What's some people's problem with recolors?

[nikoprower32]

Going around the web and finding cool hand-drawn art is one thing, but when you find someone's recolor of a character, there's always someone who's got a problem. So as the title suggests, why? What makes recolors so poisonous to those who see them? I've done a few recolors myself and people like them. In fact, my whole DeviantArt account is chock full of recolors. There was one person who thought it was disgusting that I made them and said that I'm claiming them as my own just because I renamed them for kicks. Let's get something straight to all the recolor haters out there getting crunk off that hater-ade, recolors are a way, though mostly used by teenagers, to express their artistic talent through taking a character from any show and just changing the color palette a little. Anyone can just make art of their own, if you've got the drive and determination for it...but you gotta remember, some people around the world, like myself, can draw to save their lives or their drawing is so terrible it'd make artists like Monet or Van Gogh, if they were still alive, hang themselves. So recoloring is a good way to make it seem like we have some artistic mentality without all the work that goes into drawing something. Think of when you play a game where you can customize a car like in Need For Speed. You're basically recoloring it because it looks different visually. And when you play games that allow you to change the color of the person you're playing as. That's also recoloring because you're changing the character's color palette to your liking. Sure you may say, "but at least that's fun to look at instead of crap made by a kindergartener high on acid like recolors", but that doesnt mean you can go on the internet and start forums, deviantart clubs, etc against recolors! THAT"S FRICKING BULLYING IN A SENSE!! If you've got nothing to say or do other than be a hater towards recolors and those who make them, got out of the gosh darn gene pool hater!!! Anyway, I wanna hear from you guys now!

What do you guys think of recolors?
Do you make them?
What would you say to someone who was being harassed by an anti-recolor person?
Would you defend someone who makes recolors?

That's all from me guys! Keep a mild groove on!

Oh and here's a link to my recolors on DeviantArt!
http://nikoprower.deviantart.com

 

[FlygonTheGreat]

No offense, but this isn't the right place to post this... That's what the Coughing Cupboard is for.

 

[Superbird]

No, it was pretty clearly meant as a discussion thread, so this is the right place. Mods have the final word, of course, but if it has to be moved anywhere, I'd say Sprites and Pixel Art would be more likely.

I don't see a problem with recolors at all, except that I usually find them relatively boring. There's really nothing wrong with them as long as you make clear that while the work is original, the source material isn't. There are more creative ways of expression even if you don't have a particularly artistic makeup -- splices and scratch spriting, for starters, neither of which require any drawing skill at all (speaking from experience, I'm bad at art), or pixel-overs or something.

...paint-bucket recolors of non-pixel art are just not a good idea, though, I should put that out there.

 

[nikoprower32]

Thank you! A sensible person! I was at another forum and asked the same thing...all I got outta that adventure was the exact hatred I see daily...so how do you go about making all stuff you suggested?

 

[Odyssey]

I used to recolour a lot of my Pokémon fancharacters, but over the years, I got more and more nervous with originality. Coming from someone who wants to become an artist, I honestly admit that I'm neutral to them.

The biggest reason why so many people are against recolours is originality. Art isn't easy to pull off, as there are many, many artists with different opinions on different styles. If you're taking official artwork and changing its colour, I'm sorry, but that's technically not art. Yes, it's true that you're changing the colour palette, but you're not drawing anything.

Despite what I said, I don't hate recolours. As a matter of fact, I don't like wasting my time hating on average artwork. Yet again, I don't like recolours either, but I won't stop anyone from creating them.

I remember meeting a commenter on deviantART who posted the infamous "OC Do not steal" on one of my pieces of art. Considering that the piece of art is a cheap Mienfoo recolour, I decided to improve.

I wouldn't defend anyone who does recolouring, but like I said, I don't hate them. You can do whatever you like, I won't stop you.

 

[Superbird]

Thank you! A sensible person! I was at another forum and asked the same thing...all I got outta that adventure was the exact hatred I see daily...so how do you go about making all stuff you suggested?

Butterfree's spriting guide is a good place to start.

 

[Equinoxe]

I might also add that recoloring someone else's art is also super rude, especially if it's not some official art from a game or something. You should never, ever, take someone's art without permission and recolor it because it's disrespectful towards the artist and you just shouldn't do that (just because it's on the internet DOES NOT mean it's free for everyone to use). There are free dolls/bases for that purpose.

Part of the hate probably also stems from the fact that there's pretty much no effort required for the actual recoloring part. I can kinda understand making OC references from doll bases if you have zero experience with art and just need some kind of a visual representation of a character for a roleplay or something, but otherwise I'd say it's better to try and draw it yourself instead of taking the easy route (plus if you're drawing it yourself you might actually learn a thing or two).

 

[ultraviolet]

I'll be real honest here: i'm honestly suprised that people even still make pokemon sprites anymore, let alone for there to be anti-recolour groups on deviantART.

recolors are a way, though mostly used by teenagers, to express their artistic talent through taking a character from any show and just changing the color palette a little. Anyone can just make art of their own, if you've got the drive and determination for it

This is absolutely true and completely correct. People make recolours because they're fun and a bit creative and a bit interesting to make. Ooh, what if I make mankey cyan. That kind of thing. There's nothing wrong with that. Experimentation and playing with colours is totally okay and good and awesome.

The biggest reason why so many people are against recolours is originality. Art isn't easy to pull off, as there are many, many artists with different opinions on different styles. If you're taking official artwork and changing its colour, I'm sorry, but that's technically not art. Yes, it's true that you're changing the colour palette, but you're not drawing anything.

Okay so the thing is that when you start saying what is and isn't art, there is almost always an example (often famous) of an artist doing that thing. Grabbing something from pop-culture and changing its colours is a pretty common thing to do in art (particularly the post-modern).

Spoiler: Andy Warhol's various Untitled works of Maryiln Monroe, 1967

The point here isn't that recoloured pokemon sprites are going to be culturally important and influential like Warhol's Monroes are, it's that you can't go around and decry something you don't like as 'not art'. Recolours absolutely are visual art; they're not particularly skilled or interesting works of art, but they're definitely art. Art encompasses such a broad spectrum of works that I feel like it's a bit silly (and maybe even snobbish) to start drawing lines where... there really isn't any. If you start defining art as drawing, then you're chucking out really important things like printmaking, photomedia, sculpture, performance art, etc. etc. etc. It's also important to note that a lot of art that is culturally important to the West has been about breaking ideas of what is considered art: Picasso, Warhol, Renaissance painters and Dadaists have all struggled with and communicated this issue in their art!

There's also the fact of context! Warhol presents his Monroes as important pieces of pop art; people make recolours and stick them on their deviantART page because they thought they looked nice and wanted to show their friends. I feel like nobody is trying to take over the art world with their recoloured Bibarel sprites!!

...but you gotta remember, some people around the world, like myself, can draw to save their lives or their drawing is so terrible it'd make artists like Monet or Van Gogh, if they were still alive, hang themselves. So recoloring is a good way to make it seem like we have some artistic mentality without all the work that goes into drawing something.

But it's worth mentioning here is that if you are making recolours and attributing them to yourself as the sole content creator, and that you're making some really groundbreaking stuff by changing the colours of a pokemon sprite, people are obviously going to be resentful of that.

That being said though: if your motivation for recolours is that it's easier than drawing, then that might be the reason why you're not very good at drawing! Drawing is a skill that is learned and is cultivated by practicing. If you can't be bothered trying to draw stuff, you're not going to get anywhere. Every artist who is good at drawing has tons of sketchbooks stacked away somewhere full of (mostly bad) sketches.

 

[FlygonTheGreat]

Original the Character, Donut Steel.

 

[nikoprower32]

I'll be real honest here: i'm honestly suprised that people even still make pokemon sprites anymore, let alone for there to be anti-recolour groups on deviantART.

This is absolutely true and completely correct. People make recolours because they're fun and a bit creative and a bit interesting to make. Ooh, what if I make mankey cyan. That kind of thing. There's nothing wrong with that. Experimentation and playing with colours is totally okay and good and awesome.


Okay so the thing is that when you start saying what is and isn't art, there is almost always an example (often famous) of an artist doing that thing. Grabbing something from pop-culture and changing its colours is a pretty common thing to do in art (particularly the post-modern).

Spoiler: Andy Warhol's various Untitled works of Maryiln Monroe, 1967

The point here isn't that recoloured pokemon sprites are going to be culturally important and influential like Warhol's Monroes are, it's that you can't go around and decry something you don't like as 'not art'. Recolours absolutely are visual art; they're not particularly skilled or interesting works of art, but they're definitely art. Art encompasses such a broad spectrum of works that I feel like it's a bit silly (and maybe even snobbish) to start drawing lines where... there really isn't any. If you start defining art as drawing, then you're chucking out really important things like printmaking, photomedia, sculpture, performance art, etc. etc. etc. It's also important to note that a lot of art that is culturally important to the West has been about breaking ideas of what is considered art: Picasso, Warhol, Renaissance painters and Dadaists have all struggled with and communicated this issue in their art!

There's also the fact of context! Warhol presents his Monroes as important pieces of pop art; people make recolours and stick them on their deviantART page because they thought they looked nice and wanted to show their friends. I feel like nobody is trying to take over the art world with their recoloured Bibarel sprites!!



But it's worth mentioning here is that if you are making recolours and attributing them to yourself as the sole content creator, and that you're making some really groundbreaking stuff by changing the colours of a pokemon sprite, people are obviously going to be resentful of that.

That being said though: if your motivation for recolours is that it's easier than drawing, then that might be the reason why you're not very good at drawing! Drawing is a skill that is learned and is cultivated by practicing. If you can't be bothered trying to draw stuff, you're not going to get anywhere. Every artist who is good at drawing has tons of sketchbooks stacked away somewhere full of (mostly bad) sketches.

I meant to say "can't" not "can"...typo. But you're right...calling drawing the only good art out there is forgetting about statues, photos, heck, even selfies if taken right...art isnt just picking up a pencil, pen, marker, etc and putting ideas on paper! You don't need paper to make art!

 

[Odyssey]

Okay so the thing is that when you start saying what is and isn't art, there is almost always an example (often famous) of an artist doing that thing. Grabbing something from pop-culture and changing its colours is a pretty common thing to do in art (particularly the post-modern).

Spoiler: Andy Warhol's various Untitled works of Maryiln Monroe, 1967

The point here isn't that recoloured pokemon sprites are going to be culturally important and influential like Warhol's Monroes are, it's that you can't go around and decry something you don't like as 'not art'. Recolours absolutely are visual art; they're not particularly skilled or interesting works of art, but they're definitely art. Art encompasses such a broad spectrum of works that I feel like it's a bit silly (and maybe even snobbish) to start drawing lines where... there really isn't any. If you start defining art as drawing, then you're chucking out really important things like printmaking, photomedia, sculpture, performance art, etc. etc. etc. It's also important to note that a lot of art that is culturally important to the West has been about breaking ideas of what is considered art: Picasso, Warhol, Renaissance painters and Dadaists have all struggled with and communicated this issue in their art!

There's also the fact of context! Warhol presents his Monroes as important pieces of pop art; people make recolours and stick them on their deviantART page because they thought they looked nice and wanted to show their friends. I feel like nobody is trying to take over the art world with their recoloured Bibarel sprites!!

Touché.

Although I still wouldn't like it if someone took the work I worked hard on, splattered different colours on it and claimed it as their own.

 

[nikoprower32]

No one really said anything about claiming a recolor as their own. Those who do recolors know the art isnt theirs so they make sure to credit the original artist.