Why We Sprite?

[Mutsukki]

One thing I wanted to say about the other thread, is that it kinda stopped being about Nayr pretty fast and more about how things work around here.

I don't exactly do pixelart, but my first impression when joining, was that improving and critique were taken seriously here, which is pretty cool. This isn't being elitist, there's no kind of gallery, no nothing on the forum (that I know of), I can only see that as pushing other people to work harder and that is not necessarily regarding them as artists who want to work hard on it, but rather doing what a forum is supposed to do? I mean, how weird would it be to post a history of some kind in a literature forum and never expect any critique to improve? Improving is as fun as making the thing.

I don't think it's right to classify anything other than sprite sheets as "not useful", I believe that to be a really shallow way of thinking (no offense, really). Sprite sheets have pratical uses, but other forms of pixelart are more comparable to the uses of art. Like Gors said, it makes him relaxed and it's a fun passtime, that's a use. It can be used to inspire people, that's another point. I don't know if that has to do with TSR being a resource, because then, what the forum should actually enforce is the creation of edits or sheets in other styles, rather than custom work. But even then, pre-existing sprites are also used to learn how to make customs, by studying what the artist does that you like or not.

And then there's what makes me confused about the Nayr case in some sort. The site does have a custom section, so...isn't it alright for him to make that? What if he was asking for critique on a soon to be submitted to the custom board piece? If he had made at least one piece that wasn't FE related, people wouldn't find this so bad, I believe. It seems wrong to critique him for doing only FE, but it also seems wrong that he's stuck on the style forever. We could leave that alone, but since the spriting section has become somewhat of an art forum, it would kinda contradict with it's purpose. Maybe making a clear difference between these two parts of the forum? But then, what would stop people from posting terrible edits and recolors under the banner of "I don't want to improve, this is fun"?

Oh, another thing I felt like I needed to add, is that sugar-coating isn't a good thing at all, but being overly harsh makes people really unmotivated and insecure about posting their art and waiting for critique. I think this is what Zac means with "regarding everyone as an artist", some people are just starting, or just stuck on doing the same thing, some time baby steps are needed to make these people come out and do greater stuff. "okay but being harsh impacts people a lot more and make them improve", well yeah, but you can also discourage potential artists, and "that's okay, the path of an artist is a hard one" isn't exactly a good answer. A balance between critique and how angry (or way too nice) it can sound, should be achieved. You can critiscise somebody's terrible anatomy differently than "this is the worst, do you even know how the human body works?". People have their own personality and way of doing things, I get that, but you're dealing with another living being, not some robot.