2. My photoshop skills are good enough to pass on a very elementary level, but not anywhere close to what some of these people can do. (I'm not bashing myself, just making a factual observation.) 3. My ideas (thus far) lack humor, character, and storytelling. (Elements that rank higher than skill level, or so I hear). I guess I wasn't clear on the purpose of entries and how they're voted on. I was just challenging my own skills, and posting to keep myself accountable. (I'll have to start using my writer brain!) 4. I lack creative craftsmanship. There are times when I have a good idea, but lack the knowledge to make it happen, forcing myself to fall back on an easier idea. I can see how this could improve greatly with practice, so the thought is not discouraging. 5. I need to change my thought process from "what can I do with this [that's within my range of skills]?" to "What would be unexpected, clever, and/or funny?" And along this line, I have to really consider WHAT skills I want to develop and stay focused on what I'm trying to learn. Do I really need illustration skills? I'm not quite sure. 6. Working on a daily "chop" with a higher expectation in mind takes a lot longer than one hour (the time limit I set for myself). This is the biggest obstacle for me- I really don't have time. I have real work to do, and a million other things, and I have NOT forgotten the fans of my Makai series, asking about book 4. Still, I enjoy the creative energy these photoshop projects generate. 7. Every online community has their fair share of drama, and I feel bad that newcomers can see it. I can agree the quality of submissions is not what it used to be, back in the site's glory days (heck.. I won 3 in a row and my skills are truly minimal). So I'm torn, and embarrassed. While I don't believe my work compares to professionals (and clearly they are cream-of-the crop professionals), I do want to participate, learn, improve, and get feedback. Sometimes a vote is feedback enough to know I've done a decent job. And if I do the daily challenges without submitting finals, I know myself well enough to say I won't have reason to tough it out when things get tough. But that doesn't mean I MUST submit an entry every day, whether it's quality work or not. So it's time to be more selective with what I want to invest in. Perhaps a year from now, I'll look back at these first 10 entries and have a good laugh. :-)
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Toni KerrOutdoors. Moonlight. Mountains. Convertible. Dawn and Dusk. Beach. Anything creative. DIY White-cheddar Popcorn. Coffee. Salt. Archives
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