[UBUNTU-ART] Introduction

[volvoguy]

On 7/15/05, Emil Oppeln-Bronikowski <opi at cyb3r.org> wrote:

>   Hi Andy, I'm noone important (also, it's 6 AM and I'm drinking beer;-)
>  and more important I'm not an artist. I'm a programmer. :-(

Oh, I disagree! Without you programmers, we would have no outlet for
our art! I for one welcome any programmers who want to join this list
and put up with us artsy types. :o)

For the record, it's 1 AM here and REALLY hot out, so I've opted for a
nice icy glass of rum and Coke instead of beer tonight. :o)


>   OK, OK. I have to write a few sentences here, since I know few artistic
>  souls. First, they are unaware of patents, closed software and other
>  things. For them, being creative is about using The Right Tool.
> 
>   Maybe one of the points of Ubuntu-art group should be a Wiki page for
>  people who are dedicated to digital art, but can not find good software
>  in OSS.

Definitely! We've only been an official group for a few hours, but I'm
definitely into having a comprehensive Wiki page as our connection to
the "outside world".  One was already started before we became an
organized group, and I hope to dive into it big time by this weekend.


>   A metapacakge ubuntu-art? You know: apt-get install ubuntu-art and
>  there you go -- Inkscape, GIMP, Blender, useful plugins, whatever
>  you're using on daily basis.

That could work. I think just about everything we're using right now
is in Ubuntu's Main section, but a metapackage might make it that much
easier for the uninitiated to jump into the world of graphics hacking!


>   Since I'm a programmer I would start from building a ,,common ground''
>  for all you art-skilled-people. I like that some parts of Ubuntu
>  artwork are standarized (take a look at Wiki, there's a logo, colour
>  values in HTML hex values, and vector logo, IIRC). You need to extend
>  it. I was once die-hard AmigaOS user. Some AmigaOS artist had thier own
>  icons set, same goes for Linux ones. But you could get templates for
>  thier icons. You know, few thinks are common, like backgrounds or
>  colour sets.

Yep. I'm pretty sure all the important core graphics made it from the
old Wiki to the new, and if anything is missing, I probably have it -
so don't hesitate to contact me if you're looking for something.

I've been chatting with Andrew the icon king tonight and it seems as
though that should be one of our first big projects to tackle. Andrew
is going to summarize our discussion tonight and should be hitting the
mailing list soon. We need people really obcessed with pixel pushing
to get his SVG icon set optimized at different bitmap sizes. I'll
leave it at that for now and let him get into the details a little
more in his email.


>   IMHO artwork is one of the most important things in winning mindset of
>  undecited people. We're fools that pick up whatever we *like* and then
>  we justify it. ;-) The trick is to have lots of flavors for everyone.
>  Some people like to have plain and clean interfaces, other would go for
>  eyecandy. We shouldn't push anyone to go with one style. OK, I think I
>  started to be confusing. I'll sum it up. Artist should provide a way to
>  extend thier artwork (like templates) but we should have all the varity
>  of art, from simple and plain to rich and eyecandy. From gray'n'black
>  to green'n'blue.

Absolutely. As Mako hit on in his introduction of our new group, the
"look" of Ubuntu is really our best first impression to new users of
what we're all about. I think it's true already, but I want to make
sure that we're the best looking distro on the planet!


-- 
Aaron

Ubuntu SVG Artwork - www.volvoguy.net/ubuntu
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Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere. ~ G.K. Chesterton