You make a lot of great points Levit and you are totally right man. I think this is why I've been more vocal about it, though it might seem hypocritical because i LITERALLY just said above what your very logical and justified main critique is in a way I sort of risked my standing with Rainman by being overly vocal about this release in a way that hopefully improves it in the end.
Rainman is a gentleman and a consummate professional but there is a language barrier which could prompt misunderstanding and having guys who are not the point persons deliver critique might feel a bit aggressive. Rainman has been generous with me I've had lost things in the mail he replaced, I was graciously awarded an Anton from the photo contest to which he replaced a missing outfit set for as well. I will continue to buy his amazing works of art. I don't want to be a burden to him because i am greatly appreciative of his efforts and think there is an amazing amount of passion. talent and craft in what he does.
I support rainman but have to desire to be a point person, especially since I art direct professionally I'm afraid i might naturally overstep my bounds. I can't turn it off and will always perfect EVERYTHING until I run out of time and/or money
It's a blessing and a curse. I would rather try and influence from the peanut gallery but I felt compelled to intervene a bit more directly here, especially since the point persons had other obligations and lives of their own to convey the feedback before the PO took place, may have been personally satisfied with the piece when I was not, or they or all of us as you suggest, may have just gotten comfortable with not questioning the releases (not saying it's specifically those reasons or any one of them and that's not a critique, we have some of the best guys in the community graciously volunteering their time to be point persons and they are doing a great job).
My main takeaway from this rant is to say that I really agree with you, I think the healthiest thing would be to offer the WIP more frequently to the peanut gallery, collective opinion can be a ***** because you cant please everyone but you can definitely make strides to appease the masses and at the very least there's less room for disappointment. This has to be a joint effort on both rainman and the point person's effort. The point person is the liaison, the project manager, the art director etc. But the masses on the forum is the bulk of the customer and at the end the artist serves the customer. The thing is though that we have a great group of guys who are passionate about the work and we all are very respectful and tactful, I have no doubt that the core RM groupies will be able to offer feedback to make the product better along the way that will have us all standing back, including rainman and his team and saying "wow" this is truly something special and it surpassed our expectations.
I'm big on collaboration, it can be muddy with different perspectives and strong opinions disagreeing but it's great practice in diplomacy to decipher through all of the various opinions and try and peace together a product that will please more than it will disappoint.
Rainman is a gentleman and a consummate professional but there is a language barrier which could prompt misunderstanding and having guys who are not the point persons deliver critique might feel a bit aggressive. Rainman has been generous with me I've had lost things in the mail he replaced, I was graciously awarded an Anton from the photo contest to which he replaced a missing outfit set for as well. I will continue to buy his amazing works of art. I don't want to be a burden to him because i am greatly appreciative of his efforts and think there is an amazing amount of passion. talent and craft in what he does.
I support rainman but have to desire to be a point person, especially since I art direct professionally I'm afraid i might naturally overstep my bounds. I can't turn it off and will always perfect EVERYTHING until I run out of time and/or money
It's a blessing and a curse. I would rather try and influence from the peanut gallery but I felt compelled to intervene a bit more directly here, especially since the point persons had other obligations and lives of their own to convey the feedback before the PO took place, may have been personally satisfied with the piece when I was not, or they or all of us as you suggest, may have just gotten comfortable with not questioning the releases (not saying it's specifically those reasons or any one of them and that's not a critique, we have some of the best guys in the community graciously volunteering their time to be point persons and they are doing a great job). My main takeaway from this rant is to say that I really agree with you, I think the healthiest thing would be to offer the WIP more frequently to the peanut gallery, collective opinion can be a ***** because you cant please everyone but you can definitely make strides to appease the masses and at the very least there's less room for disappointment. This has to be a joint effort on both rainman and the point person's effort. The point person is the liaison, the project manager, the art director etc. But the masses on the forum is the bulk of the customer and at the end the artist serves the customer. The thing is though that we have a great group of guys who are passionate about the work and we all are very respectful and tactful, I have no doubt that the core RM groupies will be able to offer feedback to make the product better along the way that will have us all standing back, including rainman and his team and saying "wow" this is truly something special and it surpassed our expectations.
I'm big on collaboration, it can be muddy with different perspectives and strong opinions disagreeing but it's great practice in diplomacy to decipher through all of the various opinions and try and peace together a product that will please more than it will disappoint.
Amen
