Why you should keep chopping
 

Hey everyone, long-time-absent-member Panda here. I wish I had a chop or a toon or something to show off for the new guys to go "ehh, you're mediocre," lol, but no, I've got something of an inspirational/sermon post.

If it hasn't happened yet, chances are someone will say "You should spend less time on cars and that crap." I know I had my fair share, parents and computer teachers namely. An art teacher every now and again. I'm writing this as a testament to why this so-called crap betters us as artists. Don't stop doing this just because someone says so, most of them are just jealous they can't.

We work in a field where the tools we use change constantly for the better, and as such, the quality of work we can put out. Us older guys (Carty, Tony, Joemomma, Jetster, etc.) can appreciate just how far this little community of ours has grown. I've seen everything from gearheads like Striker to pure concept artists like AMV and Glacius come through here...it's kind of humbling if you really think about it.

But I digress. All of you are talented artists, each and every one of you. Never. Stop. If it's cars, if its magazine covers, if its drawings on your notebooks because your teacher doesn't know how to give a good presentation, never lose that drive. I haven't been posting many cars on here for the simple fact that I haven't done anything good enough, but in my chopping absence, I was/am a publicist for a regionally-recognized organization at a world-renown university and now? I make up half of the graphics department at the Fiesta Bowl (which includes the Insight Bowl and Fiesta Bowl football games). I would not have the design talent I have today if I did not have this website. I know it sounds corny, but simply by being in a generally-supportive community such as this, you are becoming better in areas you probably aren't even thinking about. You're getting the confidence and the ability to take on any challenge out there in the real world, and believe you me, it's terrifying out there. You have no idea what doors are being opened for you JUST BY POSTING YOUR WORK FOR PEOPLE TO SEE.

I'll be around if you have any questions, comments, general statements you wanna throw my way...yeah :)

fighting panda man.. whats up! havent seen you in forever, nice speech (w00t)

haha you do have a good point tho.. when I joined this website, it was so small literally, every single member participated in the contest... thats really all there was to this site, and now, its like a small city

wow.

yes oh i soooo agree. you hit the nail on the head.

very good statments. psc has totally taught me photoshop and i owe my proffession to it so i thank all of you for the suport.

Well said! :)

i agree too...

my parents have told me over and over to stop wasting my time with this because it's pointless

screw that! PS and web design netted me like three internship offers in the same interview...

i agree 100 percent if it wasn't for chopping cg work would be my career choice in life

I am not an old member to this site, but I must also say that since I started to post my chops to PSC
(3 months ago) my Graphics at work has improved by far. thanks for all the comments from ya guys
sometimes even the harsh ones...lol

Yeah!! I learned pretty much everything(there are some exceptions) using the tutorials on this site! I wanted to be a chef and do cars for fun but I got hooked!! I wanna be a graphic designer one day! I'm learning flash, 3d rendering programs and macromedia freehand. I LOVE photoshop and cars and this is a hobby I'll never give up!! I'm also studieng manga!! (on the internet)

I'll say it like this. Chopping pretty much got me my internship with the Fiesta Bowl, I'm designing their game tickets, game programs and a couple of tshirts. And my stuff wasn't even that good here, lol!

Carty: Not much is up, old friend. Just glad to be back in familiar company. Have I missed much? My hiatus started not long after the infamous CKG incident

well i wouldnt really be a member here if it werent for this nor would i be chopping. Sure im not the best of the bunch but it really has helped me improve my photoshop skills.

by the looks of it PSC has changed people's lives :D

haha no you haven't really missed too much, we've had a couple of annoying members join and then get banned.. but thats really all there is, a couple nice chops too naturally..

i just started chopping because i wanted to tune cars my stye and havent the money in real life ;) i got an old G4 mac iwth all programs on it from my dad's office cuz they got new macs... then i just wanted to try the programs and with chopping it was awesome... i just started off and had my fun...and i learned so much and now im just sitting here in my dad's office in the holidays right now making money working with pictures:eek:
i stopped chopping after a year though cuz keeping up the high standard, takes so much time to do a chop and til i like it... so im just pretty lazy:D ... but maybe ill have a comeback someday ;)
so this site brought me nice job ;)
and it will help me a lot in the future in my job i think ...

Cheers and big thanks to crazyrichard who inspired me a lot at chopping and his standard gave me a goal to achieve:cool:

talking bout crazyrich where did he go?

Nice thread.

There is always someone better,,, and when you realize that fact and understand that it does not matter is when you will go places. It is a big bad exciting world out there with all kinds of fancy things for graphic artists to do for hobby and for professional directions.

You also have to remember that even if you are not great compared to other artists here, there are still 6 billion other people in the world that cannot come close to what you do.

So for sure, as this thread reinforces, KEEP CHOPPING. :)

I agree wholeheartedly.
Now if only I could get my next one done. LOL
I've had a huge dry spell, as I've been busy with things in life as of late.
I'm starting to come around slowly, but I'll say it has been a real challenge.

Even when I hate the things that happen in the chopping community as a
whole, I'll always love it. I always come back somehow.

It's good seeing you're around FPM.

Same its just i get distracted with coursework and whatnot. Just wish i had the free time to commit to chopping and all around photoshop picture editing.

And I stopped for a while...well for no reason. I have to start again but don't know where to start. But my presentations at school are always the most graphical. :) chopping cars has developed my skills in other stuff.

That's just it! Loads of choppers go on hiatus and breaks and whatnot because, every now and again, we lose that creative spark. This is one of those things that you really can't force. Otherwise, it'll probably look like crap. I know that was the issue for me on more than one occasion, anyway

Chopping and tooning, for me, has never been about making what people want to see. It's always been an outlet for me to see if I can push the envelope on my own standards and potentially making a great looking machine look even greater. If it takes a little longer to get something out there, then it takes a little longer. If you're ok with it when it winds up in the gallery, then it's something to be proud of.

And for the future, look for mostly C&C from now on, but it's more than my last months of posting, LOL

who needs a reason to keep chopping, I do it because I love it :D