Paperlegends

[einahpets]

So if any of you don't know, paperlegends had their announcement post today!  Yay! 
I've met the best people through this event, seriously. 

Anyway I was looking through the schedule and I noticed artists now have to submit drafts.
This is actually pretty cool, cause it makes artists more involved. 
But I think there's probably more that would make it a little more involved/better for the artists.

Question for my writer friends and artists too!! --
As it's done now, drafts aren't due until after artist/author matchups happen. 
Before matchups, the 15K word counts are taken in faith.  I can't tell you how many of my artist friends got burned because the author didn't have the suggested amount, and ended up dropping out or the artists were not able to make art to the fullest of their abilities since time is shorter for artists.
I was wondering if submitting a minimum 15K rough draft before match-ups is something you think would benefit your Big Bang experience?
As an artist, I see it as more of a guarantee that you're serious about finishing and I have more confidence going into the anon matchups.  ALSO!  I have so much more material to work with and create beautiful art from.  And please tell me of a writer who doesn't want to see beautiful art?

Question for my artist friends --
How would you feel to have betas required for artists too? 
There are so many talented artists in fandom who would be more than happy to take a look at your in-progress work.
In the past year I started sharing my IP work with fellow Merlin artists and it makes a world of difference. 
Be it for anatomy, composition, perspective issues, coloring, the atmosphere in the piece, how to do a certain technique, etc. 
Having an online critique makes such a difference, and it created such a supportive community. 
It's like an art class, but for free, and on your time!!
Would you guys be interested/supportive of this?

I've already talked to a few friends, but I wanted to see if there were similar/different thoughts from my flist/the Merlin community.

Feel free to pass this along!

Comments

[yue_ix]

As an artist, I love betas and cheerleaders, and I love betaing and cheerleading artists. (I'm lumping both things here because the same people have often played either one or both in the past and sometimes the help and support they gave me were very similar.) I'm pretty much always in favour of betas being offered and required for artists for big things.

It's been particularly useful for me for big pieces that have been done over the span of weeks, when under a heavy deadline or when drawing inspiration from an external source. There's often last minute rushes and disconnection from all parts of influences. It distracts me and makes me miss out on very obvious mistakes, or only later realise I tried to put too much into a single frame. It can also plain burn me out and make me want to give up. Betas and cheerleaders are extremely reassuring. It's an external person looking at our work before we release it to a large public, someone to ask questions to, to hold hands with, to discuss and work out particular issues with our work. My works are much better when I can get a beta on it, and for challenges and exchanges I love to aim for the best quality of work I can make. Knowing betas are required pushes me to try newer things because I have a fail safe to look at the piece after and let me know if I'm off-track with it.

[yue_ix]

Btw, it wasn't one of the questions for artists, but I'm also in favour of a pre-match-up draft due. Like you I've seen artists who got matched up with writers that didn't have much words written yet, and it made the artists unable to start on any work since there wasn't enough source for them available. To my knowledge they all made it in time for the deadline anyway but they were forced into a much shorter timespan to do their art than they were supposed to have and often ended with lessened enthusiasm for their own final pieces.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I edited the question so we get artist's opinion too (because for some reason I didn't say that before posting)!

Exactly, this event is supposed to be fun for all. Yes, it's hard work but it should also be a positive experience for all the participants. I think by having 15K drafts confirmed would prevent a lot of headaches later on and make everyone a lot happier.

[yue_ix]

It's not directly related to this issue, but I've just been pointed to this great post: An Open Letter to Fest Runners: Writing vs Art. It summarises a lot of my feelings about why I don't participate in some fests but do others, and it comes down to feeling like I'm about to embark in a positive and equal experience for all participants. That includes being reassured there are measures to make sure I have a fair amount of time to do an expected size or quality work, and being offered the same tools as the other participants (like check-ins, betas, cheerleaders, inclusion in support events and places).

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I actually read that article tonight!
It definitely touches upon a lot of problems fests fail to consider.
Thanks for sharing the link here!