I had an idea that I thought would make for a different kind of artistic exercise, but the more I thought about it, the more difficult it seemed. The basic thought was to create a Poser image in the quickest time possible, using existing figures, poses, props, etc. to showcase what Poser can do with minimal effort on the part of the artist. I know there will be those that view such a concept with great trepidation, not wanting to let more "serious" artists know that there can be a cookie cutter approach to Poser art. The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to do it because it goes against the artistic grain not to put a stamp of creativity on it. Using all existing stuff requires some level of compromise because it's rare to find everything exactly as one wants it. I have no problem using a Schlabber pose as a starting point for one of my own because I'll tweak it to get a character in the pose I want. There's not much point spending half an hour getting a figure into the same starting position as an existing pose--I'm using a computer to save time--that's what it's for. It would be hard to take a pose and leave it there. I'm not sure if this is something worth pursuing, but figured I'd toss the idea out and see if there's any interest. It's basically an exercise of layout and imagination and relies less on the Poser skills an artist has. It still represents an compromise to the end image because of the limitations of the rules.

It sounds like an interesting challenge. Why not give a specific set of characters and props and then see what people come up with. For example, the artist must select from the following list and must use at least two (2) different items, but they can be in any quantity and any combination: - P4 Casual man - P4 business woman - a cylinder - two blocks - one stock animal Dial spinning would be okay, but no extra props, magnets, morphs or characters can be added. Any texture is allowed. Setting that kind of limitation would really make us stretch our imagination in order to come up with an interesting image. And because it would all be stock Poser items, everyone would start on a level playing field. I'm game if anyone else is interested.

Works for me as well.

It is a good idea if they are not allowed to use textures and no postwork and so on. If textures are allowed then someone with a great high resolution texture will make a better looking figure than someone who does not. With no textures it would make it a real challenge.

That's up to gagnonrich. Either way, it should be interesting to see what people create.

I'm afraid I really don't see the point of this. "Easy art" is oxymoron.

"I'm afraid I really don't see the point of this. "Easy art" is oxymoron." As I understand it, the point is to create an original, interesting render using only easily available stuff. If I'm right, "Easy art" is a bit of a tongue in cheek title. Besides which, the name is "Hard Easy Art".

how bout a cave as the canvas, a rock and some plant dyes. Wouldn't that be the ultimate challenge?

this is how I always work..how is this a challenge?..;) and what about a pointed stick?..;) sure.. the hard part is making it look easy..

I was hoping to do something last night, but got caught up doing other things and didn't even get a chance to open up Poser. Maybe the element that would make this a useful exercise for new Poser users would be to only use free items that are still available and provide a link to those items. Much as I'd rather keep away from using the Millennium figures, it's almost become a prerequisite for using Poser fully. It would be fairly hard to find good freebies for the old P4 figures anymore whereas there is no shortage of freebies for the Mil figures. I'm surprised that DAZ hasn't dropped the base price of the first Victoria and Michael more since they're each $20. V2/M2 are $40 each. The difficult part about diving into Poser is that there's a lot to it. It's not too complex a program, but can be intimidating for a first time user. Showing what can be done, with mostly freely available products, with maybe under fifteen minutes of effort, is the kind of thing that can incentivize new users into taking the Poser plunge. I know, in my case, that I'd occasionally play around with Poser with mixed results and it always seemed as if it was more work than it should be and that I could accomplish as much with 2D tools. It wasn't till last year that I decided to really do some full images. This was after joining the PC Club and eventually buying some items from the Marketplace here and a few other locations. The investment sort of pushed me into doing something with what I was getting. There are a lot of high quality free items available for Poser now. Kozaburo hairs are better than most of the commercially available items. If somebody takes the time to scout around, there is a lot of nice free stuff available to readily supplement Poser. This is less a competitive challenge than a personal one to show new users that it's possible to do a very good Poser image with a minimal investment in time. The greatest amount of time would go into the concept because of the constraints of relying on what's freely available.

I like the general original idea...don' like the 15 minnit time limitation. Hell, it takes that long fer Poser to load. Mebbe give a day/ 24 hrs? I'm not sure 'bout "any & all freebies" either (if I understand ya right); I been collectin' freebies fer yrs, which would make my entry unfair towards newbies that might only have a Gig of stuff collected (Hehehe ;) One other point I would put forth to level the playin' field would be to limit P5 users to the P4 render engine; no fancy fog or reflections or dynamic stuff. My overall suggestion would be any/ all default P4 characters/ props, a 1:1 ratio of freebies (max) per stock figure/ prop, 24 hr time limit, & a simple theme to be announced @ the start (just to keep ppl from spendin' extra time B4 the actual contest start). Oh, and a zillion dollar cash prize when I win 8)

I like this idea. But actually I think it should be with purely Poser props too, meaning no freebies. Sorta like a dogma Poser pic. Oh and to make it fair, no Poser 5 specific stuff either, only the Poser 4 or below people. Not sure if hair should be allowed though. On the other hand.. what did we all do before transmapped hair was invented? I'm all for a "back to basics" poser challence! And if you need prices, I'll happily donate something from my store :o)

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=701349

Here's my shot at it. I like the idea of using freebies and linking to them because it shows new users what's available and how they can be used. The hard part of using just Poser 4 props is that I'm not even sure what they are any more with all the rearranging I've done of my libraries. Besides, I don't recall that there was very much prop content with Poser 4. Poser 5 has a really great set of content on the second CD and could actually be used to create whole scenes, but not everybody upgraded to Poser 5. I don't know if anybody else will try this, but it was interesting to do once. It's a nice way of showing what a valuable service the Poser community is giving to everybody. There really is enough stuff for free that it's not necessary to spend a lot of money to do a good Poser drawing. Since I provided links to all the freebies, even a new user can download all the props and do the same image.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=701349

Does art have to be hard? Museums and art critics tell us that a piece of abstract art that looks like a deranged child's scribblings is worth millions of dollars. An abstract artist can talk for days about the great decision making process that went into putting a circle in a square and what it means to mankind. A 7th grader can do the same thing with considerably less philosophizing. The "artist" wants us to believe that it was a lot of work and that's why it should cost so much. The child did it with less forethought and more instinct and it wasn't hard and can probably only find a parent to rave about how wonderful it is. I've never considered drawing hard. I've been doing it since I was a kid. Although I haven't done very much over the last couple decades, I can still sketch out a decent drawing in a half hour. I was never good at finishing a drawing because I'd lose the spontaneity of the sketch. That's one of the reasons that I started turning to Poser. There's more work in the beginning to get a good image, but the rendering part is considerably easier. I've seen talented artists paint a magnificent scenery in an hour. It didn't look too hard, but I can't do the same thing with anywhere near that level of skill. If art is hard, it's usually because of limitations of the medium. Poser's lights are annoying and the preview doesn't often match the final image. Posing a 3D figure on a 2D screen is difficult and makes me yearn for virtual reality gloves that would let me drag a Poser figure's arm and move it where I want it to be in three dimensions. I hope the image I did shows that something fairly nice can be created without sweating Poser for dozens of hours. It was a bit weird starting with a pose and developing an image around it. I initially started with a different pose and found that the link, in the readme, was no longer good, so I had to start over with a different pose. In the end, art is each individual's personal vision. It doesn't have to be hard or easy.