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Based on a thread over on the Eatpoo forums, I am throwing the idea out here to see what y'all think.

Eatpoo is an art discussion and critique forum (and home to all kinds of mad skillz) and one thing they do is the Weeklies - a kind of inaccurately-named semi-regular art challenge thing, just for the sake of it. Stuff like redesigning superheroes or drawing your favourite childhood cartoon characters in a different style or whatever. It's fun. One of their recent weeklies was Pimp My Elfwood [Some NSFW content! Be warned!].

[Elfwood, for those who don't know, is a venerable old fantasy/scifi art gallery that used to house some pretty awesome talent, but has in recent years been swamped with drew-this-in-math-class type scrawlings, and plentiful Bad Anime. Some of its contents is madness to look upon, and fills the ether with the baleful screams of a thousand disappointed art teachers. I have a bunch of old stuff on there, but don't update much because their submission process is immensely arcane and very slow.]

Anyway, the Pimp My Elfwood challenge involved Eatpoo's resident artists, professional and amateur alike, picking various... technically underwhelming pictures from the sump of Elfwood's galleries, and revamping them with mad skillz and technical know-whats.

Some people disagreed with the way it was done, claiming that at the very least it was copyright violation, and at worst outright victimisation and bullying of amateur artists by arrogant and inconsiderate professional artists. Personally, I found it kind of inspiring to see what a difference having well-honed skills make to presenting an idea in visual form (that said, I wasn't the one getting my horrible horrible Bad Anime scrawlings pimped by some uber-l33t professional artist, so maybe I can take a more dispassionate view of things). Basically, one camp viewed it as the Eatpoo artists saying "ha ha, you suck, look how much better I can draw your stuff than you can", while the other viewed it as them saying "hey kid, your ideas are great but your execution needs work - look what you could achieve if you applied yourself!".

A lot of the argument hinged on whether or not it was right to critique someone who didn't outright ask for it - and whether posting your work online is an implicit request for critique. There was drama and outrage and censure, and I believe a Pimp My Elfwood LJ community got shut down in the melee. Much serious business there. dramallama But maybe the idea wasn't flawed, just the execution (with the stuff about failing to ask for consent from the original artist and that sort of thing).

The point that impressed me a lot in reading through the thread is that while many Elfwood kids are definitely in need of a lot of practice and improvement, they're not short of imagination and creativity. And I couldn't help but wonder if it might be worth trying here. I'm not saying that Art Fags should go and yoink pictures from the bowels of the Art Arena to revamp (no matter how deserving), as that could get you stomped for art theft or whatever. But this kind of exercise - "here's a challenge, set to it!" - could be something engaging for us to do. Maybe if aspiring art fags submitted stuff for us to pimp that could work, as it'd be a voluntary thing. Iunno. What do you think? Wouldyou fine Art Fags be interested in some kind of semi-regular theme or challenge to participate in?

Also, feel free to discuss whether or not posting stuff online is an implicit request for feedback and critiques; whether what the Eatpoo artists did was "right", for whatever definition of the word you want to use; whether what was done counts as parody, or fanart, or constructive criticism, or what; whether you would have minded if you were one of the Elfwooders who got pimped.

Have at thee. cool

this proves i'm a bad person, but if the original artist never foun out or complained, i'd probably not have a problem with redrawing their art.

its called tough love.
ninja

I looked through the forum and I'm one of those people that is just amazed at it. I think I'd love to have my art pimped. I know I have SO much to improve on, and when someone does that you can learn from it.

talk2hand I wouldn't be offended, I'd be impressed. I think it's inspiring to have your work taken and made a lot better.

My sentances really aren't working this morning.

*seriousPOST*

i actually got around to looking at what was done in the thread. I was quite impressed with a number of the pimps..less impressed by a few, and then saw a few that were somewhat mean spirited.

a couple artist took what i think was the wrong approach (this is your effeminite elf character, i'm going to draw him hairy and wanking himself sort of thing). Not all of them were blatantly mean, and a lot of them were rather funny...but you can see how if the original artist saw the pimps...they would feel more ridiculed than anything.

it's just one of those risks you take when you earna bit of amusement at another's expense, i guess.


Otherwise, i was rather intrigued by the artist that took the thing more seriously, turning an amateur artists ideas and concepts into an interesting and well done piece of art work.

If i recall, a long while back, someone in this guidl did come up with a similar idea, which invovled one person posting artwork, and then several other artists doing the same piece in their own fashion. I thought i was a fun idea at the time, especially ince it would be a good way to being different media together. It would be fun to see an idea reinterpreted through drawing, photography, writing, painting, sewing etc etc.

It would be nice to bring some group activities into this guild, since the individual posting of pieces and waiting for others to comment on them isn't working out so well.

you know...
normally this sort of thing just doesn't bother me. i don't generally have a high pity threshold for kids and idiots. but as somebody who's been showing artwork online since age- what, eleven? i just don't know if i approve of this one.
i think the biggest thing is there's a difference in "giving constructive criticism" and "ganking some noob's (shitty?) drawing and redrawing it better, in a different style, or satirically/insultingly," and if what you really want to do is the latter, don't pretend that you're doing the former. plus i just don't approve of art ganking on any level, even when it's shitty (or just inexperienced!) art.

PS don't get me wrong. some of the pimps are BADASS AWESOME and even some of the parodies are really great or clever or gorgeous or whatever. but maybe if it were only offered art.

uh, that's why there's a difference between 'constructive' and 'destructive' criticism? you may be overestimating the viewer's opinion when you say "hating on." i know this is the internet and some people go for that sort of thing, but who in the long run actually gives a s**t hoot enough to "hate on" your art? like i said. constructive criticism is different.

constructive criticism is also different than "Because I think your art sucks, I am going to take your drawing and make it something else without your permission."

I don't believe in destructive criticism in the traditional sense.

If you put your opinion of the art aside and attack the artist out of some other motivation, mayhaps that is destructive.

If you think someone's art sucks and you simply state "this is no good", is that destructive? I'd think not. Opinions are opinions. You are helping them understand what people think of this art, and by voicing your opinion you help the artist gain a realistic understanding of what people actually think.

If people were equally inclined to saying "this is no good" as they are to gushing nonsensically about how "kawaii" bad art is, i think that the arts community would be benefit.

Art, some say, is a quest for truth. In some cases the truth is that you suck. If someone truly can't deal with some satire or they need to get themselves off of the worldwide stage.

[(-Onis-)]: I don't think it's theivery in the same way because nobody is claiming credit for the work. It's understood that these are copies and/or mockeries.

Overall, as with any difficulty in life, you can roll with it and try to learn what you can from it or you can take it in the face and whine while you collect your teeth.

Well then I'm an a*****e, and "destructive criticism" is, in my opinion, a misnomer. I don't see what is destructive about it. It's data. Any data is useful, if you posess the ability to assimilate it.

I don't get the misanthropy thing, what do you mean by that? Like I want to hate and distrust the human race as a whole but I'm somehow doing an unsatisfactory job? That is not my stance here. I love humans. I love our capacity to be awesome. I love being a human because of the opportunities and challenges it presents.

I am simply of the opinion that some people are over-sensitive about these things, and that anything I can see is mine to form and express an opinion on. If you don't like my opinion then you can form and express an opinion on that.

Maybe it will be your opinion that I have no right to express my opinion in the manner I choose to. I will certainly disagree, but I won't deny your right to think such a thing. I think that it's reasonable to say that these people might be expressing their opinions in a way you don't like, but I hate the idea of trying to stop them.

I also disagree about the statement being slop, but that is neither here nor there.


More in the true spirit of the thread, I would be all for an "AFG f** Up My Art" sort of thread. I do think that the entrants should be voluntary to keep the controversy down (because as artists it is our duty to avoid controversy wherever possible rolleyes )

I think that with enough participants and appliccants, it could help fight the dreaded artist's block by giving us something inconsequential to think on. It could also be fun.

Edit: Doesn't art theft require that the original artist is not acknowledged or credited? I also don't think that it's necessary to write out your punctuation. I saw the periods there.