Check out Critical Mass

[Bruce Lee]

Phil and I would love to have a few more people participating on the Critical Mass board. Participation has been good, but it hasn't grown as much as we'd hoped it would.

This week the assignment is part 2 of the HELLBOY ROLEPLAYING GAME! You needn't have done part one prior to get in on this, so come on over and give this one a try!

See you there!

Loston
http://www.lostonwallace.com

[Chris Piers]

Back in the day, there used to be occassional rewards like having your page inked. A few ideas like that now and then might inspire more people to join in.

And more sequentials too. But maybe get the scripts from some company's submissions suggestions (like this one, for instance: http://www.marvel.com/about/submissions_guide/portfolio.htm) so that members feel like they're truly adding something valuable to their portfolio and not just helping draw somebody's pet project script.

[Bruce Lee]

Chris,

We often give assignments that are portfolio worthy, but the fact is not many people want to take the time to do a sequential page in a week's time. Sequentials are difficult to pull off, and given the choice, many people seem to avoid them. We will continue to give sequential assignments, and all of them will always be geared towards portfolios. The recent Thor sequential is a good example. Soon, I will be putting up a Batman sequential assignment, which will be constructed specifically for portfolios. Our assignments are geared to be both fun and challenging. We have always offered an interesting mix of subject matters and we will continue to do so. We also want more people to write in assignment suggestions on the CM discussion board. If we think they're challenging, fun, or portfolio worthy, we'll accept them.

As far as rewards go, I feel like giving them out would make CM a contest, and that's not what CM is about at all. CM is a place to learn and improve your skills. A place to figure out where your work is weakest and work towards erradicating that weakness. Learning should be its own reward.

As far as "official" comic scripts go, that's something I will talk over with Phil and PJ. It's something we might have to get permission to utilize. Permission isn't something that is easily granted.

Loston
http://www.lostonwallace.com

[InkDrop]

A lot of the time I forget to check out CM on wednesdays and don;t chatch it till like satuarday or sunday and then start to doodle in my sketch book but more often then not the subject matter isn't enough to hold my interest for any length of time.

Sometimes the assignments are just too much. I'm not very good at drawing mecha but started working on the wormseye veiw assignment, only to get annoyed that my megatron looked like a can opener-on-crack and gave up on it. I think that a worms eye view project with a more human shape one week then the transformer project the next would have worked.

And the 3 weeks of bore...er.. thor, can we pick a less interesting character. (jmo)

It's like the weeks i catch the new assignment on wednesday and have the time to really relax and work on a project its powerpuff (yawn), thundarr (who), mecha with worms eye (overload).

I think you still need more basic assignments once in while instead of helping us make porfolio pieces. Like where is the anatomy lessons. Week after week you make assignments trying to attacted attention to the section. And week after week I see a few of the same guys making the same anatomy mistakes. And Backgrounds..HA. Where's the "redesign the batcave" or "draw the savage dragons bathroom" project.

Why not put up two assignments every week. One covering more basic areas, maybe with a few examples (like a class). And another thats more advanced. That way natural progression can take place and people aren't turned off by having to dedicate thier weekend trying to bang out a wolverine vs. sabertoothwhilefallingoveracliffintotheoceanasseag ullsflytryingtogetouttatheway......breath.....port folio peice.

Just a thought.

PEACE,
Drop

*edit* sorry if this sounds moody, it's not meant to. I just haven't slept in a few days

[Bruce Lee]

Originally posted by InkDrop
A lot of the time I forget to check out CM on wednesdays and don;t chatch it till like satuarday or sunday and then start to doodle in my sketch book but more often then not the subject matter isn't enough to hold my interest for any length of time.

Sometimes the assignments are just too much. I'm not very good at drawing mecha but started working on the wormseye veiw assignment, only to get annoyed that my megatron looked like a can opener-on-crack and gave up on it. I think that a worms eye view project with a more human shape one week then the transformer project the next would have worked.[/I]

It was a big challenge. No doubt about it. It looks to me like it showed you a major weekness in your own work.


And the 3 weeks of bore...er.. thor, can we pick a less interesting character. (jmo) [/B]

We didn't do three weeks of thor. Not in a row, nor all three pages, considering the poor response. As I recall, we e-mailed the remaining pages to those who wanted to do them. Kind of sounds to me like you have a poor attitude. If you were to become a professional, you probably wouldn't get to pick and choose which characters you got to draw. The attitude of "Thor sucks" is a sad position.


[i]It's like the weeks i catch the new assignment on wednesday and have the time to really relax and work on a project its powerpuff (yawn), thundarr (who), mecha with worms eye (overload). [/B]

Again, a very poor attitude.


[i]I think you still need more basic assignments once in while instead of helping us make porfolio pieces. Like where is the anatomy lessons. Week after week you make assignments trying to attacted attention to the section. And week after week I see a few of the same guys making the same anatomy mistakes. And Backgrounds..HA. Where's the "redesign the batcave" or "draw the savage dragons bathroom" project. [/B]

This week's assignment was an exercise in characters heights and proportions. Didn't see you giving those a try either. As for those type of tutorial assignments, we've done many of them and will continue to do them along with portfolio oriented material.


[i]Why not put up two assignments every week. One covering more basic areas, maybe with a few examples (like a class). And another thats more advanced. That way natural progression can take place and people aren't turned off by having to dedicate thier weekend trying to bang out a wolverine vs. sabertoothwhilefallingoveracliffintotheoceanasseag ullsflytryingtogetouttatheway......breath.....port folio peice.

Just a thought.[/B]

This was discussed at the beginning of CM formation and we decided against it. We don't have enough mods for such an endeavor, and it would be too chaotic to organize.

Sounds to me like you aren't the kind of person who could benefit from CM anyway. I doubt there is any type of assignment that could really please you. :( We do our best on CM, but it's impossible to make everyone happy. Clearly you are not a happy camper. Not every assignment is going to appeal to everyone, but it hurts no one to give an assignment a try. You might even learn something about your own work, or find that you enjoy drawing something that you didn't like previously. It is important not to have a closed mind and be open to possibility.

Loston
http://www.lostonwallace.com

[Bruce Lee]

Btw, there's little excuse for being unhappy with assignments, because we invite anyone to post ideas for assignments on the Critical Mass discussion forum. If the assignment suggestion is interesting, challenging and offers up fun, we will more than likely use them at some point. So far, only a few people have bothered to make any suggestions at all.:(

Loston
http://www.lostonwallace.com

[Ra Havok]

I think CM is real cool. I'm very appreciative of what Loston and Phil (and the others that try to make it work) do.

I skip assignments because
A) I don't have enough time to make a proper drawing
B) I don't feel like 'studying' the assignment subject (e.g. transformers)

[Ra Havok]

Originally posted by Bruce Lee

We don't have enough mods (for such an endeavor)

Loston
http://www.lostonwallace.com


I'm no pro , nor do I claim to be a very good artist, but I think I could lighten the burden you're carrying...

Like, being a Semi-mod. or something alike.

[InkDrop]

Sounds to me like you aren't the kind of person who could benefit from CM anyway.

Untrue...I benefit greatly from CM. I spend time doing layouts after I see what the assingment is. I often just run outta time and can't finish. But your crits on other peoples work truely helps me see the faults in my own.


I doubt there is any type of assignment that could really please you. We do our best on CM, but it's impossible to make everyone happy.

There are assignments that would make me happy. There were a lot in the "give us your idea thread" but I haven't seen many of those come to light. Everyone knows you can't make everyone happy and no one is asking you too.


Clearly you are not a happy camper. Not every assignment is going to appeal to everyone, but it hurts no one to give an assignment a try.

I'm happy. I know many assignments don't appeal to me and I do try on the ones that tickle my fancy. But like I said often I run out of time and don't believe in posting half finished layouts. I can't get a decent crit from you when you can't see my finished thought process.


It is important not to have a closed mind and be open to possibility.

I'm as open as mary sue rotten crotch on prom night.

Look Loston, I think you and Phil do a phenominal job with CM. When I wrote this post I hadn't slept in two days and was dead tired. I wasn't trying to attack CM. Just letting you know about how I felt. Since then I have slept and in retrospect wouldn't have sounded so unhappy or attacking.

If you want to see the layouts and half finished assignments I've worked on I'll gladly post them but feel it would be a waste of time.

Anywho, keep up the good work and one day I'll finish up an assignment. Sorry if I tweaked your noodle.

PEACE,
Drop

[Bruce Lee]

Sorry, Ink drop, but your post did sound a lot like sour grapes to me. If you go back and read your post (which I think you probably have at this point), you can see where I got that impression. As for Phil and I, we try our level best. I'm glad to hear that you've been working on the assignments and I'm likewise glad to hear that you've gotten something out of them. After all, that is the whole point of CM.

Everything aside, I urge you to think up some assignments that you think would benefit yourself as an artist. PM them to Phil or myself, or post them on the CM discussion board. We really want fresh ideas and perspectives. If someone is having a difficult time drawing something, then CM is the board to come to. EX: I used to have problems with foreshortened figures (and still have to really work at getting them right) and if I were a poster on CM, I think I'd request an assignment dealing with foreshortening, even if I couldn't figure out how to do it, I'd at least learn where I was going wrong, maybe.

I hope you get some sleep, man. I know too well about those late nighters. Pulled two all nighters this week already.:rolleyes:

Loston
http://www.lostonwallace.com

[bushiboy]

I love that thing, but I just haven't had the time with work, trying to get these pages penciled, and my addiction to asian porn sites.