Update: I was looking at some old digital art contest winners and noticed something about the file sizes

I was browsing through the archives of the old CGSociety 'Challenge' winners from 2008. I downloaded one of the winning pieces, a sci-fi cityscape, and the PSD file was only 85 MB. My current WIP, a simple character portrait, is already over 2 GB. I found the stat on their old forum archive page. It just shows how much our tools and expectations for detail have blown up. Does anyone else have old project files that seem tiny by today's standards?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant.richard26d ago

File size doesn't measure good art.

noahclark26d agoOG Member

Exactly, @grant.richard. I've seen huge 4K files that are just a blurry photo of a shoe. Meanwhile, a tiny, well-composed JPEG can hit you right in the feels. It's all about the skill, not the storage space. A sharp 2MB portrait shows way more artistry than a messy 100MB landscape.

the_jason7d ago

Man, I totally get this now! I used to chase big file sizes thinking it meant better photos. But you're right, a small file with great composition always wins. It really is about the eye behind the lens.