The Last of Sensei's 2012 Upgrade Thread: Mayan Doomsday!

[BuraddoRun]

I for one would be willing to help out in getting such a competition started. It has also been several years since we had a Gallery Open House. The last one was wildly work intensive: I don't think even half the participants successfully completed, and while I did, I felt it was more of a marathon than a festive chance to visit galleries that I don't often cruise through.

That said, I think a simpler, shorter approach, similar to the "Secret Santa" activity of last year (which I also conspicuously missed) would be enjoyed, especially by our newer members. That is, interested parties post their interest, and someone randomly assigns 3-5 galleries to each participant, rather than everyone visiting everyone else's gallery, which began to resemble a pyramid scheme after a short while. (Send Sensei a dime and three weeks later each of you will receive $5,242.88 -- or more! -- in the mail.)

Yeah, I have to admit that I'm kind of bummed that there wasn't a competition this year. As a new member, I would have loved to participate (even if only by voting, because I don't have a whole lot that would probably make competition level yet). Open House? Secret Santa? Those sound intriguing, too.

And not to beat a dead horse, Sensei, but another plus to your gallery is that you actually DO post comments in your sections and about your cels. So many RS galleries just show the cels off, with nothing to say about them. I actually do like to read owners' thoughts about their collections, the shows, whatever.

[teggacat]

ack!! I'm late to the party, I mean update...
as always, this collection as a whole, continues to expand my appreciation of
anime art in general, always finding some tidbit of info, exposure to art that I otherwise
would have missed, it's impossible to just do a quick pass-through when visiting
Sensei's gallery.
I love your new section Andersen Monogatari.
Just excellent.

[Yupa]

Sometimes I do. Looking at my 50 most visited items, I see that they are virtually all CCS items that come from my pre-2006 collecting career, plus some oddballs that I think are hotlinked somewhere. (Well, God bless the hotlinker. Poor Rengokuki gets himself killed within ten minutes of his introduction in the sole Inuyasha episode in which he appears, and so it's nice to see the poor guy end up being Sensei's most popular sketch by over 2000 hits.) So I suspect that my gallery might be just as frequently visited if I had stopped collecting after Nick's Anime-Chaos sales site had gone dark and not made any further updates for the past six years.

Anyway, hits are not the same as social contacts, and I really do miss the intense and thought-provoking discussions I'd have with fellow collectors, even as recently as a few years ago. And my recent trend toward "Golden Age" series like Andersen Monogatari and Microid S also seems to provoke the "Whatever!" reaction from most Betarians. Researching and writing up new exhibits is a lot of work -- it always surprises me how long it takes to move from "removed from package" to "scanned" to "ready-to-upload" status. So after an update goes up, it's not surprising that I look back on it and suspect that my activity was just a little obsessive and over-done, given the scattered response I get.

It's a pity some parts of your gallery don't get the amount of attention they deserve. But if some pages don't show up in the top 50 most visited and you don't get reactions on it, doesn't mean they aren't visited.

I'll take your excellent Asatte no Houkou gallery as an example. That is one of many shows that don't get much attention anymore even though it's not that old. But there are still people left who love this show. I started watching a few days ago after reading a review from a fan of the show and I agree it is one of the best slice of life anime I've seen. Normally I don't really like that genre, but this is so well done that I was captivated from start to finish.

After watching the first episode I knew I recognized the characters. Then I thought: didn't sensei have a gallery on this show? I never visited your AnH gallery before, because I have this bad habit of ignoring galleries of shows I haven't watched yet. However, I did remember it thanks to your update thread, so I went back to it and was amazed.
The amount of time you put into this gallery shows, and I took my time looking at all sketches and reading all of your research (even the technical details!). This made me appreciate the show even more, so after watching each episode I went back to your gallery to see if you had any sketches of it. You manage to keep each page interesting by telling what the differences are between the fases in the process and you tell things I never would've found out.

My point is, even though I'm just some random Dutch guy, there are people who visit those "buried treasures" and appreciate all the work you put in it. They might not all give you feedback, but I'm sure for every part of your gallery there are people who are interested in it. I know I don't give much feedback because I find it hard expressing myself in English, a language I don't speak in daily life. But I wanted to thank you for making such an interesting gallery on this little show that most people don't know about.

The upside of it is that it's always a tremendously enjoyable puzzle to research the items, identify (when possible) the artists, and really look at the art to see what's there to see. (It amused me to review the KKJ set after her big confrontation with Chiaki and realize that she keeps running with her eyes shut and rubbing her eyes and looking distraught, and she never does work up more than the hint of one tiny teardrop.) I'm delighted to have found an activity that has been so much excitement and joy to me -- and still is after all these years. I'm just a little wistful at times that this deep joy isn't more widely shared.

This really makes me think I should work more on my own gallery and let visitors know how these scenes were made. You're right that a little research can make a gallery much more interesting. Your gallery is one of a few that I can spend much time on without getting bored.

[sensei]

I'm kind of bummed that there wasn't a competition this year. As a new member, I would have loved to participate (even if only by voting, because I don't have a whole lot that would probably make competition level yet). Open House? Secret Santa? Those sound intriguing, too.

We probably do need to put more collective energy into these events. Yes, there's been drama involved in the contests, but for most people it's just a chance to let their bishies, bodacious bad girls, and critters run free for a couple of weeks. I'd be happy to be part of a hosting team if the techie side is kept relatively simple. The open house is an even simpler idea as there's no judging and no awards, and the drama can be kept between critics and curators. (Gee, I still remember how one visitor said it looked like my cels were backed with "Christmas wrapping paper." Heh. And they still are.)

another plus to your gallery is that you actually DO post comments in your sections and about your cels. I actually do like to read owners' thoughts about their collections, the shows, whatever.

Yes, even with fine art, I enjoy collections that have the collector's hand still visible. We did the Bancroft collection of Pre-Raphaelite art in Wilmington over Xmas, and that's a fascinating gallery. Samuel Bancroft, Jr., owned a textile mill in Delaware, and, like a lot of industrialists wanted to use his new wealth for a major art collection. Most of his fellows went after Old Masters and ended up with a lot of fakes and some authentic works by third-rate imitators of second-rate Renaissance artists. He went for works by contemporary British artists like Rossetti and Burne-Jones, who were challenging the aesthetic hegemony of the Old Masters. And it's an eclectic collection by someone who truly loved this movement, including not just paintings but sketches, books, pottery, chairs, and documents from the various businesses that the artists (notably William Morris) created to market their designs.

It's a good model for an online gallery, and while I'm no Bancroft or Phillips or Dr. Barnes (my personal hero), I'm glad that this personal touch is visible and appreciated.

always finding some tidbit of info, exposure to art that I otherwise
would have missed, it's impossible to just do a quick pass-through when visiting
Sensei's gallery. I love your new section Andersen Monogatari.

Thanks for coming, wandering, and learning something. I'm always finding out something new through collecting, and excited to pass it on. The Andersen Monogatari series is one I've been lurking for a long time, and I'm hoping that more little clutches of cels will surface. It really shows the last gasp of the "classic" cel production style, using completely hand-traced designs, even though the cheaper photocopied trace-line technology had by then been widely adopted in Japan.

there are people who visit those "buried treasures" and appreciate all the work you put in it. They might not all give you feedback, but I'm sure for every part of your gallery there are people who are interested in it. I know I don't give much feedback because I find it hard expressing myself in English, a language I don't speak in daily life. But I wanted to thank you for making such an interesting gallery on this little show [Asatte no Houkou] that most people don't know about.

Thanks for taking the time to write such a thoughtful comment on my gallery, Yupa. I have faith that you are right, and that like any online resource that there are many more unseen and unheard visitors who still pick up knowledge from it. I still miss the chatter (even if it sometimes came with a touch of drama) but I'm happy if my gallery updates spread the news about worthwhile series like Rozen Maiden and AnH.

So farewell to 2012! But watch for a new thread next month, as I have another big shipment on the way with more goodies from that newly surfaced dusty packing box of KKJ art. Plus a modest but majorly desired Rozen Maiden sketch. Plus an interesting grab-bag of Gegege no Kitaro cels (the classic 1980s version), with a high wishlist guest character (Aka-name, the totally gross yokai who hangs out in the john with Hanako-san between materializations). Plus some nice Hyper Police cels.

And -- yes, I'm incurable -- a new gallery (CGI series).