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How I won $2,750 using JavaScript, AI, and a can of WD-40

davekiss.com

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Re: How I won $2,750 using JavaScript, AI, and a can of WD-40

#121

Post by zrobotics »

neontomo wrote: post #29

I'm in the art scene, and when it comes to submitting proposals for exhibitions and being in art/film festivals and such, competing against other people being picked is surprisingly easy when you realise that most people don't study the brief that tells you exactly what the organisations is looking for. make sure you nail everything in the brief and you're in the lead, even if your art is terrible. I feel this is sim…

I'm not in a grant field, but this comment reminded me of this video from attoparsec about public art grants from a few years ago that really resonated. My mom spent the last ~15 years of her career in a field that involved grant writing for public health projects, and many of the strategies were similar.

Video: https://youtu.be/cK4K8aj7X1s?si=xAQH54SfC8yUE_ll

Re: How I won $2,750 using JavaScript, AI, and a can of WD-40

#122

Post by hi_hi »

teruakohatu wrote: post #119
hi_hi wrote: post #115

Oh no, its the AWD vs 4WD thing all over again. Is WD-40 a lubricant? Apparently, again, it depends!

Any low viscosity liquid is a lubricant including water, or any small enough solids. WD40 is a lubricant, but a very poor one for folks who have not discovered silicone spray lubricant. That said if all I had was an old can of WD40, I would use it. The funny thing is where I live you can buy “WD40 Lubricant” (silicone). I think many people buy WD40 because, unconsciously or not, the smell brings back memories.

Right, and this is probably the important bit, sometimes a poor lubricant is worse than no lubricant, and its really important to understand when something like WD-40 should be used and when it absolutely should not.

Let me explain. I ride motorbikes. You don't want to be using WD-40 on the chain as it will strip it of any existing lubricant and dry it out, which as you can imagine, is bad. However, it's actually really useful for cleaning parts of the bike that have been covered in gunk and grease.

I have to admire their marketing, as like you mentioned, I grew up in a house where WD40 was used for absolutely anything sticking or squeeking, and so for the longest time also used it to fix those things, and beyond.

Re: How I won $2,750 using JavaScript, AI, and a can of WD-40

#123

Post by nine_k »

neontomo wrote: post #29

I'm in the art scene, and when it comes to submitting proposals for exhibitions and being in art/film festivals and such, competing against other people being picked is surprisingly easy when you realise that most people don't study the brief that tells you exactly what the organisations is looking for. make sure you nail everything in the brief and you're in the lead, even if your art is terrible. I feel this is sim…

This means that to improve one's chances to gain publicly, one should adjust their art to the exact requirements of the publicity-producing organization, and not let artistic whims like "inspiration" ruin the day. Or, better yet, has to learn how to reorient the latter slightly to check every box when a checklist becomes available.

This requires a serious mastery of the art that allows to obtain exactly what's envisioned.

It also rubs many artists the wrong way, because they want to be led by the art, ideas, concepts, etc, and not by external riders. OTOH most great masters of the past worked under such conditions, with notable success. Michelangelo certainly had a rather detailed list of requirements for the Sistine Chapel paint job.

Re: How I won $2,750 using JavaScript, AI, and a can of WD-40

#124

Post by bigiain »

julianeon wrote: post #112
TrackerFF wrote: post #13

I love that 75% of the post was OP checking the math on whether or not he should join the contest.

I'm somewhat skeptical of this amount of validation. There's a solid educational consensus on how to become the best at something: do it a lot. If your goal is to winning contests, you should really prioritize cranking through them: getting practice at getting better. Don't try to make a masterpiece. Instead focus on becoming fast at creating entries, doing them according to the rules, and sending them off. Like thos…

I kinda feel we both read two different blog posts here?

What I took from this was:

1) Choose contests with well defined judging criteria, not subjective or popularity contests. Ideally ones where there are specific weightings for requirements and where some of the heaviest weightings are both a) things that'll be overlooked by a lot of entrants, and b) things you're personally very good at. (in this case video content and production)

2) Choose contests where there are sufficient prizes that it's worthwhile entering even if you don't win first place.

3) Choose contests where you are allowed multiple entries, and allowed to win multiple prizes.

This is all backed up with some javascript, webscraping, AI, and math - presumably to meet all the judging criteria and improve their chances of winning the HN front page contest. My suspicious is that this is what most of that validation you're skeptical about was for - not a beautiful vase, but a checkbox ticking exercise in ranking on HN.

Then don't bust a gut trying to produce the best possible entry, just use your subject matter expertise (in this case video content production) to produce "good enough" entries that are above the level that most of the public can create but without striving to surpass Ridley Scott or Quentin Tarantino levels of production.

Don't "make 1000 vases" to practice contest entry and enter 10 contests a day. Instead carefully choose only the contests who's requirements include something important that you've already "made 1000 vases" for (like, whatever you do as a day job) and only bother entering those.

Re: How I won $2,750 using JavaScript, AI, and a can of WD-40

#125

Post by neontomo »

nine_k wrote: post #123
neontomo wrote: post #29

I'm in the art scene, and when it comes to submitting proposals for exhibitions and being in art/film festivals and such, competing against other people being picked is surprisingly easy when you realise that most people don't study the brief that tells you exactly what the organisations is looking for. make sure you nail everything in the brief and you're in the lead, even if your art is terrible. I feel this is sim…

This means that to improve one's chances to gain publicly, one should adjust their art to the exact requirements of the publicity-producing organization, and not let artistic whims like "inspiration" ruin the day. Or, better yet, has to learn how to reorient the latter slightly to check every box when a checklist becomes available. This requires a serious mastery of the art that allows to obtain exactly what's envisi…

in my experience, your submission does not have to be a carbon copy of what you end up making. you can check the boxes to make them trust your artistic ability - then you can make it yours, within reason. the money controls the art outcome, until you're banksy. a lot of great artists are able to stylistically and thematically change their art on a whim, by studying the materials/style and putting conscious effort in. this is not rare. modern art does not require mastery by any means and some of the more successful artists actively avoid perfectionism.

Re: How I won $2,750 using JavaScript, AI, and a can of WD-40

#126

Post by bigiain »

dartos wrote: post #76
swayvil wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everybody other than the artists love that "presenting her submission" part. Better than the piece. Better than the essay about the piece. They want the summation of the essay of the piece. Preferably with an associated pic of a cute art goth pixie. Ah art.

Is goth still in?

Goth is always in. It just floats in and out of the consciousness of non-goths over time.

Re: How I won $2,750 using JavaScript, AI, and a can of WD-40

#127

Post by raincole »

mhb wrote: post #101

Is it common for contests to post all the entries before the contest is over? Even if they do, why wouldn't smart competitors enter at the last minute in order to prevent their competitors from benefiting from their work?

The main point of this article is that most competitors are not that competitive (for some reason).

Re: How I won $2,750 using JavaScript, AI, and a can of WD-40

#128

Post by flatline »

swayvil wrote: post #72
neontomo wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i have a friend who is great at this, so i picked her brain a bit. she does this method and i see her booking show after show without a social media presence. she does 90% studying the brief, 8 percent presenting her submission in a structured way (think: explain the idea, what lead up to it, how it will benefit the show, who she is, and even visualises how it will look by photoshopping her art into their space) and…

Everybody other than the artists love that "presenting her submission" part. Better than the piece. Better than the essay about the piece. They want the summation of the essay of the piece. Preferably with an associated pic of a cute art goth pixie. Ah art.

Basically what we are all doing here on HN. We are social creatures by nature and the commentary and commentators are often more entertaining than the subject.

My dad is an accomplished artist but never wanted to play the art scene and mostly spent his career as a professor. He once produced an entire storage shed of metal sculpture than he later recycled for lack of anything better to do with them. I could only fit two in my house.

Re: How I won $2,750 using JavaScript, AI, and a can of WD-40

#129

Post by bart_spoon »

julianeon wrote: post #112
TrackerFF wrote: post #13

I love that 75% of the post was OP checking the math on whether or not he should join the contest.

I'm somewhat skeptical of this amount of validation. There's a solid educational consensus on how to become the best at something: do it a lot. If your goal is to winning contests, you should really prioritize cranking through them: getting practice at getting better. Don't try to make a masterpiece. Instead focus on becoming fast at creating entries, doing them according to the rules, and sending them off. Like thos…

They aren’t trying to become the best at something, they are trying to maximize the ROI of their time.
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