Pogs and Chans (how to get on the front page) UPDATE!

Smight · Post by **Smight** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 7:45 pm

so can I join the fashionably late with my chan crowd?

I think it meets all yer requirements. Should there be some sort of log on the siteadmin that shows it has been submitted?

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:01 pm

Escushion wrote:Now, the PM pointed to the Wiki, but the Wiki's guidelines seem to contradict what's been accepted. For instance, it talks about the base of the template being ground level, but many of the chans don't place the eye straight; many have a rounded (natural) view rather than flat-faced, and War's fantastic one is a top-down view.

I'm not commenting on your Chans directly for this bit, but...

The guidelines are only suggested rules and you don't have to follow them if you don't want to. However, there's a reason for every one so if you don't follow them you need to be sure you can get away with it. War's Genchan clearly got away with it. It ignored guidelines but looks very cool anyway and fits the site wonderfully. If you go against all the guidelines and the Chan still works, believe me that's fine, but doing so increases the risk that it won't work.

The sitting guideline is also a new one. You can probably expect a couple like that to crop up as we go through samples since it's not until people try certain things that we realise that they don't work. That's a bit evil for you since you couldn't know about it before, so sorry for that.

Some styles and some pictures also just don't work. To take an extreme case, it'd be hard to make a stick figure Genchan work (although Subhuman has done it). A certain pose might just flat out not work on-site, too. It's annoyingly arbitary sometimes.

There are also chans currently up that cut off on top and bottom, have clashing colors to the site design, and have line-aliasing greys.

Some of those in circulation aren't meant to be. Bear with us on that one.

I'll PM you with specifics about your Chans (without attributing them to anyone in particular)* but right now it's lunchtime in Oz.

- Joel Fagin

* It's weird, actually. It takes some getting used to, this united front stuff.

Mo · Post by Mo » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:04 pm

Escushion wrote:Okay, my chans were both rejected after initial acceptance, so before I go about designing new ones, I need to know what's considered acceptable.

The guidelines in the Wiki talk mostly about the technical aspects that need to be considered, and it says basically "make it look good". Now, when we vote for or against a Gen-Chan, there is several things we will consider:

The technical: Making sure, for instance, that the background fits in harmoniously with the website and hasn't been drastically altered (shadows and glowing effects are acceptable, what isn't acceptable is if the image looks cut off in the edges); another consideration is the size of the actual gen-chan, if it fills out the space of the image nicely, etc. Also: Does it look like a Gen-chan at all? Is the ComicGen logo included somewhere on or around her?

The artistic: Basically, does the Gen-Chan look like good art? We want the website to be good marketing for Comic Genesis, so this is very important. How professional has the artwork been executed? Does it look sketchy or unfinished in some way? Do the pose or the proportions look clumsily drawn? Is there anything in the picture that makes us go "Meh" or "Eww" or "WTH"? More to the point: What will people think when they see this piece of art on the frontpage - will they perceive the Gen-Chan as cheap amateur art, or as uncreative, boring, offensive, or even just mediocre? The impression the frontpage makes is often deciding for what people will think of the community as a whole, that's why we'd like the frontpage Gen-Chan to make people think "Hey that looks really good", "Awesome!", or at least "Interesting, I'll check this out". You get the picture. Of course, this is a very subjective part. Which is why we are a panel of three persons with different taste and opinions, and the majority decides.

The overall impression: How good does the Gen-Chan look on-site and what does it express? Even if the art itself is good, even VERY good, we will reject Gen-Chans that just don't fit with the rest of the website; we will also reject Gen-Chans that have a pose or facial expression that we feel does not mirror the impression we want the frontpage to make. We don't want a moping sad emo angsting gen-chan in snow. We want the community to come over as dynamic and positive, and that simply excludes some pieces of art. If a piece of art IS, indeed, very good, but doesn't fit the frontpage, we will specifically ask the artist to draw another Gen-Chan because we feel that he is capable of meeting the quality expectations, but just hasn't drawn the right Gen-Chan.[/quote]

Edit: Yeah, um... ditto on everything Joel said, too.

Escushion · Post by **Escushion** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:11 pm

Smight wrote:I think it meets all yer requirements. Should there be some sort of log on the siteadmin that shows it has been submitted?

You gotta' upload it through the siteadmin.

Joel Fagin wrote:Some of those in circulation aren't meant to be. Bear with us on that one.

Alright, then I'll wait a bit before trying to figure out new ones.

I'll PM you with specifics about your Chans (without attributing them to anyone in particular)* but right now it's lunchtime in Oz.

I appreciate that.

Smight · Post by **Smight** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:22 pm

Escushion wrote:
Smight wrote:I think it meets all yer requirements. Should there be some sort of log on the siteadmin that shows it has been submitted?
You gotta' upload it through the siteadmin.

I get this message when I try to upload it:
Notice: Undefined variable: uploadsub in /bigdog1/space/siteadmin/public_html/update_promodata.php on line 217

maybe I'll draw something a little more upbeat tonight at work.

Escushion · Post by **Escushion** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:24 pm

It's a little broken maybe?

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:25 pm

Cookie wrote:The technical: Making sure, for instance, that the background fits in harmoniously with the website and hasn't been drastically altered (shadows and glowing effects are acceptable, what isn't acceptable is if the image looks cut off in the edges); another consideration is the size of the actual gen-chan, if it fills out the space of the image nicely, etc. Also: Does it look like a Gen-chan at all? Is the ComicGen logo included somewhere on or around her?

The artistic: Basically, does the Gen-Chan look like good art? We want the website to be good marketing for Comic Genesis, so this is very important. How professional has the artwork been executed? Does it look sketchy or unfinished in some way? Do the pose or the proportions look clumsily drawn? Is there anything in the picture that makes us go "Meh" or "Eww" or "WTH"? More to the point: What will people think when they see this piece of art on the frontpage - will they perceive the Gen-Chan as cheap amateur art, or as uncreative, boring, offensive, or even just mediocre? The impression the frontpage makes is often deciding for what people will think of the community as a whole, that's why we'd like the frontpage Gen-Chan to make people think "Hey that looks really good", "Awesome!", or at least "Interesting, I'll check this out". You get the picture. Of course, this is a very subjective part. Which is why we are a panel of three persons with different taste and opinions, and the majority decides.

The overall impression: How good does the Gen-Chan look on-site and what does it express? Even if the art itself is good, even VERY good, we will reject Gen-Chans that just don't fit with the rest of the website; we will also reject Gen-Chans that have a pose or facial expression that we feel does not mirror the impression we want the frontpage to make. We don't want a moping sad emo angsting gen-chan in snow. We want the community to come over as dynamic and positive, and that simply excludes some pieces of art. If a piece of art IS, indeed, very good, but doesn't fit the frontpage, we will specifically ask the artist to draw another Gen-Chan because we feel that he is capable of meeting the quality expectations, but just hasn't drawn the right Gen-Chan.

That should go into the Wiki. Well put.

- Joel Fagin

Distant screaming · Post by **Distant screaming** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:46 pm

I'm having the same problem as Escushion. I'm fine with my Chan being rejected, but I kinda need to know why. It doesn't have to be an in-depth analysis, just a few pointers.

Mo · Post by Mo » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:47 pm

distant_screaming wrote:I'm having the same problem as Escushion. I'm fine with my Chan being rejected, but I kinda need to know why. It doesn't have to be an in-depth analysis, just a few pointers.

I'll PM you the objections that were made.

Post by **Mercury Hat** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:57 pm

Guys only upload your pogs, chans, banners, etc ONCE. If you get an error message, don't upload again because it might have gone through. I don't know what the deal is right now, I'll try and get ahold of Kisai and see.

That being said, Smight, I don't see yours in the system so you should be okay with trying again.

Turnsky · Post by **Turnsky** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:46 pm

here we go

Mo · Post by Mo » Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:57 pm

And mine... hrm.

Pillywiggin · Post by **Pillywiggin** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:04 am

Whoa!!!

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:06 am

Cookie wrote:

Wow. The shading on her... black dress-thing is awesome.

- Joel Fagin

Mo · Post by Mo » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:11 am

Thanks!

I tried out what it would look like on the site and decided to drop the yellowish glow in the version I'm submitting. Though I leave it up to the others to decide what's better, and change it if they should want me to.

(And no, I'm not voting for myself. Merc will step in to give Joel and Keff a third vote. Same will happen if Keff decides to submit a chan. Just so you people know.)

Edit: Here, by the way.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:16 am

Cookie wrote:I tried out what it would look like on the site and decided to drop the yellowish glow in the version I'm submitting.

I'd prefer it without the glow. Everyone seems to put glows on Genchan and I don't really see why she needs one.

(And no, I'm not voting for myself. Merc will step in to give Joel and Keff a third vote. Same will happen if Keff decides to submit a chan. Just so you people know.)

Ah. I had wondered what we'd do.

- Joel Fagin

Fadri · Post by **Fadri** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:54 am

Argh! My Gen-chan has been rejected!
Making a "sadinthesnow" Gen-chan wasn't such a good idea. xD

Well, I'll try something different...

ShineDog · Post by **ShineDog** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:55 am

because she has dark hair, and the background at the top is black, sometimes you need a bit of a glow round her head to make her hair visible.

i NEARLY did it with mine.

LibertyCabbage · Post by **LibertyCabbage** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:56 am

i'm not sure if mine was rejected or not but if it was then lemme know and i'll make another one ... i did the gen-chan a few months ago and i've improved my artistic ability a lot since then so i can make something better.

Komiyan · Post by **Komiyan** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 11:26 am

Joel Fagin wrote:
corgan_dane wrote:I didn't go all sci-fi on her. Everytime I did she just looked silly. >.<
I just realised - there's no fantasy ones yet. Okay, so the logo and site practically scream "sci-fi" but still...

- Joel Fagin

SLAY'D.