Anyone up for weekly or monthly challenges? We can create an event per challenge (last category on the sidebar) and have everyone post their artwork on the same event. Thoughts?
And if your answer is yes, ideas for challenges?
And if your answer is yes, ideas for challenges?
Fun idea. :)
ReplyDeleteGood use of events, too.
They did something similar like this with Daniel Ibanez's "digital painting 101" hangout show that he did (he gave people a project to do, and then they shared it in their stream).
If you want some examples of some of the group projects they did, see the #digitalpainting101 hashtag.
In general, I guess making the projects inclusive is good, but then, it may be more fun just to do whatever is interesting, and if people are interested, they can participate.
Ideally it'd be good if it's something that can be done using multiple mediums (within reason). And something that doesn't take too long (since people are busy), but a month (or even 2 weeks) gives people a comfortable amount of time.
I did see the Digital Painting 101 assignments. I haven't tried them yet but certainly looked interesting.
ReplyDelete+1 to making it inclusive for all mediums and for making it not too time consuming.
"Plants" would be an interesting one (i.e. use your method of choice to create an image of a plant).
ReplyDelete"Trees," as well.
But you can also sort of go for things that allow more personal connection with the subject of choice--such as "create an image of your favourite thing to do," etc.
Very cool. Let's get everyone to vote on this?
ReplyDeleteI vote yes and I like the ideas above.
ReplyDeleteSo we have two topics - Plants/Trees (or do we want to break these out separately?) and Your Favorite thing to do. (Thanks Bruce Achterberg)
ReplyDeleteHow about the deadline - How much time should we keep for the submissions? 2 weeks? A month?
People who come in later can of course submit stuff to the same event later on but unless we have a deadline people might not participate.
I'd probably wait until we get a few more members before starting something like this (100 seems like a good number), but that gives you a chance to hash out the details. Up to you, though.
ReplyDeleteYou could make a post asking for people to vote with their +1s on how long they feel we should have to work on submissions. (I'll share a post with you so you see what I mean.)
Idea:
I think some really simple guidelines would be handy. (I.e. Just some brief text that explains what this is, how the process works, etc. Obviously you can only do this when you have such details.)
I think it's important to add that these don't have to be masterpieces; it's more so a fun thing we can do as a community.
Topic idea
Flowers would probably be a fun topic. [I'm kind of into the natural world, so my ideas will sort of be influenced by that.]
Question:
Also, how are we going to keep track of them?
Are you going to create a separate category in the community for it and have everyone share their submissions to that category? [If so, I'd just have 1 category for all submissions... not one category per submission topic.]
Or do you want to organise it by hashtag, and then let people post their submissions in the appropriate community category if they want to (e.g. "water colour" or "charcoal," etc)?
Both methods have advantages. I kind of like the "Create a category for it in the community" idea since it just makes things simple.
Edit: Oh, right, you said you were going to use events. Good idea! Good idea.
I like the idea of one category for the submissions too - maybe call it Weekly/Fortnightly/Monthly Challenges depending on what we choose?
ReplyDeleteWe'll create an event for each challenge and all the submissions can be added to those to make it easy to keep track of.
People can add a hash tag on the media used ( #watercolors #oils) to make it easier for people to find these later.
The post looks good to me. Do you also want to add the topics for them to vote on? Or we could just have three separate events - let people pick the one they are interested in and want to post to.
ReplyDeleteAdded an Art Challenges category if you want to post this there :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen deciding the amount of time for each event, I think downtime is something to consider.
ReplyDeleteE.g. If we have a period of 2 weeks, perhaps have a 1 or 2 week down time before starting another event, to give people a break to do other things before starting on another piece.
~~~
I personally like having 1 month as the amount of time to do it. People could share their work if they finish before then (and of course, if they finish after then), but you could do one each month, and that'd give people a fairly comfortable amount of time to find a subject (even if we set a topic, they still have to find something to draw/paint/etc), paint it to their satisfaction while tending to other things in their life, and then share it.
Also, if they get busy while doing it (maybe something comes up for a week), they'll probably still have enough time to finish it within a month or so.
That said, I'd be open to starting with a time periods, seeing how it goes, and then adjusting as it makes sense to. Since the time period is just to give us some focus, so it's helpful to have one that suits the community.
Sounds good to me :-) Let's start with a month as the timeline and we can bring it down to 2 weeks or so if people find it too long to wait.
ReplyDeletePooja,
ReplyDeleteSince we'll do a few of these, I think it's okay to just choose a topic (e.g. trees, plants, etc) and go with it, letting people participate as they want to.
It may be a bit slow at first--you may only get a few submissions. But I think that's okay. Once more people join, and see what we're doing, you'll probably get more.
~~~
Rainbows would also make another fun topic.
Also, I was thinking--are you going to allow photography as a submission? (From basic "I just took a photo of that" to "I took a photo of that and completely transformed it using post-processing tools.)
I love photography, and think it would be fun to be able to use it as a way to participate... but I'm not sure if you're wanting to encourage lots of photographers to post photos within the community.
Another community I know asks for "non-photographic" art, and I can understand why.
Anyway, just a consideration.
How about using the photographs as the reference for the challenge? That way you get to share your work and others get to post their interpretations in the medium of their choice.
ReplyDeleteSo I created a test event to see how adding photos works.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like we can either add photos to the event, or post them in the community.
From what I can see, it doesn't look like you can add photos to an event and also add commentary about the photos (like you can in posts), unless you add a comment to the photo.
I think it'd be nice if people can say something about what they create and even give it a title, so I think having people post their submissions in the community category is good. [and they can always post them to the event, too, if they want.]
Good catch! Let's have them post in the category with a hashtag then? For example if it was a monthly challenge, they could use #decchallenge .
ReplyDeleteI think we should still have the event along with this to make it easier for people to find the topic/reference pic and post questions on the challenge details. But for posting, they could just share to the Art Challenges category with the hashtag. Works?
Pooja,
ReplyDeleteThat's a clever idea (letting people post photographs are references that other people can use).
You'd have to be clear that it works like that, though, since some photographers/artists are a bit not-liberal when it comes to people creating derivative works from their creations.
Some people might also use the full month to create a photographic art piece as a submission (maybe they do lots of post-processing), which wouldn't give much opportunity for people to use the image as a reference.
There are plenty of photographic communities, so if you want it to be non-photographic art only, I think that's okay. Other communities can always do events like this, but for photography.
Yeah, I think posting in the category is fine. If we want to change it later (to, say, only posting in events), we can.
ReplyDeleteI agree that creating events for each one is nice, since they show up on the community page and are a good way to share information.
For hashtags, I'd number them.
E.g. #dechallenge1 #dechallenge2 etc.
That way the category will always serve as a big index of everything, with the hashtags serving as a way just to look at specific challenges.
A nice thing about having people post in categories is that they'll also show up in the "All posts" section of the community, so people will get to see them without having to go check an event page.
Of course the reference pics would work only if the photographer were ok with it. I don't consider myself a photographer but I take a bunch of pics for references and would be glad to share them here for others to paint from.
ReplyDeleteWe could have a category for photographs but given the number of communities out there on the topic, the number of posts and the feedback on the pieces here might be limited. I'm part of some of the communities and I should say even with all the magic of snapseed, my photos don't come close to what is being posted there :-D
Were you thinking of multiple challenges within the month? Or do you mean we just number the challenge from the first one?
ReplyDeleteI think that's a good way to do it.
ReplyDeleteYou could say something like:
"While we prefer submissions to be non-photographic, if you have some photos in your archive that you would like to let people use as a reference for this challenge, feel free to submit them."
That will keep the focus on "sharing photos as references people can use," rather than "sharing photos as submissions."
Just shared this to public so we should have more inputs on this thread :-)
ReplyDeleteDoes it make sense to start the challenge in Dec? I'm guessing most people will be busy the last two weeks so that gives them just one week if they want to participate.
I meant that the first monthly challenge could be #decchallenge1 (so everyone participating that month or sharing reference images would tag their submissions with that).
ReplyDeleteThe next month people could use #decchallenge2.
And so on.
You could also just use a single hashtag, but I reason that the community category would already serve as a central gathering place for submissions.
It depends on what you want the purpose of the hashtag to be. I'm thinking "a way for people to see the submissions associated with a participar monthly topic."
But that's just an idea.
Yeah, I'd wait.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I'd have the time to participate in December. I imagine that'd be true for other people, too.
Once you have things hashed out (topic chosen; etc etc), even if the event only starts in January, you could make the event now rather than later so people can see it and do a bit of preparation for it, etc.
(And yeah, more input is good. :) )
We're probably not getting much feedback on this because it's a little burred under other posts.
ReplyDeleteIf you get a chance, you could always make a hangout in this community and just ask people who join what they think about what we've discussed so far.
Just my 2 cents: I prefer to start with monthly challenges. Any faster than that and I'd feel I don't have enough time to work on something, mostly because I don't have much time to spend.
ReplyDeleteI would love to do a monthly challenge as well!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea, though I would suggest that the topics be more conceptual rather than concrete. For example, "shade" or "spring" or "open" instead of "trees" or "flowers." That might make it more interpretative & creative. Some suggestions along these lines: "explore," "melancholy," "hope," "mystery," "fluid," "expand."
ReplyDeleteSo sort of like the topics for the scavenger hunt they do on G+.
ReplyDeleteE.g. One topic was "pink":
https://plus.google.com/u/0/113977984500465768287/posts/RB3kz8bAtXp
Another was "Depth of field - shallow":
https://plus.google.com/u/0/113977984500465768287/posts/KPkzcUFUxtK
Some other topics they've done:
soft, mint, purple, green food, night lights, motion, model, lines.
I think if we went with more conceptual topics, we'd have to give some sort of description--something to act as a trigger for something more specific (for those who want it).
E.g. I'd have no idea what to do for "explore" or "mystery."
Could you expand on them with a few examples?
I.e. What would those topics look like?
How might you describe them?
I like the idea of conceptual and those topics sound like an interesting challenge to me also!
ReplyDeleteSomething to consider: will we require people to submit a new piece they started for the challenge, or can they finish off something they've been working on and submit that (so long as it fits with the topic)?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it matters that much, but I do think it's nice if people start a new piece, since then when we share them you have some context to the pieces.
Thoughts?
I don't mind if they share something that they have already worked on but would be great to have them work together with the group. Maybe have them post the artwork they already have but also work on something new during the month of the challenge?
ReplyDeleteI think most people will probably create something new for each event.
ReplyDeleteI do feel it'd be nice if people shared something new (even if they only post it later when it's finished--they don't have to post it that same month if they don't want to), since it'll be nice to look through the stream and see "wow, this is what people have been working on for the challenge."
I guess we can just be relaxed about that, and see how things go.
It's good to remember that we can always change the way we do things later on if we feel that'd be a better way to go.
Yep! We should post the hashtag prominently so regardless of whether they post during the challenge or after, they use the hashtag and people can find it later on.
ReplyDeleteJust sharing an idea:
ReplyDeletePerhaps in each event announcement post we can include an FAQ section (though keeping it simple would work, too).
E.g.
--------------------------------------------
Frequently Asked Questions
--------------------------------------------
Do I have to start something new for the event, or can I finish or share something I've already worked on?
We think it's more fun if people start something new for the event, though if you have a piece you've already been working on and feel it fits the topic, you could finish that off and share that. Just mention in your post that it was something you started prior to the challenge.
[or something like that]
This sounds good. We can add it to the description so it's right on the top.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, these monthly events were a great idea, Pooja. I haven't seen any other art-focused communities doing something like this.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bruce Achterberg. We did something similar when we had Wave and it was a lot of fun. It's just much easier to share on Google+ compared to Wave so hoping we get more folks participating :-)
ReplyDeleteAnother example is Illustration Friday (www.illustrationfriday.com). This is a weekly challenge for artists and illustrators and they've had topics that are concrete (like "snow," this week), to abstract (like "imagination" and "lonely"..under the "Pick of the Week" image, click "View past topics"). It's really great to see the wide range of responses to these topics. It's been going on for years, though their new website is only about a year old. It's a huge community of hundreds of artists.
ReplyDeleteI've done the IF many times over the last year or so!
ReplyDeleteUpdate:
ReplyDeleteI added a new topic to the topic idea thread (it's at the bottom):
https://plus.google.com/u/0/101091631097741118096/posts/NYSUBBLDwBc
Draft post for the event announcement post
See below.
I'm not trying to rush things along... just sharing a draft we can riff on.
The text is in early draft form; I'm just sort of fleshing things out a bit to give you an idea of what it could look like.
The event post will likely evolve over time. Consider this version 0.01.
~~~
The Artistic Waves Monthly Art Challenge - #1
[Some introductory info.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The topic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[info about the topic]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How to participate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Choose a subject
After looking at the topic for this month, what do you feel would be interesting or fun subject for your piece?
You can be as literal or as abstract / imaginative as you like.
So long as you have the appropriate permissions, you're welcome to use a reference photo or image.
2. Decide what medium(s) you want to use
You can use any mediums or your choice (e.g. charcoal, painting, digital painting, glass work, etc), or even many mediums.
3. Begin when you're ready, have fun, and enjoy yourself
Work on your piece at a pace that feels comfortable to you. Your creation can be as simple or elaborate as you want it to be.
The aim is for everyone to share their finished creation (or, if you like, what you've done so far) at the end of the month, but if you want to take longer to work on it and reveal it later, that's okay.
3. Share your creation!
Once you're ready to share your creation (either your completed piece or what you have so far), use this link to go to the "Monthly art challenge" category in the Artisitc Waves community: http://goo.gl/fuEfZ
From there, create a post that shares your piece (or what you have so far) and please be sure to include the hashtag #AWmonthlychallenge0 in your post so people can easily see all of the submissions that correspond with a particular month.
Of course, you don't have to wait until the end of the month to share something—you're welcome to share images of your work in progress over the course of the month if you feel inspired to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frequently Asked Questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do I have to start something new for the event, or can I finish or share something I've already worked on?
We think it's more fun if people start something new for the event, though if you have a piece you've already been working on and feel it fits the topic, you could finish that off and share that. Just mention in your post that it was something you started prior to the challenge.
Do I retain all copyright to my work?
Yes.
Keep in mind that this is a public group, so anything you share may get re-shared (via the Google+ Share feature) or displayed publicly.
Can I submit more than once piece per monthly challenge?
Yes, if you want to—so long as it's on the topic chosen for the month you're participating in.
Entries can be as simple or as detailed, thorough, and complete as you like.
Things we still need to figure out
ReplyDelete- We'll need to figure out if we want people to share their piece on a date, or just "at the end of the month." I like the latter (i.e. something non-specific), since it gives more of a sense of freedom, and I like the idea of the project being more of a fun/sharing experience, rather than a rigorous one with a deadline.
This can be tweaked as necessary.
- What hashtag do we want to use? Pooja suggested "dechallenge," but I'm not sure what the "de" part means. Did you mean December, Pooja?
My idea is something like "AWmonthlychallenge1" (and we increment the number with each month).
Other ideas:
"ArtisticWavesmonthlychallenge1"
"ArtisticWaveschallenge1"
The idea is to keep it short and easy to type/remember, but also descriptive so people get an idea of what it's about when they see it.
I like the idea of doing at the end of the month....as far as a date goes maybe we could just make it the.... last Friday or Sunday (whatever day agreed) of every month?
ReplyDeleteI´d like to see the progress of paintings - not only the finished work. So maybe we could sometimes post 3 or more photos (album) to one challenge.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think that's the way to go.
ReplyDeleteI think people will naturally share work-in-progress stuff as they want to, and if we let people share their finished piece as they finish them... well, it will be nice to sort of see what everyone is doing.
Ideally, the monthly challenge category will have a steady stream of cool art flowing through it as people finish their pieces, or share what they have so far. (Though I still think it's good to let sharing work-in-progress stuff be optional.)
Tarja Ollas, cool idea to add the pieces to an album.
Not sure if I'll do that--I already have an album system going--but I'll probably create an album just for "behind the scenes" and "work in progress" art.
I am good with sharing work-in-progress as well. Does anyone know when we might be starting a Monthly Challenge? I'm trying to remember if that was mentioned at the beginning of these discussions. :)
ReplyDeleteSusan Clement-Beveridge, that's up to Pooja. :) We haven't set start month yet, but we opted not to start this month since most people are otherwise occupied.
ReplyDeleteActually, that's up to all of us. How about January? :-)
ReplyDeleteIdea for challenge: Shoes
ReplyDeleteHehe, I like it. I added it to the list, Mary Flynn.
ReplyDelete~~~
If you guys have any other topic ideas, feel free to share them.
And remember you can share feedback about the current monthly challenge topic ideas by +1ing the comments in this thread:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/101091631097741118096/posts/NYSUBBLDwBc
Do you guys have any ideas for how we could do a topic that would allow people to do a portrait or people-related image for a monthly challenge?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking "People, a place, or a face."
The idea is for people who might enjoy doing a portrait--not necessarily a masterpiece, but something--while still having an option for people who aren't into portraiture art.
Any ideas?
Other ideas for other topics we could do for a monthly challenge are welcome, too.
[cc: Through the Eyes of the Artist ]