Right now we just have one Member Gallery. That'll get big pretty fast ... although the search and tagging will really help you find stuff. But do any of you have any recommendations on how we could better organize this? Should we break it down into sub-galleries? Whaddya think?
I think you'll have to break it down eventually. How about sub galleries by medium? Or subject - marine, landscapes, portraits etc although there is bound to be some work that is difficult to categorize.
Another option you may want to consider is by member, although that might prove to be a little difficult in creating the gallery for some. In reality I doubt that every member will post images, although it would be great if they did, so the number of galleries may be manageable.
Just a few thoughts, I'll be interesting in seeing other member's ideas.
Chris
Christopher M. Grimes - join me on Facebook
http://www.grimesgallery.com
Great feedback, Chris. Let's see what others think too. BTW, there IS the ability to look at an individual's gallery. We'll need to make some adjustments to the user profile page ... maybe replacing the "shared favorites" and "shared feeds" with a person's "Gallery" tied to your uploads in the media area. No timeline yet, but it's on the ol' roadmap!
A gallery within each member profile would be fantastic. It's what I've been missing when I click on a member's profile and wish to learn (and see) more. I would much prefer to see an individual gallery page on someone's profile, rather than their 'shared feeds'.
The site has a wonderful framework and I know the content will build in time. In the couple days I've been here, I am personally missing a bit of the visual overload I get from sites like Flickr or Wet Canvas--lots of image based lead-ins and galleries to browse. I'm happy to hear that more visual content, through gallery organization, will be built in time.
It appears that many of the main forum subjects haven't been established yet, since there are only a few medium-specific (oil, watercolor, drawing) forums set now, and no subject-specific forums (landscape, portraiture, still life) yet. When those do get built, it will indeed be really nice when image galleries can parallel those main forums.
It's looking good, thanks for asking us! Val
http://valcox.blogspot.com
I agree - I think genre galleries (landscape, still life, portraiture etc) and media (watercolour, oils, pastels, coloured pencils, monochrome) would help.
It's very odd looking at posts which don't have an image in them. It's very like Yahoo groups in that respect and, unfortunately, I have to confess if I have to click an extra link I very often don't.
My name is Katherine and I write about art every day on my blog Making A Mark.
I think you're talking about posts in the forums that don't have images in them? I haven't seen any posts to the galleries that don't have images in them. It's key to differentiate between forums discussions and the gallery. You can post images both in the gallery AND within forum threads. I posted a message to the Community Help area dedicated to this very topic http://www.artistdaily.com/forums/t/18.aspx
There are instruction on how to upload your own images AND how to link to images on other sites. And as you can see, there are images embedded in my post!
I think most people visiting the site thus far are choosing to put their images into the galleries rather than in the discussions. But by all means, I encourage people to post images both places!
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Also, I need to write a help thread about tagging ... this is a GREAT way to help identify and classify images or any other content on our site. For example, if we just break the forums by genre, then you really can't then put the images also into media. You can only place an image into one gallery.
But regardless of what gallery you put them into, you can TAG your gallery or forum post. For example, look at http://www.artistdaily.com/media/p/93.aspx .... this person tagged their image as both landscape and acrylic. When you're in the gallery, you can click on either tag and sort through the images either way! You can even add more tags to your search and narrow down the search even more. This allows people to search images an infinite amount of ways and as specifically as you'd like.
I'll try to put up a post about tagging more in-depth in the next couple of days, but it's REALLY cool.
Cris, Val You two all all over the place--good people!!!
There should be sub galleries by subject (Portrait, landscape, abstract seascape, ect) members do have their preferences on what they like to view and they can view any number of them if they like. For the most part it wouldn't do much good to separate by media. Who can tell an acrylic from an oil to even a few water colors. Maybe wet media from dry though would be appropriate.
Members need their own albums on their personnel page, perhaps my files could be changed to my albums.
One of the problems with any gallery is when you upload a image and then one or two members behind you upload eight or ten of their images then your gone and when you get down a few pages you'll get very few views. The only way I can think to help this is to limit members uploads to perhaps 2 a day. That would help some.
HOw does one load up a picture of a painting into the members gallery - I can't seem to find the instructions anyplace?
J. Richard, when you're in the Member Gallery, look in the upper right hand corner where you see 'UPLOAD', click on it and follow the prompts.
For more detailed instruction, you can find a well written tutorial which shows how to upload images from your computer into individual forums and groups.
http://www.artistdaily.com/forums/t/18.aspx
(This can be found on the main site page under "Browse Discussions > American Artist Community > Community Help")
If you have further questions, feel free to start a discussion thread of your own in the 'Community Help' section, as your question (and the answers) will help others as well. :)
Good luck! Val
I think that subject matter would be the most informative way of sorting. Media would also be helpful. But I'm about to raise a very touchy point. My biggest problem with this type of gallery is wading through all the amateur work looking for the really good work and meaningful discussion. This is what has turned me away from sites like this in the past.
Is there a stated purpose for the gallery? Is it that anyone can post anything? Can it be divided into a section where people post to get advice and an area for accomplished artists to seriously discuss their work. This would mean that there have to be moderators/jurors who move incorrectly posted work. That may be more involved than is possible at this time but every worthwhile show has jurors. Failing that accomplished artists will stop showing their work next to that of questionable quality. I have seen shows steadily decline when there is no standard maintained. I am not suggesting that beginners or the less capable be banned from showing... just that there be a separate section assigned to those posting to get help.
I am aware that my suggestion can lead to charges of 'elitism' but I do think that the purpose and standard of the galley needs to be further defined. The majority of users will eventually decide that, but we do not subscribe to The American Artist magazine to see just any art.
Hi Eric:
I was wondering when the Member Gallery is going to be organized better? There is quite a discussion going on about having a separate gallery for the nudes. Perhaps this could be a priority as members are getting a bit hot under the collar over this subject.
I can't seem to see anywhere that I can contact an administrator directly so thought I would post here in the hopes of some action on this.
My choice would be by media. I don't care what the subject is as much as how the artist handled the medium. I'm so focused on my medium and I have little knowledge of other media's technique and limitations, I find it difficult to do anything more then be a partron of other media.
Hi everyone. We just had a meeting on this last week and are finalizing our plans on a better organization of the gallery. Hopefully you'll start to see something later this week!
Thanks for the update Eric. We'll all be looking forward to the new galleries.
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