[Art/Project] The AWA Touhou Scroll Project (Scroll Delivered!)

[pasu]

One thing I realised was... Alot of people drew facing right, and lots of their artwork were flipped, which isn't good for some because they look a tiny bit off

Either not alot of people knew the scroll is to be viewed eastern style, or..

[BL2W]

Either not alot of people knew the scroll is to be viewed eastern style, or..

It's true. It probably could have been made clearer that the scroll is going to be facing the direction that it is... I was also confused when I first saw the general layout until I came to realize that it was supposed to viewed in an Eastern style~

[carillus]

So are the (majority of the) characters supposed to be facing RIGHT or LEFT?
It might be a good idea to clear this up in the instructions so less of this flipping stuff happens because honestly, a lot of art becomes quite screwed up when you flip them horizontally...

[BL2W]

So are the (majority of the) characters supposed to be facing RIGHT or LEFT?

Well, actually, the way you want your character facing is ultimately up to whether or not you want them to interact with other characters along the scroll; also, whether or not your character is just going to be facing forward is another factor that would end up negating the need to concern yourself with the direction of the scroll...

I guess the best--and most general--way of putting it is that the scroll is supposed to be starting with Reimu on the right and moving left by chronological appearance (though, this order is subject to slight changes every now and again)~

[Totaku]

Time for week 2's update.

Week 2 has come and gone, but the momentum is still charging at full force without the slightest slowdown. As of this point, 51 characters have been put together on the scroll and are still being planned out while 3 of them are complete

You may see this week's progress below if you click the image.



Keep in mind that not all the images you see here are not final are are subjected to change in due time.

Most of this week was spent making contact with other artist and discussing plans on how to organize things with the team. It's been pretty busy especially for me who has to work as a teacher (at a home school and a project manager). But at least things are still running very smoothly.

As I look, I'm impressed with how quickly most people are still working through this project. Some things are happening faster than I anticipated. So I'm trying to do what I can to get started on getting the paper and looking through the fabric. While I had plans to buy the roll of paper right away, I decided it might be better to see if any stores around here have cheap samples of Rice paper before I go and buy the whole roll. So I'll be looking into that. I've also been looking into the fabric stores this weekend to see what kind of brocade were there. To my surprise, there were plenty, but only a few stuck out. I did find one impressive design and put up a link to another fabric store in the forum that I'll be making plans to visit. So I can begin to tally down what I'll be needing.

But for now, I'm got myself some fabric glue for the late stages of the project (and plan to buy a brayer later this week if I can find one).

This week was also the week I checked with fellow artists to see what was going on and spent my time contacting them. Most of them have contacted me back so all is well. For those who haven't I would like to know if anything has happened since the last update. And there are a few that I probably haven't contacted because they either just joined or have just recently posted progress thus they're up to date. But if you want, feel free to contact me regarding your progress.

And since there are artists that are already done with thier characters, I'm going into setting up a "Final Submission board" soon so you can send the large document to be placed in the final version of the scroll. It should be up sometime this week.

There's also been a lot of feedback coming from artists as well so things have been altered and changed as things kept moving along too. And also as I look at the progress being made I see how the spacing seem to be getting more compacted. While I'm not too worried at the moment, I will be making adjustments to it accordingly as time goes on.

Now for all the artist that have signed up I got some good news, some bad news, and some interesting news.

The good news is, I was able to get two more artist in to be assigned as part of the Background team!

ZENI
Vylien

However the bad news for all new artist are that all the applicants who I've contacted have finally reached me all as of late last night. Meaning that right now characters are full for the time being.

However....

Don't exactly count yourself out! We have selcted a few artist that are now part of the "Waiting List"

Studio LG
Tenkko
Niso
Merp
Uru
KANiChaN
MaullarMaullar

These artist that were selected met the expectations we are looking for but while they do not have a position open for them at the moment, this may be subject to change as events play out. As we have considered adding additional things to the scroll, if we have the time and space for it. And in the event something happens and we need someone to come in and lend a hand then we'll contact you when needed.

But this doesn't mean you can't register. If you have what it takes we can welcome you to join, but do understand you'll be waiting a little while before we can determine anything.


And for those who didn't get selected do understand that we still appreciate you interest and we welcome you to come and provide us feedback since your ideas can be important to other artist. So feel free to join in.

This should wrap up the story for this week. Stay tune as we discuss the progress in the weeks to come!

-Totaku

[pineyappled]

Chen

Frankly? Ouch. There's the quality issues I was worried about. Will you shelve bad submissions for ones that aren't terrible? You've got perfectly decent people on the list.

[HakureiSM]

Yup, it's ranging from amazing to sub-par

[pasu]

So I heard there was a quality check for the project... Are you guys going to chicken out now because it would be too mean to kick off people?

Adding to kinoko's thoughts on the matter, other than Chen, Futo bothers me a lot too. Oh, but, since he owns the AskUdonge blog (as so highlighted on the list of artists on the scroll forum), I guess it's out of the question to shelve him.

[pineyappled]

Among the others to consider: Miko, Futo, Tojiko (maybe), Hatate, Nazrin, Iku, Eirin, Reisen II, Momiji, Yuyuko, and Flan. This isn't even the "mean" list. It's not counting the ones I don't like because of minor mistakes or style. These are the ones with glaring, visually offensive issues. Or they're just plain lazy.

You've still got a few artists open and probably a few more unread/future applications, and there's no reason other than being nice to keep some of these them on with a waiting list.

And seconding

-

[BL2W]

First of all, I want to clarify... You guys realize that you're flaming at sketches, right? Sketches are meant to be guidelines for how the final result will generally look, and some are far better at it than others--but it's the final result that ultimately counts. Sketches are also very subject to change depending on the circumstances, such as spacing, who's willing to collaborate with whom, or even just new-found determination~

So I heard there was a quality check for the project... Are you guys going to chicken out now because it would be too mean to kick off people?

Well, here's me being a little meaner for you, pasu. If you have complaints, I suggest that you put them on the designated forum where the artists that you're complaining about will actually see them. If you want to stay here in your safe zone where it's likely none of them will care (and considering that all of them have been commenting over there instead of here, well, I think you get the picture), then that's your choice.

Or, better yet, pasu, if you have the energy in you to complain so much, how about redirecting that energy onto Shou? And I know, you aren't so happy about doing Shou because of a little mishap, etc. etc.... Well, why not get it together and actually show these artists what you're made of, thus perhaps motivating some of the ones you feel to be inferior into becoming superior? It's happened with others~! Just look at Kuma's Kisume~!

Or, is this just your stubbornness shining through all over again?  After all, you did so boldly announce:

I'll thank you to not call me stubborn for accepting my fate assigned touhou!~ I've already contacted the artist who'll be drawing murasa (who's beside Shou) and thus I'm okay with this arrangement, Shou will be just fine. Thanks again for offering though~

So, what's it going to be, pasu? Or, is that cute, little placeholder good enough for you?

[AnonymousPondScum]

BL2W, with all due respect, while pasu may be acting a bit stiff over some things, I think pasu has some valid complaints, and generally your non-solution dismissal of concerns in this thread has me worried for this project.

[pineyappled]

flaming

Overly caustic, maybe. Flaming? No. And these complaints have nothing to do with the sketches because those mistakes will carry over.

Also, you're totally skimming over the issues and making a needless personal attack. The deadline is the end of August. It's still the first half of April. There's no need to rush at this point.

[HakureiSM]

How about you stop shooting down criticism like everyone's wrong and you're right whenever it happens, BL2W?
I've been lurking the unnecessary forum you started for this(ignoring all criticism against it), and be it here or there all you do is sound condescending and ignore others in a very childish manner. Even going as far as trying to claim invalidity of the communication channel as an excuse to ignore what was said to you.
I have also watched constructive criticism to your art be tossed in the air like helium, and seeing as the criticized sketch seems to have made it into the scroll as is, guess stubborness prevailed.

On the actual art, and your 'these are just sketches !1' excuse, yes of course those are sketches. And within those sketches, there are those which are great, both artistically and conceptually, and there are those which plain suck on both parameters. Those are the ones being pointed out. Don't ignore it. Be mature and listen to the other artists.

[Totaku]

Ok, to be fair, we have been going over the artists. And yes everything here is currently WIP (with the acception of a few who have completed thiers.) And I've been posting thier work in it's current form mainly as place holders to get a good idea of how I'm going to be managing the spacing of the scroll in due time.

And yes, we have been doing our share to go through and contact the artists and critique them on thier things they need. And in most cases we're hoping to get improvements from them in due time. This also includes the cases involving Momiji, Chen (especially because of the face) and Futo (which has raised concerned as well.) Otherwise, if there feels that such a problem arises that they can't be able to fix thier problems in due time. Then we may use some of the people in the waiting list to help sort things out. I've already got the feeling I'll be getting them to jump in sometime soon.

Also I'm going to have the same as everyone else here to you BL2W. As much as I appreciate you help and dedication. I would like you to please remember everyone on the team is an equal. Just like you and me, no one is above or below anyone here. I would like you to please remember that we are all here to work together and to please treat everyone with respect.

[HakureiSM]

And in most cases we're hoping to get improvements from them in due time.

Yes of course, and there is time to change it I believe. But first it has to be acknowledged where change is needed.
Which you just did, anyway. Thanks for the solid reply, Totaku.

[pineyappled]

Thanks for being civil as always.

But I'm going to be honest here. Vast improvement is unlikely for most people, and some of these are bad and will not be presentable by the deadline. Instead of waiting, let the other, already decent, artists have shots at it.
 

[Vento]

hey totaku it's fine to direct criticism at me in the thread as well, and the sooner the better

[BL2W]

I just want to say... Thank you, pasu~! I sincerely like your update to Shou~

I'm not pandering or being "condescending," I'm just saying because I figure you'll be passing by here~

[Totaku]

Time for week 3's report!

The momentum of the project continues as the artist continue to experiment and try different ideas that were offered. So we been seeing some changes occur over time. Different ideas are taking place and different things are unfolding. And so far 60+ characters have been put on the scroll. And on top of that, backgrounds are starting to get planned.

To see this week's progress please check the scroll down below and click it.

or you can click here or come to the forum for daily snapshots.

This week has been full of lots of help, advice and changes as you may have seen. And we try to change them as we see the feedback. Probably one of the more important critiques who showed up has been Syanas who's been helping all the fellow artist work as she been looking through the work on the scroll and fairly analyzing everyone on the scroll. Many of her suggestion have proven to be useful as you have seen some of the noted changes.

In other news, my father payed a visit when he heard about my project and offered me a rather large long piece of printing paper. It's about 200' in length, and 6" wide. It's not exactly going to be used for the scroll in the long run, but i can be used for test printing. The edges however are a little fringed so I don't know how it's going to turn out just yet. Hopefully I'll get to testing this soon.

I'm also going to go ahead and purchase some rice paper I found on an art website since they will serve for testing before I go and purchase the full roll.

On other news, we managed to pull in 3 more artists to help in the project.

Zucerrlo
Sixten
Tenkko

Now if there is anything I can add into the listing of things we need. It's going to be Background artists. Cause while the characters slots are full. Backgrounds are just starting and we could use some extra hands to help the current team. So if you have some background knowledge. Feel free to drop me a message or join the forum and express interest in wanting to join. And I'll proceed to evaluate and decide if you can join in background work. As for the others in the waiting list. Be patient, I'm still trying to see if there's a way to get you all in.

This pretty much concludes this week's update! Till next time!

- Totaku

[DisasterMaster92]

Oh wow, this is really an incredible project. Reminds me why I fell in love with Touhou int he first place! It's impressive to see how much progress was made in such a small amount of time.
And, uhhh, well, I'd like to apply for the waiting list (not sure if I'm in the right place however? Kinda new, sorry). While I don't have much Touhou art (almost none actually) I'd love to contribute somehow.

[Saber Nero]

hey totaku it's fine to direct criticism at me in the thread as well, and the sooner the better

I'm waiting for some more completed, or at least tangible artwork from you before I take a closer look, since you planned on redoing both of your initial sketches and I've yet to see a decently defined Yuuka. Last I saw you were playing around with a few ideas and had a new Reimu going, but if you want some criticism on very rough sketches, it would probably be better to poke me on IRC.

Edit: If you actually do have some concrete sketches going for Yuuka, I apologize, since I haven't been catching up on the project in the past 2 weeks due to finals coming up soon. I should be relatively free again in about 3 weeks.

[Sixten]

Apparently I'm on the background team now. Here's what I got so far:

Concept of Phantasmagoria of Flower View background (no color yet)
Mockup with characters

[Totaku]

So, anyone want to know what I haven't updated in the last 4 weeks? Here's what's up in the recent blog post!

Week 4-7 The Busy Month and Hopeless Masquerade

Well one must wonder why I haven't updated this for the last 4 weeks. Well the reason for this is a number of things have come along. The best way I can describe them is, dealing with things regarding to the scroll, dealing with my life as a teacher, and finally dealing with a week of power failure.

These events were unexpected but none the less through the month the project continues to move forward!

As of today, nearly all the characters have been put together in the scroll! Only a few artist remain that haven't.



or as usual you can click here or visit the forum for snapshots.

Anyways, this month is the month where everyone going to try to wrap up thier first drafts. Because It'll be needed to make sure I know exactly how thier placement will work to make life easier for the background team. Who will be working on background starting this month! There's been a number of artist who have joined since then as well as a number of changes that have occurred, but a good number of these is hard to count. But as it stands. The main part of the background team is now set in place. And now the artist are beginning thier work on the backgrounds. So sooner or later I will be adding these into the scroll once progress are made on these.

So what does mean for the artists who are still waiting?

Well here's the fun part! With Reitaisai coming up, ZUN will be releasing Hopeless Masquerade along with a demo of Double Dealer Character. What this means for waiting list artist and new artist alike is that there's going to be an open for new characters! At the moment, I can confirm that at least I will consider adding in Hopeless Masquerade since there will be only 1-2 characters to add. As for Double Dealer, I'm unsure because of a number of reasons pertaining to the fact it's a demo and how it'll affect the background team.

But some factors will be decided over the next week or so. But basically here's this! Artist are welcome to join if they're up to doing Hopeless Masqurade at the very least. Keep in mind, because of how close it'll fall to the first draft deadline it'll be very short period for the artist to work on said characters. So you'll have to be quick on this! So if you're up to it. Come over to the forum sign up and apply!

I'll be looking to include you in the list of applicants that want to attempt this.

Also I'm spending this month collecting fabric to test out on two different kinds of paper. This will take a little bit of time but by the end of the month, I should be able to know which Fabric I'll be choosing for the backing of the scroll.

Also that paper I order finally came in at the store! Which means I should be getting it delivered in 3-5 days from now. I'm looking forward to this!

[Kaze_Senshi]

Apparently I'm on the background team now. Here's what I got so far:

Concept of Phantasmagoria of Flower View background (no color yet)
Mockup with characters

Cool background, will you use only black/white color for all backgrounds or you'll use a texture in the place of white/black?

[Sixten]

Cool background, will you use only black/white color for all backgrounds or you'll use a texture in the place of white/black?

I'm going to fill all the white space with color. If you visit the scroll forum you can see all the other in-progress backgrounds are in full color.

[Totaku]

I'm going to go ahead and post up a little announcement for this week. And this is especially important because it'll invovle HM and DDC for any artist who haven't joined the bandwagon yet.

I haven't done an update this week because things have been slow. But it's mainly because in most places around the world, school is ending for some. So some people are wrapped up with trying to get thier last bit of work done before they have thier free time. This includes the artists too! So I'm not here to post any update for this week. But I decided take this little opportunity to go ahead and remind everyone about that today. Hopeless Masquerade and Double Dealing Characters will be out! And this means new characters. And from what I gathered, there will be 4 new characters in total. One from HM and 3 from DDC.

For the artists this will mean I'm going to give you a small opportunity to sign up if you are all interested in drawing these characters for the scroll. So I would like you to PM me, contact me, or come of the AWA forum in and let me know you're interested in the HM or DDC characters. If we contact you and let you know that you been selected to work on something you'll have to get to work on it right away because the time slot for first drafts for these characters will be very small. It'll probably fall on between the 7th or the 14th of June. But I'll expect you to be willing to jump on the character and draw them on the whim once I give you permission.

In the case of DDC characters, they will only be done as a subtle cameo since the full game isn't likely to come out before the final deadline. But I do expect HM's character to be done in full much like the others.

So once again, for any artist out there. This is your chance. Contact me as soon as possible because I plan to make a decision on this come around anywhere between Monday - Wednesday of the following week.

Around that time, I'll make an announcement along with this upcoming week's report.


Till next time

-Totaku

[Formless God]

Are the HM and DDC characters available for new artists only?

[Totaku]

On the most part yes. The list will start from the new artist who recently register and get accepted to be put in the waiting list and the artists that are currently in the waiting list. If there are are not enough meet the expectations. Then we'll proceed to artists that are currently in the team. ATM I got 9 people in the waiting list. And they're going to take higher priority since it would be nice to give those who've waited so long a chance to work on something.

[Gappy]

Finally finished my final final final exams! Let me know if you need any last minute help to finish a character or two. Though I see you already have a generous number of backups.

[Akitake]

pixiv is currently emptied out to make way for new art~

I've (somewhat) finally finished my hermit training for drawing after these few months in preparation for this day, and humbly requests for a chance to draw any character (preferably Koishi, if able heh)