Some more notes on pictures, Torchwood-style

[tencrush]

First off, let me clarify the point I was trying to make in my last post (apart from the LOVEME! pic, that's just a picture I was mocking HARD.)

These icons (I don't know these two people, and I don't think I've ever ventured near their fic) tell me something:



What they tell me is that the people they belong to don't give a toss about aspect ratio. Or clarity. Or legibility. It tells me these people pay precious little attention to finer details and aesthetics. And as such, they put me off reading those users' fics. Because I assume that they also pay no attention to detail in their fic, don't care much for spelling or punctuation or characterisation. Care more about quickly and dirtily getting a basic point across and don't really put much thought into honing that point so that we can all share in its wonderfulness. I judge people on their icons. And yes, that probably makes me a bitch, but it comes back to that basic Nice thing we're all supposed to do when we say to ourselves "Aww, poor diddums, they probably put a lot of work into that icon, we should leave them be." No. Just because you've put a lot of work in, doesn't mean it's not shit. And the same goes for fanfiction. It's one of the reasons I hate lengthy author's notes. I don't want to know what your inspiration was, or how long it took you or how many beta readers you had who still managed to ignore basic grammar mistakes, I just care about the finished product. If it's good, it's good, if it's shit, it's shit. End of story.

ANYWAY...

THIS PROMO PICTURE:



A few things. Gwen's in the middle because the other two are significantly taller. Putting Jack in the middle would require raising both Ianto and Gwen up to a higher level to balance out the picture, and I think they probably tried it, but the end result would more than likely have caused anyone looking at it to remark "Why is Jack a midget?". Or they would have had to put Jack higher than the other two, resulting in midget Ianto. Why Gwen is waving two guns IN THEIR FAYCES, I do not know. But from a design point of view, the picture makes sense to me, and I don't think it's part of AN AGENDA of any kind. Having said that, it looks like it was a leftover from a novel shoot, and the smokey effects are cheap and nasty and yet again, it's a pathetic excuse for promotional material, I don't think there actually IS a design person working on Torchwood, I think it's something they got an apprentice in for or something, their pics are uniformly awful. In fact, the misty photoshop filters on this one tell me that the person doing Torchwood's promotional material is probably also the person who made this:



And if any of you reading don't know what the bottom half of that manip looks like, then you should count yourselves very lucky indeed. I was thinking of cropping it in such a way that left just a wee bit of cock poking up into the bottom of the frame, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. But look, the style's very similar. As is the level of talent. Enough said.

Comments

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

oo
hadn't seen that promo pic
jack looks like he's made out of plastic
so does gwen, actually
ianto's mouth looks odd...

[clarrisani.livejournal.com]

You judge people on their icons? Really? I'd hate to think what you think of mine. Sad and outdated, probably. XP

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

Oh God. Even the top half of that image gives me 'Nam style flashbacks to the rest. What has been seen cannot be unseen.

[bandgeek01.livejournal.com]

The promo pic is actually better on postcards than what is being shown online.

And I won't even get into about judging icons, for me personally, I make icons, but they aren't great, but that creative outlet is something completely different than a writing creative outlet. They use two different parts of the brain.


Nicole

[forgiveninasong.livejournal.com]

One of the people who uses one of those icons writes mpreg. ENOUGH SAID. It's horrific (I've read about 2 sentances) and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Srsly. Yesterday, I found out someone had written fic, in which Ianto was a KITTEN!!! A FUCKING KITTEN! Honestly, I can see why you despair of this fandom sometimes. Me, I just like a bit of smut, some top!Ianto, some top!Jack, Ianto not being all whimpy, Jack being awesome and IN NO WAY DO I WANT MPREG OR KITTENS.

Also, I like the promo shot. It's very in-keeping with what we've had before. I just wish that people of fandom could create something that at least keeps up with it.

[nuptse.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this - I totally judge writers on their icons. In fact, there are a couple of very prolific writers on a comm I read that I refuse to click because of their icons.

Mostly it's because I've learned that you're completely right - icon is as icon does. If it looks amateurish and half-ass, 9 times out of 10 their other work is similar. Now, this isn't to say it has to be A+, but if it smacks of idiocy, I'm not going there.

[oneloveonelight.livejournal.com]

I see what you're saying, really. I know some people are going to be snotty with you for judging icons but honestly... it's like in American Idol or X-Factor where you see someone ahead of time and you just KNOW by their outfit/appearance that they're going to be a crap singer who genuinely thinks they can sing. (Additionally, these people MAY have put forth their best effort but Simon's right to tell them to fucking quit or at least make drastic changes so they don't keep churning out crap. People should not waste time on things they are not good at and should concentrate on what they CAN be good at.)

It's entirely possible that a bad icon = good fic. But I have to admit, if I see a bad icon, I think it's going to be a bad fic too because of how bad their judgement was in making icons in the first place. It's true though, no matter who you are, the cold hard truth is that first impressions are everthing. I don't think that's being mean, it's just how the world works.

[love-jackianto.livejournal.com]

'And as such, they put me off reading those users' fics. Because I assume that they also pay no attention to detail in their fic, don't care much for spelling or punctuation or characterisation. Care more about quickly and dirtily getting a basic point across and don't really put much thought into honing that point so that we can all share in its wonderfulness. I judge people on their icons.'
Oh fascinating, if you can tell all that by a person's bad icon I wonder what my default icon says about me (is generally curious).

[mellacita.livejournal.com]

The "graphic designer" who does the novel covers has posted on OG about how they don't get their own photos to work with, they have to use the promotional ones they shoot at the beginning of every season and manipulate the fuck out of them.

Which means they probably did this one of the three of them and some gunz on purpose. D:

As for those icons, I freely admit to often deciding not to read a fic based on an icon. If the icon is stretched or weird or blurry or has a baby in it or animates among several completely different photos, I'm out.

[off_coloratura]

Every time I look at that promo pic I swear Gwen's gonna shoot them both. "It's MY show now, bitches!" And Ianto is eerily smooth and haughty. Like they wanted to make him look like the butler. I thought we'd moved past that.

I do agree with you, by comment about public bitching in the last post notwithstanding, about the whole crappy icons thing. Like the overuse of emoticons and sparkly text effects on message boards, a twee, crappily-put-together icon with wads of illegible text will immediately make me think I will not care about what that person has to say, because clearly they have the taste of a fifth grader.

I really hope that at least some of the current generation is taught that how you express yourself, in in written text especially, but also in avatars and spoken words, MATTERS, and people will judge you based on it.

God, am I a crochety old lady already.

[cirrocumulus.livejournal.com]

how many beta readers you had who still managed to ignore basic grammar mistakes

YES WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? I've seen so many fics wherein the author thanks someone for beta-ing and then when I read it still looks like a commavore ransacked the thing. Makes me wonder what on earth the beta actually DID.

I think Gwen is holding up two guns in the promo pic because it's fucking sexy, which is absolutely all the reason I need.

And ugh manips. D: