What is Sketch Fest?Sketch Fest involves artists from all over the world, working on a pool of audience-generated prompts and ideas for up to - but no more than! - one hour an any given sketch. For 24 hours, we creatively jam, share our results with each other, and sell our work. Artists can work in any media, for any part of the 24 hours, on any of the prompts, and are welcome to sell or crowdfund their work themselves off-site, or sell them through the Sketch Fest site.
The Crowdfunding Aspect of Sketch FestOne of the bummers of micro-funding things is that so much gets lost in the transfer - the ones really making out are services like Paypal, who take a big cut from small payments. I've set it up so that artists get a percentage of their sale back in
credits (up to 90%, they set their own rate), and they can use those credits to buy other available sketches, as well as have the option to
buy things ...or they can simply cash out their credits. I plan to add the tools to let people use the credits to tip writers and artists at
EMG-Zine or
Torn World, or the critics at
Fantastic Portfolios, as well... without watching it decrease in value as it passes through hands. (They can do this manually now, just by asking me.)
What about the donation portion? These, and straight donations through the site, go to pay me to program improvements onto the webpage, which has been entirely crowdfunded. You can see a complete accounting of the improvements made for each fest
here. Requested improvements are usually added to the site before the next Sketch Fest, so users get fairly immediate rewards for their donations! I choose which improvements to focus on based on direct user feedback, sometimes running a poll, sometimes asking for input, and sometimes simply distilling the emails and comments I get.
Sketches available for purchase are cleared a few hours before each Sketch Fest, so artists don't have to remember to remove them if they lose their sketch, accidentally finish it, or simply no longer want to sell it. These will clear in just an hour or so, to make room for the work that will become available as Sketch Fest #16 moves into motion!
A Brief HistorySketch Fest sprouted from
Torn World's Muse Fusions, which were inspired by
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ysabetwordsmith's
Poetry Fishbowls, which were spawned by Harlan Ellison's
Stories Under Glass.
Our first event was hosted at
livejournal, on March 26th, 2010. 20 people left prompts, between 1 and about dozen apiece, 19 artists participated with sketches. It ran for 12 hours, and about 75 sketches were posted. I say 'about' because it was spread out over 239 comments, and very chaotic, indeed.
We've had nearly monthly Sketch Fests since that time (barring major surgery on my part and NaNoWriMo, which delayed the November fest to a second one in January), and each month the site has some shiny new improvements.
On average, about 50 artists participate, producing between 175 and 250 sketches, and they take home several hundred dollars in total, while funding another 3-5 hours of work on the site. We've got 2,459 total sketches on the site, and 284 pieces have been finished from sketches started during Sketch Fests.
Where are we going?Most of the improvements I wanted to add back at the
one year mark have been accomplished, but there are many things left to do... I want to add more options for artists when uploading their work (including being able to flag ACEOs, and add keywords, and add a link to buy off-site), which will lead to better ways to browse the sketches. I'd like to make better integration with the
other EMG sites, so that it's easier to spend and share credits. I'd like to develop the karma (non-monetary units) system so that people are rewarded for commenting, participating and leaving prompts (this system is in its infancy - the barest of frameworks is in place). We're going to need paginated browsing on some pages in the not-so-far future, I suspect. I'd also like to discuss opening the project to other forms of art, such as writing (still bound by the one-hour limit!). It would be fun to add a meter, too, to show how many hours of improvements the Sketch Fest has earned...
I've worked on ambitious projects a lot over the years (a LOT *shakes cane*), and often find that I come out at the end with things that are close to what I had in mind, but that won't pay off for years and years (if they ever do!). Sketch Fest is vastly different in that it was entirely front-funded - and has
exceeded my vision. I was paid professional programming rates at every step of the way to create exactly what was needed and requested in direct response to the users. The project itself makes me wildly happy because it's getting people to
do art, and love doing it again - and even make money at it!
I've gotten a lot of feedback from people who have rediscovered their muses through Sketch Fest, and
that's the very best part of the project. I want to keep doing that.
Come Get involved!Come and play at
Sketch Fest #16 (Sweet 16!) today and tomorrow, July 22-23, noon to noon Alaska time. (In about 2 1/2 hours!) I've got some
suggestions from last month about how to get ready for a Sketch Fest.
Participants may play along without registering, but there are lots of extra tools if you do register, including a look at a wall of pieces you've inspired as a prompter, the ability to edit your pieces and upload finished versions as an artist, as well as buy artwork instantly with credits! It also allows you to leave comments after the Sketch Fest has closed. (Note that registration is ONLY available when Sketch Fest is open, due to constant battles with spam-joins. Better spam filtering is an option for a future improvement, and then registration could be generally open!)
You don't have to be an amazing artist - or consider yourself an artist at all! - to sketch along and have fun. You may be amazed by what you can do if you put your mind to it, and the one hour time limit actually takes some of the pressure off; no one is expecting you to create a masterpiece in one hour or less, and we're all posting work in various awkward stages. Many people do 10 or 15 minute sketches - you don't even have to commit to a whole hour! Sketch Fest teaches you to observe your own work habits and improve your speed and creativity, as well as try subjects you might otherwise never tackle. Feedback and interaction is lively throughout the weekend, and our community of artists is very warm and welcoming. We're available on
chat, and I check my email between my own sketches so I can solve problems, retrieve passwords and help out.
I welcome your input, ideas, and suggestions! If you've already been involved, what's your favorite part of Sketch Fest? Are there any future features you are particularly looking forward to? Do you have a favorite sketch or finished piece at the site? If you're new to Sketch Fest, can I answer any questions for you? Is anything about the site confusing or overwhelming?
Warning! Sketch Fest is highly addictive!
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