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MISCATEGORIZATIONS AND YOU
Every day I spend a couple of hours perusing around the vector gallery and I have the chance to see some of the most talented and inspiring artists around. Of course, the vector gallery has a lot of people who are still learning the basics, and it's awesome to see all the hard work people put into their creations.

That said, there sure are a lot of miscategorizations. Generally, a miscategorization is an obvious mistake of placement such as a photo or blatant Photoshop filter work. However, the second most common miscategorization is in fact vector work using raster elements. I think most of this is due to a misconception that as long as the main subject is vector, you can tweak it and enhance it however you want in Photoshop. This comes from the long history of gallery directors turning a blind eye to this sort of editing. But, both $Ikue and myself are getting tough on the vector gallery and moving these works from the vector gallery.

Now, I know that "raster elements" is sort of a vague term, and much of this is a repeat of $Ikue's Vector Do's and Dont's article, but I felt compelled to spread his message of education targeting specific trends.

Don't use brushes unless they're vector brushes. If you use them in Photoshop, there's a huge percentage they are in fact not vector. Here are some example of things I will move from the vector gallery: brushes of clouds, brushes of grass, brushes of paint splatters.

Don't combine mediums. If you put a photo in a vector composition, it's no longer a vector! That includes vectoring a person and leaving the original photograph in the background. If you do your shading with the smudge or blur tools, it's no longer vector. I will move these pieces.

Don't use textures. For example, crumpled paper images. Yeah, I know they look cool, but don't do it!

Don't put reference shots and work in progress shots in the vector gallery. They belong in scraps, a place for incomplete deviations.

H'okay, so... now you can see what we're trying to accomplish: the vector gallery will be vectors. Good news for all of us, if you ask me! If you see any of these signs in the vector gallery though, don't hesitate to send in a policy violation report (check the lower right hand corner of the deviation's description). We'll take care of it and the world will be a better place!


REAL LIFE
So, as many of you know, I am taking midterms. For the last week, and this week, and the next week, my social life on deviantART is forfeit to the struggles of education! Perhaps this will make me a wise individual, but so far I've been perfecting the best ways to memorize lines and lines of trivial and pointless information only to immediately forget it all after turning in the test. Yes, college rocks.

My Spring Break is on the 14th though, so I can't wait. I'll be going home to Midland, maxing, relaxing, all chill, all cool, and shoot some bball outside the school. Not going to do much else besides some client work and meeting with friends, so that means look for a great deal of deviantART activity from me very soon. I have a collaboration which is literally a year in the making (but only because I'm lazy) that should come out then. Keep your eyes peeled!

So what are you guys up to? How's life? How's the kids?

VECTOR GALLERY _{(I copied this from $Ikue because he's a genius!)}
Vector Art is a technique, meaning art created in a vector-based program. Vector art is the use of primitives such as Points, Lines and Curves. The vector programs keeps track of the relationship between these primitives. This allows the images created, to be scaled and rescaled without loosing quality or becoming pixelated. This is in opposition to "raster (or bitmap) graphics" which is an image represented by a collection of pixels. These pixels if scaled above 100%, will degrade and loose quality.

Popular vector programs are: Illustrator, Freehand, Corel Draw, and Flash. Almost everything created with these programs is considered a vector piece. I say "almost" because there are exceptions to every rule. If your vector piece combines raster and vector images then I'm sorry to tell you but it is no longer a vector piece (and subsequently does not belong in the vector gallery). Example: If you finish your vector piece and realize after exporting it to a more web friendly version, you think it is lacking something. So you take it into photoshop and apply a simple texture to the surface of the piece just to give it a little something extra. This is no longer a vector piece, and should be posted to the "Digital art > Mixed media", gallery. Like wise if you take this raster texture image into illustrator and just apply a layer style (multiply, screen etc.) this is still not a vector piece. The common factor in these two equations is the raster texture. Since this texture cannot be scaled above 100% this makes the vector technically useless beyond that raster images original size. That being said don't think you are unable to add texturing to a vector piece. Most of these programs come equipped with detailed pattern swatches, textured brushes, and even the ability to "Live trace" which does as it's name implies, traces a raster image and turns it into a vector graphic.

Just to reiterate my point and to ensure there is no confusion here is a list of generally considered Raster Bases programs: Photoshop, Painter, MS Paint, , and a great free alternative Gimp. Basically everything created with these programs is considered a Raster image. I say use a clause simply because a few of these programs are capable of creating images with points, lines, and curves just as a vector program would. Photoshop for instance can create vector based images, however these are typically considered "Vexels" because of the fact that Vexel artists typically incorporate brush strokes into their images (for hair, etc.). Speaking of brushes. Just because you have downloaded and installed a brush set for photoshop or any other of the aforementioned raster programs that have the word "vector" in the title, does not deem your image a vector piece. These brushes come in different sizes and no matter how high a resolution they may come in, they still cannot be scaled above their 100% mark without loosing quality.

To put it simply "Vector is not a "style" like Anime, but a "medium" like charcoal. Asking what vector-art looks like is like asking what an oil painting looks like. It could look like Rembrandt, Picasso, or a fifth grader's fingerpainting."


HELPFUL VECTOR LINKS
What Are Vectors? (In-depth)
How Do You Make Vectors?
Vector Do's and Dont's


DAILY DEVIATIONS
As part of my role here, feel free to send me or $Ikue Daily Deviation suggestions. Please note the following however:
Suggest Vector Work Only Please
Make sure the deviant has no more than 4 DDs and none were given within the last 3 months
Remember Quality over Quantity

Also, if you just want to discuss vectors or talk about events, organizations, and groups related to vectors, feel free to send me a note or drop a line here!


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