How to get art for a faction (no specific faction)

[clockworkcorvid]

Counting an old account, i've proposed no less than three factions. Not a single one got off the ground, and though simple laziness (and a faulty internet connection) can be traced to this problem, a huge block was my lack of pixely artistic ability. Anything i could whip up would simply not be on par with the rest of wesnoth. I really don't want to accept that i won't be able to create a faction because of this, and I'm sure many many other people have this problem. Surely there must be artists on the board, without specific drive, looking for a project? I'm wondering if there's any sort of way for those who create code and concept to find artistic partners. If some sort of system was in place, perhaps lots of great ideas that would otherwise wither would survive.

[zookeeper]

Surely there must be artists on the board, without specific drive, looking for a project?

I'm afraid not.

[hyperactivething]

What about a "critical mass"? i.e., how much art does a person suggesting a new faction need to create so that more (better) artists will join the cause? I think this is a more constructive question than the original of this post

Does it take a static sprite for every single unit? Not having a sprite for every unit, but having just a couple of really well done sprites? Or maybe it doesn't take art, it takes unique ideas?

Any thoughts?

[Azar Wolf]

What about a "critical mass"? i.e., how much art does a person suggesting a new faction need to create so that more (better) artists will join the cause? I think this is a more constructive question than the original of this post

Does it take a static sprite for every single unit? Not having a sprite for every unit, but having just a couple of really well done sprites? Or maybe it doesn't take art, it takes unique ideas?

Any thoughts?

If you can already make a couple superb sprites, the other artists will probably think you're good enough to do it yourself (and you don't really have enough to show them anyways- see below). If you create a faction that plays well and has lots of placeholder sprites of nice enough quality (ie, a single frame, but aesthetically pleasing), you can probably get some artists.


But seriously, in all my experience modding (this is the third game I'm seriously working on (as in big, ambitious projects, my main 3 mods being - Eternal command (revision 4 ATM), Transcendence Extended 2, now the Rauthar)), You need something neat and concrete already done for others to hop on board and help- just having an idea doesn't work. Artists don't want to work to help YOU realize YOUR reality- they want to realize THEIR reality! It's true, we're not totally selfless volunteers, we have our own agendas.

Also, the person who comes up with the idea needs to be MOTIVATED! Being lazy is a 100% guarantee for failure.

[hyperactivething]

Yes, I agree laziness on the creator's part does not help at all.

I was asking about that which would motivate others to hop on board. The placeholder sprites idea seems to be the most likely to work. That, and perseverance.

[Azar Wolf]

Yes, I agree laziness on the creator's part does not help at all.

I was asking about that which would motivate others to hop on board. The placeholder sprites idea seems to be the most likely to work. That, and perseverance.

As a matter of fact, placeholder art DOES work- its a tried and true method (at least where I come from). Just make sure it looks NICE (even if it has NO animations)- people don't want to be associated with something that looks hideous/like it was made by kid who just found out about MS Paint- least of all artists, even though its not their own work, they don't want to be seen with or near anything that could degrade their reputation as an artist. Being ASSOCIATED with bad art is pretty much the same thing as MAKING bad art!

[Turuk]

I was asking about that which would motivate others to hop on board.

Progress.

Go to the Campaign and Scenario Development forum or the Faction and Era Contributions. Scroll back through a few pages and ask yourself how many of those titles you see on the add-on server, or have even heard of before. People are hesitant about jumping on board because half the time the threads are full of postings but end up being just that... postings about what would be "totally awesome" or cool to do, but never gets implemented. People talk about ideas but then when they realize the work before them in writing the WML or drawing the sprites, they tend to trip themselves up quite a bit.

The work that has taken off and survived (either by being completed or maintained/tweaked) is the work where the initial creator stepped up and slaved away and others took notice that hey, this person is really taking it some where. But convincing people you are not going to do some initial work and drop it in a month or two is a hard sell.

[Gambit]

i dont think there is a "critical mass" or size. otherwise GEB (one of the biggest addons ever as far as i can see) would have a nice looking cow by now

[clockworkcorvid]

I think perhaps a good strategy is to make whatever project with frankensteins, post it completed, but consider it a work in progress and perhaps get help on a few units while you gradually improve the quality yourself. That's what i'm going to try next.

[ulfgur]

I may be willing to help. I'm not exactly expert, but I am good at recolouring things and making magical effects. Especially magical effects on swords and maces . If you dont need help, I do have a hint. Copy, paste. modify. alot.

ulfgur


Interesting how this forum got much quieter once school started.

[Turuk]

See you are already attracting people to help you. You cannot force these things they just happen.

The forums always quiet down when school first gets back into session. Just wait until people get bored. They will be back.

[Vainglorious]

It's clear to me that good art is the rarest resource in the Wesnoth community, followed closely by good music. From what I gather, there are plenty of people with potentially good era/faction ideas, numerous experienced coders, a fair assortment of teams and individuals who create solid default era maps and campaigns, and the odd person like myself who has a niche talent to offer (in my case, editing blocks of text to correct grammatical errors and improve formatting). Artists and musicians, however, are a prized resource.

I haven't really practiced my artistic skills since high school, but I do have some natural talent. Wesnoth inspires me to put serious effort into revitalizing those skills and seeing if I've got what it takes to do handsome pixel art and portraits.

Even these days, I still have a knack for artistic composition. Here's a forum signature (essentially a collage) I created for a friend who plays Warhammer Online. The character itself and the feather decoration are copyrighted by EA Mythic and Games Workshop, who allow use of their work in fan sites and signatures. Every other resource used is open source: link to view PNG

If I can nurture that back into some real artistic talent (sophisticated knowledge of lighting, shadows, colors, and the ability to create my own characters and scenery), I'll be only too happy to contribute art to user-made Wesnoth factions and eras.

[fuzz579]

well I'm kinda OK I guess here http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=23322 is all the art I have posted and I'm willing to help.

[Cernunnos]

If i can make some surgery (quite old thread, but not old enough for necromancy...)

If you can basically use the existing portraits,
Or at least find, in some cases maybe not mainline style portraits but user portraits which are good enough,
If you can, and in nearly all the cases will, use Wesnoth existing terrain tiles,

You won't find many artists wanting to do sprites...

Even if you can argue that sprites are better for a faction,
i would suggest you to make an actual working faction, test it in game, for example with squares, circles, triangles, plain and void (already six units there) (that could be more with colors...),
see if the faction is balanced with other factions of the era you want it in,
make other tests,
correct bugs,
make some more tests,

And, when you think the result is good enough, ask for people to help you at drawing.
Even then, i'm not sure you'll have positive answers but then, you would be able to say that you did your best about it, and i think that you could eventually find people wanting to help.
For a reminder i'll say that there's a lot of really awesome games where the graphics are nearly nonexistent or really poor. Think of all those now abandon-ware games where there was no place for graphics... just pure "Gameplay"!

Well hope this helps, if you have an idea, make it to the end, when you can't go further, ask for help.
(Of course you can ask help for all the steps here, but you can't just simply ask for others to do something for you in the first place, do it, people will join eventually... )

PS, my english is poor, so please excuse me about it