SWAG Bullpen

So, I went through and cleaned out the requests. Moving them into the abandoned requests area and started to think about something.

How would you guy's like a forum where you as an artist post a forum topic that states that you're looking for some inspiration for a piece of work. Define what kind of thing you'd like to do and see if anyone posts ideas of what they want to see?

This way it allows you guy's the ability to decide if you're in the mood and will inspire others to ask for something when they see that an artist is wanting to do something.

Not to be the party-pooper here; but i've noticed a smattering of art depicting official SW characters.  Is this not still forbidden territory, or has that stricture been relaxed?

Very happy to find this place is still alive. Is there a way to search the gallery by any chance? Sending some friends this way to show starwars stuff!

So, as some of you may know, I lost my dad back in December. Since then I've had a duece of a time trying to draw ANYTHING.  Everything I've tried to create has failed.  Every. Single. Thing.

I don't want you guys thinking I've given up on you.  I love coming here and telling my silly stories of a galaxy far, far away.  And I still have SOOOOOOOO many stories to tell.  I just can't seem to get the drawing to come out right.

Okay, does anyone have suggestions of what we can do to get people back onto SWAG? Is there something we're missing? 

Is there a lack of artists? If so, is there some where we can go to recruit some more? Is it lack of requests? If so, where should we go to advertise?

Any ideas are welcome. 

Wonderduck has been added to the Guild Member role.  Everyone give him a nice welcome to the bullpen :)

I would like to inquire what the current policy is on coloring in others' work. This used to be strictly forbidden. If it's possible I'd like it to stay that way because even if Ravenshard links back to the original art, it was still done without permission and would attract negative attention from the original artist. Even if Ravenshard links to SWAG artists, this might cause others to think it's okay to pull any artwork off the internet, color them in and pass it off for the Star Wars Artists' Guild.

I think we should regularize the featured art, and make more of an event of it. I think it would be cool to select a piece once a week - say on Sunday. So every Sunday, a new piece goes up in the featured slot. That way, every piece gets the same amount of time, and it'll give us an event to look forward to.

Well the title says it all, basically.

Would any of you artists be interested in live streaming while you work on Star Wars art requests.  Maybe even doing live chat requests.

If we get several artists who'd like to do it, we can set up a twitch channel for them to use and start advertising it.   I've been using twitter for some time and have a few followers.  But I know some other Star Wars fans who would help me get the word out about it.

Okay Artists...  This topic is going to be about one thing and one thing only. 

Keywords in your pictures.

First I'd like to thank you all for using them.  Secondly I wanted to tell some of you how to use them better :)

In the keywords area of your image please put each keyword seperated by a , (comma) this causes the boxes to appear on the right side of the image.

Hey, guys and gals! I've been absent for a bit and just wanted to drop by and say "Hi!".

Hi!

As some of you may or may not know, I've been on a cross country bicycle trip. What you may not of heard was that my mac died. It took me a little while but I'm happy to say I have a new mac and I'm getting back up and running, and should be able to start getting involved here again.

Okay, I figured I owed you guy's an explanation of what's going on.

I talked to Kris and we talked quite a bit about SWAG and where it's going. Kris is still working like mad on his project at work, however he forsees a lawl in his work in a few months. To that end he's given me permission to play with the site.

Hunter Fox is starting a rpg. He is looking for talented artists to help him in his endeavor. I'm pretty sure this is commision, though I don't have all the details. You can contact him at slyfoxgames@yahoo.com and ask him any questions you may have.

We've been talking on Twitter and he is just now trying to get some artists to help him. He's looking for portfolios, though your galleries here would do.

Email him a portfolio if you like.

I'd love to see some of you guy's get some more recognition even outside of Star Wars :) And if he pays, that just makes it better :)

How we hate it....

Well, for the first time... I believe I can say that I have removed ALL SPAM from the boards... I found an area I kept missing, and have now removed all of it.

If you find any spam anywhere.. please link it here so that I may kill it with vengance.. thanks :)

I've been looking at the requests, and noticed something....

Every single request is for the character, not the background... (well most of them are anyway)

So, For Aprils Featured piece of artwork ... Pick a request ((Any request on the boards)) ... Submit the request with an outstanding background. Something that sparks emotion... any emotion... Make it breath taking, or unique...

Rules are simple for Aprils Feature...

#1 .. Must be a completed request.
#2 .. The background has to match the character in quality.
#3 .. captivate our immaginations.

...Oh goodness how do requests work YEAH, UH. Wandering about in here to see if there was a possibility that anyone would like to draw my Fosh, and if so I could even manage an art trade with it? Aaahh, well, my gallery kinda makes it super obvious what my end would be, and the more stereotypically cowboy-ish you want to make her the better XD (It's uh, not completely obvious I guess but she has double pistols and uses the Force in the Kro Var style- which basically just means she's the avatar).

Hey guys!

So, I've gotten to wondering whether we actually have any sort of policy regarding artists uploading images using manipulations of other works (be it movie stills, video game backgrounds, pre-existing Star Wars art...) ??

Hey all, there's been talk lately of sluggishness, lack of interest, and some general ennui, so I thought - why not resurrect the themed submissions? They used to be way fun!

So, if anyone is interested, how about we all do Zardoz-inspired Star Wars pieces this month - inspired by a creative request by one copisetik. Let's follow-up Hish's fantastic Wookiee Sean Connery with our own interpretations!

I feel bad. I get all excited about seeing request, read and then get disappointed. I was grumbling to myself when I started looking. We in general hardly ever do request. I know that it needs to spark our interest. I also know that we don't get paid. I just started looking, and was all....damn. I don't have the best attention span, and get side tracked easily. But I have put stuff up. I have done art. Hell I did lots of stuff just fooling around. I could have drawn something for someone.

For everyone who published a piece of work today, AWESOME!... Love seeing new work...

If you put it in and it currently isn't published, that's simply because I didn't want to publish them all, and have a BUNCH of them end up off the front page. They will be published later, unless they break the rules of SWAG. If they break the rules of SWAG then I'll give you a message stating why I'm not publishing it.

Greetings My Fellow SWAG Members,

Okay guy's.. Eclipse has been approving/disapproving all images for as long as I know... Now that he's allowed me to do so, I really haven't had any questions about any of the images thus far.

Aenid31 has submitted a very cute picture of a character of Derfs. My only problem is that it shows her butt crack, and I'm not sure if it would break the rules of SWAG.

What do all you artists think?... I could call Eclipse but I figure as a committee you guy's would know...

And if Eclipse happens to read this, then he can save me a headache by just deciding :)

Okay, so I'm torn about what image to put as the next Feature, so I thought I'd take it to you guy's.

The next feature will be Casca's but I'm torn between This one and This one

So I thought I'd ask you guy's which one you think deserves it more.

Also, I want all of you artists to give me some suggestions for future features.

Besides word of mouth, has anyone ever thought to put some cards or flyers with SWAG imfo at local game centers. Maybe with the site location and the request rules. Just wondering. Could generate request and artist
Dont want to step on toes or anything.

I was going through some of the applications that have been approved, but the artists never came to the site to do anything.

I decided to send them an email, to let them know that they were approved to be part of the Guild Membership.

Also, I busted one rule Eclipse gave me, that's not messing with the guild applicants. I did this because even Eclipse voted yes, and there were 5 yes's on it.

http://swagonline.net/node/5905

aydoen saids hi

When I called Eclipse, we talked for a while, and he said that the reason it takes a while for some pictures to be published is because he likes to give all the new additions some home page time.

If you publish something, and it's not immediately put up, look at the home page, and see how long the oldest one on the home page has been up, if it's less than a week, that's probably why your picture hasn't been published yet.

I'm going to stick with this idea, since it gives all of our talented artists some home page time, before their picture is pushed off the new items.

Okay, I emailed Mercy and asked her to send me all of the images that were lost, and were showing up as just dots.

I edited them all in, and made her gallery whole...

Now that I know what I'm doing with it. Any other artists who have missing files please feel free to send them to me at Xanamiar@msn.com and a link to the missing image would be helpful.

If you do this, I'll do what I can to get your images back on the site where they belong :)

So far, including Drig and myself, I think six separate SWAG artists have drawn my character. And that is AWESOME.

But I want MOAR.

So who's down to swap some art? I'll do up something nice in exchange for a drawing of Asok Yeesrim!

And if anybody has any other art trade requests, I suppose we should use this thread for that more general purpose. So, post requests, offers, etc.

Just got thinking about this - I am feeling immense guilt over having 2 requests on the go that I can't get to finishing right now... how bad is it for others here? I know Tusserk is frequently lamenting her over-burdened situation, and Mercy seems to have a ton on the go at any given time [she is freakishly good at turning out good pics quickly though]... how about the rest of you regular SWAG'ers around here?

Real life got super crazy for a while.

Hope all is well with everybody.

I'm looking through all the requests, looking for something to do, and it strikes me. Why do I not want to draw any of these?

They're too damn unique! Everything is played against type, or made to feel out of place in the Star Wars universe, or else a weird amalgamation of things that generally rubs me the wrong way. Even the admittedly unusual request I just completed, though it's fun to do once in a while, is really only endearing when it is UNUSUAL.

Heya guys...

I've been wondering, what happened to the Diasha Zeltron bodyguard images I submitted them the same day I posted they're done -=thread linky on Tue, 04/05/2011. I submitted both the portrait and a closeup.

Did they get lost in the cracks somewheres? Or is the submission que backlogged? or what's the case?

Hello fellow artists, selection council in particular.

Where do we stand with the prospective Guild Artists? It is hard to tell which ones have been accepted and which ones are still waiting to make the 'jump to lightspeed'.

I know there was some questions posted by one prospective who got tired of waiting.

Now I've got an old buddy who is in the queue. Just wanted to know if I can give him a ballpark timeframe for results of his application.

Just yesterday my wife and I welcomed our son into the world. It was pretty much the most aweful thing I've ever seen in my life. Our twin girls were born C-Section, so the birth itself was quick and easy. My wife went natural on this one. No meds or nuthin'. SWEET JESUS!!!! My boy was 7 lbs 9 oz and did the damage of a 12 pounder on the way out. My wife is amazing. I totally would have died. I wish I hadn't watched.
Anyways, I'll be away for awhile. I know I owe some folks pics (Xan, Mercy, Tusserk to name a few). I'll get back on that soon.

Later all:)

Is it possible to perhaps have a double row of Newest Images, and maybe drop the 'Featured Images' down to just a couple windows, that maybe rotate through a group?

The reason I ask is that I was gone for a short while and I had no idea that a whole group of new images had come and gone from the main page.

I know it only takes a click to open a larger list, but...

So I got a basic wacom tablet for christmas.

I was very happy.

But now...I realize I have to re-learn how to draw! :(

How disheartening!

Hiya,
It's been about 2 years since I last visited and contributed to this fine establishment. I'm really happy to see so many familiar faces and some new ones! So on coming back, I have a couple of questions:

Can I delete a file I just uploaded? I just realized I didn't add my signature to the pic
Can I delete older blog pieces, you know, the ones that stink?

thanks!

So here I sit, lamenting my fate: I hate my job. That simple.
Then it occurs to me: 90% of my SWAG brothers and sisters must surely hate thier jobs, too.
Then it further occurs to me: The wealth of talent here, while amazing on an individual level, is NOTHING compared to the pooled talent of the SWAG community.
What, thus far, has been stopping us from working together in this field that we all so love?
We have fabulous pencillers, amazing inkers, breath-taking colourists, clever writers.
Why is this crew not teaming up to make our own source books, RPGs, comics, and such?

OK, so my last attempt to get us all into irc together sort of failed. I don't recall why, but for the sake of just chatting a bit, I'm going to start hanging out in #swagonline on irc.freenode.net

Feel free to drop in any time, I hope to see many of you there.

Eclipse

So yeah, I actually am alive. :-)

I want to start by kind of apologizing to all you swaggers, my personal life has been... well it's been insane for about 2 years now, which has really prevented me from paying swag the sort of attention I'd like to give it. That insanity is not over, but... it does seem to be balancing out a little bit. So it's time to start focusing some of my attention on SWAG.

With all that said, a few quick updates for you guild members.

1.) Being a dad is totally awesome. My little girl is absolutely amazing.

Is there a criteria artwork is judged that I am unaware of?

It's recently occurred to me, while pointing a friend to the site that I have apparently never produced anything worthy of being a 'Featured Artwork'.

I want to know what I have to improve or change to gain this coveted position for one of my art works.

seriously. I'm not pouting. I'm asking.

Am I the only one that ever wonders what the Star Wars galaxy would be like if the Ewokes worked like Gremlins with the do not feed after midnight or get wet deal?

Seriously, take a moment out of your day to ponder this. =}

=Kat/Jynx

So, I wanted to keep guild members kind of "in the know" as to how things are coming along with the site upgrade.

I actually spent quite a bit of time on it since the post to the front page yesterday, and let me say I am quite pleased, however I have a few questions.

Had to take some time off from this (and every other hobby activity) over this summer.

Working 50-60 hour weeks AND writing a book has been brutal.

Things are winding down though, so hopefully I'll be able to actively participate again soon.

Cheers all,

Matt aka Fizzyglug

I know bumping is technically against our rules, but I think the watchdog mentality is going a bit overboard. I actually like having threads bumped - it brings them to my attention when I might not have spotted them. And with the current policy, it's almost impossible to engage anyone in conversation on the site. Maybe it's time for us to be a little friendlier, a little more open, a little more aware. Sometimes it's nice to have old threads refreshed, to see which requesters are actually interested in seeing their pieces done.

I vote to reinstate bumping!

For those of you who've taken requests, we are doing a little maintenance on the request forums, and if you could just look through your own requests that you've finished, and if they haven't been moved to the "finished requests" forum, just bump them with a "done" comment, that'd be awesome. It would make book keeping much easier :-D

Eclipse

I don't want to sound bitchy or anything. Maybe I am a little selfish, but I was asked not to post the pic I am currently working on. The requester is afraid of others using the pic for thier characters and does not want it public. I have already put alot of time into the work and want it in my profile. It would have helped knowing this from the start. I kinda feel robbed of my own drawing....any advice here???