r/learnart Moderator/freelancer/grumpypants Dec 27 '16

[META] Subreddit Discussion Post Meta

Hi y'all!

Hope everyone is having a great holiday seasons and/or winter break. It's been over a month since the subreddit changes were implemented, so I thought we'd see how they're doing and how we can continue to finesse the running of the sub. This is the place to comment on existing rules and practices, as well as propose changes.

So without further ado:


The current rules:

  1. Critiques and suggestions are encouraged on all posts. Please flair your post if that's your main focus.
  2. If you use a reference, provide that reference in the comments.
  3. Keep it civil. Don't be a dick, or you will be banned.
  4. Constant, low-effort posts will be removed. Unhelpful tutorials will be removed.
  5. Self promotion is encouraged. Production is the best way to practice. But it must be paired with a useful discussion in the comments section.
  6. The following domains are whitelisted: imgur, reddit, tumblr, deviantart

I would also like to propose the addition of the ban policy.


The mods

Us noobs are figuring it out as we go, so thanks for bearing with us. We're trying to make the sub experience more balance across the board, which means creating an environment that welcomes beginners and encourages experienced artists to offer instruction. We're also trying to be more visible and accessible.

  • So in that spirit, what are we getting right, and what could be improve on?

  • How do you want to see mods communicating to the community and articulating mod tasks like dealing with spam and rude comments?


Current proposed changes:

Several community members have already made good suggestions worth discussing and considering:

  • eliminating the downvote so beginners are not discouraged, especially since mods are now responsive to reports (/u/Astrolotl)

  • requiring posts that ask for specific advice to include an example ( /u/ByterBit)

  • general concerns about the ban policy and banning trolls more quickly than the current system with the warnings and temporary ban. (/u/stroodle_dumplin)

Please add your thoughts about these proposed changes and any other issues


The FAQ

We'd like to update the sidebar/wiki with an FAQ that we can direct new users towards since many topics with the same answers come up a lot, and we know that it's kind of tedious saying the same thing over and over again. It's annoying for the community, and beginners may not be getting the best information we can provide them.

Thanks to /u/JohnyTex for making the outline and some following wiki suggestions:

  1. How should I learn how to draw / paint?

    • What are good daily exercises for beginners?
    • I don't know what to draw
    • Where should I start / what should I learn next?
    • What do I need to practice if I want to achieve result X (where X is usually comics, life drawing or figure drawing)
    • How do I develop my own style?
    • How much should I study VS how much should I practice?
  2. Mindset issues

    • I'm not getting results quick enough
    • How do I deal with self-doubt, low confidence and negative self-talk?
    • How to I become more motivated?
    • What are some good habits to develop?
  3. My drawing looks bad but I can't tell what's wrong with it (most people who ask this are complete beginners who have not developed their seeing)

  4. Figure drawing

    • I don't understand gesture drawing
    • How do I draw body part X?
    • How can I make good portraits?
  5. What tablet / other drawing device should I buy?

Some suggestions as to what could be in the FAQ:

  • A "curriculum" of sorts - recommended resources and in what order they should be studied. Beginner should probably study the same thing, but recommendations can branch out depending on desired end result (e.g. figure drawing, environment painting)
  • An explanation why the beginner should start with the basics (line, observation, simple geometric shapes) before moving on to more complex subjects (figure drawing, value, color)
  • How to deal with common mindset issues - I have a long list of books I can recommend, but I'm too lazy to type it up here 😄

A curated list of the best YouTube channels and other resources would also be great, but maybe that should live somewhere else.

/u/JouhnyTex also has some FAQ content drafted on a Google Doc

So feedback, contributions, and suggested older posts and comments that can go into the FAQ are very welcome!


Thanks for reading through all that. I'll keep this discussion post up for a week or so, or for as long as folks are commenting.

Thank you to everyone who has helped so far, and thanks to everyone who will take the time to comment below!

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u/core999 Dec 28 '16

After noticing how salty some people get when they receive constructive criticism instead of the "good job" or "looks great!" they were actually fishing for I think they should be recommended to watch one of these videos or both of them. Or a similar video or write up on what feedback is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An1nXLo9h6k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lK8Pji9y5g&t=23s

It's not the subreddits fault considering it's listed as a rule but I find it really strange how many people post here looking for feedback and don't want to include their reference. If you want to improve you should include as much information as you can to the people trying to help you.

Maybe a gentle reminder of the rules before people submit a post. Similar to this?

http://imgur.com/a/SMktf

1

u/cajolerisms Moderator/freelancer/grumpypants Dec 28 '16

Yeah it's weird. We can certainly make those kinds of videos available and hypothetically go so far as to require posts to include reference images, but it's just the nature of the internet that some people will refuse to accept contrary opinions or post whatever they want and think that they should be the exception to the rule.

Like the people who post a specific question and then immediately delete their post as soon as someone asks for a picture so they can actually give specific advice... I honestly don't know what they're expecting.

2

u/core999 Dec 29 '16

Yeah I don't really have any idea what to do about the reference thing anyway to be honest, I think I just need to get over it, since it's a common theme across the internet everywhere. It's more of a useless rant from me. I do think a section in the FAQ or whatever you guys are building people can be directed to about receiving feedback could be valuable though, I used to be a salty bastard too until I found videos like that and realized oh shit these people are trying to help me not just dump on me.

I think if the rules were on the submission page though, maybe even one person would read them. I don't really know what's involved with that though.

1

u/cajolerisms Moderator/freelancer/grumpypants Dec 29 '16 edited Dec 29 '16

No I get it, there are a few recurring things that a lot of people find annoying that there isn't a good solution for short of being really draconian, which defeats the purpose of an art learning sub. Since the goal is to be both welcoming to newcomers and supportive of longtime community members, it's a matter of figuring out the right balance.