Fanfic Art Event?

[Negrek]

There have been some Discord discussions recently about some kind of event for creating art and/or writing for other people's stories: maybe quick sketches or drabbles, maybe something more involved. I thought I'd start a thread here to get a sense of whether people might be interested in some kind of event along those lines, and what kind of form it ought to take. If you think it would be fun to run something along those lines, please let me know! There are some questions below for you to answer if you'd like, but any thoughts you have would be welcome.

- Would you want the event to be more something like a raffle, where stories to make art of are randomly selected? Something more like catnip, an exchange between two people? Something else?
- Would you want something focused on quick drawings/writings and unpolished pieces, or something more in-depth where the goal would be to create something more elaborate?
- Would you want an art-only event, or art + writing?

 

[bluesidra]

Short answer: YES

Long answer:
- I don’t mind raffle style. I draw art of the suff I like and know already
- In depth
- would love art only, but writing includes more people and then it's more fun

 

[IFBench]

- Definitely catnip or exchange.
- Quick pieces.
- I'd much, much prefer writing + art.

 

[Flyg0n]

Definitely art only (oh man I can actually try something)
And I'd personally maybe lean for like... Some kind of short form event similar to catnip? Randomly selected stuff and read + pick a scene to draw?

As someone who just started digital art I don't think I'm good enough or I'm good enough to do long form pieces that are more complex but shorter stuff would be good practice and less stress maybe?
More thoughts to come in a bit.

 

[Navar]

- Catnip or exchange would be great!
- Quick drawings would be cool
- Personally I'm not that great at art so I think art+writing would include more people

 

[Flyg0n]

Okay final proposal:

-Community run, catnip style events where we swap fics and draw a quick character or scene from it, up to the artist, and the artist can ask the receiver if they want something specific but at the end of the day it should be artists choice. These can be short and run sporadically like catnip, by fellow community members. Memes, nice linearts and stuff would be welcome. basically an exchange event.

-A community art contest for those who wish to stretch their skill muscles further, held maybe twice a year? Kind of like how corpses/review blitz is a yearly thing. Maybe small prizes of some sort. Art Only. Artists deserves something for them and judging art/writing is impossibly different. Mixing them isn't great for a contest.

-I'm not comfortable with fusing art & writing. There's tons and tons of writing stuff already and I would love to see something just for artists. After all, none of our writing stuff includes art. We have our short story contest and stuff for competitive writing.

However
It does seem there's some kind of interest in doing drabbles based of people's stories/fics? (I am not into this but its up to everyone else) If this be the case this should be seperate. All for that if enough are interested.

 

[Chibi Pika]

- Random exchanges like catnip seem ideal to me!
- Definitely would prefer quick/unpolished pieces. A separate thing for high effort stuff once or twice a year would be cool though.
- Art swaps and drabble swaps are both cool but I'd prefer them to be kept separate so that participants know what to expect when they sign up.

 

[Sinderella]

-I’m down for Catnip style, but I also had an idea for a Christmas themed event where it’s “Secret Santa” style—all participants throw our names and fics into a hat with a list of things we’d prefer drawn, and then at the end of the drawing period we all do a big surprise exchange!

-I don’t have a preference between quick/unpolished or in-depth, but I DO agree with the idea that they should be separate events. Like, maybe the quick pieces are done for the catnip style event, and then in-depth pieces are done for “themed” events a few times a year—like secret santa, or other events where it’s specifically “Fic Scene Drawing Event!” Or “Fic Character Drawing Event!”

-Would DEFINITELY want to keep art+writing separate—I love the idea of a drabble swap as much as I love the idea of an art swap, but I want to make sure I know what I’m getting when I enter.

 

[Flyg0n]

Oh a Christmas secret santa sounds fun!!

 

[SparklingEspeon]

- I like the catnip style idea of swapping a fic and then drawing based off it.
- Not really on board for art + writing, at least not in the same event. I imagine it would create weird issues where someone expects art but gets writing instead (or vice versa), and just make it less focused in general. Plus, I wouldn't be super comfortable needing to replicate someone's character from the ground up--that feels more complicated than simply drawing them. Not personally interested in the writing side, but I think it might work better as its own event if others wanted that.
- I have terrible self-control and will definitely overdo all my pieces, so while I don't think everyone else should need to do high-polished stuff I think it should be artist's choice on if they want to expend more energy into the piece or not

 

[kyeugh]

this sounds like a lot of fun! thanks for reviving the topic even though it sorta fell into obscurity in the chat.

• i like the catnip approach more.
• i think a system where the expected quality level of drawings is determined on a per-round basis, as others have suggested. agreeing with chibi that it ought to be moooostly sketch-level stuff though. naturally artists can choose to do more if they wish.
• like others have said, a writing event of this nature would be fun, but i'd prefer for it to stay separate.

something i'm curious about is what exactly you'd be submitting to be drawn. are people just submitting their fics and the artist gets to choose what they want to draw? bc then you're potentially looking at a reading assignment too... otherwise, one oc? multiple ocs? should artists be able to state a preference as to whether they'd like to draw humans or pokémon? stuff like that.

 

[Flyg0n]

My opinion on what gets chosen to be drawn is that the artist should have ultimate choice (since different artists are comfortable with different stuff) but if the artist doesn't feel like reading something (for example if its a fic that the artist isn't familiar with), then the author can provide a few options?
That's one thought

 

[bluesidra]

I mean, you can always draw a scene from the first chapter. I'd propose the same effort as for the catnip: one chapter is the minimum, 10k is good in terms of ground covered.
Just instead of a review you hand in a picture that came to mind

 

[Flyg0n]

Honestly that seems fair!

 

[Sinderella]

something i'm curious about is what exactly you'd be submitting to be drawn. are people just submitting their fics and the artist gets to choose what they want to draw? bc then you're potentially looking at a reading assignment too... otherwise, one oc? multiple ocs? should artists be able to state a preference as to whether they'd like to draw humans or pokémon? stuff like that.

This is kind of why I suggested for bigger drawing events (like ones where we go full out and in-depth) have certain themes? Like “Draw the fic’s main protagonist or group!” Or “Draw a scene from Chapter #” and so on and so forth.

Maybe for the catnip versions it can follow a similar route? Like, “This is a Scene Drawing Catnip” or “This is an OC Drawing Catnip” and so on and so forth—that way for ones that might involve a reading assignment, the artists know what they’re getting into.

 

[Negrek]

Thanks to everyone who's given their input on this! I'm going to summarize what my takeaways have been from the conversation so far.

- There is general interest in a casual, catnip-like event, but for art. The idea would be to keep it low-stress/low complexity and run it for 2-4 days. Organizer could set a baseline for artwork (e.g. "at least a sketch," "at least lines"), but that baseline would generally be low. The artist would be able to do more if desired, but the focus would be on a quick exchange rather than creating polished work.

- There may also be some interest in a "fanfanfic" event with writing rather than art, but it should be kept separate. People want to know whether they'll get art or writing when they sign up.

- There may also be interest in a larger art-related event held perhaps once or twice a year. This would be over a longer time period and focus on more polished work. Possibilities put forth so far include some sort of competition, like an equivalent of the one-shot contest but for art, or a bigger exchange. I also thought it might be fun to do a collab, something like this but with characters from people's fics! If you're interested in having one or two big art events in a year, what kind of event(s) would you be most interested in?

something i'm curious about is what exactly you'd be submitting to be drawn. are people just submitting their fics and the artist gets to choose what they want to draw? bc then you're potentially looking at a reading assignment too... otherwise, one oc? multiple ocs? should artists be able to state a preference as to whether they'd like to draw humans or pokémon? stuff like that.

Good question! I was thinking that you'd simply draw something inspired by the fic, rather than the author suggesting what the artist should draw. There is the potential issue of people matching to a story with a lot of elements they can't/really don't want to draw, e.g. someone who doesn't do humans getting a shipping fic that's very human-centric. I think there would be ways around this, like "draw a banner for the fic that includes a symbolic element like a rose or something instead of a pic of the characters," but I'm not sure if that would be satisfying for the author/if that's just going to make things too hard on the artist. Any feedback about this issue welcome. I think Sin's idea of themes could be useful here, too, although they'd need to be simple ones that lend themselves to quick sketches: "draw the protagonist," "draw your favorite scene from a chapter," etc. Does anyone have feedback on what artists should be expected to draw from the fic: the author's request, some set guideline ("at least one main character," "your favorite moment from the story"), or "anything inspired by the story?"

With all that in mind, since it looks like the preference is for a more casual event with possibly something bigger as more of a one-off thing, I figure I'll do a test run of the fanart "catnip" the weekend of October 9th. That gets us past the current catnip and Blacklight boss weekend, and I imagine we'll have outstanding questions settled by then. I'm happy to run this one myself, but if you'd like to run it instead, just let me know; like catnip, I'm hoping that this is something that ultimately any member of the community will be able to kick off when they'd like.

 

[bluesidra]

If you're interested in having one or two big art events in a year, what kind of event(s) would you be most interested in?

- I'm always a bit >.< for competitions, because there is inherent pressure and I can't deal with that. But if the One-Shot contest went well, I don't see why I shouldn't try it out.
- Maybe not for the grand events, but some themed things would be fun (Draw your cast on christmas, Draw a scene from a highschool AU for your cast etc...)
- A contest to design the Discord Server banner maybe?
- Christmas gift exchange with a more polished work as a goal. (Like secret santa, but without the secret. You might have to consult with the person you want to gift something for reference material)
- An art vs written event? One artist and one non-artist are assigned to each other and exchange a piece of art for a review or a fanfic of their fanfic

Does anyone have feedback on what artists should be expected to draw from the fic: the author's request, some set guideline ("at least one main character," "your favorite moment from the story"), or "anything inspired by the story?"

I would stay away from author's request. A) it's more fun if you don't know what you get. B) Author's request might seriously limit you (if they request something outside your proficiencies). C) I wouldn't know what to request, because I don't want to stifle creativity.

That being said, I think it goes without saying that you should still respect an authors no-gos. Like, some might not like sexualised art or shipping or something dark/disturbing done to their characters. Maybe a general "don't draw" akin to the "don't assign" section of the catnip would be nice.

Imo the more specific you make the assignment, the more difficult it gets. But that doesn't mean we couldn't have a list of ideas what you can draw (similar to the "how to give feedback" thread we have somewhere, where there's a list of things you can comment on if nothing at all comes to mind.) Something like:
Don't know what to draw? Try:
- The main character(s)
- A banner for the story or the chapter
- Your favorite moment from the story/chapter
- The image a scenery description brought to your mind
- The characters performing any kind of downtime activity (reading, relaxing, eating, sleeping)
- Advanced: The relationship between two characters, nailed down in one picture
- Fanart you would like to receive if you were the author of this story

As in what to expect the artist to do (in terms of research): I think reading at least one chapter of the story is well within the realm of possibility. For the catnip, it's also reading + work (reviewing instead of drawing), so I don't see why not. Then you have at least one chapter worth of inspiration to draw something. One chapter usually brings at least one vivid image to mind.
As for references: Often, character appearances are not described to an extent that you can make a good replica of them. So I think it's common decency for the artist to ask the author for some reference material or a closer description instead of trying blind.