User Art Gallery

Suggestions, Wishes, Ideas
#1

When you go to an art software website, what do you usually see? Lots of great art by users of the software.
Yep, it’s marketing. And I think it’s effective. Attractive compelling images are important for selling.
Here’s an example.
Surely this has a beneficial sales effect. How could it not.
We all like to think marketing doesn’t work on us, but it does.

Jan, have you ever thought about collecting stuff from users and creating a user art gallery?

multiple uses for user art -

  1. New page on the website showing off nifty user art, to help convince others to buy. Attach information to each image to explain what it is/what feature was used?

  2. Occasional Twitter posts calling attention to some cool art while boosting awareness of PMNG with appropriate hashtags and links. Build up dat social media marketing presence! (that’s what social media is for)

  3. Random selection displayed on the PMNG Home Screen. It’s fun to see what the other boiz are makin’. I expect most would like this, but for those that don’t a switch to turn it off is probably advisable.

Yes, you’d NEED to curate and quality control the artwork and only include the best of the best. Even seen an ugly underwear model? haH
I think you may need artwork release forms from contributing artists so they can’t randomly try to make you remove their stuff after they send it to you.

#2

I think that this is legal aspect is going to be the main problem. If the images were commissioned by third parties (e.g. a video game company) then the artist has relinquished the Copyrights to his/her employees. Artists working under contract for a software company might have signed some clauses that don’t allow them to work for other companies, which would include giving away free images to software companies during that period.

Needless to say, the most attractive images are probably going to be those of professional artists who do work under contract. But legal forms are going to be needed for any artwork that is not released under some kind of open source license — and public domain won’t do, since Cosmigo in Germany, which is country that does not recognize public domain.

#3

Ah, good info. Sounds like there’s more to this than I thought.

I appreciate the insight, tajmone.

#4

And I appreciate your proposal, because I agree with sample images being a good marketing factor (of course, like with book covers, they don’t necessarily imply anything about the nature of the product, but it’s true that they make a lasting impression on website visitors).

Also, not necessarily every visitor to the website has full knowledge about Pixel Art, in which case nice images might capture his/her attention to Pixel Art itself (and consequently, to the software too). I guess that many people think of Pixel Art in terms of what video games looked like on the first Atari or IntelliVision game consoles, ignoring how it later on developed into a an art field of its own (especially during the Amiga era).

So, good images are always good reminders of the potentiality of PMNG — after all, the tools are there to achieve high quality art, provided the user has drawing abilities and knowledge, and the patience to learn how to master the tools.