New Quirky Gallery Tour

Post by **sensei** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:45 am

One of the suggestions someone made during last year's cel gallery open house event was to create a gallery with a changing theme that would get people visiting all the corners where there was interesting stuff, but which for some reason never got many hits. I've done a couple of variations, but the current one is the first that actually asks the question: why doesn't this piece get visited as often as others?

In some cases, I think it's just that it's the second (or third or fourth) image in a scene, and so people tend to look at the first one, then hop somewhere else. In others, obviously, it's part of a series that isn't well known, and so people aren't apt to jump from a home page to a title they don't recognize.

But in some cases I'm really puzzled. It's a nice piece ... so why 108 hits when others in the same gallery are getting twice, four times, or even more visits. These include well-painted cels of major characters in major scenes, dramatic gengas, even one of Vamppy's wonderful reanimated douga series.

There's nothing new, but the images are likely to be new to many of you. Check out the Quirky Tour: Light Hits and see what you think.

(And, yeah, I have an update in the works for next month: sketches from Inuyasha and Saiyuki, cels from MKR and Miyu, even some CCS art that got sidetracked and never scanned.)

Cordelia · Post by **Cordelia** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 10:13 am

I also wonder why certain items get more hits while others which should, don't. Maybe it's how they look next to others or ppl juz have different taste?

It's an interesting idea to feature those that deserve more attention. Although you may start wondering amongst these, why some get more hits than others

I like this Tonde Burin cel:
http://sensei.rubberslug.com/gallery/in ... mID=281288

The colours are so bright and attractive, it instantly cheers me up

Shampoo · Post by **Shampoo** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 10:32 am

Awww dont trouble yourself over it sensei.
*huggles*

In fact 108 is impressive to me.

*shrug* I barely have 10-20 hits on most of my cels/sketches
so any count higher than a 50 I'm going "kewl! they like it!"
:hitting:

Personally I think a few things have to do with whether or
not an item gets a hit.
1) the thumbnail is nice and detailed enough
the viewer doesnt bother to click (I'm guilty of this myself)
2) its the 2nd or 3rd image (like you mentioned)
so only the 1st in the series gets click on
3) has seen a sequence mate elsewhere
4) scan/photograph is too light/dark/grainy and assumes
rest are same quality
5) time; just wants a quick glance of overall
updates in the "new cels" section
(some folks have this feature in their galleries)

In any case, great stuff as always and
also congrats on your retirement!! Couldnt remember if I had
written in your blog w/ my congrats so I thught I'd reiterate
lol!
P.S. I'm pretty sure Mayuko has been hit a number of times by cel-senpai
and myself! Actually your Niea section as a whole

better employ extra chibi ninja guards for that cel book
>_>
<_<

Post by **sensei** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:18 pm

Thanks, Cordelia and Shamppy. It's more a puzzlement than an a problem, though I've been trying for about 3 years now to get a wider variety of items in my "Top 50" list, which for years were 100% CCS. (The list now has one Tennimon cel and three oddball sketches that I suspect are hotlinked somewhere.) I still love CCS, but so much of my collecting emphasis lately has been on other series that I keep trying to prod people to look elsewhere. But thanks for the suggestions. It's possible that I need to rethink thumbnails, which, especially with sketches, just don't at all reflect what the large image is like.

And thanks, Shamppy, for reminding me it had been a long time since I admired your Lain and Haibane Renmei treasures. Mayuko waves to her fellow yoshitoshi ABe creations before continuing to scream as loud as she can.

Retirement will be nice once it settles in. I've been dealing for the past week with insurance hassles (e.g., the HMO threatening to take back the payment for my wife's first knee because they think I'm carrying a second, commercial policy). I'm starting to think that retiring from my university is a little like chewing my leg off to get it out of a trap.

Well ... at least there are cels.

funshine · Post by **funshine** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:45 pm

100+ hits is pretty good.

most of my cels are pretty low hits... though i have a few in my top 50 that i scratch my head about and i have some missing from the top 50 that i can't figure out.

in any case. cool idea for the mini tour. i really like some of those cels/sketches

Belldandy · Post by **Belldandy** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:54 am

Great tour! Love the Jeanne gif, I found myself hypnotized by it for a few moment @.@

usamamo · Post by **usamamo** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:00 am

Shampoo wrote: In fact 108 is impressive to me.
*shrug* I barely have 10-20 hits on most of my cels/sketches
so any count higher than a 50 I'm going "kewl! they like it!"

I agree, some of mine only have like 20 but have been there for many many months.

Sensei, i love you Vampire Princess cels....

If your Miyu 'Transformation' cel ever needs a new home do let me know

Penguinton · Post by **Penguinton** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 6:55 pm

Yay new quirky tour!

http://sensei.rubberslug.com/gallery/in ... mID=281228

Gah I love mushishi artwork.

Anyways like Shampoo I get excited if a cel gets just 50 posts.

Post by **sensei** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:21 pm

Thanks, funshine, usamamo, Penguinton. I guess my policy of "thinning" my gallery to just those that can be accessed in two clicks from the home page (three at most in big collections) is working. There are quite a few that have just a couple of hits (one poor soul, I noticed last week, never has been viewed, even by its curator!). But these are the "wretched excess" items that you have to type in "seemorestuff" to access. Still, I'd guess the average number of hits in the major galleries is something like 200-250. (True, some of these are me, going through and dusting all the frames, polishing the glass, and updating the descriptions.)

There are still some odd spots of (relative) neglect, and though some of these are probably justified (middle-end quality items in an overall strong gallery), some just seemed quirky. I'll definitely try this again, as it was a learning experience for me.

Thanks for the comments on the individual items/collections. I'm a great fan of Mushishi, and it was wonderful to get these sketches, scary when I realized that their base was a color photocopy, deeply relieving when I finally could see what was the artist's addition and what was the copy detail he worked from.

Yeah, I love all of Vamppy's reanimations, and when I put this up at AnimeNext it got a big gasp and then a long, mesmerized hmmmmm. Meanwhile my daughter and I checked out the backpacks for cel books (alas, there weren't any, even from Starfighter).

No, I'm not moving any VPM cels yet, usamamo, but I'll think of you if I do. This is the one I facetiously titled "Couldn't believe I ate the whole thing!" until someone tactfully explained the situation to me. Love the color play between the blood red and the ice blue.

And thanks to all for coming to quirk out!