Competitions for Artists

[Mikomiji]

I'm a newbie when it comes to sharing my work online with strangers, but I've started entering a few competitions and would like to share some of them with you because they are really fun! It might help to get some of your work out there, and who knows, you might even win It would be cool if people could share other competitions on this thread, I think they are a great way to help and support other artists (as well as boost their confidence!) Here are two sources which have on-going competitions that you can enter your work into for free

Firstly there's a character Design Competition on Facebook which has a new theme every month. This month is Tribal Themed:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/CharacterDesignChallenge/

And secondly there's Threadless, where they hold different themed competitions regularly (there's 3 going at the moment!)

I'm considering starting some competitions on my facebook Art page for people once it gets up and running. Just for fun. One idea I've had is getting people to re-draw their childhood drawings, and post images of the original alongside their newly created piece. It's a bit daft and I'm not sure what to offer as prizes other than my own art, but it could be a really fun way for people to share their work.

What do you think of this idea? And do you have any competitions or contests you enter yourself that you wouldn't mind others entering?
Thank you for any feedback!

www.facebook.com/mikomiji if you are interested in my stupid competition idea

 

[Stationery Direct]

Most members who frequent this forum are professionals who will have no time for this sort of thing.

If you are stacked out with work and have a few hours spare then fair enough, if you need more business then seriously just concentrate your time on that.

 

[scotty]

I used to way back on a character design site called Mojizu but I don't think that exists any longer.

At the time it really helped give me a purpose to get some designs done and out there.
I think you got about £250 if you won and I managed to do so a few times so it was kind of worth it and it was a great community.
It was pretty unique though and I've never seen anything like it since.

I did try Threadless but I found that was just a popularity contest on social media that ultimately promotes Treadless and not necessarily ends up with the best design being selected.

I think the re-working of childhood drawings a good idea.
I've seen it done where Artists/Designers re-work kids drawings but not their own.

Saying that, I personally don't have a single sketch from when I was a kid.

 

[Mikomiji]

Thanks for your replies! Yeah this thread was directed at those who are using Social Media to try and get their names out there.

That's great that you won Scotty, you're right about it being good motivation for creating designs. You also learn a lot about your audience. Thank you for your feedback on my competition, it would be good to be able to launch it somewhere other than facebook. Maybe even make it into an offline event and offer a real prize - but I just don't have the funding right now sadly!

 

[scotty]

I think it's a good thing when you're starting out as it gets you use to showing work and gives you the impetus to make more and build a folio.

It's just a pity now that most of these things tend to be exploitative of the people submitting but there are a few out there that are well intended.

Not sure if it's still running but The Little Chimp Society ran Mail Me Art which was cool and Nic Holmes did Zombie Dollars.

Might not be your thing but it may help if you're wanting to set up a similar thing to see how others have done it.

 

[Drifter]

That Facebook thread is an art not graphic design competition; it being such a loose theme.
Even then all the entries are on 'black' Africans, none on Boer, Afrikaner, or Islamic tribes etc.
And pretty unimaginative, homogeneous looking submissions too, unless some snowflake moderator is at work deleting ...
What I mean is it's not much use as a practice graphic design client.
I'm just learning too, I've never worked for nothing in any other field, so won't be doing so here
The remote prospect of winning a bag of malterzers, for hours of work just doesn't appeal and looks an inefficient waste of time, especially with so many programs and concepts to learn.
Do you hand over the rights to the work you submit in these things?

 

[Mikomiji]

That Facebook thread is an art not graphic design competition; it being such a loose theme.
Even then all the entries are on 'black' Africans, none on Boer, Afrikaner, or Islamic tribes etc.
And pretty unimaginative, homogeneous looking submissions too, unless some snowflake moderator is at work deleting ...
What I mean is it's not much use as a practice graphic design client.
I'm just learning too, I've never worked for nothing in any other field, so won't be doing so here
The remote prospect of winning a bag of malterzers, for hours of work just doesn't appeal and looks an inefficient waste of time, especially with so many programs and concepts to learn.
Do you hand over the rights to the work you submit in these things?

True, however this board has many Illustrators (myself included) and character design is very important to Illustrators. I guess many of the graphic design people here won't care for it and I do see your point. Whilst not winning any maltesers, I've gotten quite a few commissions from people viewing my submissions on here, some of which have paid pretty well. So I feel that if an Illustrator or creative person has the time, it might be worth it. However if there are any graphic design competitions then people could share those too, they look decent on creative C.V's. I don't care for the rights, I just sign it, submit it, and wait to see if I get any emails asking for work. Like many creative people I draw every day anyway, so might as well do something with it!