I don't know if you read about this or not, but we were thinking about the way the Smash Writers have their own titles, and how we could get something like that: Smash Artists. It sort of ties in with something I've been thinking about lately. We could have a thread similar to Signature of the Week, except something like a contest that entails more areas of art-- Digital, Photography, Painting, Music, etc., so instead of just getting the best signature makers, we get to vote on the most skilled artists of varying areas. Something like Write With Your Power, in a way. I just sort of took a step back one day to look at the Artwork Emporium as a whole, and it seems to have become the Signature Emporium. I'd just like to liven the place up with more variety. I get the feeling that a lot of potential artists here are sort of driven away from the first impression that the AE gives--"People who can't make signatures don't belong here." Well, that's how it seems to me, anyway. I think it should be a place where all types of artists can display their work, and I think that this would be a cool way to go about making the change.
I think that the format that SOTW uses runs pretty smoothly, so it could work if we used something like that. We could have a board of voters for the different areas, like Painting, Sculpture, etc. that I was mentioning before comprised of the senior members of the AE like you, Thundermistress, etc. Sorry, I don't know who all of the AE moderators are yet... I could definitely be on the voting board if necessary. I'm in my 3rd semester of the School of Fine Arts, so I have decent knowledge of the world of art. I've taken Sculpture, Ceramics, Painting (Color Theory), Digital Imaging, Art History, Perceptual Drawing, and Photography courses so far, so I think I'd make a decent 'judge'. Plus, I'd feel weird if I just dumped the responsibility of running this on someone else, so I'd like to help if I can. We might need someone to be a Music judge, though, haha.
Anyway, that's my proposal. I'd just like your opinion on the idea, and what problems still need working out, whenever you read this. Thanks in advance. Oh yeah, I sent this to Sgt Wikez and Thundermistress also, but they haven't replied yet, so I dunno if they just haven't read it or thought it was dumb... I don't know all of the senior members around AE quite yet, but McFox said to get AE moderators involved to discuss this in order to get it officially approved.