It is my personal opinion that we need art exchanges around these parts. Art exchanges are amongst my favorite things in the universe. On that note, I've decided I'm going to host one and see if I can get the tradition started here.
For those of you who don't know what an art exchange is:
Basically, it's like a "Secret Santa" event, except with art. People sign up and post references for what they want drawn. You could ask for art of a character of yours, your favorite animal, yourself or a friend/family member/pet, a character they like from a book/movie/game/etc... even a theme ("draw me something involving violins" or "Norse mythology" or "gender dysphoria") Anything, really. Whoever is hosting the event (in this case, me) will secretly match up participants and private message each participant telling who they're drawing for. You then have a certain amount of time (usually around a month is standard) to draw whatever that person wants drawn. Once you finish your picture,
private message it to me so it's kept secret until the big reveal-date. Once everyone has sent in their pictures, I will create a board with everyone's lovely artwork on it so people can collect their art and thank whoever drew for them. (A lot of times people like to play a guessing game to figure out who drew for who.)
Anyone can participate! You don't have to be the world's greatest artist, as long as you put some effort into your part of the exchange. It's about fun and community and gift-giving, not about collecting professional-quality art. Don't feel bad if you aren't the best artist and don't throw a tantrum if the person who drew for you isn't.
On that note, it would be nice for everyone to at least do a
finished picture with coloring (or shading, as the case may be for those who do greyscale) or a background. I know some people have a hard time with backgrounds-- you're not expected to draw full-blown scenery or anything if you don't want to. Just a pattern or something will work, as long as you do something to fill the background to give your picture has a more finished feel to it. That way, we don't have half the participants getting masterpieces and the other half getting tiny headshots and uncolored sketches. Just to be fair.
Sounds like fun, right?
If you want to sign up, just fill out this form and post it on this board:
QuoteYour Name: (self-explanitory)
What you want drawn: (your characters, fandom characters, yourself/friends/pets, favorite animals, specific themes... you name it, just make sure you include any references people might need to draw what you want drawn)
What you can draw: (humans, animals, "anthro" characters... tell me what you draw so I have someone who only draws humans trying to draw someone's pet cat)
Examples of your art: (again, so I can match people more accurately and don't have a a horror artist drawing cute fluffy bunnies... links to a couple representative pieces or to DA/Photobucket/other art site account will do)
The deadline for sign-ups will be
May 9, 2010, so you have about a week to sign up. I'll then sort people and have PMs sent out within a couple days, and you'll have until
June 30, 2010 to finish your art. Does that sound fair?
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!
P.s.- I'll be signing up, too, because these things are too fun to resist. I'm going to use a random-number system for matching people, so don't worry about me being biased and matching myself differently than everyone else. Here's my sign-up form:
Your Name: Diane
What you want drawn: I would love something involving
m>-bleeped-<ie(s)! They're my spirit in animal form, so-to-speak. Extra kudos if include a
luna moth friend (representative of my best friend) and/or a
bull-frog buddy (representative of my awesome brother), or maybe rainbows or some
violets (the flowers or the leaves). Pretty open-ended-- have fun with it and be as creative and interpretive as you want!
What you can draw: Animals, anthro characters, humans, whatever
Examples of your art: My DeviantArt
