FWN/Beats/Design

Artwork

In this section, we cover the Fedora Artwork Project.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork

Contributing Writer: Nicu Buculei

The desktop theme for Fedora 10 was chosen

MairinDuffy announced[1] the vote for the default theme in Fedora 10 on @fedora-art "Nigel Jones set up a vote for us to vote on round 3. You must be a member of the art group in the accounts system to be eligible to vote" and after the voting process ended, MichaelBeckwith announced[2] the winner, the Solar theme[3] "We weren't feeling completely InvinXble. However, being the FOSS advocates we are, and with our support of Fedora, we were not afraid of of the unknown frontier. The Gears of time shown bright with a healthy Neon glow, but neither of these had very much effect on the course of destiny. Come join us as we sail into the Solar future for Fedora 10 later this year" and MaxSpevack drew the conclusion: "They are all beautifully done pieces of artwork, and I really hope that everyone in the Art Team is proud of what the group has collectively achieved. I say 'congrats' to everyone on the Art Team."

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00364.html

[2] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/F10Themes/Solar

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00455.html

[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00456.html

The fight for the theme

As the vote for the Fedora 10 theme was closed to the members of the Art Team, a lot of people tried to vote even if they weren't members of the team, as MairinDuffy noted[1]: "Since i announced the F10 theme vote, we've received a deluge of art group membership requests, some clearly approveable but many not" and she reminded the requirements to become a member, which are listed on the project's page[2]. DavidNielsen tried an appeal on her blog[3] "Maybe the solution is to open the vote, even if we are not inclined to contribute in your area of Fedora we might still have an opinion. Do you want other contributors to make decisions on the projects collective future without including you?" but Mairin remained firm "As an artist, I don't expect to have a vote on many technical decisions. I wonder how someone without both the experience and inclination to provide artwork for Fedora would have the expertise necessary to make an informed decision" and concluded "Everyone has an opinion. Not everyone is willing to put their money where their mouth is. It is a shame."

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00371.html

[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork#First_Steps

[3] http://mihmo.livejournal.com/62031.html

The theme soap opera

While the vote for the Fedora 10 theme was ongoing, SethKenlon reminded[1] an old issue with one of the contenders and asked for an update "I am not clear, is this to be the final katana or is it still being swapped out with a newly photographed one? I recall there being an issue with licensing, and thought we would be seeing a different sword...but maybe I missed the thread in which all of this was solved" on which NicuBuculei expressed[2] his remaining doubts "Honestly, I have some doubts about hat: sstorari *claimed* he remade the image using his own (Free) photo as a base and he posted the reference photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sstorari/2826852493/ While it looks pretty much like a katana (just like the photos used previously), the sword in the photo is not at the same angle as the sword in the wallpaper (so the hilt looks different), which make me have some doubts", which raised an angry answer[3] from SamueleStorari, the theme author, who claimed innocence "If u take a look in the source before write something u can see that the problem was solved creatin' the blade from 0."

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00369.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00383.html

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00386.html

When the discuss started to look like a classic flamewar, PaulFrields dropped a bomb by showing[4] a movie poster identical with the theme discussed "Samuele, I'm a big fan of Quentin Tarantino, and collected some desktop backgrounds when Kill Bill Vol. 1 was going to be released. One of the backgrounds features a katana sword which looks to me to be identical to the one in your source .XCF file" and outlined the importance of having all of the elements of a design Free in order to have the result Free "When we talk about having an entirely free desktop theme, it means that *all* the elements must be created from free sources."

[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00394.html

As Samuele continued to deny any wrongdoing "the Blade wasn't the same cos the blade was totally recreated. Take a look to the source file and please post something similar", NicuBuculei created and posted[6] a short video[7] revealing the similarities "What can I say? rotate the image 180 degrees and the resemblance is, uh..., uncanny"

[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00397.html

[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00398.html

[7] http://fedora.nicubunu.ro/invinxible.ogv

During the heated debate, MartinSourada expressed[8] his doubts regarding the allegations against the two themes proposed by Samuele "First, I have an impression that Mo and Nicu are somehow biased against Samuele's work. First, some weeks ago, Mo kept asking Samuele about Moon brushes in the Solar theme, when the Moons were already removed from the artwork, next there is the problem in katana. As nicu pointed out, the original design indeed resembles the Kill Bill poster, but even though I saw the .ogv file he provided, I am not 100% convinced Samuele used that katana" and "I believe both Mo and Nicu are just trying to prevent any legal issues that might arose in the future otherwise" but after seeing additional evidence provided by MairinDuffy[9] and CharlieBrej[10] he changed his position "Mo and Nicu, I'd like to apologize for accusing you from being biased and pointing out outdated issues. It was me who was wrong and I should have checked the sources first. While part of the sword was replaced, the tilt was indeed from the same source image and I was wrong in arguing otherwise."

[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00436.html

[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00437.html

[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00438.html

After the vote ended and after a long and heated debate, SamueleStorari apologised for his misunderstandings about licensing "First of all I want to apologize with all art-team and mailing list member for last two days mails. This is my first work in FOSS environment and I didn't understand all implication and I saw your continue checking on my work as a way to find something wrong" and started to work fixing his two themes proposals and remove a number of tainted graphic elements from them. At the moment of this report, Samuele is closely collaborating with other members of the team on this task and the Solar theme cleaned almost completely.

[11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00463.html

Lessons from the flamewar

In parallel with the debate surrounding the license of a couple of theme proposals for Fedora 10, MairinDuffy opened a debate[1] about the policy to apply when finding license infringements "Here are the options as I see them and/or as have been suggested to me: 1 - disqualify invinXble as a theme, even if invinXble wins, the 2nd-place winner will win 2 - if invinXble (or any theme that has photos we aren't able to source) wins, replace any sourced photographs in it with properly-licensed ones 3 - disqualify any themes that use images we cannot find properly-licensed photo source references for", she noted the pros and contras for each option and expressed her option for one of the first two. DavidNielsed raised the case[2] for a written policy "I would favor option 2 with the understanding that a proper policy be written and must be agreed upon when submitting artwork for Fedora in the future. This way we do not lose the two most developed themes this late in the game and we still get to correct the problem. This at least would be similar to what we have done in other parts of the distro when such unfortunate issues have arisen", a policy considered not needed[4] by NicuBuculei "Well, I propose a simple guideline: 'Don't like. When people ask about the source of your work, be honest and tell the truth.' That would have solved all of our problems *weeks* ago, but I think it is common-sense and we should not have to have this as a written guideline. "

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00425.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00432.html

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00460.html

As a lesson from the happening, MairinDuffy asked[4] on @fedora-art about unclarities some member of the team may have about licensing: "Did any of you joining the art team have doubts/questions/confusion over copyright law and licensing as it pertains to the usage of externally-sourced images used in artwork? Were you unsure of what licenses were acceptable to use in Fedora artwork? What kinds of questions / uncertainties did you have, if any?" and proposed a few measures, on which DavidNielsen completed[5] with a couple of simple guidelines "* Unsure about source licensing terms, don't use it. * Unable to document source licensing terms, don't use it."

[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00426.html

[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00434.html

Echo icon theme and Fedora 10

BillNottingham raised[1] a cross-question to @fedora-art and @fedora-desktop about the status of the Echo icon theme "When we approved Echo as the default icon theme for F10, I was under the assumption that this was already more or less known as a feature to the Desktop group, and they were OK with the coverage provided and the experience given. Is that the case?" on which WilliamJonMcCann expressed[2] his opposition to the new theme "I strongly disagree with the decision to use the Echo icon theme. For one, there is simply not enough time before Fedora 10 to fix the problems that you point out. There is also the fact that the quality of the artwork is noticeably lower than the upstream GNOME and Tango icon themes" and preference for the Tango set "Encourage Fedora artists to become involved with the upstream GNOME and Tango artist communities" while MairinDuffy pointed[3] the inclusion of Echo as a default in Rawhide as a means to enable wider testing and accelerate development |I also was under the understanding that Echo was set as the default in rawhide to enable the folks working on it a chance to get fuller coverage, and that if it was deemed to not have appropriate coverage, it would be pulled."

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00441.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00442.html

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00443.html

MartinSourada pointed[4] that some of the concern raised in Bill's original questions are also valid for the current situation "With Mist, there are still new gnome styled icons, old gnome styled icons and bluecurve. In some places we reduced the old gnome and bluecurve to minimum, in others not yet. Check the System -> Administration menu as an example" and reminded there is still development time until the final decision about inclusion will be made "Our general idea is that some time around the final freeze it will be decided by art and desktop teams whether we are ready. If not, echo will be pulled back and submitted again for F11. I'd be for voting, enabled for art and desktop fas groups members regarding this issue" and JaroslavReznik showed the enthusiasm of the KDE SIG[5] regarding the new set and his openness to work for getting it in a good shape "We (KDE SIG) are trying to use Echo theme as default for KDE but currently there are still some icons missing. We are preparing list of to-be-done icons. So can we fill it as ticket for echo-icon-theme and edit Todo on Wiki?"

[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00457.html

[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2008-September/msg00471.html