Presents
Awards for Graphics Efforts
in the Creation
of Aircraft Textures.
Presents
Awards for Graphics Efforts
in the Creation
of Aircraft Textures.
I wish to acknowledge and occasionally present a small tribute to unique individuals who are outstanding amongst the hundreds of texture painters that are now becoming more prevalent within the Flight Sim Community. The only method available to me to acknowledge outstand textures is through an Awards system.
I would hope that from my experience and Personal standards in texture painting that this Award System would be seen as an acknowledgement from someone who understands the time, effort and attention to detail that another painter/artist has input to the simming environment through one of their texture releases.
Therefore, this page and the subordinate pages are dedicated to Awards which have been granted to Aircraft Texture Artists who have demonstrated the highest standards in their graphics work for the benefit of the Flight Sim Community.
There are Four possible award that can be granted:
Ground Rules:
1.When will Awards Be Presented:
Awards will be presented on an as required basis. Setting a fixed time
implies that an award must be given each period irrespective of quality or
output during that period and some periods may not have textures released that
meet expectation or standards . Therefore, issuing an award when it is
warranted is far more appropriate as sometimes a burst of quality will occur in
short periods and I would prefer to honour the Texture on, or as near as possible
to, it's release.
2.How Will Textures Be Discovered for Assessment.
As there are many textures released each and every month it is not
possible for me to identify and notice every one that has been released. I
would appreciate it if Artists and Simmers who think that a Texture is worthy of
consideration for one of these awards would bring that texture to my note.
I would then investigate the texture.
3. How Would Winners by presented the Awards.
All award recipients will be firstly notified by
e-mail of that award and the reasons for it. If they accept the award then
I will make it public knowledge through various forums and also include their
details on the Awards Honours Page (on this site) as Recipients of that award -
included in the acknowledgement of the award will be a link to their site and
the winning texture and a description of why the award was won.
4.How Will Textures be Assessed and Given Awards in Each
Category.
Firstly let me explain that because GJSmith.com and I, Garry J. Smith,
have absolutely no ties, commitments or obligations to any other site
then I can, and will, be totally unbiased in the
selection and assessment of textures. There are no rigid expectation
on how textures are presented to the flight sim environment. They can be
part of an entire package, independent textures or even only components/parts of
a texture set. There are many aircraft designers who also do some
incredible work on their textures, and there are some painters who concentrate
on just the fuselage part of the entire livery to such a high standard that some
recognition may be warranted.
So, at the moment I would like to leave the definition of "texture" as loose as possible to ensure that we have provided every opportunity to enable those that do the TEXTURE aspects of an aircraft are not excluded from the possibilities of receiving some recognition for their efforts when warranted. (this may become a little more restrictive in the future)
5. What am I Looking For During an
Assessment for an Award.
This is a very contentious area - I intend to be as liberal as
possible in my assessments but maintain the highest possible level of standards
and expectation.
I will assess aircraft on their visual impact within the Flight Sim environment in accordance to the effort and quality that I, from years of experience, will know and understand have been invested in the texture. However, from my experience, I know full well that time and effort are not the only things that create a quality effect in texture painting. In many cases attention to detail, historical detail and accuracy of replication can also be important factors. Additionally many liveries are imaginary and they also warrant assessment for their artistic input and quality.
The curse of this type of assessment is that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and what I think is an exceptional work by a painter is not necessarily the same opinion of another. What I offer to counter this concept is my experience and understanding of years of providing textures to the flight sim community that I will be able to use these skills and attributes to assess the textures to the best of my ability and meet a majority of the simmers expectations in a level of quality and recommendation.
For those that know me, I set a very high standard for my own work, and in fact there are only a few of my textures that I think would be considered at the level of expectation that I will apply to the three Major awards. However, I will undoubtedly be much more gregarious with the Encouragement Award.
6. Freeware or Payware.
Sorry, but this award system will be restricted to Freeware textures - Why? -
because the time and effort for the creation has no financial rewards or
expectations. Freeware textures are gifts of effort to us all and many
textures have been achieved through unlimited time, research and effort simply
to be gifted to us simmers for our flying pleasure. Therefore, I see this
Awards System as a form of recognition and a modicum of reward for that effort
on behalf of me and I hope many of the flight sim community.
Please note: Any award that I present for whatever category above will not be rescinded for any reason other than if the texture is proven to not have been the work of that particular artist/painter. This is not intended as an act of arrogance but a safeguard to the painter/artist that I will stand by my decisions on an award and will not bow to public pressure if others disagree with my assessment because awards are based on my assessment alone.
