Since I'm not including the person's username anywhere, I think it's okay to post this. Anyway here's one of the more "constructive" PMs as to why I deserve </3 votes.
Quote:
1 - Formatting and graphics.
Your thread needs to be visually appealing in order to attract customers and give your shop a good vibe. You have graphics for headers, which is good, but that doesn't necessarily make your shop "pretty" for lack of a better term. When I plan a shop, I look at successful shops and see what they have in common. It's usually having a small size font either centered in the middle or to the left with some tabs for space. Some will have no graphics and just use larger text and colors (think sugar safari) or simple graphics (think puchi pet). They usually have a color scheme with two to three complimenting colors that tie everything together. I suggest you look at other shops and see what you think will work with your theme and code everything ahead of time in the text forum.
2 - Art style
Pixels are very common these days, so you need to set yourself apart from the competition. You seem to have a basic grasp of shading, but there is still room for improvement, especially with shapes and lines. I think it would be best to look up a few good pixel tutorials and practice a bit more first. I learned from looking at other people's pixels and noticing how they would draw shadows and highlights and how the made the lines. There are plenty of great pixel shops around you can benefit from. I'm not at all saying your art is bad, but as an experienced pixel artist, there are things you can improve on and I'd be happy to give you pointers if you want.
Lastly, have more confidence. If you think negatively from the beginning, then you're just setting yourself up for failure.
That pretty much goes completely against all of the prior advise I got which was to specifically
NOT study other people's pixel art. If want to make a bottle, I should either get a bottle out of my refrigerator or search google for images of RL bottles. What I should not do is go to your shop or anyone else's shop, buy something that is a bottle then study that because I will never develop my own art style and will only become good at copying that person's art.
The person was kind enough to elaborate on #2 and the last point in a latter PM to clarify that my pixel art needs to be as good as what is available for sale in your shop, Beli Cafe, and any of the other shops with popular status. It doesn't matter that this is a freebie shop if the art is not good as those shops, I deserve </3 votes. Sugar Safari was specifically cited as a shop that I need to "study." [i.e. try to copy/mini the art style of.]
As for the last point, I'm not quite sure what the person was getting at when they elaborated but the impression I got was that they were trying to say that nobody trolls anyone in the mini shop forums. [Is there some magical barrier around Mini Shops that will keep a troll from elsewhere from coming here?] So if I say my shop got trolled [and even get someone to fess up that they did it], I'm still wrong because those all those </3 votes only came people who either hate my layout or don't think my art is good enough. It doesn't matter that it's a fricken freebie thread.
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