How do we get more artist participation here?

[JBLUE]

Haha.   All good points. Very true.


I have a feeling tho, that all it will take is us seasoned guys (now getting older) to start some good (time dedicated) art tutorials once a week and in a month or so, we will see some flowers sprouting. We need content in order to catch the artist eyes. The young'ns and the printers want to know, so we should feed them some soul food me thinks.

I think that's a good idea, Dan. Value-added user experiences. But you and I both know what will really get art discussions going. They worked then, they'll work now.

Two things:

Mac vs PC
Adobe vs Corel

It was much broader, as I seem to remember often right vs left, and blind faith vs. atheism, leading to  Evolution vs. Intelligent  (or at least fairly thoughtful for the most part with some exceptions, as after all, even the most fiery fundamentalist Christian has seen pictures of the duck-billed platypus) Design 

Like I said before, it was "Come for the fights, stay for the art discussions"

Man those were fun times. Anyone remember that Pushrod clown? Some of the best times arguing with that dude about all of the above while taking a break from a long project........lol

[Dottonedan]

You're very right. One of the things that drew me (no pun) was to be able to escape at the times. Loved breaking away from a project job for a moment and getting on the forum. Still do.

[lemorris]

...and more cowbell.

we need more cowbell.

[Fluid]

Can never get enough of the cowbell.  Always More!

[Frog]

Cowbell, brings to mind Chistopher Walken, who brings to my mind, that Bird's the word

http://www.brandonbird.com/brandonbird_lazy_sunday_afternoon.jpg

[Boldline]

Alright then, let's get this art page some attention! I'll start, ahem...
"Ebola, Obama's gift to America!" LOL


Mat Woodworth
www.boldlinedesign.com

[Boldline]

OK in a serious note, maybe we need to rework some of the topics in the art section. For example have a section for tutorials, a section for photoshop based work, another for us vectoids, etc,


Mat Woodworth
www.boldlinedesign.com

[StuJohnston]

Alright then, let's get this art page some attention! I'll start, ahem...
"Ebola, Obama's gift to America!" LOL


Mat Woodworth
www.boldlinedesign.com

There's already a forum for that here actually.

[Boldline]

Thanks Stu, I  was joking but I also find it a little odd people want to discuss politics on a screen print forum.


Mat Woodworth
www.boldlinedesign.com

[Frog]

Mat, what you'll find with the forums that get it right, is that they become more than just a "screen print forum". What they become is a hangout, like the back room in a local tavern, full of friends and neighbors, who happen to be in the same industry.
Industry talk is the main topic of conversation, but as folks feel that they are among friends, who better to talk about the other things as well?
We understand this, and make the concession, but try to keep the stuff that can get hairy separate.

[Command-Z]

A lot of people complained at TSPMB when we'd go off on politics and religion... passionate debates. The rule of the Artist Forum there was to "Discuss, brood, read poetry, all the things you normally do."

So we did. Like Frog sez, we talked about lots of things that had nothing to do with printing because we were pals hanging out and shooting the sh*t.

It was fun. Most of us enjoyed it. Some people were offended and that's when you know you've got a good thing. Being offended is good, it means you have an opinion and nobody has forced the world to think like you do.

We have a free speech zone here for people who want to discuss politics. It matters to some of us because politics effects business and money and that's what we're all really about, no matter what our actual job is. Some find it interesting, like I do. Some find talking about sports interesting, and I couldn't care less about that. But people talk about all these things at work and at the bar after work.... and on message boards.

But that shouldn't be the thing that keeps people coming back. That's just the result of a good group of people who feel comfortable with each other, not the cause.

[Frog]

What the free form platform taught me was that at least half of my colleagues were from areas not nearly as enlightened as where I am, so it explained why they hadn't yet reached my higher level of consciousness and more correct view of the world. LOL!
It helped teach me patience and tolerance because somehow, 99% of the time, folks didn't let that sometimes huge divide interfere with our camaraderie. I found(find) it quite gratifying and enlightening, that most of these folks see the bigger picture, and appreciate that experience.

[Donnie]

You need a virtual coffee bean dispenser and free medical (cough) weed to attract artists. 

[sullyman]

I don't there ever really is a magic formula or definitive answer on this.

My experience with lack of posting is usually a time. I'm always looking for new jobs, working projects, and the usual social media up-keep. I've recently shifted gears work wise to start ramping up my teaching online. I honestly get to busy and just plain burnt-out before I even get to log into the forum.

At risk of sounding like a guilt trip/sob story but, I know I would be able to post more teaching content if I could justify the time financially but I don't make enough to have the freedom to do so.

I think incentive is a great way to really ramp up content in the artist area by maybe highlighting the effective post with a sticky, newsletter feature or something advertising the hard work. Because it is worthy that someone takes the time to offer up the knowledge and experience and is that more a rewarding experience in it being effective and leading to exposure.

I find that in other communities that I'm involved in, the natural reward for posting your process is the lime-light and possible job exposure. But most of this goes without saying 

[ravenmark]

Popular site for artist http://www.conceptart.org/forums/, that is the forum section. Delete /forums in the url and you can see their *landing page. Maybe you can get some ideas. Another thought, how does the forums rank on *searches that have anything to do with art, artists ect.? A little advertising also never hurts on the more popular art sites, maybe a trade out thing might work to avoid fees. If FB is the thing, make a fan page that directs to here as well as share some designs from any threads to there. BTW when was the last time you updated the look of the board? Artists are visual people  . Just a few ideas, take them or leave them


* a landing page directed to the art thread/section may be of help increasing click throughs from search engines.