Description:
Description from source (translated from Russian):
Posting my work from the Digital Art Battle @RuBronyCon 2022! π« The piece was sketched out in two and a half hours, and there's a chance that someday I'll finish it.
Here you can view all the works, see the winners in all the categories, and check the leaderboard: http://vk.com/wall-130492803_70651
The theme of the contest was "The Solution." The thought of Twilight and how she became the ruler immediately came to my mind. From here, this drawing can be interpreted in two ways: this is Celestia, alarmed by the loneliness of little Twilight, or Celestia, who sees herself in lonely Twilight and would like to find a replacement for herself on the throne. In both cases, this is a problem that needs to be solved.
(Yes, Celestia has started to appear in my works very often, and in fact, it's just a character whose appearance I've memorized down to the order of the colors in the mane and tail, which is why it's so easy for me to portray her.)
Next, I'll share my feedback regarding the art battle. Long read ahead
I must say right away that I'm not intending to complain about losing. I have great respect for my fellow artists, so I sincerely respect their success. I'm happy for each of the winners, including the one in my category. There was much competition in the digital category, and I instantly assessed the chances when I found out who I would compete with. The outcome didn't upset me. It's just that the battle itself was a bit chaotic, and my art turned out to be outright crap, and I rarely give this description to my work. It's amazing that I'm in second place at all, and not lower. After my points, you will understand why this happened.
I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO REMIND YOU THAT THIS WAS THE FIRST DIGITAL ART BATTLE IN THE HISTORY OF RUSSIAN BRONY CONVENTIONS, so one shouldn't have expected it to go perfectly. We shouldn't belittle the fact that the organizers of the art battle did a great job by providing laptops, mice, tablets, and the necessary programs to the participants, for which we thank them very much. Therefore, consider this post as a REVIEW and as constructive criticism of the organization of the convention as a whole, and not as a knock at someone particular. Maybe it will help create better conditions for artists at conventions in the coming years.
Firstly, the RBC was held in a united hall, and while I was trying to focus on my art, the floor was shaking in resonance with the speakers, crowds of curious and noisy people were passing by, and different music was playing from both sides - from the main stage and from the Just Dance stand. Noise is rarely a problem for me, but it was so powerful this time that it was almost impossible to get into a normal work rhythm (combined with an unfamiliar setup). I can only imagine how difficult it was for the DnD guys to play something to the same cacophony.
Secondly, the conditions of digital and traditional art battles were pretty unequal. To give you an idea, one of the participants in the traditional category brought a huge easel, paints, and worked on a real canvas. Of course, the process looked cool and spectacular, and the completed work stood out well against the background of simple album sheets by other authors.
But at the same time, as far as I know, digital authors were not given such an opportunity to express themselves. It was forbidden to bring your own equipment - your usual graphics tablets and laptops. We were stuck with identical setups. Of course, some time was given to set up programs and test the tablet, but we still had to plunge into an unusual environment. I never got used to the smaller tablet and spent a ton of time tweaking the settings. It seems to me that each of the participants would have given a much better result by working the way their hands were used to.
This is generally a very long-standing discussion about whether traditional and digital drawings are equivalent, and whether it's worth making requirements for digital and traditional art all the same at competitions. I think it's worth it, and it's time to stop stigmatizing the digital medium. A stylus and a program are just a material, like a pencil and paper, like paints and a canvas. The material will give you absolutely no advantage; it will not draw anything for you. Experience and resourcefulness in using the material are at play there. I don't think an artist who brought a Wacom One and a USB stick with drivers would have had a significant advantage over an artist who used a Wacom Bamboo provided by the organisers, but they would've been more comfortable and would've actually enjoyed the process. And I also don't think that it would've been easier to cheat on a digital art battle by having your own laptop, if that's what someone cared about.
And a personal point: at the end of the battle, when I was putting the finishing touches and signing the work, someone in a riot policeman uniform (as I understand it, a security person who guarded the laptops) approached me, addressed me as "girl..." and said that it's forbidden to sign your art. This encounter with security was the last straw; I finished the art with trembling hands and on the verge of hysteria. And later I was surprised to find that the signatures on the works of other artists were quite noticeable, and no one disqualified them for this. It's just a funny situation, so to speak.
To summarize the above, I believe that the atmosphere of the Digital Art Battle would've been less stressful, and the works would've been more elaborate if the conditions for its participants were as gentle as for the traditional ones. Otherwise, it felt like some kind of Olympics, and I recovered from her stress only in the evening, when my friends gave me cider.
My art group seems to be exactly the place to vent such thoughts, and I really hope that I haven't offended anyone with this post and that my comments will only go to benefit. Once again, I would like to express my gratitude to the organizers for not being afraid to try new things and try to bring something interesting to the conventions! It was an honor for me to participate in such an event side by side with people whose work I admire. And thanks for reading ππ»π
