h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi, I'm out of work at the moment....so I have some free time to help contribute... I have Corel Draw and Photopoint 8, but I do not have anything on the internet already.

If you know of a good place I can post images for free for you to view I'd be greatfull.

If you fancy taking the all-important test, let me know and I can pick some 'test' subjects for you.

What we tend to do is ask volunteers to do a brief test, which basically requires two original graphics. Once these are completed, they can be emailed to us or posted via a link to your own webspace if you have some. The Artists will take a look and generally come back with comments and if the test is successful we could have you into the group fairly quickly.

As art requires a different skillset to the other volunteer groups we have, we're always on the lookout for new artists, so as I said, if you fancy having a go at a test, let me know.

Jimster

Hi Stoopher

*waves at Jimster*

It's a good idea to have a bit of a practice before you do the test. You could pick a title at random or look in the <./>GuideML-PictureLibrary</.> and have a go at copying a picture that you think suits your style.

To display your work, your best bet will be any free space provided by your ISP. Failing that, we've had good service from Angelfire and Easyspace but there's no dodging the adverts.

Amy

I had a similar discussion on a different board about getting pics on the web and the sites which came up were:

http://uploadit.org/ uploadit (fairly limited)
http://www.tripod.lycos.co.uk/ tripod (general webspace)
http://www.freeservers.com/ freeservers (banners and pop ups )
http://www.photobucket.com/ photobucket (eBay UK powersellers recommend)
http://www.auctionpix.co.uk/ Auctionpix (eBay UK powersellers recommend - only 15 days though )
http://www.fotopic.net/ fotopic (This was the most highly recommended and the guy I know who uses it says it's great.)

I'm hoping these wont be moderated as being commercial links, if they do you might want to copy them to the Artists Yahoo! group for future reference.



Mel

Thanks Mel .

Thanx for the link to fotopic E G Mel. Your friend was right. I've uploaded some sketches I've done and you can view them on http://c-hanson-g.fotopic.net/c201288.html I'll let you know when I'm ready to make the test. The site is quality as it gives you 250mb free...4ever but there was a message saying a large nuber of files and galleries were lost dew to a corruption b4 I signed up. I dont think this is a regular problem but only time will tell......

wow... I'm very impressed but maybe thats because my skill is graphics and design rather than art.

I think you shall make a welcome addition so long as you get past the rigors of the technical aspects.

That's true. Unfortunately, we're lumbered with having to use Yahoo groups and FTP, and some people find the processes a bit wearisome, but these look fantastic. One of the other artists will be along soon to set the test by selecting a couple of entries from the Edited Guide, but if your test entries look anything like these graphics, I reckon you'll ace it

Those are interesting pictures. I particularly like the picture of the woman - it's a really good composition making excellent use of the canvas space and it uses strong lines that nevertheless have freedom and life.

To adjust your style to the demands of producing pictures for h2g2 you'll need to consider several things.

The dimensions of our pictures are quite small compared to the work you've displayed.
When drawing your picture you need to bear in mind that a circular crop of it has to be made for the front page.
Black on a white canvas doesn't really work very well for h2g2 - particularly on the dark blue background of the classic goo skin.

As I suggested above, try to recreate an existing graphic so that you can figure out how to move your style towards the h2g2 requirements.

Amy

Hi again...

sorry been gone so long as I said out of work but been looking...no luck yet.

Chuck us a test an I'll see if I can do you something worthy.

Hi Stoopher,

Thanks for volunteering to be a Community Artist.

To join this volunteer scheme there is an art test. This is because the standard of Edited Entries on h2g2 is very high, and the Editors would like the illustrations to match this

Two random Edited Entries have been picked using the Infinite Improbability Drive. You are asked to do a picture for each of them. You can look in the <./>GuideML-PictureLibrary</.> for the kind of graphics used in the past, use the entry for inspiration, and use the internet for research, but make sure that you follow the specifications that you can find on the <./>CommunityArtists-What</.> page.

The Editors do not want to see photographic manipulations or montages at this stage.

You need to produce the main image and the two front page circles for each title (although it's possible that only the main ones will be used because these Entries have already had their day on the Front Page).

Once the graphics are done, let the Editors know by Posting to this thread. The details for sending them into h2g2 will then be given to you.

If your pictures meet the Editorial standards then not only will you become a Community Artist but your test pictures will be blobbed and added to the entries.

Your entries are:

A918416 - Popular Mythology of Northern Ireland
A717554 - Electron Microscopes

Feel free to ask questions and good luck.

NB: The same rules of copyright apply to images as to text. If you are in any doubt as to what this means, please ask.


Best of luck with this!

J

Good luck, Stoopher. Are you clear about the number of images required? It'll be 3 or 4 for each title depending on whether the main image is rectangular or not.

Yeah I think so.....a set of 1 rectangular (200 pixels wide 160 heigh and < than 20k) and 3 round ones (90 x 90 pixels , 6k) ?

I've had a stab already but.....hmmm.

Have a look on http://c-hanson-g.fotopic.net/c206253.html

Let us know if Im on the right track.

Hi Stoopher, you have been busy!

On the <./>CommunityArtists-What</.> page it says 'Images can either fill the rectangle, or be a free-standing non-rectangular image (cropped to the edges of the image) with a transparent background, and should have a one-pixel black border.'

Note the bit about *fill the rectangle.*

The rule about the black border applies to all images, whatever their shape. A rectangular image also must have a black border but if you leave a lot of your canvas blank, this tends to look a bit daft, so, if you're producing a rectangular image, the picture should fill the canvas just like a picture you'd hang on the wall. An example would be the picture on A1141787. Your mythology picture could be made to conform just by painting in a background and sticking a black border around it.

We want to avoid the situation where the BBC servers are delivering empty space because it's a waste of bandwidth. Additionally, vast white spaces don't look good when viewed in the classic goo skin. <./>A1141787?skin=classic</.> looks fine against the dark blue background colour because the picture reaches the edge of the frame but pictures with white space don't look good at all. Painting up to the edge of the frame is good from a compositional point of view too. Pictures that don't touch the sides tend to look as if they've been drawn by a child.

If you want an image to be displayed without a background, you have to make separate arrangements for the two colours of skin (white and goo). Again, there must be a black border around the shape. An example would be A1112211 and <./>A1112211?skin=classic</.>

It's easier to arrange for irregular images to have a black border if you're using a vector drawing technique. It would be difficult, for instance, to put a border around your electron microscope.

On the subject of the microscope, you can adjust the canvas size to suit the image. You'll have noticed that I did that for the donkey picture and you could consider doing the same for the microscope. On <./>CommunityArtists-What</.> it says 'The main image must be a rectangle no more than 200 pixels wide. The height is normally around 160 pixels, but can be negotiated with the Editors if necessary.' Again the underlining principle is to try to avoid using up bandwidth to deliver unproductive pixels. The maximum width of 200 pixels allows for proper wrapping of the text around the picture even on small monitors and isn't negotiable.

You might get away with adding a background to your electron microscope but a bit of a rethink might be the way to go with that one.

Amy

Redone those 2 a bit....ps. is there a time limit? see them on http://c-hanson-g.fotopic.net/c201288.html

Got a job now.... but I'll still be willing to give some time to providing h2g2 with artwork...... if I pass

Those are much better but I notice that your graphics package is not cooperative when it comes to putting a single pixel black line around the edges of a rectangle. You aren't alone - it's something many of us suffer from. The problem is caused by anti-aliasing. There are many ways around it, personally I draw round with a pixel pen.

Is it possible to change some preferences somewhere so that your pictures are displayed against a plain goo (#000066) background instead of that green one?

I think it's useful if we work to a deadline otherwise things drift. It would be nice to get this finished by next Tuesday (22 June).

Congratulations on getting a job .

*runs back in with a plain brown envelope*

You might need this for the next stage . http://design.gondastudios.com/h2g2circletemplate.htm

I do not seem to have a goo in corel, and the borders on the images youve viewed are dictated by fotopik ( the site I've posted them on) but i've changed it to the nearest to white they have,.... but the original images on my pc have 1 pixel boarders just te way you like um.

Tuesday should be cool.

Corel what? CorelPainter? CorelDraw?

Having read the first post in this thread again, I see you're using CorelDraw. You need to change the default palette to web colours. Go to the Windows Menu >> Color Palettes >> Netscape Colors.

Amy