The problem isn't so much that the FOSS community is made up of coders - it's that it's made up of hobbyists. Generally you just are not going to get the quality of artwork from hobbyists that you will from professionals. The facts are, if an artist is good enough to make money off of his work, he's probably going to do so.
That's not to say that there aren't talented artists in the FOSS scene, and it's not to say that many professionals do not enjoy working on non-profit work in the spare time. This can, and does occur, and the projects that have these people involved benefit and show the results.
Community driven artwork is another issue. Most projects that have community driven, open art development lack consistent graphical style and quality. Projects that have one or two, dedicated, talented artists are going to have more cohesiveness and quality balance across the board. Another issue is that many projects have to lower the acceptance standards because otherwise they'd never get released due to a lack of art. The best thing for these projects is to always look to update and upgrade their art as they go along. Eventually, after some time and polish, they'll at least have something that has good quality, even if it lacks the cohesiveness.
That's not to say that there aren't talented artists in the FOSS scene, and it's not to say that many professionals do not enjoy working on non-profit work in the spare time. This can, and does occur, and the projects that have these people involved benefit and show the results.
Community driven artwork is another issue. Most projects that have community driven, open art development lack consistent graphical style and quality. Projects that have one or two, dedicated, talented artists are going to have more cohesiveness and quality balance across the board. Another issue is that many projects have to lower the acceptance standards because otherwise they'd never get released due to a lack of art. The best thing for these projects is to always look to update and upgrade their art as they go along. Eventually, after some time and polish, they'll at least have something that has good quality, even if it lacks the cohesiveness.
Comment