How could I, and should I, hold a contest?
I am just a member of the lay public, a Star Citizen fanboy and supporter (as in donating money to fund development). I have absolutely no official affiliation with any game company. However I am looking to garner attention for a ship concept which I am lobbying hard for on the Star Citizen forums. I have good writing skills and decades of experience with wargaming, military strategy and in the context of gaming, ship design systems. I am looking to commission one or a few illustrations of a space ship that depicts what I have outlined in a design document (~1500 words).
As this is just a small passion project and I am frankly quite poor, I can afford to drop no more than $100. on this. However I have no idea who to approach for this or if anyone won't be insulted by how little I can pay. It occurred to me that it might be more apt to do it more as a contest that amateur or aspiring artists might join for fun, to post the design document and let people run with it, me picking my favorite after a short while and granting the prize money in exchange for using their illustration(s) on the Star Citizen forums.
Is there an established format for conducting such a contest here on Polycount? Is there a sub-forum I should post such a thing on?
It there perhaps a better way for me to achieve my end? Is $100. even in the ballpark of acceptable for a couple of pages of concept art?
Were I to do it as a contest, the degree of effort put into the art would be up to the artist. If I were commissioning such work straight on the 'Freelance Job Postings' sub-forum, what level of detail should I be asking for given how little I can pay?
As this is just a small passion project and I am frankly quite poor, I can afford to drop no more than $100. on this. However I have no idea who to approach for this or if anyone won't be insulted by how little I can pay. It occurred to me that it might be more apt to do it more as a contest that amateur or aspiring artists might join for fun, to post the design document and let people run with it, me picking my favorite after a short while and granting the prize money in exchange for using their illustration(s) on the Star Citizen forums.
Is there an established format for conducting such a contest here on Polycount? Is there a sub-forum I should post such a thing on?
It there perhaps a better way for me to achieve my end? Is $100. even in the ballpark of acceptable for a couple of pages of concept art?
Were I to do it as a contest, the degree of effort put into the art would be up to the artist. If I were commissioning such work straight on the 'Freelance Job Postings' sub-forum, what level of detail should I be asking for given how little I can pay?
Replies
Yes, an illustration(s) of a concept outlined in a design document. The concept would not be the artist's. However while the design document would lay out the rough concept, it needs to look better than a shoe box with a few protrusions, so a good deal of talent would be required none the less.
Find someone and hire them. You can find recent grads, or artists outside the U.S., willing to work in the $20.00 an hour range. Five hours would be enough to do some rough sketches and a quick speedpaint. Don't expect anything polished, though; enough to get the idea across appealingly, and not much more.