(a little more off topic)
Well, I took your advice and posted a WIP of a commission I have  
Most likely the next WIP shot will be far along in the process for the reason you just mentioned.

 

Very Nice thread! Love all the insight and have hardly anything to add. I do think the forum for noobs is a bad idea though, how does one gain access to the normal threads and how and who would do all the judging? Doesn't seem like a the direction the Mods here would want to go with. Although I do see the problem. Far to many of us get more attention than others and to manys work goes unnoticed or just ignored. I am at fault of this and it just boils down to time and what interests me(sorta like anovasinn). I will only comment on something I actually am interested in and will not force my self to comment just to be nice(Though I do give the occasional "Good Job" and thats it). When I do I try to voice my opinion on the work(be it positive or negative) and maybe offer advice or ask a few questions.

I also think its pretty funny how any of these sort of threads slowly start to become about money and advertising. Keep it on topic peeps.

 

The way I've always viewed it, is if you post a piece, then you're "officially" a radicon (as it shows you fully participate). I know I am one really busy person. Between working two jobs, doing my own customs projects, and running the Radicons (and it's constant expansion), I don't exactly have a lot of time lying around.   That being said, I ALWAYS go out of my way to make sure I post in threads by new guys, or any thread that has multiple views and zero to few comments. I remember being that guy (heck, I still feel like I have such a lonnnnnng way to go to get to where I'd like to be) and I also dislike seeing anyone's thread disappear under more popular projects.

Being a human, though, it's hard for this phenomena not to happen. Something gets you excited, you gravitate towards it. So seeing a "next big thing" thread is going to attract more people to post over it, versus a non-popular or non-polished project. There's also the whole idea of "fan". Regardless of how hard you try, you'll find yourself a fan of specific artists or styles, and seeing one of these post will get you wanting to hurry and click their thread. I usually go back until I find the oldest thread with new posts in it and methodically work my way up to the newest. This way I reduce the odds of me missing one, and can try to give bumps to any of these newcomer's threads up to a higher-viewed page.

My goal with Radicons was a large and informative and friendly community- one where you can not only go to find any of the resources you're needing to help yourself out (whether tutorials or wips, finished projects, etc) but where people are treated as close to equal as we humans can. I hate it when I hear that someone is afraid to post their work here! I remember my first project, even though it was 4 years ago. a few friends bugged me to post it up, even though I felt reserved. This is a part of my fuel, my motivation to try to get this place to be as welcoming and friendly (note, constructive) a community as there is out there for what we do.

 

this topic brings up a few very valid points. first off I will let it be known that I do this "hobby" for "fun" . I would love to make money doing it, we all would, and when someone puts forth effort to do so , they shouldn't be burnt at the stake.
I have advice for any newcomer, if it's your 1st custom or post, SAY IT IS! anyone that feels the need to belittle a newcomer that just showed you their hard work does not belong on any forum. I personally haven't seen anyone that said they were new, get bullied or over-criticized. for awhile I was announcing the # of my customs " this is my 2nd repaint" etc.after awhile you don't need to but at first it lets others know that being blunt with their responses doesn't help you get better.I also was scared that i'd ruin my first custom, I didn't even post it for awhile because I didn't want to get crushed. that was on another board BTW.

I agree that we all need to get along, just understand that if you put our work in the public eye, it will be critiqued. don't get angry, or discouraged if 1 person says something bad(there's always 1 that seems to) .

I tend to post Wips because they slow me down, and sometimes i work straight through and don't even realize it. if you want to know how something is made, just ask on a thread(or start one) someone will figure it out, or the original artist will post a how-to

also if I tend to find the worst thing, or something that bugs me about my own work, and add it to my post. I knew that the legs on my computron were thin, so I said it up front. it tends to take the focus off of everyone else. why tell me that, if i already know.

there are no written rules on the subject, but if you use someone's idea, give them a nod(aka credit) even post a link to their thread. and move on to yours, your custom shouldn't be about how awesome theirs is. F_R did right by me in his Hoist thread. otherss should to . but we also shouldn't get angry when 2 people do the same custom simultaneously , it happens. TomServo and I did Blitzwings at the sametime, so we decided to post on the same day. Turboedguy did a Brawn from hound(started and finished) from SMOGs design , but he gave SMOG credit, nor did SMOG get angry, PERFECT!

lets just have fun, for whatever reason

 

Wow....so many valid points and well thought out discussion going on here!!....Makes me proud to be a Radicon!!  

Pretty much everything I would say has been said....this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

honestly, i keep my mouth shut a lot because i don't want to come off as an ass. on another forum, someone was asking for critiques and advice on how to improve their work and i gave it to them straight. but then a bunch of other people came in the thread and jumped all over me for being too harsh. the original guy appreciated me giving him help, but if other people are just going to rag on you for being honest with someone than i'd rather keep quiet

 

see, all it takes is tact, ssg4life. We all welcome and encourage members to give each other feedback that will help others improve. We just want you to do it with tact. You can "give it to them straight" as long as you do it tactfully.

 

yeah its a fine line like when i posted my bender project someone said they did not like the hands  i responded what do you not like about them? they did not respond. i did not take it personal i just figured they did not check the thread twice.
i have reasons why i don't really ask for critique mainly they are just echoing what i already know the other reasons are not because of ego ,but for other reasons i rather not say. i really cant recall a just s*&^y comment sense i started posting here. the only thing that ever bugged me was when SQ7 told me to stop using caps in my description     .

one thing to point out in this discussion there are minors on this board immature adults and Noobs like me. this is only my second forum i have given patronage the first being robot japan.
I AM NOT saying this in a bad way its just minors and the latter have diff takes on things. some make drama others just make mistakes. my point being is i think a minor should be treated differently than an adult posting. serious drama queens just have to be eliminated there are groups for those. the reason i say eliminate is because if you can not befriend or appeal to there logical side then there is nothing you can really do.

F-R just so i say it i understand where you are coming from. i love your work the only reasons i do not patron most of your threads is because ,what i wanted to say was not unique. someone else would have already mentioned my point 90% of the time. the other 10% when i comment is cause i am interested or want to know something  


sorry for the novel lol

 

You guys really hit home with a lot of great points. Probably the best one I really appreciate is the tact used on constructive criticism of newbie posts. Quite honestly, I don't think any of my customs would have turned out nearly as nice as they did if it weren't for the comments of the team. For that matter, I definitely wouldn't have continued this art if it weren't for the support in the beginning. You guys rock.

 

damn it, that was me! i never did check the thread again, until just now. i'll tell you what i didn't like about the hands. lockdown's arms were so long already and i felt the extra extension of the arms was unnecessary. i felt like the hands should have just been right there against the original arm. i also thought maybe the hands would've ended up looking a little small once the extension piece was taken off, but i didn't know for sure

 

I was just thinking. To help with keeping areas no so fast moving so not as popular customs and what not dont get dropped off he first page so fast how about instead of a noob area, a WIP area. Call it the Radicons Workshop/Garage/Lair/Dungeon/whatever. I know sometimes I wanna see what everyone's cooking up but I also want to see some awesome finished pieces too. Separating the finished from the in progress might help a little right?

Slightly off topic, sorry.

 

That sounds like a good idea to me. I think it would def. help prevent threads from being bumped down so quickly.

A WIP thread def. allows more room to talk and give suggestions on the project, hence more post, hence more bumping down threads.

This is a cool thread, I've enjoyed hearing everyones opinions and input. I think it was plowking that said, "makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside", same here bro  

 

i'd be all for a workshop type area and then have the radicons custom area just be for finished products

 

You mean like Sector70's WIP and Completed forums?

 

Looks like I started something!  

I agree with you man. I wouldn't mine a blunt opinion if it was backed up by some actual insight, ya know? I think Kusanagi's input is pretty squared away as is most everyone elses. And even though I can look at a piece and see some flaws in it, I usually wait until i ave a relationship with a customizer before i give him a critical opinion. Why? Because not everyone is as thicke skinned as I am, and I would hate to hinder rather than help.

I think the current system does 2 things that creating a newbie forum would stop. One, when your just posting, you look forward to your post hangin out on the first page as much as possible, and I think it becomes a motivating factor in the amount of effort you put into your future work. 2, what determines a newbie? If your first piece really rocks (Mike D's Seekers with the chain guns come to mind) why sequester him to a forum outside of everyone else?

The thing that sucks about being artist is that we all want everyone to like our work, and it takes a while to build up a tolerance too comment and critiques. However, they are essentiol to our growth as artists.

I think there's a difference when your as good as a basher as you are, F-R. I'm still a a lil intimidated too comment on something when the rest of the piece is so awesome (Like Motormasters painted windows...which I now do as well  ), and we all know you rock. I have been disappointed to see nth Combiners utilizing the methods that were scouted by Ptitve and you, but little props given n the project thread. I know its happened to me and other Radicons as well. I guess imitation really is the best type of flattery. You only get judged so ruggedly cause there is little to find fault with,, and some folks have to nitpick, maybe to make themselves feel a lil better. Hmm...

You can only ever comment on what interests you, ya know? I have to admit, in the past there may be threads I paid lil attention to, bt only because i wasnt interested. That doesn't make me "lofty" or "big headed" it just means I wasn't motivated to comment or look. Its human nature to be drawn to things that captivate our attention. I do plan on changing that, by looking at all threads in the future, but If I slip up, like everyone else, I'm only human  

 

I get hospitalized for 2 and a half days and look what happens, that's it.... "GROUP HUG!!!!" bring yer arse over here or I will wibble wobble mine over there dag nabbit. I love you guys.

But as stated above a lot of great points. As for me I make things I either never had or I things I don't see being made in the future. I didn't have the mean and money to do so as a kid but now I do. Posting for praise and complaining when it's not received to me is like showing off a gunshot wound someone is bound to poke it and makes you go "OWIE!!!".

I take every question or positive comment and I will comment back no matter who the person is, but if the same questions are asked in a different way I will lot them into one quoted answer mostly so as not to over flood. As for a blatantly negative (haven't had one yet) I would and will just either report it or just ignore it and that person.

I will ask for advise from a few fellow raddies just as I would leave that door open in return if they ever felt the need to. Be they new or old, experienced or crossing over from a different line. This is supposed to be a open community not a battlegrounds to produce such threads and cause inner drama. And I have seen some fellow Radiconers be hit with said scenario and it seem to be more on a issue of jealously which has no place here. And at the same time I wouldn't come out and flatly say to some hey get better or don't post, I would give a pointer or suggestion but never force my view as an artist on them either.

Being fairly new here still myself I even more so now with the changes I re-read the guidelines and etiquette and I will even ask a mod before posting if I'm still not certain, I'm sure S7 is like "oh god this guy again" by now.   j/k j/k

 

originally, we were going to have a completed projects forum, and all these forums here were to be for WIPs, but we nixxed the idea because why? what's the point? finished projects are usually highlighted on the FP as gallery updates (except there are way too many lazy radicons out there   ) It just seemed redudant. Transtopia had a finished projects forum, and that's all it ever was was threads saying look at this new gallery entry, which in reality is a duplicate of the finished WIP thread.

 

Were not transtopia though. LOL by seperating the wips and the completed projects it will still help because most that do a wip thread and a finished thread anyways still have two threads taking up twice the space in the same thread section. As for completed galleries I think they should be treated seperately anyways as feedback can't be given on them and thats what the completed threads purpose is for, feedback. As for the galleries, so long as everyone isn't required to take 15 pics just for a thread then the galleries and the completed threads will never be able to serve both purposes right?

 

you have valid points, except that most people don't post WIP threads, these sadly are not a majority as I would like it

 

^Really? I thought WIP threads outnumbered finished ones. At least that's what I'm accustomed to seeing on the first page.