I just looked through the entries in order by loves and I believe that out of 67 pages, aside from the questionable AvidArtist entries, the thoughtless quick templates do not even start appearing until around page 45ish, and there were no pages where all the entries were consistently "crap". . . The entries are 95% legitimate, well-thought out templates that just didn't quite compete. . . There were very few that rivaled your firsts (or my first) . . .

** sidenote - I think that several really great artists were not pushed to the top because of duplicate templates. . . if the same template shows up colored in multiple ways. . . it's mood and personality that drives the choice, no matter how spectacular the template is. . . the votes are understandably divided.

Gabs,
I respect you highly, I just disagree with you. I have no problem with anyone's work at any stage on the site, only I think crap material should be excluded from contests. It brings the whole thing down, the law of averages. I don't think we should be cruel to any one about their work, but realistic in general.

I don't necessarily disagree with you. . . just in an argumentative mood today and you struck a chord with the "it's cruel to lead some people on at that stage of their artistic development." comment. . .

if it makes you feel better, I definitely voted for your entries every time I saw them, and I don't think it is the entries but the lack of anonymity and the lack of true randomization that really defeated some of the better artist.

Grail, we don't know how many total entries there were, because the tag list stops counting at page 67. Because this contest ran an extra long time, I think a certain amount of judicious voting pulled the better entries upwards. But how many great entries were rarely seen because of the mass of entries as a whole? We should look at that, too.

And thank you very kindly for your votes.

Conclusion: Personal tastes are different. Even if there was someone who would curate the entries there would still be that difference in taste.

____________

Have we thought about age and goal?
Different age groups are -more often than not- in specific stages of development.
Competitions for different groups could possibly also solve several issues surrounding curation.

Competitions for groups like:
- Kids and teens perhaps.
- Those who have a professional portfolio or are building one.
- Competitions for everyone and anyone.

These are merely suggestions.

_____________

On a more technical and current note: The amount of entries makes browsing a bit difficult, takes long to browse. It might be easier if perhaps there was a slightly smaller grid and endless scroll.

I fully accept tastes are different. I just googled Art competitions, for the heck of it. All the ones in the first three pages are Juried. Juried shows are the norm in any serious competition. That's all I'm saying. To not jury your competition results in a frustrating waste of time.

Heard.

Any thoughts on the competition suggestions I made?

eighteyed wrote:

I fully accept tastes are different. I just googled Art competitions, for the heck of it. All the ones in the first three pages are Juried. Juried shows are the norm in any serious competition. That's all I'm saying. To not jury your competition results in a frustrating waste of time.

With all due respect, people are taking these contests way too seriously.

At the end of the day, these contests on CL aren't serious art competitions nor are they meant to be taken as such. If they were, rules and guidelines would be more specific. No. These contests are to bring in revenue and to entertain the masses.

I like the suggestions. Maybe some people would find that safer, more approachable. I'm a little wary of seperating out different categories only in that... well, it's like cable tv. When you have 20 billion channels, from the flower arranging channel to extra-gore wrestlemania, but nothing to watch. And they all fight for ratings.

Heather, why couldn't contests be more than they are now? I think they should. I think we aren't taking them seriously enough. Not the results, but what the site is trying to achieve. Which could work a lot better, just saying.

But if you have Juried competitions you have people upset about potential favoritism or bribery ect. it can get ugly way fast. Just my 2 cents.

MissGibbon wrote:

But if you have Juried competitions you have people upset about potential favoritism or bribery ect. it can get ugly way fast. Just my 2 cents.

I hear what you say, MissGibbon, which is why I would like jurying to be done by professional art directors who don't know any of us.

I have sat in on art scholarship grant committees, where entrants send in however many slides they are allowed, and they get whittled down to enough for a small exhibition later on. No one on the committee knows any names until quite late in the selection process. They do it by show of hands.

Well it seems like everyone has made up their minds. Any suggestions anyone would really like to make should be deposited in the suggestion thread. And if it's developed or not we'll all notice it.

What do you think this site is trying to achieve?
I think that you and I may have differing concepts of what this site is about.

eighteyed wrote:

Heather, why couldn't contests be more than they are now? I think they should. I think we aren't taking them seriously enough. Not the results, but what the site is trying to achieve. Which could work a lot better, just saying.

Well, I will think about that and get back to you. I'm really hungry.
OrigamiMei wrote:

What do you think this site is trying to achieve?
I think that you and I may have differing concepts of what this site is about.

Me too, but it's the middle of the night and I've made a pledge to no longer eat after midnight. -_-
Damn it, Edith! Thank you for reminding me that I want to eat! :P

eighteyed wrote:

Well, I will think about that and get back to you. I'm really hungry.
OrigamiMei wrote:

What do you think this site is trying to achieve?
I think that you and I may have differing concepts of what this site is about.

Awww... it was 8:45 am when I sat down to the computer this morning, and after 1pm when I went out, no breakfast, no lunch. Much better now.

What do I think the site is trying to achieve? I think most aspects of the site are as described, and I wouldn't change them. I would add aspects, though. In my fantasy colourlovers, people come here to learn about design and color, and get together in little groups to study different aspects, chat a lot, challenge eachother, just as they do now. However, in my fantasy, some bag manufacturer comes to the site, sifts through different profiles, which are, in fact, an online portfolio, much like deviantart, and says, "Wow! Atriarief-- she's the next Vera Bradley or Lauren Burgess! We love her flower designs. We'd like to license this pattern for our spring tote collection." Some band comes along and picks American Women to design their new CD cover and liner notes. Not that we actually make CDs anymore... but hey. We make something you can look up in iTunes. Or maybe a custom guitar.
And in my fantasy, this happens often. Did you hear about incal? She's been invited to design a few Converse shoes. Topbear? New convention backpacks for JanSport. Albena? She's contributing a colour theme to be used in packaging for an assortment of teas, with matching napkins and placemats. I see CL acting as a broker, setting terms and conditions, standardized, guaranteed percentages for specific term product licenses. I see some little company come along and say, "We can't afford to keep an in house art department. We'd like to have a small contest to pick one or two artists to contribute graphics for a couple of projects, and we're okay with your terms." I'd like to see a site in which people gather to CL for whatever reasons, craft projects to lighten their evenings at home, whatever, and actually be able to develop into artists whose work can be licensed and used in various small art jobs, for extra money and/or considerations. Or not, as they choose. I don't want pressure on anybody who does not want to participate in commercial deals. I'd like to see CL have a hall of Artist Alumni, of those who became famous during their association with CL.
When I worked as an illustrator, I became aware of a thousand tiny art jobs where there was a constant need for art, but artists were flaky and could not be trusted to complete on time. At CL we have nearly the opposite... we have a lot of industry ready art already done, that needs to be matched to those who need it, easily customizeable for different purposes. But for this fantasy to work, we need to be known for a higher quality of work all around. That's the role I see for contests, where art and media organizations watch in excitement to see some new work develop, which will attract them to CL to find what they need. I'd like to see some involved, wild contests. Playing cards? Vinyl truck wrap? Kites? School supplies, book and notebook covers? Paper plates? Flowerpots? Whatever.

I wish I'd have had the time to do that, I did that on a smaller scale, voting for all the ones I encountered that were nice. Thank you for that eighteyed.

eighteyed wrote:

How many people didn't vote because they feared there was a stronger entry than theirs? I voted for every single entry that I felt had artistic quality over the suspicious entries. Every last one.