Lushie

Welcome back Sayterra! Looking forward to seeing more of your toons

UPDATE - For those of you who have previously mentioned concerns about PayPal and whether or not we can accept credit cards alternatively, GOOD NEWS! PayPal recently announced that buyers can now checkout without a PayPal account! This means you can complete your payment first, and then decide whether to save your information in a PayPal account for future purchases. Read more here!

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"Patience and perseverance are the tools needed to reach the summit, but powers of pure darkity darkness are needed to hold on to it"

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^^ LOL!! I like that one.

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Despite the challenges you faced, it really turned out well. The background is simply awesome.

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I was thinking the same thing, then I had to ruminate...was it despite the challenges, or because of them?

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Ahhhh, touché. Beautiful work once again.

I prefer version #2 as well. The overall composition looks better in the Portrait format as opposed to Landscape. And I like all the effects you added to both their powers!

Despite the challenges you faced, it really turned out well. The background is simply awesome.

All of those are really good, but I think the first one is my favorite. Great linework!

Hey that looks pretty good. I like the coloring. I wish the flag (?) he's holding had a few more highlights to it, like how his costume does and the rubble he's standing on. But overall, good work.

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Either way, it's a product that you can say "I did this... it's who and what I'm about." Something that can be -influenced- by another website in terms of delivery, but still your own voice.

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^^ Exactly Jim. This post would not exist if there were just mere similarities. There are numerous commissioned artists here, so of course we're going to share many of the same services and features. But of the numerous commissioned artists in this arena alone, most of them are not exactly alike to me. Not only do they have their own artistic styles, they have their own unique way of handling their commissions, their own unique site layouts, their own way of displaying them, and formatting their prices, etc. It's just frustrating seeing how blatant it is and not being able to really do anything about it, but bring attention to it.

Thanks squirrel, but my post has absolutely NOTHING to do with artwork or artistic styles at all. Sorry for the confusion. My post is specifically about the business aspect of art commissions, website design, and content that I personally wrote, copied for someone else's service.

Ok, so I don't post that much. But I do observe A LOT. And this is an issue I just have to vent about: IMITATION. No, I don't think it's flattering, and I certainly don't think it's "good business sense" at all. Frankly, it just pisses me right off. I'm not an artist per say. But I am a writer, a designer, and a very creative person. And I take everything that I work on very seriously and personally. Over this past year, working with Gill Bates on MMOART, I've researched a lot, I've learned a lot, and we both have worked very hard at what we do. We're always trying to take things a little further, to be as original, and innovative as we can; from Gill's artwork, to all the content I've written on our site, and the overall layout and site elements we both designed. And that knowledge of how much work we both have personally invested is what hurts and angers me when I see our efforts blatantly copied, sometimes verbatim. There just comes a time when enough is enough!

Now we're planning on addressing this issue directly (finally after almost a year, lol). But how do you all feel about imitation, as artists and creators yourselves? I mean, everyting about what we do comes down to personal creative ability. And when you copy what someone else does, you're depending on their ability for yourself, not your own merit or skills or efforts. There are plenty of ways to successfully present yourself without copying another's ideas and hard work.

Do you REALLY think imitation is just a flattering gesture or a slap in the face?

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Beautiful is a great word for this. I have noticed that the pictures have a kinda 'alice in wonderland' feel to them. Maybe it is the softness of the colors. I love this.

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^^ Yeeaaah, that is what it feels like. Very daydreamish. I really like it! I didn't even notice the other bodies at the base of the tree during the WIP updates before.

I LOVE the color palette used for this piece. It's bright and cheery like.. spring time.

UPDATE - The Costume Contest will now be held on the Training Room/Test server so that no matter what server you play on, your favorite character will be able to participate!

I don't know why, but I have to say that twisted tree is probably my favorite part. It's the first thing my eyes are drawn to, and it's just a cool shape. I like how she's perched at the top too. This is looking good.

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Very nice work! I really sat there just ... watching the sketch-in-progress piece, that's so cool. It could stand to not be redrawn with every link click though...

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Hmm, the only page that the 'Draw' movie should start all over on is the Main page. Throughout the rest of the site though, only the end of the movie should load, with just the option to 'ReDraw'. If anyone else is experiencing a repetitive 'Draw' movie every time on several pages other than the Main page, please let us know.

As for the CC, we initially chose Freedom because it is our home server that we are familiar with. And with only the two of us judging it would be quite a long event to have CC's on all the servers back to back lol. The Test Server however, does sound like a much better idea. Thank you for that suggestion! We'd just have to make sure the Test Server was actually available that night, and also post instructions for those who may not know how to copy their toons over.

EDIT: For now, the venue will remain undetermined until we've discussed it further.

Just a heads up in response to those of you at work who may be seeing broken images, they're actually Flash movies that probably aren't viewable on the comp you're using. Some areas of this new site require the use of the Flash 6 or above Plug In to view. Get Flash info here: http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about/

Hey, the 19th is over two weeks away. That's plenty of time to come up with the best Freedom costume

Commissions have always been a pretty big part of the comic industry culture, so it makes sense that a comic-based game would spawn the same type of freelance works. There's tons of fan art out there from all sorts of games. But as far as commissioned fan art goes, I think the fact that CoH/V allows you to customize your character to a more detailed degree than most MMOG's is what makes players relate/connect with their characters enough to want to capture their essence through art. The bio/backstory element alone allows you to really sink into that character.

Oddly enough though, commissions weren't even a thought in this community this time last year, lol. I remember that there may have been a sketch or two here and there, but this forum was mainly full of screenshots. All it really took was that first attention-grabbing request, and it was like a chain reaction started. More and more players started to request character art, and more artists started coming out to take requests. It really amazes me to see how busy this section has become in a fairly short time.

I absolutely love this

LOL, don't worry. I'm making sure I get drawn this year!

^^ LMAO! I know right! It's from a piece we were going to use for the new site header, but we've gone with a different one instead.

You artists and your so-called quick sketches, lol. It's quite a strong, stoic pose. I like it. I agree about the blue lines of course. And although the abstract PS colors look pretty nifty, I'd like to see this piece when it's complete; polished and clean. Good work!

^^ Thanks Katfood, but I wouldn't dare call myself an artist, lol. MMOART is just by Jomaro (Gill Bates) and I, a hubby and wifey team. He handles the creative process, from the site design to the artwork. And I handle all the admin. stuff like site updates, email correspondence, production and shipping. It's funny, even though we've always explained it's just us two in the site Welcome area, most people still think we're a larger entity than we really are. I take that as a good thing

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Well said, Gill. Now . . . break's over, back to work! >whip crack<

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*Ahem* There shall be no whip cracking on my baby Gill except by ME