Mayme Crouse 16 Feb 2007

My main focus and icome generating art is in illustration of children books and greeting cards. I would like to see at least a sub-gallery for illustration work that would encompass...books, greeting cards, and the like.........with the elimination of this category I do believe it would make harder for people looking for artist that specialize in the illustration of books. This is a specialized field of art and involves alot more than just painting picture. So please keep an illustration gallery. Thanks for your consideration. Mayme

DAVID GRIFFITHS 16 Feb 2007

Call me 'Mr Thicko',but I must admit I do get a wee bit confused when uploading some of my images.When I take a Photograph,then,put it through Paintshop and/or Photoshop,and create a completly different picture,is it still a Photo OR is it Mixed Media/Computer/Photography ?.

Patty Fuller-Sturman 16 Feb 2007

Hello again, I totally agree with Lynda Lehmann's suggestions. GREAT IDEA AND WORDING!

Patty

I conceived and created the image below from scratch on my computer using Adobe and graphics tablet

Lauren Munger 17 Feb 2007

I think David Griffith's example is a good one for two separate categories 1) photographs (only slight adjustments on brightness and contrast and 2)digitally altered photograhs (anything goes...filters, alterations to a photograph through a software program, etc.)

This is a digitally altered photograph.

Renee Miskell 17 Feb 2007

Hi,

Not really a category for photos, but have you ever had a funniest photo contest? Maybe if you have already, maybe another one for this year, 2007?

Thanks! I enjoy the contests!

Renee

Lisa Ruggiero 17 Feb 2007

I really dont like the idea of having my carvings clumped in with craft work. They are one of a kind wooden sculptures, not something you would see in a craft showing. Too much time and energy go into each one to have them placed in a catch all. There isnt alot of this type of work on AW anyway...I hope there is a way to keep crafts seperate from carvings and sculptures. Its hard enough now getting exposure! thank for letting me throw my 2 cents in though. dry~

RQ Trietsch 18 Feb 2007

I think Cartoons and Anime/Manga should be in the same category and seperate from the rest.

Anne Vis 18 Feb 2007

Hi staff,

Great that you are working on upgrading the site and new features etc! Do I understand it correctly that we all need to alter categories for each of our individual uploaded images? (which for some us are around a thousand ...) Is there a way to have them automatically fall into a category, like the main category you choose for the entire portfolio? Thanks! :-)

William Burton Jr 18 Feb 2007

I am a mixed media artist. I dabble in a little bit of everything with a few exceptions. However, pyrography and/or woodburning is a category Id like to see added. Its a lost art that is slowly but surely coming back.

Thanx!

T.D. Ruley 18 Feb 2007

Okay, by the seems of it, we are all in a agreement. 4 catagories just isn't enough. There should be drop-down sub-catagorie list that would make the artwork more specific and easier to find. AW, you can work it out.

Kerra Lindsey 18 Feb 2007

I actually like your four sub-category ideas. If you work TOO hard to accomodate down to the smallest grouping, it may just be TOO overwhelming for viewers. When searching for artwork, subject matter is always important and artwork can be found by that search, too, (the most common way I'm looking for artwork on here). Let's not forget that we all have keywords that can help bring up our artwork as well. Simplicy works.

Chris Donton 19 Feb 2007

I am doing work that was born in a camera, but ends up quite a ways from the image i started with. The category "digital manipulation" would be a more accurate term rather than calling it "photography". If anything, it blurs the line between images born in a camera and images born in a computer. Also, under "topic", my images could be called "still life", "people and places", or "religious". I would want the option to list them under more than one area. Thanks

Gina Boyce 20 Feb 2007

I do not like to see a performer who plays no instrument their music is electronic. That is not art that is pushing buttons or recording sounds. I want to see them play their instrument or use their voice as an instrument. The same with the Art.I don't want to be in the same catagory as a digital artist. Organic Art I guess from the persons own mind to the canvas. Not reproduced images.

Chris Hawkes 20 Feb 2007

Lets face it, the vast majority of people looking at images on AW are other artists. Even when I'm browsing for art in certain areas, say Portraits, the 100's or thousands of images you have to wade through to find a really professional piece can be discouraging. I think when people register there should be a mandatory field saying Professional, student,hobby or whatever. That means your primary income comes from your art. that way when art directors look for art on the site they can find you and so can others increasing sales and commissions.I know that may sound condescending to some, but ask anyone to list their favorite 3 artists and you'll find 99.9% to be pros. As for traditional or digital it would be nice to have a manditory field in the art listing that you have to put down whether you trace projected or manipulated. Who's the client? for students what school. That might give others a good idea what schools are churning out good students. I'm interested in other artists with good hand skills and creativity, not just the latest filter. Lots exist inn the digital realm to and many of us wnat to know who they are so we can set up groups of artist who share the same ideals. As for browsing I like looking at artists by name so I can see everyone without repeating and bookmarking them if need be, so it would be nice to have be able to jump alphabetically to their name as well. If your PC crashes your either stuck with browsing random images again or going down the list again and again.

Tyler Warren 20 Feb 2007

For me, whatever you change is fine. I only want to make a simple suggestion about the actual form we fill out each time we upload images. Can this please just save the last settings we entered. Meaning if I am about to upload images that are very similar to what I've already uploaded a million times, to let the form start out with those fields where I left them. It's not like this takes an hour to do, but it would sure streamline the process of uploading several very similar images. Thanks and good luck with the changes!

Lynda Lehmann 20 Feb 2007

I don't remember whether I brought up this issue at a previous time, but it seems to me that the category "fine art" has become meaningless. In past eras when painting and sculpture needed to be differentiated from say, needlework or crafts, this term worked. But now it's hard to draw a line (no pun intended) between categories of all kinds of images where many media or approaches are combined. You can start with an original photo, manipulate it by using filters, and also by bringing your hand and eye directly into the composition with the use of a graphics tablet. So "fine art," to me, has outgrown its usefulness, and I think it's more important to differentiate more between real-time brush and pigment painting, digital painting, and any synthesis or combined approach that occurs in between. To me, photography, sculpture, paintings, digital manipulation, etc., are all fine art, and we need to tag each one for what it is, instead of having the initial category of "fine art" blur these distinctions. I hope this makes sense.

So I think we're headed in the right direction with the four new main categories, but there will still be crossovers that don't fit into these. Maybe we should put in a fifth category that is called "Synthesis," for stuff that falls in between. An example would be a digital painting that is derived from digital manipulation of an original painting.

Kelly Dorman 21 Feb 2007

i agree with many of the other posts and would like to see a possible breakdown in the illustration and photography catagories. there are just so many forms of each art that catagorizing it is not going to be easy.

i think there should be a section in illustration that separates those who do comic book art and those who do things like children's books.

i also think that the photography section could be worked on. maybe a digital photography section-not for enhanced photographs.

i also second the motion for the separate cartoon/anime-manga section-it's a style of art and could easily be its own catagory based solely on the sheer amount of it.

Michael Heintz 21 Feb 2007

How 'bout an "Editorial Comic" or "Editorial Humor" category?

Leo Da 21 Feb 2007

My attempts at artistic creations may consist of oil, pencil, P&I, digital sculpture, sculpture, digital painting and other traditional methods all packaged in an animation merged by using software created by my on hands. How would you (AW) categorize it?

Aunita Tyler 21 Feb 2007

Digital Art- 3 D, Fractal, Manipulated Photo's

Photography- People, landscapes, buildings, Manipulated Photo's, wildlife

Sculpture-Wood, Clay, Gourds, Other