Great idea tez.
I think a forum for newbies would be an excellent idea!
Yeh, as a newbie/hobbiest myself, I would think that a place for newbies wouldb cool. The problem is that it’s too easy to miss stuff here as there is so much being posted (which is good for the site).
It is however the place to come for all things ZB.
Another idea is to have a WIP and Completed works forums.
Our basic human nature is to draw to what looks visualy pleasing. When new users works are mixed with high end work, it gives the eyes of the viewer a comparison in which the attention goes out to the best and less to the rest.
Of course there is nothing to say that new user are not allowed to post in the main area of art. But lack of interest might make them revert to the newbies forum till they reach a higher standard. The Forum may not even need to be named “newbie,” but maybe a more productive word as to not be-little somone that has not achive a certain standard.
Of course this would need more thinking, but I think it would get more people posting without thinking they will be ignored, or given just left 1 star to say their effors are rubbish. In fact they may have made a huge improovment based on their individual natural skills, this is the critical point when they need constructive crits.
I still visit zbrushcentral daily, but I rarely post anymore. I guess it’s partially due to the way the community of the forum is nowadays, compared to years ago.
Zcentral was a place to hang out with familiar faces (nicknames ;p), I’m very happy that Zbrush has become such a major succes and the amount of wonderful pieces of arts on this forum is incredible, but I have to agree that the community aspect of the forum is suffering.
Most of the people that used to post daily on the forum some years ago seem to have gone silent now.
But it’s a bit like they say, there’s no real need for a tight community anymore like there used to be. There’s enough information out there to learn almost everything there is to know about Zbrush.
Years ago it was more of an interactive trial and error exercise with most of the small community participating to figure stuff out.
I think that will come back once the software is a bit more stable again. Right now great results can be produced with great pain. It’s powerful but painful tool. Very frustrating at times. That makes me feel that I labor using it, not enjoying it’s fluidity which it had before. Thus… a slight lack of interest beyond the obvious on my side.
Lemo
The main forum should be split into, finished pieces from industry artist, finished pieces from everybody else, and a WIP section. In the WIP section, excessive fawning should be an executable offense. Or just ban them. Crits only!
Finished works versus WIP threads/ sketchbooks would be the best way to go IMO, especially with the evident explosion of sketchbook threads in the last few months… just my 2 cents 