Hello!
I'm a first time poster here, and I realize that it is ordinarily bad manners to start the very first post with a plug for one's website - but since Droz contacted me about the website in the first place I hope it's okay...
I'm the creator of the
Art Tutorials Wiki. This website was born out of my frustration with online art tutorials. Not frustration at their
quality, which was often quite high. It was just that there are so many tutorials out there that finding the precise tutorial you need becomes exceedingly difficult - even with Google. So I started to collect bookmarks to art tutorials, and this summer finally decided to turn them into a wiki format. This would not only allow others to make use of those links, but add their own as well. So far, more than a thousand tutorials are listed in it.
But the wiki has the potential for more than "just" a giant directory for art tutorials - it is also possible to create your own tutorials as well. I have done so, and my tutorials can be found
here. They are using GIMP and Inkscape, since that's what I am using as well. And I hope that there will be more like it in the future.
But what Droz contacted me for was about helping with expanded information and descriptions of Open Source software. I was delighted at this, since I often thought about this myself - but never really found the time for it. As you can see, my pages for
GIMP and
Inkscape are pretty much bare bones, and other Open Source programs aren't even listed - and I would really appreciate if you could help me with that. I know of at least one case where a reader of the wiki discovered GIMP for the first time through it - and it would be nice if this were to happen more frequently in the future. Better descriptions and information about these programs would certainly help.
So, what else can be done to help improve the wiki? Well, I've written an
Improvement Guide which I
think should answer most questions, but here are a few things in particular:
- Adding new links: If you know of any good tutorials, please add them to the appropriate pages. You
don't have to register at Wikidot.Com to edit and create new entries at the wiki - I've set permissions this way so that the wiki remains as open as possible. Although you will show up as "Anonymous" in the page history unless you register... (If you
don't know of any good tutorials not yet listed in the wiki, then there's a lengthy
forum thread with some pointers...)
- Creating new tutorials: I found that the wiki format supports creating tutorials very well - it is far less hassle than creating and uploading tutorials in HTML format or putting the entire tutorial into a single image (as it is the standard at DeviantArt). The
Screentone tutorial, for example, took me less than 30 minutes - including creating and uploading the images. So feel free to create any tutorials you like and put them there - it's not hard as long as you know the basics of the wiki code.
However, you do need to be a member of the wiki to upload image files (this is something which I
didn't want just everyone to be able to). For this, you first need to register at Wikidot.Com and then click on the "How to join?" link in the sidebar. I will accept your application at the earliest opportunity (this shouldn't take more than a day or so). Alternatively, existing members (such as Droz, who is a member as of 30 minutes ago) are able to invite other members via email through the "Invite other people!" link. Once you are a member, you can upload files and create tutorials at your leisure.
- Spread the word!
The more people know of this wiki, the better - for then it is likely that there will be more volunteers willing to help improve the content of the wiki. So please tell other people who might find this wiki useful!
I'm looking forward to your comments and contributions.
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