What am I doing Wrong!!

It's visible on your Personal Page: [link]

Thanks for repling so quickly-I realize that it is in my gallery-What I would like to know is how can I make things better so that they get into the main gallery-I worked hard on this one and I thought it was good but apparently not good enough and I would like any suggestions to make things better THANKS!!!

This is a pretty 'sensitive' issue...loaded with emotion, that of the creator of the art. There are 'technical' reasons, as have been related to above, and 'artistic' ones, which are a real land mine.

Might I say just one thing...correct all the possible technical reasons you can, especially the junk mail one cited above. As for the artistic ones, you have to please yourself first and foremost. Be honest and 'Vulcan' about comparing yours to those accepted.

Finally, ask yourself whether you're submitting in order to be 'published' or whether you're submitting something you believe is art...your true art. If it's more the former and less the latter, then deal with that issue....also, you can always submit at other sites and see what their moderation and viewer comment say about it.

Ok dont bite my head of now! im going to be a bit harsh... and ill try to give a slice of truth where others walks on their tippy toes, keep in mind i know all things i do arent perfect either, but without critique we wont evolve might it be from thy self or from others.

Ill try to be constructive OK.

I would say it's isnt serene enough and a bit too simple and i feel it is unbalanced.

Its a background with a object the object draws the eyes to top left corner.

Try ta add some meaning to it make it interesting.

Make some gaussian blur to smooth the gradients, put the orb in the middle add something to the orb or a background for the orb to rest on make something happen in the picture.

What were your thoughts when you made it? what feeling did you want to portray? captalize on that and build from there.

 

Looking forward to see you evolve!

Thank you for the suggestions-I really appreciate them-I am really tring to learn and I truly thank you!!!

Wallpapers - most people that use icons put their icons on left side so keep that area cleanish and not too pale or text becomes unreadable - try solid white background to see how hard it is to read icon wording.

As in any decorating on shelves 3 or 5 ornaments look better than 2 or 4, if use 1 decoration it looks better central.

Use layers in your image program to see effect of various transparencies, your circle looks to be dropped on top. For orbs you need layers to give the impression of 3d.

Go here and do some of the tutorials if you have Photoshop, if you use Paint Shop Pro search for similar though they are less since Corel took over from Jasc.

Checkout Vlad to see range of styles of one of the best.

Skin for yourself, be prepared for rejections - don't take them to heart but keep at it, ask questions and enjoy the addiction.

A wall can be simple in nature but still be a masterpiece.. While being a wall with only one specific item as the focus,  The main portion of the wall should not over power the setting surrounding it. One must compliment the other to achieve a visual flow.

In this instance If you were meaning to make the orb the focal point,I would have placed the Orb center'ish  ,softened the edges of it a bit, smoothed out the gradients, possibly added texture or design to the center of the orb. Maybe even some sort of an unimposing texture to the gradient it's self. I also would have Made the gradient softly eminate from the orb, thus bringing the viewers eyes toward the focal point, without having the orb having to Stand out to be noticed. This would also give the Orb meaning or belonging.

 

My best sugestion Is look at the galleries and study the works of a Master whos style suites yours, then study their walls. There are plenty of tips and ideas within them on what makes a great desktop wallpaper, just waiting to be discovered..

I hope my tips find you well

 

HG

 

"There is a force in the universe that makes things happen...and all you have to do is get in touch with it. 

Stop thinking...let things happen...and Be the Wall."

(Ty Webb (Chevy Chase), Caddyshack) Well, sort of.

 

 

Try to just skin for yourself and do the things that you really like. Once you do that, your best will start to show.

When your finished with a project ask yourself, was this the best I could do and would I download this and use it on my PC if I didn't create it?

                     

scruf, what can I tell ya, I've made stuff that others think is brilliant, but never made it into the personal gallery.. then I've seen a wall, seriously, that was just pink.. and it made it.. so it's a crap-shoot.. just keep trying, I guess you need to appeal to what they like, sometimes work of mine that I think is crap, makes it, LOL, it's weird, but don't give up buddy, you'll get some in there.

Try following a few Tutorials [Google] and download some nifty brushes, and just let yourself go! you may come up with a masterpiece.

Thank you all for the input--I really do appreciate it!!!!!

Sure feels like it.

Screw them!  Appeal to what YOU like, upload it, and if it makes it, yippie, and if not, upload it over at Deviantart, where there is no such thing as "the cut" and feel satisfied in your soul that you derived pleasure from your creation, and it's out on the web for anyone else who might derive pleasure from it.

Absolutely everything I have uploaded, I created because nobody else was doing it.  My tastes aren't popular...I have always marched to the beat of a different drummer, and I'm not about to change now.  The day my art becomes "popular" is the day I'm going to start calling it "poser."  If I tried to skin to appeal to "them" I wouldn't make it past one layer in Photoshop!  I have only so many minutes in a day to create, and I do enough sacrificing for others with the rest of those minutes in the day.

This is just my opinion but to me, art ceases to be art when it's created solely for the purpose of pleasing someone else--then it becomes "a job" or "a past time."

Crap-shoot Karen, as in, Pot-luck.

Appeal to what they like.. because there's no way they are going to accept it if you don't!.. but at the same time, don't lose yourself trying to please them, I've done that, and completely destroyed my work, editing it to what they appear to like, and it ends up being something I HATE.

 

I know.  I'm sure "they" know what it is they're looking for and some days they are a little more liberal with the stars than others, but from my point of view, "they" are totally unpredictable.  I was agreeing with you on the crap shoot.  (And I just bet "they" don't know what "we" like, either, and I've been tight with my stars when it comes to "them" MWAH-HA-HA!) 

They're just really picky when it comes to wallpapers.  To be quite honest, I rarely check the wallpaper gallery because 80% of it is abstract, and I'm not into abstract.  I'm not into having my desktop look like the dashboard of my car, either.  That stuff is really popular with "them" and a majority of the WinCustomize community...but I gotta be me.

Precisely!  And when you edit it to try to please them, it ceases to be YOUR art!  I'm doing my best to fix my people-pleasing disorder (it gets easier the more geezerly I get -- there's just something totally freeing in transitioning from the mother phase of my life, into the crone phase of my life -- who knew estrogen could be so crippling?).  Sometimes our greatest challenge is discovering who we really are, and art is one of the best methods I know for discovering that.  If you let someone else dictate what your creation is suppose to be, you lose out on that very important therapeutic value to the act of creation.

Unfortunately, gushes of praise from your fans/close followers is not always going to be the most honest and unbiased critique available to you.

Even 'popularity' defined by download - count does not necessarily define something as 'good' or 'well made/executed', but simply as POPULAR.

Generally it will be a fair indicator of reasonable standard/functionality/success if a submission IS approved.  If anyone needs definitive feedback on possible reasons for a work's rejection the Mods are available for comment.

It takes something truly original/excitingly fresh to extract a 'wow' from moderators who have seen many tens of thousands of submissions over the better part of a decade... and as a reminder many have had appropriate experience for several decades.

I looked through my 'collection' of wallpapers the other day....there's about 2000 I have considered 'worth keeping' [people like Misery, Nuvem, faisal, MobiusCo, Dangeruss, Digital Blasphemy, Shinter, Kenwas, pixelcatalyst, Karsten, BoXXi, 7shadows...and several others as well].... needless to say the Net has considerably more than 2 thousand walls/images floating around....every PC has 'MS Paint' installed....so the 'potential' Picassos number in the hundreds of millions.

Sadly, skill, craft, and/or vision is not bestowed on them all equally....all three actually require aptitude and practice...;)

 

It's not a crap shoot what gets accepted.  Years adn years of experience goes into it.  Along with that experience goes a leavening of the times.  Tastes do change and the mods flow with them.  What is immediatly popular, however, does not make a trend.  Time does that.

I've said it many number of times but it bears repeating.  Skin for youself.  Share with others.  Bask (if you must) in any adoration you get. Skin for yourself again.

 

Lastly . . . the "they" and "them" and "us" saddens me.  The moderators are all chosen from the community. "We" are "you".

You obviously took the term 'crap-shoot' the wrong way.

 

Basically, in 'simple' terms, it's 50/50.. you never know if it's going to be accepted or not.. [unless you are Journeyman or higher, which I don't believe in, work should be viewed, NOT auto approved IMO, what if someone decided to be a smartass, and submit a blank Wall with a DOT in the middle, and they are a Master, and auto get 5 stars LMAO!!! ... I AM right, but we'll have to agree to disagree on that particular issue.] so hence the term.. 'Crap-shoot'.

 

Yes Karen, I agree with everything you said.

By the time a skinner gets to that rank they would be trusted to self-moderate themselves.

Promotion isn't about the number of skin uploads or downloads or cumulative ratings or trends.  Promotions are about the person *and* the skins.  It's a valuable lesson for everyone to pay close attention too.

I've heard that before, and I don't agree with it, if I were a master, I would expect my work to be judged on what it is, not by my rank.. it wouldn't be fair, I wouldn't want that, as I said, we will have to agree to disagree..

Don't recall even talking about that.

1.. I'm a half decent skinner.

2. I'm definately, a decent person.

 

BTW.. I wasn't having a go at anyone, at any point in this topic.

There is nothing to agree or disagree with.  This is the way things are.  :)Afterthe initial rating and open moderation, all member ratings take effect.  It's not like there is a free ride.  It's just that RHIP.  :)Nope.  Not hinting at all.  Just a reminder for anyone who wasn't aware. {Responded to an edited comment.}

This isn't about you specifically Tails.  No need to bring your self into it. 

I wasn't

 

Anyway scruf, as someone recently told me, don't let WC be the judge of your self-worth, keep on creating buddy!

shooooo! people shoooooo! you are hijacking scruf57's thread!.. 

give scruf some good pointers instead of the old "skin for your self"...

Its social psychology you want people to like what you do, you get a emotional reward if your work become's popular.

Read up about Maslow's

 

I will be honest here i skin maybe 70/30, 70% for myself because i like pushing pixels and 30% i skin for all you out there
for you to enjoy (if you do ) my hours of work on a wb, both things give me a "reward".

As I have said before:

With Journeymen as well as Master skinners, by the time they are promoted to those positions they have shown they know what WC mods look for in skin's quality, asthetics, as well as have shown the maturity not to abuse the "free pass" given thru moderation

IMO it is fair, they have  shown the maturity to grow/learn from rejections and utilize the knowledge gained from them, to master their craft. They too once started at the bottom of the chain, but thru hard work and learning from their mistakes,etc,

Yes they automaticaly get I believe a "5" rating which is like 2.5 or 3 stars, but they also loose out on getting passed thru moderation with 5 stars for awesome skins. Most journeyman and masters skins Merit typically more than 3 stars, as usually thier works are top notch, so if any thing they are getting the short end of the stick.

Also they are generally at the public's mercy for ratings, unless we happen to see the skin in the library and rate it. Also by being not moderated, they can miss out on being featured etc, as since they dont get seen by us directly.

Every thing has its plusses and minuses. Some times the other side of the coin isn't so shiny when more closely examined.

 

On a side note I have been one of the Skinning community since 1997, and only last year became A WC mod. I feel no different Today as I did before recieveing the promotion.  Them as it has been put, Came from the community, and are trying their best to give back to it..  But hey screw me right?

And how is a newb suppose to know what direction to go in if their work just immediately goes to their personal page?  Personal Page Elite is not constructive criticism.  How far would any first grader go if when they turned in their work the teacher just handed it back to them without any check marks on the wrong answers, without any comments, without any emotion -- just handed the work back.  When the other children's work ends up tacked up to the board, I suppose the hypothetical first grader than I speak of would be able to deduce that their was something wrong with their work, but would have no clue in which direction to go to insure that the next project met more successful results?



Mmm-hmmm.  And who chooses the moderators?  Whomever chooses the moderators, in their choice of moderators, decides what direction the ratings are going to flow in.  I'm not saying that "us" and "them" can't get along, and create side by side, but that does not make "them" "us."  Police officers are also citizens, and they can live in neighborhoods right along side everyday Joes, but when it comes to getting a response from 9-1-1, the officer is going to get a little bit more of a rush on his call than the officer's neighbor.  It's just the way it is.  

There was a time when I believed in the ideal of everybody being equal and having the same rights and the same opportunities, and "the only limit a person has is the limits he puts on his own dreams" but those days of niavete are over.  Life became a lot less frustrating when I figured out nothing has really changed since the beginning of time -- there's the popular clique, the alternative clique, the troublemakers, and those who just aren't even seen sometimes, and membership in any of these clicks is less about what you do and more about what you are to begin with.

People who have their works bypass moderation are quite specifically disadvantaged.

The 'auto-six' that is applied is a site specific system to enable the work to be seen by others...if it received no rating at all...[because it was not seen by a moderator to be rated]...it would thus be 'zero' and physically invisible to the public.

This auto-applied rating actually is DELETED automatically as soon as the first public rating is added.

Moderated [and approved] uploads receive a legitimate and permanently applied rating even before it goes public and thus receive/attract further ratings.

A by-product of this system is that those whom some may consider as 'favourites' because of their promotional status will upload works which are usually unlikely to even be seen/rated by a moderator at all.