ARS GRATIA ARTIS:: The Lost Art of Illoing

[njpax]

I am a fandom dinosaur. But you know that already. I wonder if there was  a day when the actual dinosaurs - the Brontosaurus and the T. Rex and all the other great beasts - looked out upon their diminishing world and despaired at how much had been changed, how much had been lost. I can't speak for the behemoths, but I can speak for myself and what

Comments

[syredronning]

I've actually a whole lot to say about this, but not the time right now. I'll try write some this week :)

a.q. who helped setting up the art show at her last K/S con in May and owns oiginals by Connie Faddis, Suzan Lovett, Shelley Butler...*G*

[njpax]

Great, thanks! Love ro hear more from you!

[syredronning]

Okay, let's see

Ars Gratia Artis

[njpax]

Art is a creative expression, and critiqueing it has always been difficult. Odd that I, as a writer, allways found it easier to edit/critique a story than to say what was right or wrong about an illo or drawing. I can only say what I "think" of it, but I'm no judge. We were fortunate, when we were doing Contact, to have a fairly large stabile of artists do draw from (no pun intended

[lemonrocket]

Today, with the majority of fiction posted on line, there is little need for story illos.I wouldn't say that there isn't much need (although I understand that artwork is/was a drawcard for potential printzine buyers), but you're right in that there are very few instances of art illustrating fan stories online

[njpax]

: It's yet another way in which the internet has changed the face of fandom, I suppose.

Exactly. And I'm not saying one is better than the other, just different. When I first entered fandom, I thought the whole illustrating thing was strange - after all, I'd read books without pictures since I left grade school! But then I got used to it, at least for fan fiction, and it became uncommon to read without illos!

: I guess, with the immediacy of the internet, writers no longer need to send their fics to zine editors in order to get them published; they can just put them online Oh, I strongly disagree that there's no "need" to send their fics to an editor! No desire, maybe. But from what I've read, in several fandoms, there's definitely a need for editing as more than just a beta read. And, likewise, the stories put up on the Internet don't "need" artwork to enhance them, but in my opinion, they do make it more attractive and appealing

[lemonrocket]

Oh, I strongly disagree that there's no "need" to send their fics to an editor!

I think I worded that badly. What I meant was that authors in the internet age can publish without an editor, not that they necessarily should. It's a case of 'write it, post it' - whereas, in the pre-internet age, the only feasible way for many writers to be published/noticed was to submit their works to a zine editor for publication (with all the conditions therein). Now, you can find a decent-sized readership with a few clicks of the mouse. I think I was trying to make a comparison between the past and present processes of publication. I just didn't do it very well. :-)

And I agree on the need for better editing of fics online. Sometimes, a good story can be completely ruined by bad spelling and/or other common writing errors.

Next time, I'll try not to comment late at night when my brain is incapable of coherent thought... and, yes, I'm breaking that self-imposed rule now. *g*

[syredronning]

One of the drawbacks of the zine world was that stories that didn't have "mainstream" contents (unusual pairings, high ratings, many warnings) may have never been published. People were depending on editors to a degree, and you could either start your own zine or give up.

I think with the Internet, the range of available themes and styles in stories has broadened a lot. But of course, the editing is almost never as good as in zines.