I'm Quitting Daz
mwokee
Posts: 1,275
in The Commons
After seeing what people have posted in the gallery this weekend, I should just quit. Wonderful stuff. I should just sit at the kitchen table with my crayons and coloring book.
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Nope, just get workin'. You don't gotta be perfect, you just got to keep doing. An AWFUL lot of suck comes before greatness. :)
Of the billions and billions of people in the world, there is always somebody lesser or greater than every one of them, except for two. But even the top and bottom of the pile are slippery places.
I recommend that you don't compare yourself to others and just do what you enjoy. :) If you like rendering and 3D art, don't let anything other artists do keep you from doing what you enjoy doing. :)
There will always be people who are better at something, but that doesn't mean we give up doing what we enjoy because of it. If you have fun doing it, keep doing it! Art is highly subjective anyway, so who's to really say what is "better" between two images or two styles. I'm sure that Picasso was probably told that there were 10-year-olds who paint better than him. lol Of course, that's just an extreme example, but you get my drift. :)
Then you're doing it for the wrong reasons ! you should be doing it for fun at first, not glory !!!
Usually, it's not just Daz, anyway. Daz is a first step, and then you learn other techniques on top of that.
A lot of the "best" images are heavily manipulated after it gets out of Daz. There's a universe of tools and techniques to get you towards that image that you have in your head, and you should learn everything you can to pull that image out of your imagination as best you can.
If you want to get better at generation pretty images, think of Daz as just the beginning. It's a shortcut in many ways, but it's not the final destination.
I'm not really quitting. But I feel like the kid who gets picked last when choosing teams.
Don't worry, there's a lot more of 'us' with crayons than there are of 'them' with their gorgeousness... we can take 'em ;-)
Ooh, ooh, that was me! Which is probably why I detest team sports and competitions in general.
Better yet, daydream and fantasize, take those fantasies, commit them to render, and always keep learning, never be too satisfied with your work as it's a journey and not a destination! I look to photographers artwork for inspiration!
I've seen some really nice work done in crayon. And actually, Picasso was classically trained & his earlier work is quite detailed & technical.
But, ya. I've felt like Wile E. Coyote many, many times. You know, just as he catches up to RR on a long straight-away, gets the tongue waggle, & then <Pffft!> left in a cloud of dust.
But he does persevere.
Just aim at satisfying yourself to begin with; we're all our own worst critics. Once you do that then it gets easier go back, make improvements, changes, just play around.
I used to feel the same way. Sometimes I spend hours creating something in Daz and I only get one or two thumbs up in the gallery. I used to feel bad, like no one cared, but I learned to not give up and keep trying. It just keep pushing me to try again and challenge myself to do it better. So it's not about the thumbs up, or being in the top gallery slider (which I hope to be there one day), it's about doing it because you enjoy doing it and wanting to try out new things and learn along the way. When you least expect it, an opportunity will come at work or somewhere else where you will need to use some Daz skills and by then you will already be ready and confident to acomplish the task. So don't give up! And thanks to James47. He is a pro at what he does, yet he is always has something positive and encouranging to say about my art and the arts of others.
...I've thought about doing so at times. and then just got back to work.
Crikey I had a hard drive go belly up on me, taking years of work and character development with it along with some items (like freebies) the are no longer available. I thought long and hard about it at the time as to get back into it meant pretty much meant starting from square one all over again. Now that can be pretty discouraging.
Got a new HDD, got a backup, reinstalled everything, and am back at it again. Yeah, it's been a struggle to get some my characters looking like they did before the crash as I also lost all of my parameter settings and custom presets I made, but still pressing on.
..and Daz3D and Rendo are our vendors, not Acme Inc.
I mostly avoid the gallery these days. I KNOW there are much more talented Daz artists than my self, and don't need to be reminded of that fact all the time.
Some people have the patience to get everything just right, me not so much. I am getting better though, but just accept that there are much better artists than me, and there always will be. I'm just a tiny fish in a very big ocean.
I do like things in the gallery when I browse it occasionally. Mainly, though, I"m just focusing on improving my own skill, with baby steps.
So kudos to the awesome artists, and I wish them success!
At what time on which day?
I sympathise. It doesn't stop me playing with Studio and enjoying my own pictures but I don't put much in the gallery. I have put a few pictures in my gallery, usually when I'm feeling particularly happy with an image, but they aren't much good compared with the other stuff there.
If you are going to sit at your kitchen table with your crayons and coloring book, you should also have some cookies and chocolate milk... unless you’re lactose intolerant, in which case you should really just open your mind because lactose is just like you and me... well, not me and maybe not you, but lactose has it’s own dreams and fears and hopes, just like everyone else... well, not everyone... some people are really devoid of dreams and hopes and they are just all fear and bad body odor... And you really shouldn’t feel bad about feeling like that kid who gets picked last for the teams in school, because if slasher horror films have taught us anything, that kid is usually the only one that survives... mostly because in the end it turns out he’s really the slasher and there are endless sequels... realistically you really shouldn’t be that little kid who creeps into other people’s dreams and destroys them using their own nightmares and fears... at least I don’t think you should... what was this all about?
Oh yeah...
Don’t judge yourself or your art based on other people’s renders... they are all mostly created using black magic and animal sacrifices... do you really want have to trudge out into a field in the middle of the night and sacrifice a platypus in the middle of some muddy summoning circle... it’s always too cold or hot and mosquitoes are alway biting you or you step into owl poop... why?... for what? You don’t even get free pudding for all that effort... just enjoy your renders and take your time... it’s a journey, it shouldn’t be a journey on smelly bus filled with people who haven’t showered in months, it should be a pleasant journey like riding a unicorn naked on a moonlit beach. I think... maybe I saw that in some really depressingly good render that made so sad I decided not to render anymore.
Well... whatever... you do you, and don’t be judging lactose without getting to know it.
Many years ago I fancied myself as someone who mighty make a go of it in the art world with my pens and paints. Then I shared an apartment with a professional commercial artist and was so blown away by his talent that I never again took myself seriously. I'm no artist and I'm ok with that. But I do have an imagination and do like to see my fantasies projected on to the screen in front of me. The images I create are just for that purpose - I would never subject them to the scrutiny of anyone else. It is fun and somehow satisfying to see my fantasy rendered out in front of my eyes - much of the fun being in the creative effort that goes into producing those images. When I've done with a story and seen it laid out on the screen, I am really done with it. I try to see what could have been done better then delete that set and start another.
Can I have your stuff?
Sorry, that's the MMO player in me speaking.
The gallery is a place for inspiration. These are images made by people with stuff you can obtain, and skills you can acquire. If you don't like the images you've created, spend a lot of time with tutorials on YouTube. Pay special attention to image editing, as that's where a lot of the magic happens. PixImperfect is one among many Youtubers with mad Photoshop skills who is actually good as a teacher. There are also photography tutorials for lighting ideas.
As for the gallery, don't spend less time there. Spend more time there. Preferably while you have a render cooking. But also spend time just putzing around with stuff. Start with a pose from a pose set, and get that right. Then add a light, or use a light set from the store. Then, depending on your pose, add another character or a scene from the store. Or just a tree, maybe. Get so you're happy with one thing and then build on that.
Anyway, I don't know what your intentions were when starting with Daz. I bought Poser 3 or 4 for the first time 20 years ago and didn't have the time or patience to deal with it, but the field has made huge progress, and there are so many excellent tools to work with. Also, I have some time on my hands, which helps a lot.
I'm glad I saw this thread, because it makes me not feel so bad about my own small attempts at creativity to know there are others who also feel insecure about their work. I put renders in my gallery that I thought were good until I started regularly viewing the user galleries and saw how far I still have to go. I have sleep apnea, and it's hard to gather the energy and concentration to learn everything I would like to about DAZ Studio, so I make little portraits with background pictures rather than environments (which I know is a lazy thing to do), but it makes me happy. I post in the galleries occasionally if I am particularly happy with a render, but I don't want to clutter up the galleries with too much of the same type of render. I know I have a lot to learn about lighting, camera angles, and so many other things. I share my renders mainly with family, who like them because they look like storybook princesses or sci-fi heroines. I like looking at the galleries for inspiration and in case I might learn something. I comment sometimes, because even if I am an amateur I can certainly appreciate fine art when I see it. I took a lot of art classes in high school and had aspirations of being a fine artist or art teacher, which never came to fruition. 3D art lets me work with models that are much more detailed and beautiful than I would ever have the skill to create drawing or painting freehand. I feel blessed that I can partake in creating 3D art, and I think I'll follow what Divamakeup suggested in this thread, which is to do what you enjoy and not compare yourself to others. I think that is good advice. :)
Remember, imagination has no limits. With our crayons, we may still create that one thing that the most experienced artists never thought of. So be creative, do render that weird concept or silly gag that has been playing through your head. Some of those artists look through our doodling, and make nice comments here and there, or borrow our concept and take it to an artistically even higher level. And you'll know, that as much as you envy their skill, they envy the way your brain is wired and how you discovered that new angle they didn't.
Never look at another artist and think, "I can't do that." You will feel discouraged. Ask instead "How did they do that?" and then, maybe ask them. A lot of folks around here will be more than happy to tell you how they did what they did. After a while, you will figure a lot of it out. :)
...I do as well, not because of feeling inferior or anything like that, I just do not like the way they are set up and organised compared to the old monthly Daz galleries we had years ago where you had to put your best forward to get your work accepted. For myself, that actually pushed me to learn and improve rather than foster discouragement. I was eventually able to get several images accepted (and there was a nice little "reward," besides seeing in featured, for doing so as well).
It would be nice if we could follow certain people's work here. You know, like you can at Rendo, or Art Station, or DA, or, I guess everywhere else.
First you think "I can't do that", then you ask "How did they do that?" and after you've learned how to do that, you move on to "how can I do that differently", Then my friend, you have reached artistedom.
I don't avoid looking at other artists work (I don't hit the galleries here much because of technical annoyances, I go other places for my fix) because I've always been a fan of the artwork, it's why I started playing with Daz. And I love finding a new artist that's miles ahead of where I am at the moment, it gives me new ideas and new techniques. I never look at it as something I can never do, but rather as something to work towards. Plus, I just like the artwork.
I really don't like the culture of the 'thumbs up'. IMPO Kids are growing up today completely reliant on social media 'likes' for their personal happiness and esteem, and it's completely detrimental to a healthy mental upbringing. That aside, there are many other platforms with much more favorable, constructive/productive means of feedback.and acceptance, which is why I don't post in Daz's gallery. It's not long before a piece you create is relegated to the second page in the gallery, and then the third, and then the fourth...and then crated up and put in the cellar - just joking. I find most casual users don't venture very far from the first few pages when browsing. I don't 'thumbs up'' in the gallery very often. The big players with great art will always get a lot of the 'likes', so they don't need me to add to it, but I do try to make a concerted effort to look at artwork more objectively nowadays. There is so much more to appreciate than a Hollywood blockbuster render, so I try to look at composition, lighting, theme, concept, imagination, vision, etc. and if I like it, I try to comment on it. It may be pasty render that looks like someone forgot to turn the lights on, but what it may lack in skill usually exudes vision and creativity.
I remember what it was like when you first start out, but the formula of practice, practice, practice never fails. Find out what you like about other people's art and learn how to master those techniques. There is a multitude of resources online to learn from. But most of all I get sheer enjoyment from making renders that I am usually satisfied with - many of them never seeing the light of day in a gallery, but that doesn't discount the happiness the creation process provided me.
Just because some people like to show off what they can build with their Lego doesn't mean you cannot enjoy playing with it.
Thats how I see my DAZ assets.
They are my toys.
If I manage to make a bit of random art, great, but mostly I just play with and build up characters and scenes etc, I have piles of characters I just simply dressed and saved as subsets just for stories in my head etc.
I would like it if there were some quick way you could see if someone has responded to a comment you posted about their artwork in the DAZ galleries. I know people do respond to comments, but sometimes I've commented on so many I can't remember where I said what and to whom. I don't know if I am missing something.
Same here - School system sports for boys in my day was football for the entire year (less one week for each school team Cricket etc.) - that's a lot of sports classes consigned to goal (which is stupid as it's the one position you want someone keen - and I'd mentally checked out after a couple of months of this).
Really wasn't Physical Education at all, more Aversion training.