Open Query of Interest in Contest

I'm probably going to commission my first artz soon and started looking of Thor's Assassin's list to see what was available... So much great art it made me feel like I was about to eat a potato chip. That was when inspiration hit - Why settle for just one?

No. The great whammy of inspiration wasn't to purchase multiple pieces. That would hardly be inspiration worthy.

My idea was why not have a contest? Caemgen's Commission Contest, to be exact?

The idea is I would post some reference screenshots, maybe suggest a thing or two about what I'd like to see (nothing too restrictive beyond the subject itself) and then let anyone and everyone who wanted submit entries.




At this point the cynical are thinking to themselves that I am looking to grab lots of artz cheap. Being a bit cynical myself I understand that viewpoint. However that is not the case... If anything I'm just too lazy to properly comparison shop like I should. (Trust me, I really am that lazy. I bought my last new car without ever having bothered to test drive it... I made my brother do it so I could just sit back and relax.) Anyway, back to point: I'm not planning on going cheap on this contest. Second prize would be about the most I would have been looking to spend on a commission in the first place... So I'm looking at an outlay of 3.5 times what I was planning on spending. (Prize ratio would be standard 4:2:1 type deal...)

The even more cynical are thinking that I won't pay up after getting the artz. I have little way to prove this other than to say that honor and integrity are very important to me and I keep my word when I give it. However, that is also why I'm willing to dish out the extra in prizes - The artists may see me as a pay risk so I'm trying to make the risk worth it on the first contest so that if I do this again I have a proven record of paying. Because I could see me doing this every couple-four months or so but if I did do it anywhere near regular I would unfortunately have to lower the prize pool...

Still thinking as a cynic the question of me choosing just those I know/like and duping the others into giving artz when they have no chance came into my head... Well 1) I don't have anyone I'm particularly friendly with yet around here. 2) Easier than getting people to believe 1 is getting a panel of judges besides myself to decide on the prizes. My thought is I would get somewhere around 3 or 4 volunteer judges from the board here and they would vote on the entries and their top 2 winners would get the top 2 prizes. I would reserve 3rd prize for my own favorite but if my favorite was one of the judges selections then I would send 3rd place prize to the judges third place selection.

Is there selfishness in this? Yes, of course. If I was being totally generous I would have a contest to see whose character to use rather than just using mine. But hey, I'd be doing this in lieu of a straight commission so I think that is fair. But I'm not totally selfish... Like I mentioned above, I could see doing this every 3 or 4 months maybe (at a reduced prize pool from the first) and I am not an altaholic... I'm thinking maybe the first two contests would star my two mains as the subject and then I would alternate between someone elses toon and one of my direct selection (maybe my own, maybe a friends, maybe a random person again - my choice.). Not sure how I would choose a random person to be subject of the alternate months yet... Maybe a trivia question, maybe some contest in game, maybe something different each time... Let's see if the first contest ever happens before we look too far ahead.






So, to sum up:

• I would put up prize pool
• I would pick the subject for the artz
• I would ask for volunteer judges and pick 3-4 randomly to oversee prize awarding
• then we'd wait to see what artz poured in...

Questions I have:

• Do we think there would be enough entrants? This really isn't just an art-grab but a contest with 3 prizes isn't much of a contest with just 3 entrants.
• What would be a suitable timeframe from announcing contest to closing it to submissions?
• Would peeps from this board be willing to judge? (I'm assuming they would but *shrug* ya never know)
• Should the contest if/when it happens be posted elsewhere? DA perhaps? I very much like the idea of rewarding the artists around here who share so frequently but should those without accounts be excluded? (Sudden thought, maybe 3rd prize could be best of CoX players submissions that wasn't in top 2 so peeps here were gauranteed at least a taste?)

And finally, a question to the artist people: What would the prize pool have to be in order for you to consider entering such a contest? I have numbers in mind for prizes for the first contest which I think are sufficient but of course I can't be sure without input. Also, as mentioned, if I did make this even a semi-regular thing I would have to lower prize pool because I just can't shell that much out ever 3 or 4 months so I'm wondering if making with a regular thing is even feasable... So, if you're an artist and would consider entering such a contest, and would be willing to share what you think reasonable prizes would be, please be kind enough to send me a pm of that info? (No numbers on boards is the rule, I believe?)





All in all, I think a contest like this would be much fun for everyone since they would get to see the submission as they came in, discuss which they like best and why, etc etc... And become even more fun if I can afford to do it again and again and we get to randomly select a subject...

At least that's my view. Perhaps everyone else thinks this is a tacky idea and that I should never have darkened this forum's doorstep?

Whatever your thoughts, I'd be interested to hear (read) them. Feel free to say if you think the contest as a whole is a good idea or not. If you think people would enter or not. Shout out any suggestions you may have for improving the framework (nothing is set in stone) or questions that I haven't answered yet...

I think this would be fun but if the community at large here thinks otherwise I have no problem slinking away and going the normal commission route for my artz.

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As a lazy artist, I wouldn't bother even trying unless it was basically a lock. I don't want to put in all that effort for nothing. Though it's not a bad way to go about it, on your end. I don't blame you for wanting to do it.

This art forum doesn't react well to competition sometimes, I can't imagine the kind of drama that would emerge when real cash is involved. *Someone* is going to get butthurt along the way and it's likely going to get ugly.

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http://www.virtueverse.net/wiki/Massacre_Melanie -the original Fire/Dark Corruptor -
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=115217
The Guide to BURN

I think its a nifty idea but I'll likely abstain



I do wish you the very best for the contest though and my suggestion would be to maybe try it on Deviant Art where you'd have a larger pool of maybe intrested partys .

(im sure their may be a few intrested partys here but you likely have less folks that draw pretty pictures than people that like to look at them , whereas DA has a greater precentage of artists in general )

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Sounds like it could be fun. I'm happy to toss my name in the hat.

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I'm the competitive sort to a terrible degree and would so be all over something like this....

... except I've got so little free time right now it would be an impossibility =(

If it gets off the ground, I'll help you judge if you want!

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So you're talking about everybody submitting fully rendered, polished pieces? Or preliminary layouts to be considered for judging, which will be rendered out if they are selected?

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Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"

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