stumbled upon Polandball again and realised this:

Have I been subconsciously mimicking Polandball's facial expressions for the past three years?!

You have a similar art style - as have a number of other artists who do sold-colour minimalist outlines of figures (not always ponies) - there is nothing wrong with that

Am also thinking marvin the martian, the classic WB cartoon character, used the eyeshape for expression.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 3,682]

1 minute ago, CypherHoof said:

You have a similar art style - as have a number of other artists who do sold-colour minimalist outlines of figures (not always ponies) - there is nothing wrong with that

No, it's not that, I--

Wait, who else does zero-outline sharp-edge minimal ponies? I was convinced I was the only person in the multiverse who did that. (Pointy ponies doesn't count since that originated from the show itself, though I'm not sure.)

Anyway, I'm talking about how I do facial expressions: it's all down to the shape of the eyes; no pupils, no mouth (ears can help).

[CypherHoof 26,482]

6 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

No, it's not that, I--

Wait, who else does zero-outline sharp-edge minimal ponies? I was convinced I was the only person in the multiverse who did that. (Pointy ponies doesn't count since that originated from the show itself, though I'm not sure.)

Not massively common, but also not massively uncommon either. A quick google gives me this and this just in the first page.

 

6 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

Anyway, I'm talking about how I do facial expressions: it's all down to the shape of the eyes; no pupils, no mouth (ears can help).

Yup. Seen that before; countryball is probably the best example, but saw it before countryball was a thing (I thought marvin,but he has pupils and often the eyeshape isn't pure)

Eyes are the window to the soul, after all

[Ganaram Inukshuk 3,682]

5 minutes ago, CypherHoof said:

Not massively common, but also not massively uncommon either. A quick google gives me this and this just in the first page.

 

Yup. Seen that before; countryball is probably the best example, but saw it before countryball was a thing (I thought marvin,but he has pupils and often the eyeshape isn't pure)

 Eyes are the window to the soul, after all

Insecurity number 78263457582365: being the only person who prefers a minimal art style when everyone else prefers the opposite.

Insecurity number 278346589765638: being told my art style isn't optimal due to a lack of detail, especially when it comes to using only the eyes to convey facial expressions.

Gem (the cyan-blue pony in my sig) would probably say "I'm gonna shut that window shut".

[CypherHoof 26,482]

5 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

Insecurity number 78263457582365: being the only person who prefers a minimal art style when everyone else prefers the opposite.

Minimalism is an accepted art method - the key is to remove the unnecessary, while leaving enough that the viewer understands what is being expressed. As Granny Weatherwax says "it ain't what a horse looks like - its what a horse IS". There is a great deal of beauty in a minimalist art style, and confronting the limitations of a medium and successfully expressing your design despite that (and in some cases, more clearly because of that) is what makes it art. If you want hyperrealism, go take a photo.

 

5 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

Insecurity number 278346589765638: being told my art style isn't optimal due to a lack of detail, especially when it comes to using only the eyes to convey facial expressions.

See above.  It is not uncommon in cartoons to use eye shape to convey emotion, although I imagine it is really hard to convey an eyeroll without pupils

The GPF comic strip was well known for not including pupils, although the artist doesn't make that a hard rule (mouths are optional too, noses are usually present :D)

[Ganaram Inukshuk 3,682]

24 minutes ago, CypherHoof said:

Minimalism is an accepted art method - the key is to remove the unnecessary, while leaving enough that the viewer understands what is being expressed. As Granny Weatherwax says "it ain't what a horse looks like - its what a horse IS". There is a great deal of beauty in a minimalist art style, and confronting the limitations of a medium and successfully expressing your design despite that (and in some cases, more clearly because of that) is what makes it art. If you want hyperrealism, go take a photo.

 

See above.  It is not uncommon in cartoons to use eye shape to convey emotion, although I imagine it is really hard to convey an eyeroll without pupils

The GPF comic strip was well known for not including pupils, although the artist doesn't make that a hard rule (mouths are optional too, noses are usually present :D)

I'm saying I've never seen another minimal pony artist before. I've been wanting to know how to improve my art style for the past three years and most of the advice I've ever gotten was stuff that conflicted with my art style and offered no real help to the style overall (EG, lack of facial expressivity, using red-yellow-blue instead of red-green-blue).

So yeah, I can't improve my art style because no one knows how minimalism works.

Blank eyes points to nirik; no outline doesn't point to anything; minimal(ist) points to just an no-outline version of the existing show style or something more abstract.

I had to ban the use of gradients since version 2 because the flat design standards I was following at the time specifically banned it.

I practised my art style for a while by fulfilling random requests and every time I did so, I had to ask if my art style was OK with them, and even then I expected zero response out of the requesters. The biggest criticism I got was that it wasn't detailed enough or something; that's the point.

Heck, I had to ask the staff about my art style and they said that my art style was too niche. Not enough minimalist artists or appreciators; too few and far between.

Remember all the gawk I was saying about Cinema4D? Yeah, I have the same issue with Cinema4D; The style I prescribe to, the tutorials I have to follow have nothing about it. (Except for the part where animation is downright cool; I'll give it that.) (This is the only C4D vid I could find that had something that aligned with the 3D art style I prescribe to.)

[CypherHoof 26,482]

5 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

I'm saying I've never seen another minimal pony artist before.

Seen it for a number of years - here's another example (someone selling badges on etsy)

 

5 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

I've been wanting to know how to improve my art style for the past three years and most of the advice I've ever gotten was stuff that conflicted with my art style and offered no real help to the style overall (EG, lack of facial expressivity, using red-yellow-blue instead of red-green-blue).

Your style is YOUR style though - I can understand if you want to conciously adopt a specific style, but here you are trying to perfect a style you have made your own, so there really isn't anyone who can tell you how to do that or how to improve that - instead, you should probably try variations - do some "what ifs" on changes to your style, doing the same image with the changes in place so you can compare the effect, then ask people which they would prefer. But be aware that is ALL it would be - their preference, because there is no objective standard for this.

 

5 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

So yeah, I can't improve my art style because no one knows how minimalism works.

Clearly, plenty of artists do. I am surprised you haven't encountered them before, but perhaps you weren't looking?

 

5 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

Heck, I had to ask the staff about my art style and they said that my art style was too niche. Not enough minimalist artists or appreciators; too few and far between.

Sure. but again, that's subjective. I have seen plenty of people posting their desktops and phone wallpapers and seen minimalist art styles - either solid colour like these, or minimalist-stroke outlines with no fill (like this one I saw a couple of years ago and liked:)

 

5 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

Remember all the gawk I was saying about Cinema4D? Yeah, I have the same issue with Cinema4D; The style I prescribe to, the tutorials I have to follow have nothing about it. (Except for the part where animation is downright cool; I'll give it that.) (This is the only C4D vid I could find that had something that aligned with the 3D art style I prescribe to.)

So? You are making art. Experiment! if you can't decide if a given change to your style improves it or hinders it, try to modify an existing example with the change, compare the two side by side, and seek opinions (but be prepared to ignore them if you disagree with their reasoning)

[Guest]

Good morning on this fine day. Morning run is done, 99 thieving achieved, and coffee to be brewing soon!

[CypherHoof 26,482]

22 minutes ago, Key Sharkz said:

Good morning on this fine day. Morning run is done, 99 thieving achieved, and coffee to be brewing soon!

Well, congratulations on your larcenous achievement. I have a full pot, freshly made, right here