Shirt.Woot

But, to be on-topic, I found the design more apocalyptica-esque than anything else, and while it was nicely done, it does not evoke "steampunk" to me.

I swear, this is why I don't read comments on Woot. Everyone's a whiney, crying little baby who gets mad if a design they don't like gets into the Fog. Newsflash people, you don't have to buy it, and if you don't like what Woot prints, then leave. No one will miss you. There's no need to whine about every little thing. If you don't like a design, don't vote for it/buy it. Don't tell other people to leave, or that their desgins are guppy. I'd like to see some of you haters draw half as well as Seki. I personally like Seki's artistic style. And Art is subjective, just like these shirt designs. Just because you don't enjoy it, doesn't mean it embrangles or that it's a 'guppy'. That's just idiotic. And if you think you can do better, well then get drawing and get people to vote for you.

Re: SteamBiker

It's the details that I love, like the fact that his shirt is tucked in.

Re: Let's Play

I almost really like this design. If the robot was creepier/scarier/uglier anything but cute, I'd love it. I don't mind the dog at all (it would make an especially nice contrast to a non-cute robot too). I see what people are saying about it not really being steampunk. I'm not sure if anyone's pointed out this reason or not, but I think it's because there's nothing really "edgy" (I can't think of the perfect word) about the robot or dog. They're just... cute. I don't think that's grounds for rejection, because the definition of steampunk doesn't say "must be edgy, no cuteness allowed!" it's just that most steampunk seems to steer away from cute. I think it's valid for an artist to try to put a new spin on a style if they want to. It could either work or not.

Sorry, after getting about halfway through reading the comments, I thought I'd give my opinion. I was compelled!

Great design! Only change I would make is to set the clock on 4:20.

Re: My Dog Breathes Steampunk

wow. you suck. epic omgwin!....

thanks for wasting everyones time...

now go click reply and read what i really said... woot has word filters...

<3

Carissima17 wrote:Cho, as always, top notch. I love it. I have missed you in the derbies. If this doesn't print, I am going to cry. I WILL be buying.

your going to cry? really...?

fayl

Re: My Dog Breathes Steampunk

*swoons over epic steampunk dog of cuteness*

Re: Fe-MAN

Personally I don't understand why you're not blowing them away with this beautiful piece. Truly amazing !

I'm not trying to trash talk anyone. I was and I am still curious as to why RamyB doesn't just say something straight forward in his own defense. I'm a pretty new member here but picked up on the similarities between Sekiyoku and RamyB right away...as everyone does. Over the past nine weeks I've gotten to know the art styles and personalities of almost all of the front running artists except for RamyB and Sekiyoku and it raises a red flag. I don't understand the shroud of mystery that surrounds these two entrants. Nine weeks of following their threads and their wins and I still don’t understand what is up! People seem to be on the attack because their simple questions aren't being answered and they are starting to feel misled. It seems like this particular *$^& storm started with people just being curious...but when left to their own devises people are going to speculate.

Beffy wrote:I swear, this is why I don't read comments on Woot. Everyone's a whiney, crying little baby who gets mad if a design they don't like gets into the Fog. Newsflash people, you don't have to buy it, and if you don't like what Woot prints, then leave. No one will miss you. There's no need to whine about every little thing. If you don't like a design, don't vote for it/buy it. Don't tell other people to leave, or that their desgins are guppy. I'd like to see some of you haters draw half as well as Seki. I personally like Seki's artistic style. And Art is subjective, just like these shirt designs. Just because you don't enjoy it, doesn't mean it embrangles or that it's a 'guppy'. That's just idiotic. And if you think you can do better, well then get drawing and get people to vote for you.

umm i could be wrong but most of the people on here are saying its good art but its not fitting with the theme of the derby. This derby is Steampunk... this art is not steampunk! its like Andy Warhol entering his soup can in a realist painting contest... yea its great art but it don't fit the theme.

Eh... this submission was funny the first time, but the joke's sort of lost its luster.

DiamondFace wrote:Eh... this submission was funny the first time, but the joke's sort of lost its luster.

No it has not lost its luster. Not as much as cutesy designs anyways...

EDIT: WHAT SHIRT COLOR IS THIS ON?

EDIT2: SORRY TO YELL

hastethechariot wrote:wow. you suck. epic omgwin!....

thanks for wasting everyones time...

now go click reply and read what i really said... woot has word filters...

<3

It's only wasting your time if you let it. You were the one who took the time to comment and show your disapproval. I don't see it as wasting my time if it's 1. making a joke and 2. it's trying to prove a point as to how many entries are not on theme.

ramyb wrote:
1. Everyone who leaves positive comments on my shirts joined after I did, and so they must all be me.

So this entry, 2/3 of the positive comments came from people who joined in Sept2008 or later (which is when I joined, which is why it's the magic start point). For my other entry this week, half of the positive comments were from people who joined at that date or later. (If we include seki's shirt in this, only 40% of the comments are from users who joined in Sept or later).

Now to compare, drakxxx's entry has received half of its comments from users who joined in Sept08 or later, and Deadfrog 2/3. Are these numbers any different? No. Why did I choose these as my comparison point? Because they are the two entries to which mine have been most compared. Simple really.

what of the claim that youve perpetuated this kind kind of fraud before in the artist alley, using fake identities for monetary gain?

hastethechariot wrote:wow. you suck. epic omgwin!....

thanks for wasting everyones time...

now go click reply and read what i really said... woot has word filters...

<3

Thanks for making me waste time by hitting reply.

DiamondFace wrote:Eh... this submission was funny the first time, but the joke's sort of lost its luster.

I disagree. I think there should be more of them.

re: the girl in red

Gonna have to agree with the people saying it's not really Steampunk. Maybe if the wolf was completely robotic it would've been better. But the art is pretty dang amazing. I love Little Red Riding Hood.

Also, what do you use to draw? A wacom tablet? Tablet pc? I have a Tablet PC but my lineart isn't nearly as smooth. :[

Re: My Dog Breathes Steampunk

Now that's funny. Adder wins.

Re: Calling John Henry!

RG you deserve so much more success than you get in the Derbies. Your style and art is amazing but I guess it's not nerdy or cute enough. :[

Re: My Dog Breathes Steampunk

Hahaha. Fantastic.

I like the girl and I think she's steampunk-ish. The wolf doesn't seem to fit the theme and it just doesn't look very interesting to me. It looks more like an armored worg from LotR than anything else.

Regardless of theme, if I really wanted the shirt I'd vote for it. Yes, I think cherry-with-a-little-apple-pie should be allowed in apple pie contests. This is art, not chemistry, and expecting Woot to be draconian about theme is pretty unrealistic. She's Little Red Riding Hood and she has a Victorian-looking rifle. That's enough to keep the ball in play as far as I'm concerned.

eHalcyon wrote:Finally, it's frankly a bit suspicious that someone who only joined a day or two ago could have formulated such a well-informed opinion so quickly. Maybe you've been a lurker and only signed up for an account recently. If so, good on you. But if you're an active community member who elected to hide behind a fake account, then I urge you to drop the facade and just be straight forward about your opinions.

all it took was a few hours of reading.

also, if i was an active member of the community, wouldnt i have already known my idea has been presented before?

zackdela wrote:Really like the graphic but the shirt color is off for my taste :D

What color would you suggest? I was wanting an old timey look, and the cream was the closest they offered. I also am in the habit of trying to use as few colors as possible since it's cheaper to print. That isn't an issue on woot, I guess.

Re: Steamworks Operatica V.2

Yay! Thanks for re-submitting this. I love this shirt. I really hope it gets printed.

I also think it looks better on brown as well.

Go go people. Vote!

orzine wrote:what of the claim that youve perpetuated this kind kind of fraud before in the artist alley, using fake identities for monetary gain?

I have responded to this many, many, many times in the past. I'm not going to flatter you by digging up my responses, you can do the work yourself if you want. I'm not going to defend myself again when your response is going to be that some other artist on another website said that I did it, so I must be lying. You made your account two days ago, and your 3 posts are all on this thread bashing me. If you don't want to face me and are just looking to try to throw some Gigli (2003) at me for kicks, do what you want. My post above addresses all points that are relevant to woot, which this isn't.

orzine wrote:what of the claim that youve perpetuated this kind kind of fraud before in the artist alley, using fake identities for monetary gain?

It's been addressed. If you're really that interested to read all the arguments and counterarguments, look it up.

HeartlineTwist wrote:The problem with this notion is that, you're right, that's what the vote button says, but it negates having a theme in the first place if things that aren't really on theme are allowed to stay in the contest. It'd be like having an Apple Pie Contest and letting a cherry pie that has maybe a sliver of an apple in it slip by.

Hell, Seki, I'll say this: If the wolf was completely mechanical, this wouldn't be an issue at all. I'm aware that steampunk designs can involve cyborg-ish elements and still be full steampunk, but the problem with yours is that it doesn't read cyborg. It reads armored wolf with steam coming out of it. And, unfortunately, I don't think the lineart was really on theme that much more.

Well, that's woot's fault then. The point is, if they want to run an Apple Pie Contest, and as long as there's even the tiniest piece of apple in the pie, it's accepted, that's their choice. As for me, I thought this entry was well within the boundaries of steampunk, but apparently a lot of people think that it's not. But the key thing is that woot thinks it is, at least so far. So yelling at me is not going to do anything. Yelling at woot on my thread is also not going to do anything since I highly doubt they read these posts. I'm sure plenty of people have tattled, and it's past Monday. So (although I could be proven wrong still) it looks like woot is saying that this is on theme. I don't understand what people expect to accomplish at this point.

As a side note, I do wish that I had made the wolf less organic because it would have been more on theme, and also would have looked better, but I'm sure that I would still get guppy for it in the end. See Ramy's butterfly entry, which was SO steampunk and SO on theme until it hit the fog and then it was in no way steampunk at all.

@ hmmmxkrazee - I use a wacom tablet and the program Open Canvas. Open Canvas is really good for lineart.

BootsBoots wrote:This is great. I want it. I'm really becoming a fan of your designs. Every one that I've seen has been so good.

I have to agree with boots. well done again!!

HeartlineTwist wrote:
Hell, Seki, I'll say this: If the wolf was completely mechanical, this wouldn't be an issue at all. I'm aware that steampunk designs can involve cyborg-ish elements and still be full steampunk, but the problem with yours is that it doesn't read cyborg. It reads armored wolf with steam coming out of it. And, unfortunately, I don't think the lineart was really on theme that much more.

It's so subjective, though. For example, when I first looked at this design, first thing I thought when I looked at the wolf was, "cool, wolf cyborg". I realize a lot of other people think it looks like a wolf with armor on it, but that's just not what I saw. Maybe it's b/c I've read the Gunslinger books and they had to fight a giant cyborg bear and it was fresh in my mind to think of it that way, but that's what I saw and what I still see.

Oh, and if you've read through my posting history, I never defend seki's work; I am, in point of fact, something of a detractor. I just happen to like this particular design and find it to be reasonably on theme.

fatalGRACE wrote:You can call it whatever you want, but that doesn't make it steampunk. Steampunk as a genre has a certain aesthetic associated with it, regardless of changes from the classic victorian era ideal, that aesthetic remains. This shirt in no way matches the ideal, and putting some brass coloring and smoke doesn't make this into a steampunk shirt.

And people wo don't like it can 'not buy it' all they want, but that won't change the fact that better shirts that fit the theme, such as DeadFrog's entry, were denied the win by shirts such as this. I can not buy this shirt, but because it managed to slip through the cracks on a vague, false interpretation of the genre, I lose the opportunity to buy a shirt that actually meets the aesthetic and theme of the derby.

What I don't understand is, everyone knows that this is based on WOOT votes. So, if people prefer the more traditional steampunk style then they will vote for more traditional shirts. If they prefer cutesy anime designs, then they vote as such. I do like some of the other shirts that aren't winning, and I suppose the real question is, if so many people dislike the fog shirts, then why are they in the fog at all? There is obviously support, and there are those who feel this shirt does meet the criteria. It's the fun of art. It's all open to interpretation. Why should we spend so much of our energy hating on a design? One offers constructive critique and moves on. It's up to the artist what to do with said critique. Buyers and Sellers of art define what is and is not, what fits modern, post modern, and classical. And today, the masses deem this to be steampunk. Regardless of proper definition, enough find the design aesthetically pleasing to vote for it. I like the shirt, even if it isn't 100 percent on point with the theme. And, if so many people are greatly displeased, why do they not design their own, proper steampunk shirts and submit them? It's easy to dislike and condemn, but where are the artistic challenges? Show us proper steampunk, a design we'd all like to wear. Often times to appeal to the greatest masses some of the elegance must be lost in translation.

ramyb wrote:I have responded to this many, many, many times in the past. I'm not going to flatter you by digging up my responses, you can do the work yourself if you want. I'm not going to defend myself again when your response is going to be that some other artist on another website said that I did it, so I must be lying. You made your account two days ago, and your 3 posts are all on this thread bashing me. If you don't want to face me and are just looking to try to throw some Gigli (2003) at me for kicks, do what you want. My post above addresses all points that are relevant to woot, which this isn't.

If it ever comes out that you really do have a hundred fake accounts, I think I'm going to be most offended by the fact that you didn't use them on "What They Learn on T.V."

Stormink wrote:What? So all designs should refrain from being complicated because if people mistreat their shirts they won't read properly anymore.

Just like the medieval manuscripts should have been simpler so that we could still see the images on the ones that weren't preserved properly?

No, I said I applauded this shirt's simplicity. What does that have to do with future our past styles, or whether or not another person makes a very complex or very simplistic drawing? Why must a compliment on one aspect, be it simplicity, color, or content, automatically condemn the opposite? I never said I hated complex designs. I said I like the simplicity of this one.

The manuscripts from medieval times? Seriously? o_0

hmmxkrazee wrote:Gonna have to agree with the people saying it's not really Steampunk. Maybe if the wolf was completely robotic it would've been better. But the art is pretty dang amazing. I love Little Red Riding Hood.

Also, what do you use to draw? A wacom tablet? Tablet pc? I have a Tablet PC but my lineart isn't nearly as smooth. :[

I know someone who uses a tablet and draws in illustrator like that, I'm not sure it's how this artwork was created but it's one option. Vectors make for very smooth lines.

BootsBoots wrote:If it ever comes out that you really do have a hundred fake accounts, I think I'm going to be most offended by the fact that you didn't use them on "What They Learn on T.V."

I was just trying to prove that your kiss of death is very real ;)

Very good execution. Perfectly on topic. GMV!

jewelwing wrote:If I could put the love of steampunk in my heart for this derby to make something that true fans of it would want, I definitely would. Unfortunately all I could do was research it, which I did do, and make what seemed on theme to me.

I get what you're saying tho, a lot of the designs just don't "feel" steampunk and if you're really into steampunk then you probably were looking forward to a good shirt that captured the spirit of it. It's disappointing when the winning ones don't. That's how I felt in the deco derby anyways. Btw, I'd still like a real deco shirt if anyone knows of one...

Thanks very much to those that do like the design tho. And those that don't, that's cool too. I just like the attention.

I would definitely call it more clockwork then steampunk, but that said you GMV! The art is amazing, and her profile is stunning. I do hope this makes it to the fog.

Re: Calling John Henry!

I'm bummed this isn't doing better. I'd pray for an HM, but nothing good ever seems to win the do-over

re: idle hands

Why strain your eyesight?
View Big Fat Image Here! idle hands

Re: Of the Moment

I like the designs this week especially yours this week, and I like the clock it puts it over the top for me.

It's good to see some nice steampunk art.

When I think steampunk, I'm reminded of EQ's Ak'anon, some levels in Thief 2, and The City of Lost Children.