Cry babies
Sunday, November 10, 2002 by Angel_Wings | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Yes, it’s true…I’m one of the few, the proud…the cry babies.
So listen to me now, hear me later and think about it sometime…
Artists, CAN be a bit oversensitive at times (at least the type that grew up like me…without any formal training and starting with crayola and working up to the big gurl/boy stuff like oils and acrylics, clay etc. and later trying to work their way through a computer version of their own style and attempting to make what feels so unnatural with a mouse look as if they actually had their hand in the dang thing).
I grew up using art as my emotional outlet because I didn’t really have any other outlet that served me as well (okay, poetry and singing were good too). Perhaps it’s true that wincustomize is more strictly a skin site rather than an artistry type of site but I’d sorely miss the wallpapers that are here and let’s put this in perspective for a wee moment shall we? Wallpaper can set the mood for your whole desktop environment so to discount it as mere “fluff” that should *only* compliment the skins which define your OS elements seems rather dissident and ignorant in my opinion. I love to see a sunset on my desktop…I love to see the night stars and a city at night…I even love (gawd forbid) dolphins and beaches and palm trees…oh my
Food for question…
Is “skinning” even an art? And if we stripped *every* artist and skinner here of every filter or program known to mankind and made them do it without anything at all but a pixel by pixel…would this site even exist? And if we judge everyone by the program they use…(i.e. Bryce, Photoshop etc.) then…is our digital art just a fanciful example of one’s skill at that program? Does being a *digital* artist as a whole make that art feel as if it’s without soul and without feeling? Without the fingerprint that gives an artist his/her style? I think that a program or filter does NOT make the artist…but rather enhances his/her abilities… I liken it to…traditional artists from days of yore who considered using prefab colors in paint a *no-no* and felt that creating one’s own colors from a pot of the basic 3 (i.e. yellow, red, blue) were the only true way of creating art. They also seriously frowned upon black and white as actual paint colors because those are considered *shades* and one should be disciplined enough not to need those as long as one is careful…
Almost every windowblinds skin “screams” KPT 5 shapeshifter…and I love that proggy too…but does that mean…you are cheating? I hope not! I think the beautiful stuff that people do with that is reason enough to use it!
Did I just go off on a tangent?
Sorry, just ingore this post and move on to important matters!
)
So listen to me now, hear me later and think about it sometime…
Artists, CAN be a bit oversensitive at times (at least the type that grew up like me…without any formal training and starting with crayola and working up to the big gurl/boy stuff like oils and acrylics, clay etc. and later trying to work their way through a computer version of their own style and attempting to make what feels so unnatural with a mouse look as if they actually had their hand in the dang thing).
I grew up using art as my emotional outlet because I didn’t really have any other outlet that served me as well (okay, poetry and singing were good too). Perhaps it’s true that wincustomize is more strictly a skin site rather than an artistry type of site but I’d sorely miss the wallpapers that are here and let’s put this in perspective for a wee moment shall we? Wallpaper can set the mood for your whole desktop environment so to discount it as mere “fluff” that should *only* compliment the skins which define your OS elements seems rather dissident and ignorant in my opinion. I love to see a sunset on my desktop…I love to see the night stars and a city at night…I even love (gawd forbid) dolphins and beaches and palm trees…oh my
Food for question…
Is “skinning” even an art? And if we stripped *every* artist and skinner here of every filter or program known to mankind and made them do it without anything at all but a pixel by pixel…would this site even exist? And if we judge everyone by the program they use…(i.e. Bryce, Photoshop etc.) then…is our digital art just a fanciful example of one’s skill at that program? Does being a *digital* artist as a whole make that art feel as if it’s without soul and without feeling? Without the fingerprint that gives an artist his/her style? I think that a program or filter does NOT make the artist…but rather enhances his/her abilities… I liken it to…traditional artists from days of yore who considered using prefab colors in paint a *no-no* and felt that creating one’s own colors from a pot of the basic 3 (i.e. yellow, red, blue) were the only true way of creating art. They also seriously frowned upon black and white as actual paint colors because those are considered *shades* and one should be disciplined enough not to need those as long as one is careful…
Almost every windowblinds skin “screams” KPT 5 shapeshifter…and I love that proggy too…but does that mean…you are cheating? I hope not! I think the beautiful stuff that people do with that is reason enough to use it!
Did I just go off on a tangent?
Sorry, just ingore this post and move on to important matters!
)
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JamMeister33
Reply #43 Sunday, November 10, 2002 11:55 PM
Reply #43 Sunday, November 10, 2002 11:55 PM
Jafo,
In all respect, the people who upload their work here have only one guage to judge their work by...
Is that not by sheer numbers of downloads and positive comments? It's not like they are getting paid
or in any other way remunerated for their efforts. The little joys are very often the best joys.
I mean no disrespect to you or anyone else.
Jim
In all respect, the people who upload their work here have only one guage to judge their work by...
Is that not by sheer numbers of downloads and positive comments? It's not like they are getting paid
or in any other way remunerated for their efforts. The little joys are very often the best joys.
I mean no disrespect to you or anyone else.
Jim
Angel_Wings
Reply #44 Sunday, November 10, 2002 11:56 PM
Reply #44 Sunday, November 10, 2002 11:56 PM
My jaded heart thanks you Jafo... 
Well said and with intelligence and forethought.
Well said and with intelligence and forethought.
Jafo
Reply #45 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:06 AM
Reply #45 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:06 AM
OK...again...about WALLS.
Wincustomize.com is a SKINNING site, and not a Wallpaper site.
It/we host wallpapers as they are a PART of the whole GUI skinning process. They are NOT the bee's knees of skinning, nor are they the prime 'directive' for a site such as a skinning site.
There are countless Wallpaper sites available on the net in all forms and all genres, but there are essentially only a handful of Skinning sites, of which this is the largest.
It can and does remain online due to careful management of content which, amongst other things, requires limitations be set on submissions to the wall section because, and for no other reason, that section would, if not controlled, totally sink this site beneath a flood of walls, to the detriment of all the other skin sections.
Now, what happens if/when someone has a wall submission rejected is a public response/complaint that they are being victimized, or attemt to conjure up support by suggesting that all wall artists are being victimized.
Neither is true.
Wincustomize.com is a SKINNING site, and not a Wallpaper site.
It/we host wallpapers as they are a PART of the whole GUI skinning process. They are NOT the bee's knees of skinning, nor are they the prime 'directive' for a site such as a skinning site.
There are countless Wallpaper sites available on the net in all forms and all genres, but there are essentially only a handful of Skinning sites, of which this is the largest.
It can and does remain online due to careful management of content which, amongst other things, requires limitations be set on submissions to the wall section because, and for no other reason, that section would, if not controlled, totally sink this site beneath a flood of walls, to the detriment of all the other skin sections.
Now, what happens if/when someone has a wall submission rejected is a public response/complaint that they are being victimized, or attemt to conjure up support by suggesting that all wall artists are being victimized.
Neither is true.
Jafo
Reply #46 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:13 AM
Reply #46 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:13 AM
Grrr...'attempt'.... 
Thanks, JamMeister...hopefully a balance can be found with 'artistry prompting great critique and to heck with the DL counts akin to Britney 'pop songs''....
I'm personally more interested in someone saying 'wow!', than with a mega-DL count and no idea of 'opinion'...
Thanks, JamMeister...hopefully a balance can be found with 'artistry prompting great critique and to heck with the DL counts akin to Britney 'pop songs''....
I'm personally more interested in someone saying 'wow!', than with a mega-DL count and no idea of 'opinion'...
JamMeister33
Reply #47 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:14 AM
Reply #47 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:14 AM
I just cannot understand why a site that is so adamant about "skins" even bothers to have a wallpaper section. And then on top of that they prominently advertise it as being "the finest collection of wallpapers on the internet."
JamMeister33
Reply #48 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:17 AM
Reply #48 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:17 AM
"Is that not by sheer numbers of downloads and positive comments?"
Did I not say "wow" and "idea of opinion" in this statement?
Did I not say "wow" and "idea of opinion" in this statement?
Jafo
Reply #49 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:20 AM
Reply #49 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:20 AM
Peff...'critiqueing'...at best it's a made-up word. 'Critique' is a noun, not a verb, except in the US, it seems, where it's a transitive verb...so the present imperfect[?] would probably be right.
Ah, what would I know?....Let stalk Strine...
Ah, what would I know?....Let stalk Strine...
Angel_Wings
Reply #50 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:20 AM
Reply #50 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:20 AM
Let this thread rest in peace...I'm tired and need sleep and my sheep are wagin their own war with my eyelids!
JamMeister33
Reply #51 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:21 AM
Reply #51 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:21 AM
I hear ya, d_s, good night and sweet dreams!
Jafo
Reply #52 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:22 AM
Reply #52 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:22 AM
JM..we're hardly going to advertise it as 'cruds-ville', now are we?...
But again, walls are a valued PART of skinning a GUI, but not the ONLY part...
But again, walls are a valued PART of skinning a GUI, but not the ONLY part...
JamMeister33
Reply #53 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:25 AM
Reply #53 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:25 AM
I understand completely, Jafo
Please don't take my remarks as a personal "attack"
It most certainly is not.
Good Night, sleep tight...
Please don't take my remarks as a personal "attack"
It most certainly is not.
Good Night, sleep tight...
JamMeister33
Reply #54 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:33 AM
Reply #54 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:33 AM
And btw, dark_seraphim, I bookmarked your website...
I'll be back.
I'll be back.
URall_fags
Reply #55 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:35 AM
Reply #55 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:35 AM
D_S your commentary was well written and bound to get attacked but you are very accurate in your summation. For people who don't have the need for stardock products...the wallpaper section is a very much enjoyed section that wouldn't be visited by us "non-skin-users" otherwise. Keep your nipper up!
Peff
Reply #56 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:49 AM
Reply #56 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:49 AM
Jafo...most of the words I use are made up My father had a pet peeve about how the yankees kept turning nouns into verbs...fixing to, deplaning, etc....My personal favorite is the way momentarily is used here....in a moment, as opposed to for a moment...I have invented at least one word, though...dynamicism...use it quite frequently....and noone seems to notice
My father had a pet peeve about how the yankees kept turning nouns into verbs...fixing to, deplaning, etc....My personal favorite is the way momentarily is used here....in a moment, as opposed to for a moment...I have invented at least one word, though...dynamicism...use it quite frequently....and noone seems to notice
Jafo
Reply #57 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:57 AM
Reply #57 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:57 AM
In our football 'crowd'...[Aussie Rules], one horrid 'word use' has emerged......if it's a challenge to a side to catch up to the other's lead it would be referred to [by the commentators] as a 'big ask', where 'ask' becoms a noun.
Did I mention that Aussie Rules followers are a bunch of knuckle-dragging morons, only slightly better than Rugby Union/League supporters?...
Jafo runs and hides from a bunch of rampaging gorillas with a collective IQ of, ooh....about '3'....
Did I mention that Aussie Rules followers are a bunch of knuckle-dragging morons, only slightly better than Rugby Union/League supporters?...
Jafo runs and hides from a bunch of rampaging gorillas with a collective IQ of, ooh....about '3'....
Jafo
Reply #58 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:59 AM
Reply #58 Monday, November 11, 2002 12:59 AM
Hmmm...'becoms'....methinks 'tis time to clean the keyboard....
Peff
Reply #59 Monday, November 11, 2002 1:11 AM
Reply #59 Monday, November 11, 2002 1:11 AM
Jafo...I believe the correct 'ebonics' translation here would be the 'big axe'....equally as frightening
bakerstreet
Reply #60 Monday, November 11, 2002 1:55 AM
Reply #60 Monday, November 11, 2002 1:55 AM
lmao. Anyone here that I give a sh*t about knows the quality of the work I can do, and they've seen very little of the whole. I have the benefit of several years experience with Photoshop, and have been skinning since early 1999, so I don't think it would be fair to whip it out and compare lengths with you guys. I can say with complete self-assurance, though, the concept doesn't send chills of fear through me. When I feel like uploading to WC, I will, and most certainly not to prove anything to the thin-skinned.
In the meantime, though, I'll just go ahead and say anything I please, as much as I please, and to whom I please; with all the authority I feel comfortable with. If the WC staff sees fit to come down on me, hey, it's their site. You, though, won't really have much effect, sorry. I can obviously tolerate a lot more than you guys if this desperate tone of this thread is any indication.
Peff: the screenshot is of a Talisman theme running over automation via a PHP engine I wrote to parse and re-write the theme on the fly. A toy, sure, but one I find useful. The wallpaper has nothing to do with it, it is just an anime I like. Not Dragonball, but something just as childish in your estimation, I am sure.
In the meantime, though, I'll just go ahead and say anything I please, as much as I please, and to whom I please; with all the authority I feel comfortable with. If the WC staff sees fit to come down on me, hey, it's their site. You, though, won't really have much effect, sorry. I can obviously tolerate a lot more than you guys if this desperate tone of this thread is any indication.
Peff: the screenshot is of a Talisman theme running over automation via a PHP engine I wrote to parse and re-write the theme on the fly. A toy, sure, but one I find useful. The wallpaper has nothing to do with it, it is just an anime I like. Not Dragonball, but something just as childish in your estimation, I am sure.
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Reply #41 Sunday, November 10, 2002 11:49 PM
It's a fact of life that the 'most popular/downloaded' is not necessarily the 'best' in a technical sense, and if it is too confrontingly 'stylistic' it may be avoided in droves.
I agree that skinning is not 'ART' in capital letters, as I said, because it is more a craft, where the true 'quality' is in the handling of the medium and not especially the 'vision' behind it.
That is why I am ready to jump down the throats of those who perhaps question/doubt the skills involved and suggest it/they are just the product of a filter-frenzy.
When you get down and dirty into skinning you discover just how detailed and intricate it all is...eg, the one-pixel skin-coding errors in WinAMP 2x that really are a 'challenge' to compensate for.
Skinning, especially for Windowblinds has been around for years, and generally now you will see a 'lot of the same' and relatively few innovative efforts...and a lot of that is fuelled by the desire of many to become the 'greatest' downloadee, producing more of what 'sells' rather than what is actually creative.
Look harder. Some are still different enough to appeal to jaded hearts...