Plasmocat's Imoen

[Miloch]

The Imoen portrait with "ruffles" (or as a swashbuckler) from Plasmocat's BG Portraits in BG2 Style package is off by a few pixels. This will cause it to look a bit smaller or distorted. I prefer Imoen's look in this picture, so I adjusted it to the BG standard dimensions.

 

Edit: Links removed at author's request.

[cmorgan]

I will check in with Plasmocat, and if it is ok with her will ask CamDawg to update the package -- this is probably me, not her, as I may have set up an older "ruffles" Imoen by mistake (I like that one best too!)

[Guest Plasmocat]

I agree that the sharper pics look better, but I also have to admit that I was a little put off that I was never asked if the portrait pack could be edited, or even just told that it was going to be done outright.

 

Although I am listed as the moderator in SHS's graphics forum, the short of it is that I very rarely read much on the board any more. So imagine by surprise when I see a note saying the equivalent of "See a completely different forum for how I changed Plasmo's work."

 

I didn't know what corrections you'd made before I came over here, and am just glad that it's a sharpening rather than a change of content.

 

Now, I realize that once you post your work on the net you're pretty much at the mercy of the community as to whether they're going to edit you or not. That's why there are only 2 sites on the Internet that host my portraits right now (with the Classic Adventures to follow as a 3rd site when they get the portraits I'm doing for them set up). I've had offers from ppl offering me web space, but I've declined to this point because I don't really want the work to become so prevalent that everybody forgets where it came from.

 

I'm not vain about the quality of my work. I don't really consider myself a "real" artist since this is just photoshopping I do as a hobby. I'm just being real about the fact that I've put in a lot of hours into this stuff and don't present them until they seem finished to me. And I'm *more* protective of stuff I've done for myself--like these BG1 pics--than I am of stuff I've done for other ppl on commission. I'm usually polite about it, but one of my pet peeves is when someone comes on an artist's thread (any artist) and edits their work for them without invitation, then presents the piece like the artist & the community ought to be honored for their improvement.

 

It's a common thing for ppl to do, especially if they're new to the type of work they're becoming interested in doing--and I have to admit that back when I first started and was really pleased with myself despite not really knowing much about what I was doing, I've done the same thing once or twice myself. But after I realized how what I was doing looked to others and, moreso, after I found out how it felt to be on the receiving end of the treatment, I realized that it's no big deal to make an inquiry about how welcome the contribution would be before you assume your work would be really appreciated. After all, the changes you make might not suit the taste of the original artist, even if you're good at what you do ... even if they're (in your opinion) bad at what they do.

 

I'm not trying to start a fight or go on any sort of offensive. I'm trying to be honest and trying to make a point.

 

So, Miloch ... thanks for sharpening those pics, but for the sake of the feelings of any artist whose work you see needs a little sprucing up, would you please ask if it's alright first?

 

Thanks for reading.

[cmorgan]

And to make sure all is fine and clear, no changes have been made to the released version, pending author's approval

 

(I don't have moderator priviledges here... Miloch, could you please temporarily remove the link until you have talked with Plasmocat? Thank you).

[Miloch]

Miloch, could you please temporarily remove the link until you have talked with Plasmocat?

Links removed. For the record, the main change was a fix due to an error in dimensions (was 37x57 - should be 38x60). The 'sharpening' was just an afterthought.

 

Also I did make a bona fide attempt to contact the author on two forums, over two months ago (as I think may have cmorgan). I don't think I went as far as sending PMs, as some also consider it 'bad form' to receive such messages from unknown and unsolicited persons, or their PMs are full if they have been inactive for a while, or their e-mail links have been changed and they do not check them (I've had bad luck making such PM inquiries in the past so I stopped doing it in short order, especially after seeing others get flamed for it). In any case, it certainly wasn't my intention to change the actual content or imply the community should be 'honored' or get in a debate over the issue. I'll probably still use the portrait locally, since I think it's a good one (I said as much over at SHS).

 

Finally, as cmorgan says, the mod was never changed (we were waiting for an author response, and I guess now we have it ).