CCGB public forum ban
I was on the CCGB forum for just over 6 years.
A lot of these very specialist sites do not really get a lot of people looking in, other than other cartoonists and enthusiasts---many of the threads only get 200 odd hits or so, there is also the limitation on there of only being able to put on cartoon images that are only 1000 pixels wide: on here, I can easily add new images with three times as much resolution, which is much more desirable, and just as easy.
It is a sad fact of life that trivial junk like 85 per cent of facebook gets the mass viewer attention---this mindless minutae seems to be what the public really wants, going by ratings figures----and genuinely specialist sites like the CCGB forum are largely unknown by the wider public at large, but there you have it.
These sites occupy just their own tiny oasis within the vast internet world: if you stop visiting them, they simply dissolve into nothingness on your own personal radar, they do not spill out into the wider world in the slightest........... all these specialist sites, of whatever subject, are also bad for preaching by self-appointed 'experts' who spout endless tedious diatribes that come accrross as po-faced and pretentious---just really embarrassing stuff, all round, and no wonder their viewing figures are low.
Outside of their own isolated sphere, hardly anyone on the outside world is even aware of these sites' very existance.......it's really fragmented stuff.Sad but true.
But for interaction with other cartoonists this site is fine---if not so for me, in my time there!
Try it out for yourself if you are 'into' cartooning though : the site works well enough for some people, if not for everyone --- however it is easily one of the most infuriating and frustrating sites I was ever involved in, although plenty other current members would doubtless disagree with me. Only the Axis History Forum superceded this site in the off-putting stakes, in my experience of around 20 odd sites.
Quite simply, I loved doing drawings for them, but once I went on there , the fun I get out of cartooning just disappeared altogether and never returned until I got back to pencil and paper again-----there just was not a lot to do with the pleasure I get from cartooning on there, at all.
I function fine away from the site, so that is the more sensible route to adhere to, surely. My drawings never got ruined on there, it was the overall atmosphere that was never satisfactory.
I never saw any real value in pointless exchanges with folks who drew using different methods to me, so I never really joined in much, I was perfectly happy [as I am now] working on my drawings my own way-----who on Earth else---other than myself----- can tell me the way I do my own unique drawings? I stopped reading replies to my posts on there because I wasn't taking advice from folks who drew differently from me, and apparantly this was a real problem for a few folks on there.
Being an artist, moreso a cartoonist, is about forging your own style, striking out in a different direction from others-----although there are undoubtedly some very talented cartoonists on their site, I do not especially want to copy any of their artists; I much prefer coming up with material all of my own, without being derivitive of others, using techniques I have discovered for myself.
I also dared to recount my approach of producing 'quality' cartoons using very inexpensive [read: 'cheap'] methods: see details elsewhere on this site explaining how I get decent results using recycled/free paper, ancient pencils [almost everything on here has been done by the SAME 4H pencil, which has lasted over 5 years!] and free coloring programs----on the CCGB forum, it is more about suckers being exploited /getting duped into buying pointless, expensive consumer goods they have been hoodwinked by the media into purchasing: these gadgets will not make anyone produce better cartoons unless they already have real talent in the first place.
Others can buy this needless gimmickery if they so desire---I myself do not need it, and my stuff is still improving without it.
There is at least one cartoonist on that site with expensive gear who cannot draw for toffee. I will not name this person.
But, hey, almost everyone----me included---is getting ripped off by the consumer society one way or another---it is just that for my cartoons I need hardly any expense, [others are clearly outraged over this] which satisfies me a lot.
All that the CCGB forum really seems to offer is the opportunity for site members to go along with 'identikit' methods of cartoon production; this includes very stifling, rules-ridden guidelines within their [admittedly entertaining] weekly caption cartoon competition-------real creativity is never going to function under such sterile and restricting conditions. There was NO evidence of any truly ground-breaking work getting done on there, in my time at least---who knows the situation there, now?
The site is just a bad memory now, I can only reccomend other artists going there if they are prepared to work within very limited confines: but, if you want to blaze your own trail, steer well clear of the CCGB forum: it is for conformists and 'by-the-numbers' artists only [of which there are many].
I remember I once dubbed their site:
'MAGGIE THATCHERS' STARCHED UNDIES'. ......and I still reckon this sounds apt........
History will NOT be made on the CCGB forum: it is all about reinforcing existing hierarchy, who are unwilling to share their 'limelight' with others-----they are welcome to it, I for one do not want this, all I am bothered about is getting my drawings looking better than before, and I hope the more prominent members continue to enjoy their ongoing 'fame' in a rapidly-dwindling cartoon market [hardly any comics left on the stands/falling standards/tiny postage-stamp-sized gags in the satire mags, next to no animation industry in the UK, etc, etc, etc...........]
Best to start up your own site if you are single-minded like I am.
I was telling [non-cartoonist] friends and relatives about the carry-on I experienced on this site, and they just shook their heads, describing it:
'it sounds like it's a real waste of time'.
But like I said, the site works fine for those of a similar mindset----but it was not a mindset I ever really wanted to subscribe to, I'm afraid.
Ye can't please everyone!!
However I will try and keep my less-than-shining statements on my views of this forums' shortcomings wholly seperate----- with hopefully no further mentions, elsewhere in my own site here---I have other more important matters to attend to.
A lot of these very specialist sites do not really get a lot of people looking in, other than other cartoonists and enthusiasts---many of the threads only get 200 odd hits or so, there is also the limitation on there of only being able to put on cartoon images that are only 1000 pixels wide: on here, I can easily add new images with three times as much resolution, which is much more desirable, and just as easy.
It is a sad fact of life that trivial junk like 85 per cent of facebook gets the mass viewer attention---this mindless minutae seems to be what the public really wants, going by ratings figures----and genuinely specialist sites like the CCGB forum are largely unknown by the wider public at large, but there you have it.
These sites occupy just their own tiny oasis within the vast internet world: if you stop visiting them, they simply dissolve into nothingness on your own personal radar, they do not spill out into the wider world in the slightest........... all these specialist sites, of whatever subject, are also bad for preaching by self-appointed 'experts' who spout endless tedious diatribes that come accrross as po-faced and pretentious---just really embarrassing stuff, all round, and no wonder their viewing figures are low.
Outside of their own isolated sphere, hardly anyone on the outside world is even aware of these sites' very existance.......it's really fragmented stuff.Sad but true.
But for interaction with other cartoonists this site is fine---if not so for me, in my time there!
Try it out for yourself if you are 'into' cartooning though : the site works well enough for some people, if not for everyone --- however it is easily one of the most infuriating and frustrating sites I was ever involved in, although plenty other current members would doubtless disagree with me. Only the Axis History Forum superceded this site in the off-putting stakes, in my experience of around 20 odd sites.
Quite simply, I loved doing drawings for them, but once I went on there , the fun I get out of cartooning just disappeared altogether and never returned until I got back to pencil and paper again-----there just was not a lot to do with the pleasure I get from cartooning on there, at all.
I function fine away from the site, so that is the more sensible route to adhere to, surely. My drawings never got ruined on there, it was the overall atmosphere that was never satisfactory.
I never saw any real value in pointless exchanges with folks who drew using different methods to me, so I never really joined in much, I was perfectly happy [as I am now] working on my drawings my own way-----who on Earth else---other than myself----- can tell me the way I do my own unique drawings? I stopped reading replies to my posts on there because I wasn't taking advice from folks who drew differently from me, and apparantly this was a real problem for a few folks on there.
Being an artist, moreso a cartoonist, is about forging your own style, striking out in a different direction from others-----although there are undoubtedly some very talented cartoonists on their site, I do not especially want to copy any of their artists; I much prefer coming up with material all of my own, without being derivitive of others, using techniques I have discovered for myself.
I also dared to recount my approach of producing 'quality' cartoons using very inexpensive [read: 'cheap'] methods: see details elsewhere on this site explaining how I get decent results using recycled/free paper, ancient pencils [almost everything on here has been done by the SAME 4H pencil, which has lasted over 5 years!] and free coloring programs----on the CCGB forum, it is more about suckers being exploited /getting duped into buying pointless, expensive consumer goods they have been hoodwinked by the media into purchasing: these gadgets will not make anyone produce better cartoons unless they already have real talent in the first place.
Others can buy this needless gimmickery if they so desire---I myself do not need it, and my stuff is still improving without it.
There is at least one cartoonist on that site with expensive gear who cannot draw for toffee. I will not name this person.
But, hey, almost everyone----me included---is getting ripped off by the consumer society one way or another---it is just that for my cartoons I need hardly any expense, [others are clearly outraged over this] which satisfies me a lot.
All that the CCGB forum really seems to offer is the opportunity for site members to go along with 'identikit' methods of cartoon production; this includes very stifling, rules-ridden guidelines within their [admittedly entertaining] weekly caption cartoon competition-------real creativity is never going to function under such sterile and restricting conditions. There was NO evidence of any truly ground-breaking work getting done on there, in my time at least---who knows the situation there, now?
The site is just a bad memory now, I can only reccomend other artists going there if they are prepared to work within very limited confines: but, if you want to blaze your own trail, steer well clear of the CCGB forum: it is for conformists and 'by-the-numbers' artists only [of which there are many].
I remember I once dubbed their site:
'MAGGIE THATCHERS' STARCHED UNDIES'. ......and I still reckon this sounds apt........
History will NOT be made on the CCGB forum: it is all about reinforcing existing hierarchy, who are unwilling to share their 'limelight' with others-----they are welcome to it, I for one do not want this, all I am bothered about is getting my drawings looking better than before, and I hope the more prominent members continue to enjoy their ongoing 'fame' in a rapidly-dwindling cartoon market [hardly any comics left on the stands/falling standards/tiny postage-stamp-sized gags in the satire mags, next to no animation industry in the UK, etc, etc, etc...........]
Best to start up your own site if you are single-minded like I am.
I was telling [non-cartoonist] friends and relatives about the carry-on I experienced on this site, and they just shook their heads, describing it:
'it sounds like it's a real waste of time'.
But like I said, the site works fine for those of a similar mindset----but it was not a mindset I ever really wanted to subscribe to, I'm afraid.
Ye can't please everyone!!
However I will try and keep my less-than-shining statements on my views of this forums' shortcomings wholly seperate----- with hopefully no further mentions, elsewhere in my own site here---I have other more important matters to attend to.
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