Friday Q&A

Questionable Preparation

Greetings, crickets and trolls. Welcome back to another informative edition of the Friday Q&A. As you all know, my favorite activity here at the Clinic is answering questions relevant to the Fark photoshop community. Above all, I believe in spreading awareness. For example, were you aware that TheSniperZERO is a prick? If not, you may have missed my previous hundred posts on the subject. Please read them before continuing, because petty grudges are the most important aspect of good photoshopping. Aside from lens flare, of course.

Q: How much time should be spent on a photoshop entry?

A: This is an area where my opinion differs from most of the PS elites, and all of the elitists. One sentiment that I hear time and again is that as Totalfark subscribers, we should spend a greater amount of time on our work than the Liters do. And yet, anyone who reads the PSAEF has observed countless people complain about how their Q&D work gets higher scores than something they spent hours on. This happens a lot, and it obviously isn't a random occurrence.

Q: Do the voters prefer crappy photoshops?

A: Yes and no. We're all aware of the bump in voting that comes from the usage of a cliche, geek reference or attractive female. However, even people who don't rely on these old standards have reported achieving more success with a simple concept than with something they spent hours on. Every time this discussion comes up, the prevailing logic is that Fark voters are unpredictable. Once again, I have to disagree. The reason that these simple concepts eclipse the more elaborate endeavors has nothing to do with a flaky voting public. In my opinion, you can spend too much time on an entry. If you expend enough effort trying to make the concept work, you sometimes forget to ask yourself if it's even worth doing in the first place.

Q: So I should only spend a few minutes on my images?

A: Of course not. There's a big difference between polishing a sharp concept and spending hours trying to bring an ill-conceived idea to fruition. Just because you've spent a day or two working on an image doesn't mean the voters will be compelled to vote for it. They don't see the process, only the results. While you may have invested hours of your life in an entry, to the voters it's just another image. If it doesn't have a good punchline or artistic "wow," your brilliant idea will just blend in with the rest of the crowd.

That's all for this time gentle reader. I certainly didn't mean offense to the more "artsy" element of our community with my endorsement of simple 'shopping. Some of the most talented PSers couldn't care less about their vote average. Others have the skills to own a contest with an elaborate design that's entirely joke free. The views expressed in this post obviously don't apply to these people. However, I've observed the voting trends enough to understand that voters like purity. It's very easy to over think a concept. The next time you find yourself struggling to make an idea work, try re-sourcing it to see if you can express the same design more simplistically.

Stay tuned for more pragmatic suggestions from the Doctor!