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

[dk323.livejournal.com]

I think requiring 15K before the match-ups are done is a good idea. It's always nice to have a guarantee that someone has reached their goal, which allows the other person to do better at their job. I'm all for artists getting that guarantee and having more time to work on their piece(s) since they'll be able to get a completed story on schedule.

I haven't participated specifically in paperlegends yet as you know, and I wish I were one of those people who wrote faster...it can be a tricky thing, but I think I've done better these last few months at keeping to the deadlines. As long as writer's block doesn't happen, I should be fine.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I think it would really benefit writers who would love to work with an artist. Because they have to structure themselves more to meet the word count requirement.

The cool thing about Merlin BB is they allow for pinch artists for Cat 2 writers (writers who didn't ask for artists at the initial match-up but still were going to finish). So even if they don't qualify for the first round there's still a chance to get art.