Statistical Inflation

A couple of weeks ago I remarked on how happy I was to have reached 600 popular pictures on TLKFAA.  One of the reasons this matters to me is that it’s not an inflated stat.  Inflated stats occur when artists routinely fave their own pictures.  Yes, you can do it, but I don’t like it.  It’s good for enlarging the raw count of your popular pictures, but when you do that you lose a landmark-creator for yourself.  I like the pop pics count because it provides me with feedback as to what people like and don’t like about my artwork.

How can you spot a TLKFAA artist who inflates their stats?  [Note: this analysis is based off a limited sample, handpicked by yours truly.*] Well, the largest indicator is the number of “popular pictures” with only one fan.  Once you’re up there in the number of pop pics, like I am, it’s reasonable for less than a third of your pics to have just the one fan.  I’m just over 600 pics, and I would estimate 160-170 of those to have one fan.  Inflaters, if they’re clever about their methods, won’t fave all of their pics, but a high number.  When the percentage of 1-fanners is up there in the 40s, something’s off.

Another glaring indication of stat inflaters will be that a very high percentage of the pics they upload will be added to the list.  This has relevance when the first indication, lots of 1-fan pics, is true (if not, then it might be this is just a very popular artist).  It’s highly unlikely that one fan will like this one picture, and a different fan will like a completely separate picture, over 40% or more of one artist’s work. Statistical trends don’t really work that way.  When these first two indicators are combined, it is probable that one person has done a mass faving of this artist’s work.  There is a possibility that this person is not the artist, but I know of very few people who will go out and fave hundreds of pics by a single artist…it takes a lot of effort, and would probably be noticed if it kept happening.  If 800 of a total 900 pictures are faved, with a large percentage of 1-fanners, Occam’s razor would point to self-inflation.

A final indication of statistical inflation by a TLKFAA fanartist is comparing the number of fans of their top popular pics (i.e. top ten).  This should not be used on its own as proof of inflation. A fanartist may have 1000 popular pictures, but their top ten pics might have a range of 30-20 fans.  If this is not inflation, then it’s telling – to me it illustrates that this fanartist’s skills in term of picture quality are probably not spectacular (also not a flattering conclusion).  Even AnnieHyena, the most prolific Archive artist at over 4500 uploads, has a respectable 80-40 range, showing that her picture quality in terms of likability does not suffer.  I have a 70-40 range if you leave off my outlying 150-fan pic.

Now, just because I’ve pointed out these indicators does not mean that you should go around shouting accusations at artists that they are stat inflaters.  Do not do!  It causes dramaz and does not reflect well on you. The point of this post is to show that there is more to the raw pop pic count than is blatantly apparent.  I find the statistics fascinating and like to examine what they reflect and what they don’t. On a site like the Archive where there are many such stats to look at, I think it’s good for a LK fanartist to have a good grasp of what TLKFAA numbers illustrate.  And please, note the disclaimer below and realize that this comes from my limited theory-rambling.  It’s just observations I’ve made along the way as a TLKFAA fanartist.

* Disclaimer: These indicators are my own personal conclusions from studying a very select sample of TLKFAA fanartists with high upload counts and uploaded content similar to my own, mostly AotMs who draw a good amount of canon.  They should not be taken as absolute truth, or applied Archive-wide.  Canonless artists and those with less than 300 uploaded pics or so were not in my sampling.

Reminder Revisited

Remember that post I wrote about the TLKFAA Uploading Guidelines five days ago?  Well, Brian just posted a new message on the main page of the Archive which is even more thorough and clear, so hopefully there will be less drama about what is “on topic” and what is not (I’m not exactly holding my breath on that one).  I highly recommend that you read it if you’re an artist at TLKFAA.

The heart of what Brian is presenting, for me, comes down to the fact that TLKFAA is a site for Lion King fanart.  Not for wolves, kittens, dragons, griffins, unicorns, fanart of video games, fanart of other Disney movies, fanart of any other movies, fanart for virtual pet sites, furry art, R-rated art, original species, original species from outer space, original species that look suspiciously like wolves or dragons, etc., etc. to infinity. Y’all can take that crap to DeviantArt or some other site.  Please.

It reminds me of what happened last summer during Canon Days, a week in which artists decided to draw canon art (of their own free will, not a requirement or mandate).  Some artists freaked out because… they never draw Lion King art.  WTF?  Really, how do you upload on TLKFAA and not have a single piece of canon-related art?  These artists felt “attacked” because suddenly lots of artists were uploading canon art to their galleries.  The rationale behind that is honestly beyond me.  For 1/52 of the year, some people want to celebrate the roots of this fanart community, and that is offensive to you?  Just…wow.

I know there are always people who snark, “If u limit what ppl can upload then every1 will leave!  Losers!!” (or something to that effect) To them I would say, “What a relief that would be, to have a close-knit community focused on Lion King art drawn by Lion King fanartists.”

Is it wrong for me to wish that TLKFAA could be more like that?   :\

Just a Reminder

Apparently I have been missing some dramaz in the TLKFAA bulletins about off-topic art.  But I thought it might be a good idea to post some important quotes from the Uploading Guidelines, just to refresh the memory.

“The Lion King universe encompasses African animals, big cats, created big-cat-like species, and the general natural setting of southeastern Africa. It does not include non-African wolves, horses, or the human world (including dogs and house cats)—though some art of these subjects may be allowed, as long as it does not dominate your gallery.

Not Acceptable:

• “Furry” or role-playing characters that have nothing to do with the Lion King universe. No humans, Pokemon, South Park, anime, dragons, Neopets, or “furry” characters that don’t have anything to do with TLK. “Crossovers” are fine, but please be reasonable about it.
• Characters from movies or shows other than TLK (especially if they’re not big cats or African animals).

Note well that this site is not a democracy—it’s a privately run and financed community resource.”

So…yeah.  On topic is the way to go.  And there are plenty of other online art communities out there for you to discover if you would rather not draw Lion King / African-themed art.  Don’t worry, be happy. =)

Fun Fail

Yeah, I didn’t do anything for April Fool’s Day this year. -_-  I’m lame.  And this post is even lamer.
If you want to see the fun that was had last year on TLKFAA, when I was not lame:

The Prank: http://fanart.lionking.org/piccomments.cgi?Koraden+GoodbyeForNow.jpg

The Reveal: http://fanart.lionking.org/piccomments.cgi?Koraden+AprilFools.jpg

How to Win Fans and Influence Voters (TLKFAA-style)

The simple answer: draw canon.  Canon, canon, canon, and specifically movie canon.  After all, that’s the unifier of TLKFAA, the LK universe.  Most of the artists here love the movies, and so if you want to gain popularity among them, movie canon subject matter is what you need to draw.

Now, I’m not saying that’s the only way to win people over, but it’s the fast-and-dirty way.  If you have your own original species or a particular drawing style that is really unique and fascinating, that also works.  Dille, for example, is a fantastic artist in her own right with amazing style, but she doesn’t actually draw canon all that often.  But people don’t really join the archive just to see the style she draws in, although they may adore her uploads all the same.

When I joined TLKFAA, like many others I was determined to show originality, and made up individual characters like crazy, playing with their designs, and also entered many user contests.  But somewhere along the way I observed that my canon art got more comments, was favorited more often, and generally garnered more interest than any of my OCs.  Gradually my art shifted in focus to where it is today – primarily canon and subcanon based.  It may be that I am just going through another phase of being here at the archive, and eventually I will become jaded and return to my individual quirks and characters (I have noticed many artists before me do the same after becoming AotM).

I think if I actively drew things besides TLK art, I might be more tempted to strike out on my own.

But here’s the thing, the canon world has its own charm, and can be extremely interesting.  It can also satisfy the urge for creativity in a number of ways.  If you develop your own unifying fanon story, like I have, you can invent new ways that the characters relate to and react with one another.  You can design relatives (i.e. Uru or Mheetu) and even invent relatives (i.e. Nala’s father).  I’ve also found that a limiting factor on my artwork, constraints like “only TLK art” cause me to become creative in whole new ways–how can I make these 15-year-old characters new and interesting?  This also comes into play in the site contest, which poses rules that you get to play within the boundaries of.

I was going to talk more about the site contest, but I think I’ll save that for another day since I’ve blathered on enough already.  In summary, if you want TLK-lovers to become interested in your art, draw what interests them. =)  You might fall in love with the movie and its characters all over again!