Pictures vs Words

[THROBBS]

Hey all! This is the spot I used to hangout when I 1st joined the bulletin boards. Though I had only posted 2 (illustrated) stories (different user name waaaay back then).

Lit HAD some sort of defunct illustration area, and I tricked Laurel & manu into creating an Illustrators corner forum, which started as a sub-forum of the Authors' Hangout. I lobbied to have it made a stand-alone forum...and no w it does — stands alone. It had a time, but has waned more than waxed recently.

about 10 years ago, manu started putting together EROTIC ART SEX ARTWORKS HUB, which has been in "beta" testing for all this time. Some advancements have been made.

I was wondering if many of youze guyz looked in on the illustrations, or do you find you are too busy reading and writing?
Do you vote on stories?
Do you Comment on stories?
Of course, as authors you keep tabs on your own votes, views, comments, favorites etc...

As producers, we are "show people" and need an audience and response. (you're lying if you say, that you only do it for yourself. If that was true, there would be no need to post).

For illustrations, there is the current frustration that without using the Public Beta (also called "New Lit Design") the votes (for illustrations) do not stick! You can click on the stars, but — nuffin'.

I understand that this is LITerotica and the stories come first (and we come after reading them)
I also get that personals and Am Pics have a bigger draw than drawings heh heh. Also, without any real vetting, the quality of the illustrations is, well, not always "quality". The bright side is, you haven't wasted much time in making that assessment. With a story you sometimes have to wade through a paragraph or two!

Naturally, voting and scoring (when working) is not way different than with stories — different strokes for different folks. Though, as yet, there are not different categories, as with the stories, to direct viewers to their interests.

What say you?
Is it something worthy of LIT?
"meh"?
Do you prefer "the thousand words" and the vision(s) they conjur?

I know I still enjoy stories. And some illustrated stories, when they are well matched. Just as I enjoy illustrations with "annotation".

I know there are quite a few authors who have published physical and/or digital works and know the value of a good cover. Yes, we do judge (at least initially) a book by its cover.


Anyhoo, more rambling out of me.



Some of my stuff there.

 

[TxRad]

Throbbs, you old dick you, it's good to see you.

In my case a picture is worth at least 10k words.

I come down to your forum ever so often to check out the new art work but there isn't a lot. I keep forgetting there is an art category as i can't draw a straight line with a ruler. I need to show more appreciation to an old friend.

You need to come by the AH coffee shop and let us know when you have some new art in your forum.

 

[KeithD]

I check out the artwork occasionally.

 

[THROBBS]

Throbbs, you old dick you, it's good to see you.

In my case a picture is worth at least 10k words.

I come down to your forum ever so often to check out the new art work but there isn't a lot. I keep forgetting there is an art category as i can't draw a straight line with a ruler. I need to show more appreciation to an old friend.

You need to come by the AH coffee shop and let us know when you have some new art in your forum.

Hey there, Tx!

Yeah, I've "parked" my Visual Artist's Corner thread(s) for a while, for lack of activity, and was trying to see if the "up front" area was imminently ready to... somethin'. I've kept feeding it over the past couple months. I think I have about 60 images there.

I might do that, maybe even if no new work.

 

[THROBBS]

I check out the artwork occasionally.

And?

Ever find something that resonates?
Enough to vote and/or comment?

Are you enticed by titles and/or descriptions?
Or do you just randomly click?

 

[29wordsforsnow]

Time for another prompt2draw-challenge over there, THROBBS?

 

[THROBBS]

Time for another prompt2draw-challenge over there, THROBBS?

Perhaps. Not many participants.

 

[SimonDoom]

I check out the artwork forum occasionally. There are some artists there doing sexy, artistic, interesting work. I vote and comment from time to time too on authors' works.

My guess is, the artwork aspect of the Site is something many members just haven't given any thought to or checked out. I think it's a worthwhile and enjoyable aspect of the Site.

 

[Handley_Page]

I liked the fan

 

[ElectricBlue]

It's a very quiet sub-set of the site with very little attendance. Lit isn't an ideal site for art, and as Throbs notes, the scores rarely stick. I post my own drawings on occasion, but they don't get viewed much - about the same as my few poems. It really is lit erotica, not art erotica, which is shame - but I do get the occasional comment, so it's not a complete waste of time.

 

[THROBBS]

I check out the artwork forum occasionally. There are some artists there doing sexy, artistic, interesting work. I vote and comment from time to time too on authors' works.

My guess is, the artwork aspect of the Site is something many members just haven't given any thought to or checked out. I think it's a worthwhile and enjoyable aspect of the Site.

Appreciated.

Yep, there is a LOT going on with LIT.
Naturally stories are the initial enticement and are by their nature more time consuming. When I was reading more stories, I'd down load them to read at my leisure. Some, I even printed out, as I prefer paper to pixels.

 

[THROBBS]

I liked the fan

Thanks, Handley_Page.
Speaking of word challenges/prompts.
"Fan" was the word which prompted that one.

 

[THROBBS]

It's a very quiet sub-set of the site with very little attendance. Lit isn't an ideal site for art, and as Throbs notes, the scores rarely stick. I post my own drawings on occasion, but they don't get viewed much - about the same as my few poems. It really is lit erotica, not art erotica, which is shame - but I do get the occasional comment, so it's not a complete waste of time.

Just a partial waste of time, eh.

As with the stories, once a post falls off the new list, views will drop like a bird poop.
The "random illustrations" list does help some, I've found a few that I had missed.

A proper search function and categories and thumbnails would really help. Thumbnails would be a challenge to implement, and a band with suck.

 

[AlphaLyon]

I've checked out the illustrator's forum and am incredibly jealous of their talents. I wish that there were more who were active, as I'd love to do a series with a visual artist as a collab.

 

[KeithD]

I bet that if artists offered to collaborate with writers, illustration would become a much more integral part of the Web site.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Just a partial waste of time, eh.

As with the stories, once a post falls off the new list, views will drop like a bird poop.
The "random illustrations" list does help some, I've found a few that I had missed.

It's no effort to post drawings, but I rarely look at my own drawing file rankings - they hardly change. I get more traffic and reposts on Tumblr, truth be told.

 

[SimonDoom]

I bet that if artists offered to collaborate with writers, illustration would become a much more integral part of the Web site.

I think this is a great idea. I think some authors reach out to artists, and I've made some preliminary contact with artists, but I don't think artists do all they can to connect with authors and make their works better known by being connected with published stories. This is a writing site, not an artwork site. If you're an artist and you want to get something out of Literotica, then reach out to writers. You can't just publish drawings to the Visual Artists' Corner and expect anything more than a minimal response.

 

[XerXesXu]

Yes, we do judge (at least initially) a book by its cover.


Anyhoo, more rambling out of me.



Some of my stuff there.

I've wondered about this. Most authors are keenly interested in their book covers, but nothing here for cover art. I enjoy putting together covers, and I even use deep fake in the body to give some idea of the person. These can't be posted in the text, but the author could make a note advertising their existence, or on publication the author could publish a comment containing in-site links.

 

[THROBBS]

I've checked out the illustrator's forum and am incredibly jealous of their talents. I wish that there were more who were active, as I'd love to do a series with a visual artist as a collab.

I bet that if artists offered to collaborate with writers, illustration would become a much more integral part of the Web site.

There have been a few furtive attempts at collabs. I've done a few (waaay back). Some work in Coming Together. An Erotic Cocktail (Literotica collection)

BlackTulip's — The Sequoia Secret (hmmm...she seems long gone. Couldn't find her stories )

have to look up others.


Someday, I may do more, but generally, my erotic work is for giggles and too often collabs can become like actual work.

 

[THROBBS]

It's no effort to post drawings, but I rarely look at my own drawing file rankings - they hardly change. I get more traffic and reposts on Tumblr, truth be told.

I'm not ready to open that "can of worms" (Tumblr)...yet.

 

[THROBBS]

I think this is a great idea. I think some authors reach out to artists, and I've made some preliminary contact with artists, but I don't think artists do all they can to connect with authors and make their works better known by being connected with published stories. This is a writing site, not an artwork site. If you're an artist and you want to get something out of Literotica, then reach out to writers. You can't just publish drawings to the Visual Artists' Corner and expect anything more than a minimal response.

Sure I can, if I make the effort to make it known that there is erotic art on LIT. Sure it is a "writing site", but manu has made some effort to create EROTIC ART SEX ARTWORKS HUB, so there's that. Growth, change, evolution, REVOLUTION!

Here I is, "reaching out to authors."

Writing can, and does stand alone. Visual art can, and does stand alone.
Sometimes they work well together and enhance each other.

 

[THROBBS]

I've wondered about this. Most authors are keenly interested in their book covers, but nothing here for cover art. I enjoy putting together covers, and I even use deep fake in the body to give some idea of the person. These can't be posted in the text, but the author could make a note advertising their existence, or on publication the author could publish a comment containing in-site links.

I've found that authors are interested in their covers. However, I have also found that many feel that they can "do it themselves" (stock images, photoshop & and some awful typefaces). For the most part I reckon the results are adequate. Considerable time, and expertise is needed to do it well, and that isn't typically an expense that an author wishes to cover (heh heh— cover) as the return is minimal. If one can find the mutual fun in a project, then perhaps... oh... that's a unicorn.

 

[NotWise]

There have been a few furtive attempts at collabs. I've done a few (waaay back). Some work in Coming Together. An Erotic Cocktail (Literotica collection)

Someday, I may do more, but generally, my erotic work is for giggles and too often collabs can become like actual work.

One of my daughters went into art as a career with the goal of illustrating childrens stories. She no longer has an interest in that, though she's still an artist. Part of the change was because authors don't recognize that the illustrator's work is more time-consuming and demanding than the author's work.

My son-in-law (by a different daughter) is an animator and professional illustrator for technical presentations. I got a little interest out of him for animating one of my stories, but the story would have been at least a half-hour, and he might have been able to afford time for a five-minute animation.

 

[AlphaLyon]

I've found that authors are interested in their covers. However, I have also found that many feel that they can "do it themselves" (stock images, photoshop & and some awful typefaces).

I try not to be a judge-y person, but the minute I see ComicSans or Papyrus font, I'm triggered. It's also about layout and design. I see far too many covers that don't understand the fundamentals, and it grinds my gears to no end. You don't need anything super fancy to make it look good if your original starting artwork / photo / illustration is solid.

 

[THROBBS]

One of my daughters went into art as a career with the goal of illustrating childrens stories. She no longer has an interest in that, though she's still an artist. Part of the change was because authors don't recognize that the illustrator's work is more time-consuming and demanding than the author's work.

My son-in-law (by a different daughter) is an animator and professional illustrator for technical presentations. I got a little interest out of him for animating one of my stories, but the story would have been at least a half-hour, and he might have been able to afford time for a five-minute animation.

I cannot say that, across the board, "that the illustrator's work is more time-consuming and demanding than the author's work". There are novels which take years, and it is a craft that also take many years of practice. Some illustration, can be created "quickly" — the years of practice, that's something else.

Relativity.

Spectrum.