Popularity of Certain Art on CAF

[BrianR]

First off I consider myself a lower end collector my budget doesn't allow me to get into the high end of things. I go for art that either a catches my eyes now or was cool since my younger days. The later is why I love painted covers from magazines. Some of these pieces I would consider have more importance than others in term of the hobby as a whole.

 

The last sentence leads me to my question. I see EC horror covers, key bronze issue covers, classic grail pieces, etc with what I consider very low view counts for how important they are, the artist involved, and overall quality of the piece. Then I see low end pieces as far as importance, artist etc that get a crazy amount of views. I do not make it a point to follow views as I don't think the intent of CAF is to have a popularity contest. If the view count disappeared tomorrow it would not bother me. The only reason I even thought of this is I just put up a piece less than 24hrs ago and it's view count surpassed all my other art I have had up for some time (its closing in on 900). I love the new piece of art, but I am a bit taken back by the amount of views it has.

 

Finally the question. What makes certain less iconic/ important pieces more "popular" via views than others on CAF? I realize the simple answer may be that it looks cool, but then so do many of the less viewed pieces out there. Also does anyone have any pieces that surprised them in this way?

 

 

[stinkininkin]

First off I consider myself a lower end collector my budget doesn't allow me to get into the high end of things. I go for art that either a catches my eyes now or was cool since my younger days. The later is why I love painted covers from magazines. Some of these pieces I would consider have more importance than others in term of the hobby as a whole.

 

The last sentence leads me to my question. I see EC horror covers, key bronze issue covers, classic grail pieces, etc with what I consider very low view counts for how important they are, the artist involved, and overall quality of the piece. Then I see low end pieces as far as importance, artist etc that get a crazy amount of views. I do not make it a point to follow views as I don't think the intent of CAF is to have a popularity contest. If the view count disappeared tomorrow it would not bother me. The only reason I even thought of this is I just put up a piece less than 24hrs ago and it's view count surpassed all my other art I have had up for some time (its closing in on 900). I love the new piece of art, but I am a bit taken back by the amount of views it has.

 

Finally the question. What makes certain less iconic/ important pieces more "popular" via views than others on CAF? I realize the simple answer may be that it looks cool, but then so do many of the less viewed pieces out there. Also does anyone have any pieces that surprised them in this way?

 

 

Here is one quick observation for you to consider. When were the "important" pieces added to the CAF site? A lot of the "grail" type historical pieces were loaded when CAF was in its infancy and viewership was a fraction of what it is today and the numbers reflect that. When a major piece is posted today (or non major for that matter), it get's a lot more views because there are more notifications in play and announcements made. And there are just more eyes watching now in sheer numbers when ANYTHING is added to the site than there used to be. Anything posted in 2005, even if it's great, seems to not have the view counts or comments.

 

I would also guess that most of the CAF users are younger and have less interest in the important historical pieces.

 

Also, if a piece has T&A or is from a hot modern book, it always seems to find an audience, whether deserved or not.

 

Scott

[lb jefferies]

Yup, What Scott says.

 

Look at these:

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=44455

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=297666

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=126688

 

Added in 2005-2007. All with 3-4 comments. If they were posted today guaranteed 20-30 comments apiece...

[buttock]

If there was an Art Adams sketch of Batman on a gargoyle with Powergirl flashing cleavage it might crash the site.

 

If you really want to get depressed look at the most searched for terms.

[BrianR]

Yup, What Scott says.

 

Look at these:

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=44455

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=297666

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=126688

 

Added in 2005-2007. All with 3-4 comments. If they were posted today guaranteed 20-30 comments apiece...

 

Those are amazing pieces and deserve to be showcased. Looking at the view count as well is pretty horrible for as many years that they have been up.

[Bronty]

If there was an Art Adams sketch of Batman on a gargoyle with Powergirl flashing cleavage it might crash the site.

 

If you really want to get depressed look at the most searched for terms.

 

How does one do that?

[Overthetopinc]

Funny I was just thinking about this today. I was a little surprised that my Frank Frazetta painting only has 5 comments..

http://comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=157114

 

Also I posted some of my favorite Biz paintings to date and they barely got noticed but its still early.

 

http://comicartfans.com/gallerynew.asp?GCat=2409

 

Maybe its still early or maybe nobody likes me..

 

thanks,

Matthew

[BrianR]

Here is an example of what I am referring to. This is the TOD #10 cover featuring the 1st app of Blade. This piece is simply amazing to look at and a very important piece historically.

 

It was posted up less than a year ago and only has 876 views. This is incredibly low to me for such a fantastic item.

 

tod 10

 

 

Again, I know this site is not a popularity contest and everyone's opinions vary greatly from what they like. I find it odd that these pieces are not viewed more often then they are.

[buttock]

If there was an Art Adams sketch of Batman on a gargoyle with Powergirl flashing cleavage it might crash the site.

 

If you really want to get depressed look at the most searched for terms.

 

How does one do that?

 

resources > popular keyword terms

 

http://comicartfans.com/popular-searches.asp

 

Not so bad now, but last time I looked (probably about a year ago) it was "nude", "naked", "breasts", etc.

[thehumantorch]

If there was an Art Adams sketch of Batman on a gargoyle with Powergirl flashing cleavage it might crash the site.

 

If you really want to get depressed look at the most searched for terms.

 

How does one do that?

 

resources > popular keyword terms

 

http://comicartfans.com/popular-searches.asp

 

Not so bad now, but last time I looked (probably about a year ago) it was "nude", "naked", "breasts", etc.

 

Sad but not surprising.

[Claudio]

I am pretty sure some of the most viewed items are manipulated. That may make some of the nicer pieces with less view counts seem neglected.

[Brian Peck]

I have found just posting it to the CAF does guaranty a lot of views or comments. A lot of pieces get posted to the CAF every day. Many pieces get lost, when we do the Best of I am amazed at the pieces I missed over the year even though I check the CAF everyday.

I found posting to the Comicart-l and CGC the views and comments will be higher than just posting to CAF.

[Terry Doyle]

I consider CAF to be a great resource, where I can search for the kind of artworks that have personal appeal. I really couldn't care less about the whole 'counts' business (which can easily be manipulated).

 

I do find it kind of sad that so many T&A pieces (seemingly) attract high viewing counts. Quite a lot of these drawings are so (outrageously) badly drawn, I wonder if the so-called artists responsible know a damn thing about human anatomy? Which is a shame, really,as there is a lot of quality 'cheesecake' artworks swamped by all the amateurish nudie stuff.

 

Whatever turns you on, I suppose (literally!).

 

 

[Terry Doyle]

In a similar vein to CAF (format is very similar), the 'Infected by Art' web-site is well worth exploring:

 

http://www.infectedbyart.com/default.asp

 

It's mostly fantasy-art-orientated (which I lean heavily towards), with the galleries available to either professionals or emerging talents (an artist's work has to be approved for inclusion, which eliminates all the amateurish cr*p that pervades CAF).

 

Some gorgeous stuff on display.

[BrianR]

How do you manipulate the view count? and Why would you want to manipulate the view count would be another question.

 

I think it would be cool it there was a way to create galleries of runs of books. The gallery would consist of the covers available for each issue in the title attributed to the current owner then the pages of that issue attributed to each owner. It would be a great way to see what is out there and see everything in one place at least digitally.

 

I realize you can basically do these thing with the search engine currently in place. but I think having galleries mentioned above would be a lot cleaner and allow for more research and viewing pleasure.

 

 

[MedicAR]

It's a really good question and one that I had not previously considered.

 

I imagine one might drive up the view count by posting a link in a forum like this, rather than posting a pic directly. This would force those that are curious to go look at it and each click drive the count higher.

 

Another factor might be the way I usually look at CAF. Let's use the Tomb of Dracula cover as an example. Despite searching regularly for Gene Colan, I would not have clicked on it for one of two reasons. First, it's probably not for sale and when I look for something from Gene Colan, I am looking for something to purchase. Second, even if it were available, there is no way I could afford it in this lifetime. Between the two, I won't click it.

 

 

[BrianR]

In a similar vein to CAF (format is very similar), the 'Infected by Art' web-site is well worth exploring:

 

http://www.infectedbyart.com/default.asp

 

It's mostly fantasy-art-orientated (which I lean heavily towards), with the galleries available to either professionals or emerging talents (an artist's work has to be approved for inclusion, which eliminates all the amateurish cr*p that pervades CAF).

 

Some gorgeous stuff on display.

 

You have some impressive art in your gallery. I love the Daleks page. Such a fun piece of art.

[mister_not_so_nice]

How do you manipulate the view count? and Why would you want to manipulate the view count would be another question.

 

If you're not the gallery owner, every time you click on a piece (or refresh) the hit count goes up by one. Or if you are the gallery owner and log out, same thing. Why? Isn't OA collecting a p1zzing contest?

 

I think it would be cool it there was a way to create galleries of runs of books. The gallery would consist of the covers available for each issue in the title attributed to the current owner then the pages of that issue attributed to each owner. It would be a great way to see what is out there and see everything in one place at least digitally.

 

CAF has this setup somewhat with the COMIC ART ARCHIVE . But a piece needs to be on CAF and the owner has to have submitted it to the archive. It's growing slooooowly

 

I realize you can basically do these thing with the search engine currently in place. but I think having galleries mentioned above would be a lot cleaner and allow for more research and viewing pleasure.

 

 

This only works if the titles are written in a uniform manner. There are about as many different ways to list a page as there are collectors

[BrianR]

It's a really good question and one that I had not previously considered.

 

I imagine one might drive up the view count by posting a link in a forum like this, rather than posting a pic directly. This would force those that are curious to go look at it and each click drive the count higher.

 

Another factor might be the way I usually look at CAF. Let's use the Tomb of Dracula cover as an example. Despite searching regularly for Gene Colan, I would not have clicked on it for one of two reasons. First, it's probably not for sale and when I look for something from Gene Colan, I am looking for something to purchase. Second, even if it were available, there is no way I could afford it in this lifetime. Between the two, I won't click it.

 

 

I've actually found that almost everything is for sale on CAF for the right price. I picked up quite a few pieces by asking what it would take to buy it.

[BrianR]

I never thought of the art community as a BSD contest. I am sure its there, but not like the who has the highest grade book arena.