I have very busy week and I can't comment as much as I would like to, but after quick look at galleries I have to say - you guys rock!
I learnt quite a lot just by reading comments, and I spotted couple of redone pics greatly improved thanks to your words :thumbupboth:

I saw people suggesting we should have separate gallery. First I thought it may be a good idea, but the more I think about it, the less I like it. Why? Because one of reasons for this group is to enourage people to post honest comments. Honest comments should be a standard. Making new gallery so we don't spoil good mood of 'oooooh' people would only show that everything here is upside-down

Giana suggested a forum as an addition to a group... I really like this idea... We could communicate even better, share tips, helpful links etc... What do you guys think?

i thought she was suggesting move it entirely to a forum so as not to disturb the popularity ratings in the galleries through favorites and comments, as we've already done with the art charts (entirely valid concerns).

i can see benefits to having an additional forum, but...  speaking as a really verbose person who has no problem expressing an opinion, i think it might actually solidify a "clique" aspect.  it would establish us more firmly as a social group where certain people had more of a voice than others.  for instance, i occasionally drop in on the kmwill fan club threads at daz.  awesome group of people, but i'm not one of the major players and i know it.  worse, i'm sure there's tons of people who browse those forums and feel left out of the "club."  everyone there is great, open and totally welcoming.  but it's also a social group and it has its major players.

i can see the advantages.  i think it could be fun and informative, as this thread has been so far.  and we're presently misusing this subscription thread.  but i can also see a forum making the group  more about us as individuals instead of us as artists.  well, and right now everyone posts poser tips in this forum, pretty much.  bagginsbill, face_off and other experts outside the group post in this forum.   there are a few things i can find in Poser Technical or Poser Python Scripting.   and that's just poser; lots of us need other forums, like Vue.

i thought she was suggesting move it entirely to a forum so as not to disturb the popularity ratings in the galleries through favorites and comments

actually, my thoughts on the ratings/listings of things was truly secondary... if you were to read my original posting where i suggested a forum, you'll see where/why the idea originated... 

1] some people were suggesting a separate gallery - Karen says it takes 5 people to oversee 1 gallery, and judging from certain current forums, i'm guessing it would take fewer than 5 for 1 forum... so i was tossing out an alternate idea for consideration, trying to be helpful
2] then there have been concerns about tracking those in the group via Favourites vs. non-group Favourites - a forum provides a centralised place to go, much like the suggested Critics Gallery idea
3] there was concern regarding how to handle the reposting of reworked images into the galleries - a forum would alleviate that concern
4] i thought that it might be beneficial to the group as a whole to have the opportunity should someone want it to be able to have more in-depth discussions, or for an artist to be able to come back to someone who has left a critique that they did not quite understand to ask questions... right now, that would be handled via IMs or something, so it's possible that further information is given privately which no one else is benefitting from... a forum would allow for such things and as a place to centrally "store" valueable information for others...

there were other concerns brought up as well that i thought could far more easily be handled by a forum than in the galleries as they exist today, hence the suggestion...  it certainly had nothing to do with segregation of any kind, but trying to p'raps find a reasonable compromise with the concerns that others  who had joined had raised...

it was only after thinking about it that i became concerned with how this group might be perceived and discounted as something of little value by others, etc...  i honestly don't give a poop about whether the listings are "disturbed" or not - what i was alluding to is a far more subtle thing... 

please note, i'm not suggesting a move into a forum or anything with my words above - simply trying to clarify a misconception

Giana I think I understand what you're trying to say...

Another benefit I could see that you didn't point out is this: Being that the forums are a public area for the community to use, anyone could post and ask for critique. If we put it out in the main forums where everyone could see it then we would keep it from seeming as a 'clique' or whatever. This way we could see artwork from other styles as well.

It doesn't have to be all about poser, considering the link that Acadia posted... we now have a basis to give a good critique on any kind of work. And personally, I would love to see what others have to show us and what they feel they may be lacking and need help with. 

Just another bit of my opinion :P

I personally think it would be better to have this in a forum of its own because then a person can start a thread, get feedback, make adjustments and  post their redo in the thread so that progression can be seen and compared.

Also in a thread tips and links can be given.  As it is the gallery comments area is becoming very "forum-like" with huge long comments sometimes.  Looks kind of messy TBH.

Plus we wouldn't have to worry about favouriting people etc.  I'm a bit distressed by having so many favourites in my list because when I get ebots about uploads I have to stop and make sure why the person is in my favourites.

Then when the person has the image they are happy with, they can upload it to the gallery for all of their "ooos and ahhhs"

Also, not every image uploaded is being uploaded to be scruitinized....at least not every image I upload is. Sometimes I just want to do something frivilous and whimsical and not looking for "perfection"....just something to do to have fun without being graded so to speak.

As it stands now every gallery image that is being uploaded is being "graded" even if the person who uploaded it may not want it to be.

I do agree that people shouldn't be afraid to be honest in their comments in the galleries and it's refreshing to see people being honest for a change.  But I think a forum dedicated to critiquing and image grading would be far better, leaving the gallery as the showcase area that it should be.

Anyway, that's just my take on this.

While it's a break from the tradition here to have long, wordy commentary in the galleries - I think that's a good change.  One hopes that one's art provokes some thought and feeling, and if someone is prompted to write more than a sentence or two, I think that reflects well on the piece that prompted that.  

While it is a problem that anything and everything that we post will make an email, I'm not bothered by that especially.  I note that a couple of people have already figured they can just disable comments completely, or they can say in their lead in text that "this is just a test render" or somesuch, and I don't look at those too hard.

I don't know if there will be a compromise that will make everyone happy.  Personally I like the way the galleries are being used for this purpose, I think this is as valid and appropriate use of them as anything else that comes to mind.  I think using a forum for this purpose would result in me viewing fewer images and critiquing a lot less, due to the inevitable conversations and socializing that crop up in free forums - that takes time and focus away from the actual goal of critiquing.

edit: Actually it occurs to me that it doesn't have to be strictly one way or the other - for those that are happy with the current effort using the galleries (e.g. me) let it continue, and for those that would prefer a forum, why not create some kind of WIP/Critique Wanted forum?  I would probably use both options, personally.

there is already such a forum, p.j. - it's called "art theory". however, it's underutilised for various reasons. hence, I would suggest leaving things the way they are - have folks post images in the gallery, and allow critics to make comments there.

So are you all thinking a new forum that would be for any softwares used or one specifically for the Poser critique group?

Personally I really like the idea for a new forum but just wanted to understand a little better what you all are thinking in terms of for all or not..

Thanks, I love this thread. Its become my favorite on the site at the moment:)

MissNancy:
Are any art snobs going to be annoyed if people clutter it up with things that are more to do with craft (shadowing, lighting techniques and the like)?  It wouldn't matter to me what the name of the forum is, just so there's no drama (or less drama than there already is anyway).

StaceyG:
Yes, that seems to be what people are talking about here, some folks have pointed out that what they do is not limited to Poser (Vue, Cinema 4d, 3ds Max etc as well as pure paint apps) but they would value a lot of feedback from a variety of people.

Thanks pjz.  I think we (the team) will discuss this idea further cause personally I like the idea:)

I would prefer a new critique forum to not be software specific. I didn't think the critiques were meant to be technical advisories, but rather general comments on composition, lighting, and such, the general guidelines of which apply to any media or software used. If you get a comment about lighting and you want to know how to achieve a certain look with your software, you can then go to the appropriate software specific forum to get advice. A possible wrinkle in the current system also: I added galleries to my favorites today, but I couldn't add the last few names. Did I run into some kind of limit for adding favorite artists? Also, the list is long and the process of adding as favorites is tedious. There's got to be a better way....

i think forums are much less open than this thread seems to be.  i've got several people favorited i've never once seen post outside of this thread.  
i think w.i.p. is completely different than a review of a finished product.  i also think that this effort will become exactly what people feared as a forum: a clique with popular favorites.   and while i'll go with an open effort, once this becomes more about personality, i'm not very interested. 

i already count 60+ forums.  i don't see how a new w.i.p./critique forum will beat the odds and be any more popular than the developer's forum or the art theory one.  but i don't think that anyone will favorite people after there's a forum, and many will drop favorites. it's really easy to click on a forum and not so easy to add everyone and then try to keep up with the postings. contributing is a large part of all this, and forums are very, very passive.  the only time you'd get notification is after you post, not when someone posted an image.  i would lay money on this petering out in a month or so if there's a forum, but that's just my money  ;D. 

while someone can really contribute a lot personally by commenting in the galleries where it's visible, in a forum it only makes a difference if people go there in the first place.

personally, if i wanted help with a w.i.p., i'd post here.  i've seen tons of people do that already.  why would there need to be another forum where very few people go?

edited to add:
there is a better way.  it's called social software.  if this site supported groups, with an automatic notification of a group member's gallery posting, it would be great.   your reached a limit?  that's amazing, if so.  i've been to people's home pages where they had more than 7 or 8 pages of favorites.

Quote - i think forums are much less open than this thread seems to be.  i've got several people favorited i've never once seen post outside of this thread.  

I may be one of those you don't recognize. I do post occasionally, but I don't participate in the many dramas that go on here so the name may not be familiar. > Quote - i also think that this effort will become exactly what people feared as a forum: a clique with popular favorites

I think this is inevitable, no matter how this is approached. I've seen it happen in every forum I've participated in, and it is rife in the galleries here. Humans are strange, needy creatures who crave acceptance in the 'group,' and usually the group isn't enticing unless it is somehow exclusive. Make it easy to get in and few will want to. > Quote - i already count 60+ forums.

I think therein lies the problem. Try to create a forum for every conceivable interest and you get everyone convening in a few. You could probably cut half or more of these with no harm done. > Quote - edited to add:

there is a better way.  it's called social software.  if this site supported groups, with an automatic notification of a group member's gallery posting, it would be great.   your reached a limit?  that's amazing, if so.  i've been to people's home pages where they had more than 7 or 8 pages of favorites.

Hmm, guess it's not a limit then, but a temporary glitch maybe. Still a tedious process imo.

I guess it is inevitable that there will be some segregation, at the very least because some of those who have expressed interest here will be made unhappy by some of the content they are presented with.  E.g. I have a lot of nudity and same-sex situations, and that will make some people uncomfortable or unhappy, and I don't want that.  I was hoping for a very egalitarian approach to this but I don't suppose that's going to work for everyone.

Edit:  along these lines, regarding a simpler way of adding a bunch of people to favorites - I would bet there's a pretty simple way to script that, e.g. just have the browser quietly send all the URLs for the "add to favorite" links - however I don't think that's a really great idea under the current setup, because I'd hope people are taking a moment to actually look at all these galleries before they favorite them, in case they have serious, completely valid reservations about their content.

Just about the favourite list:

I think i forget for some names to precise "critique group" when favourited them, as some people here was wishing to have a precision. And i don't know if i can edit this afterway (damn, after all this long process to add each name...)  ;)

To fivecat

If there was a limit for adding favourite artists, couldn't it be a way to speed down art? lol

A new forum is a good idea.

People could still post in the normal galleries, then make a post in the forum asking for feedback linking to the image, would make it easier to discuss that way.

Vince you may want to bookmark this link:
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/member.php?favorite_artists

This shows your list of favorite artists, which - if you favorited that person with a comment, like "Critique group" or something - will help you distinguish between them.

Charles, I've got you added to the list and I hope to see you posting soon!

Keep the ideas coming, folks. There's a lot of pros and cons on all sides of the equation. 

Just to note - although it takes 5 people to cover the Poser forum and gallery, I wouldn't foresee needing that many to run a critique forum and/or gallery. For a start, there wouldn't be anything like the traffic that we get in here. And also, by its very nature, I would expect a critique forum to be more self-moderated and need far less staff intervention than the norm. 

I think the major staff headaches in either forum or gallery would be
A) Trolls. People who think requests for critique are an excuse for them to spew abuse across the galleries.
B) The Fainthearted. People who think they know what critique is, but don't really. After 3-4 years of getting all "oo fabulus hunny u rock xoxo" comments, suddenly receiving a bunch of negative critiques (no matter how nicely worded) can be like a bucket of cold water thrown over them. 

Of course, those both occur in the main galleries (and plenty more headaches besides!) so shouldn't be taken as a reason for not doing it, just something to consider.

This doesn't necessarily have to be an either/or choice... It would be possible to have both.

Quote - Just about the favourite list:

I think i forget for some names to precise "critique group" when favourited them, as some people here was wishing to have a precision. And i don't know if i can edit this afterway (damn, after all this long process to add each name...)  ;)

To fivecat

If there was a limit for adding favourite artists, couldn't it be a way to speed down art? lol

You could delete the favourite and add it again I think that's the only way :(

actually, when it's just this thread and i add everyone, it's a lot less about personalities.  someone who i haven't seen post before posts their name, i go look at their work, and i get a notification when they post an image.  if i don't favorite them, if i choose not to comment, it's because i've seen their work and the phrase "add me" or "count me in" and made a choice then.  when i get mailed a link to their work, it's trivial to look at it.  their work is foremost.

forums, on the other hand, are about conversations.  someone posts who's not part of the "in" crowd, and some key really active people post and react (assuming the forum is popular enough to retain them).  in my experience those are about two or three, maybe up to five people.  the mainstream feels no need to react because they see these people do that.   and they only mainly react to each other and the forum heads (or thread leaders - see the kmwill fan club threads) .  i'd say those are no more than another 10 or 15 people for a really large sub-group.   your average person posts, and most don't even look at the thread to see what's going on.  only threads with provocative subjects or headliners tend to get lots of action.  i've had people be incredibly friendly and very supportive, but  not  nearly as focused, effective and non-partisan as i've seen those in this group be so far.

this isn't to say we couldn't all act differently.  i know people feel very positively about this effort right now. but it would mean consistently behaving in a way i haven't seen people behave in any of the forums or bulletin boards i've ever frequented or observed over the past decade or so.

forums are great fun, highly informative, and a pleasure to be a part of.   but i find that unless someone really verbose and popular starts a thread, there's practically no response at all.

i've got a serious backlog on images.  please let me know if i should go forward on commenting.  if nothing is said, i probably  won't comment, since the consensus seems to be for posting to a forum and not post critical or detailed comments to the gallery.  here are the artists in my inbox:

• linkdink
• kawecki
• AnAardvark
• Viteazu
• Anniebel
• Chippsyann
• BAR-CODE
• fivecat
• Jovial
• Anasta
• drifterlee

Please don't stop commenting. A lot of details and discussion still to be had going forward, and I don't want this initiative to lose momentum.

I think it will be interesting to get feedback once this has been up and running for a bit more time. As you have said it may come to some as a bit of a shockfor some  to get some actual critiques if they are used to getting lots of this is gorgeous comments.

I'm happier using the regular gallery function for this and will prefer it myself in the longer run, most likely.  I still feel that an open forum will distract the focus and simple hard honesty that can be had from a one-shot comment, as opposed to an ongoing conversation. 

For WIP that's another matter entirely, and interaction and socialization is a lot more a part of the process.

edit:  Hell, I'm remembering how hard I had to push people in this forum recently for feedback when I was doing the V4 lip morphs in my sig.  Maybe 2 or 3 people had serious contributions, with strong direction on what they would like - but here they are 2100 downloads later, thanks to those 2 or 3 people that were kind of enough to give feedback.  To me that's a good example of the syndrome Cobaltdream is talking about.

Just letting ya'll know I'm not around after today for about 3 weeks, so if you notice I'm not commenting it's not 'cos I don't care, it's 'cos I'm on my hols and not near a pc.
See you in about 3 weeks!
Keep up the good work!!

Have a nice time, you lucky devil!

I have finally uploaded a new image.

Please Critique away.

So everyone knows, what I'm trying to learn to do In particular is learn how to do better at realism.

I see pros and cons for both the gallery model and forum model. So, I think maybe we need both working in conjunction. 

In the current system's favor... 
I've noticed on at least three of the recent submissions that someone not listed in the critique sign up thread posting honest commentary. In a way, I don't think it can be helped. If you arrive at an image after 50 oohs and aahs, you're probably going to either fall in line and ooh and aah or  leave without commenting. When people click on an image with a full critique in progress, their reaction seems to be critique or defend (or leave no commentary). 

It's immediate

It keeps the reaction and commentary with the image (or fairly close to the image). If the commentary runs to multiple pages, I would imagine that you can click for a full screen of the image. 

The system notifies me once when someone from the critique group posts an image. With a unique forum wouldn't we be getting notifications with every post to every thread? That sounds pretty overwhelming to me.

On the other hand, what's not working for me using the Gallery model...
You can't comment on an image more than once. 
You can't edit your comment. 
You can't interact with the artist-- except in a private im. (I get as much from the critiques of other's images as I do from the critique of my own.)
You can't interact with the other critiquers for clarity or exploration of why they feel the way they do.
But the biggest issue is, that if you try to implement suggestions from the CG, then you have the dilemna of what to do with the initial image. I'd like to get rid of it, on the other hand, I don't want to lose the information that's now attached to it. If I just replace the image, anyone that's commented on the image can't comment on it again.

With a forum model, any image that you don't really feel is finished could be posted in the forums and then you could upload the finalized image to your gallery. 

Just my .02
Pearl

Kalon:

Quote - I've noticed on at least three of the recent submissions that someone not listed in the critique sign up thread posting honest commentary.

Personally I think that's great.  I hate to think that it stops OTHER people from wanting to comment, but it really pleases me to see that some other people are willing to offer straight, honest comments without a special request for such.  Whenever I got real criticism in the past here, I would generally send a thank-you note to the person that honored me like that.

Quote - You can't comment on an image more than once. 
You can't edit your comment. 

Actually you can - you can remove your original comment and add a new one.  I've been doing that when someone updates an image in place, instead of posting a separate version.

I'm beginning to lean towards a forum model for the following reasons:

1. It allows a dialogue between creator and critics, including the ability to show revisions to the work. We probably want to work out the protocol about whether we want to link to the gallery for the newest version only, or (possibly wasting bandwidth) upload WIPs inline. This would have been very useful for me in my most recent image since I've been having some technical difficulties with it.
2. It allows us upload works to our galleries without the implicit desire to have them criticised. (I don't mind criticism on any of my images, but some of them are just toss-offs, and I don't want people to think that they have to spend a lot of time thinking about them.)

A couple of things to consider as a forum:

1. Since there will be a lot of images, we may want to delete or archive threads after they are inactive for a long time.
2. We probably want to have a single thread per image.
3. We need to be careful about labeling threads with content advisories.

while i understand the fears expressed regarding a forum, i guess i was thinking that people who were in want of participating in the cause to change the climate of this site would conduct themselves differently in a forum as well as in the galleries, being respectful so as not to disassemble threads, etc.  i would think that guidelines or a 'mission statement' or something could be posted at the top of a forum, too.  i mean, wouldn't it be up to the participants to influence the social climate in positive ways no matter where things are taking place?  of course, that doesn't necessarily take care of trolls per se, but that's where a moderator would/could step in if required...

in terms of notifications, one can opt to subscribe/unsubscribe to a thread at will.  true one wouldn't receive a notification of initial posting the way one does now unless one is subscribed to the forum itself, so one would have to be a bit more actively committed to checking into the forum when time permitted, but with such a great cause as giving/receiving honest feedback & being able to grow, why wouldn't one be truly committed? :))

not that anyone asked... while i understand reposting an updated image over the initial post and then having everyone come back and comment again, helpful information is p'raps lost which might've been able to help another person outside the group who missed the initial post.   

Folks, please remove Indoda from your faves lists as she is dropping out of the group.

========

One factor to bear in mind considering a forum - max size of attachments in the forums is 150kb. It can be tough getting a full-sized image to that limit.

Quote -
One factor to bear in mind considering a forum - max size of attachments in the forums is 150kb. It can be tough getting a full-sized image to that limit.

I guess we can link to the gallery for full-size images then.

Giana - i just want to say- especially because i singled out the kmwill fan club threads- that for me the issue isn't people not conducting themselves well.  the kmwill fan club threads are marvelous examples of how positive a group can be.  that doesn't stop it from being what i'd term a clique.  if you post, neferset and BluesDragon will welcome you, and maybe kmwill too.   and maybe 2 or 3 others.  if you initiate rather than respond, one of them and maybe one of the other main people will say something.  that's it.    but they're an incredibly nice and friendly group that handles disagreements spectacularly.  mostly, my experience with people in forums has nice and polite and i've been very thankful for responses.  i trust everyone here to conduct themselves as with the refreshingly positive attitude and sweet consideration they've shown so far. 

want another example?  check out the node cult at runtimedna.  totally wonderful, helpful people.  but very few people outside of semidieu, olivier, by.Ro, bagginsbill and a few others actually post ideas at all, let alone consistently.  most, myself included, let the experts handle it. 

how many people here have started a thread?  and how many have gotten more than 5 different people to respond?  personally, i've asked pretty basic questions on different forums on different sites and had only one thread really take off in the 6 or so years i've been around the poser community.  and the one that took off experienced severe drift, and even with the first response went in a totally different direction than i found helpful.  only  three or four people said anything i could use.  

even now, there are many fewer people posting about this decision and letting it happen than i've seen comment on images. 

as for what to do with the images, frankly, i'd say it's just as helpful to have the record of before and after images in your gallery as it is for people to see the comments.  totally external to the issue of should we have a forum or not, i think a lot of the benefit of this group to the larger community and openness of this group to the larger community lies in having our behavior integrated with the rest of the community rather than segregated into another area.   the more we model good critiques and show that they don't have to be flames, the more people can see the benefits of what critiques can do, and the more we carry that behavior outside of the group, the greater our positive effect can be on the whole community.  i think it's important that people outside the group see both images, and that there's a record associated with each.

also in that vein, it might be a good habit to start trying slightly more analytical comments on other favorite artists. maybe ask them beforehand?  just a thought.

I can understand people's fears and trepidations, but I like wordy comments in the comments.  Maybe because I get almost no comments, but maybe because I like leaving wordy comments.  My training on art makes me critical in all my comments.  When I like something in particular, I'll gush about it.  If something doesn't really work--I'll mention it.

If I change something in a pic, I'll replace the pic in the post, but I seldom repost it again, because most of what I do is part of a continuing story.

Anyone I watch, I urge to greater hieghts!  If I see the spark of greatness in someone's art, I don't want to see it gutter out from lack of comments or from lack of suggestions to make it a little better.  The thing to remember this:  Leave comments like what you want to get!  Praise the dedication of creation and suggest roads to reach perfection!

AVOID GREEK CHORUS SYNDROME!  If someone ahead of you says what you were going to say, don't just say the same thing!  DON'T FORGET--IF SOMEONE DOES SOMETHING SUPER HOT AND COOL  **MENTION THAT TOO!

We want to urge everyone on toward the goal of getting to be better artists, NOT seeing how we can cut people down 'artistically'.

**The last couple of pics I reviewed had plenty of comments that were very critical, and many echoed previous comments almost word for word.  We do NOT have to be a murder of crows, trying to get our peck in,too!

Just some grist for the mill!  Now for TACOS! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm tacos!

i'll reiterate - it would be up to those who would use a forum to cultivate & nurture that forum's environment... and it would require a certain amount of active participation, commitment and dedication [as much as time demands can afford, mind] from those that wish to get something out of it...

how i envisioned others using a critique type of forum would really not be that terribly different from the way the galleries are being used: a person posts, those that have something to contribute & offer do so, the poster chooses to either rework & repost or to not do so, etc...

however, there would be room for more in-depth discussion about a particular image someone wants help with should a person desire it...
it would allow for others not in the "group" to readily access ideas, suggestions, etc. to help them improve their own artwork...
it would allow for posting/housing outside links or new discoveries that could be of benefit to anyone...

i was thinking of things in terms of a centralised open study group type of thing
i was thinking that the enthusiastic interest as expressed in this thread for learning & growing as artists could be powerful enough to support a forum [support meaning enough people who would participate]

i could be wrong in my thinking...
not the first, nor the last, of that i can definitely guarantee...

I know I've said it before but I just wanted to state again that I think the forum idea is a really good one. People will still post their pictures in their galleries and thats fine, those who prefer it that way could continue to do so. But the idea of having a forum where you can post a picture, get feedback and then explain why or why not that suggestion works with your image is really the best way to go about it I believe. Another good thing about it is that if there was something posted that you happen to find a certain feature really to your liking and would like to know how to do it yourself, you can get the artists view on it and how its done.

As this group is still in its birth stage I'm sure it could take awhile for anything like this to be implemented but it is something I would like to see come about.

A forum idea might be the way to go.  I've been posting at Deviant Art for years before I started here, and here just lacks feedback.

When someone posts a comment I really like, I cannot respond here.  I have to IM them. Etc,etc.

Sometimes, an open discussion results that benefits everyone results.  In a forum, that would come closer to reality, I guess.  Dunno.

Okay, add me too, please.  I haven't posted much lately, because most of my work are WIPs, and the WIP gallery is usually deficient of visitors and constructive comments.

Please feel free to comment on my previous work as well, even though some of them are not complete compositions, as much as pictures that say. "Look!  I built some anime objects!  Wheeeee!"

But yes, constructive commentary, for a change, would be more than welcomed.

I like AnAardvark's idea. It seems to meet everyone's needs.
Post the render in the Gallery and put a link to it in the forum.
 That way the Favorite's e-bot lets me know when a new image is up and after I see the full size I can go to the forum for the conversation. 

That does seem to be a pretty good compromise, for people who prefer one option or the other - that would let them "meet in the middle" if they want to.

I also like the suggestion from AnArdvark.

I would like to comment the games in a galery, for practical reasons. I cannot use the forum at work, because the text box here is some kind of applet, filtered by my employers firewall. I can use the box in the galleries though, because that's not an applet. I usually have some time at work to look and comment pictures, but I can only comment them in the galleries. I can only write in the forums from home, and since my kids are still quite small my time there is limited.

I comment back on everyone who comments on my renders from this group. It has gotten so big that it is impossible to comment on everyone plus my usual 60 to 90 regulars who comment on all my pics. I did not add everyone here as favorites, because I am getting so spammed by "You've won Millions" in phony lotteries the last month or so, that I am afraid I will crash my mail sever. I wish there would be a separate Poser gallery for crtique group only. Would make life easier.

Also, I have found the comments from this group helpful. I have gotten rather sick of oohs and ahhs myself and felt stuck in a rut. However, we need some really technical people who understand how everything under the hood in Poser works. I am having some technical problems with Poser not doing what I want.

Hi!

Good idea! I think I like to take part too. Only in getting critics and suggestions I can improve my work. I only have the problem that I´m someone who thinks more technical and not so much as an artist. This means, give me a detailed idea what you want to be visualized, and I do it for you and this now about for 20 years. But I think I have a lack in getting creative ideas for myself according to composition, mood and other things art means. So I can only give technical suggestions.
Sometimes it´s more frustrating for me to get no response than negative critics, even to my products, which are sold for my opinion quiet good for this first attempts but I get only response from a fraction of customers (one does it twice...how can this be able?).

Thanks and regards

Jochen

Drifterlee:  Of all the people that chose to join, I think you should get a lot of praise - you were already a regular in the top numbers anyway.  I hope that some of the comments from this effort mixing with your regular fans have some influence on the many people that view your gallery.  Maybe the overall willingness of at least some of the people here to offer comments on everything a little more meaningfully.  You really didn't need to do this, you have all the justification a person could reasonably want to have a big ego - I think you're very brave to participate in an open critique effort like this.  Thanks.

Jochen I'm not too different from you.  I have no art training at all.  I don't even have a lot of technical experience.  You're still a human being and your reaction to an image is still of value.

Getting response in a commercial sense is a completely different problem - I think great art can overlap with commercialism, but often it can conflict very strongly.  I'd suggest you look to the other vendors for advice there, examine their promo art and page layout, and look at their progress and evolution - some have been hosted here for a very long time, and their style and technique has visibly changed a great deal through different market offerings. 

Jochen38 and DapperMan, you're both added :-)

Karen is there a way to get the entire list, and add those folks all at one time? Thanks, me

This will save you one step at least, for each of the people involved...  Current list with the two new additions sorted in.  It is likely this can be done in a single click with a generic comment, but I don't know what the form really expects (PHP team can answer this).  I double-checked these artist IDs and sampled some of the links, all of them ought to work.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=127942   Acadia
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=445066   AnAardvark
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=134870   Anasta
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=318933   Anniebel
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=395321   Archdruid
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=70375   Bandolin
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=12525   Bantha
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=413609   BAR-CODE
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=252439   Bea
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=108248   Bopperthijs
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=454634   ClawShrimp
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=432343   Charles_V
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=257747   Chippsyann
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=36595   Cobaltdream
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=97358   Coyote255
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=4879   DapperMan
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=459326   DarkPascual
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=472782   Darth_Poserus
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=495   Dave
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=8278   Deecey
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=240894  DPHoadley
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=5109   Drifterlee
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=424900   Fivecat
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=663   Greywolf Starkiller
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=161125   JOELGLAINE
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=15920   Jochen38
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=412617    Jonthecelt
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=218845   Jovial
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=184051   Jpiazzo
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=228   Kalon
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=121705   karen1573
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=12831   Kawecki
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=205829   Khai
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=194184   LaVonne
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=288891   Linkdink
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=479861   Lizn
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=423044   Mhossack
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=472534   pjz99
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=203158   Princessmiyu2
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=80925   RandC
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=477630   Rutra
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=2787   SAMS3D
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=293592   SoCalRoberta
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=201064   SoulTaker
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=99327   svdl
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=165   Tastiger
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=196087   TheFixer
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=221824   Thixen
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=140444   Tiari
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=400791   Tissaia
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=88333   Victoria_Lee
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=442467   Vincebagna
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=223917   Viteazu
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/favorite.php?artist=358108   Zollster