I don't normally mosey over to this neck of the woods because my four-year-old is about to eclipse my artistic ability, but my best friend is genuinely talented, and after a couple of years of nagging has finally agreed to enter. However, he's going into this blind. Is there a post even a quarter as good as Martin's unwritten rules for the writing contest? For instance, should he try to submit three separate styles, is it better that the topics all be from the same legendarium, or from a variety, et cetera, et cetera....
Thanks for any and all input.
V38: HM, R, R, HM
V39: RWC, HM, RWC, HM
V40: RWC, HM, SHM, R
V41: R, RWC, R, P
There never seems to be as much discussion among the illustrators as the writers.
I have no idea whether or not style consistency is important, for example. It may even depend on the judges. For some, consistency might look like a strength, and for others diversity in abilities could look like a strength.
If anyone has the technical skill, though, I'd say just keep submitting. If an artist has a collection of works, it's so much easier to just pick three images and submit, than it is for the writers who are often writing a whole new story each quarter (and if one doesn't already have a portfolio to select from then they *should* be making a new piece as often as they can!).
There can even be a luck-of-the-draw aspect I think, where it depends on what you might be up against in a particular quarter. You *can* just submit the same three images over and over. Or you can switch it up partially, or completely, each quarter. I won in a quarter where I submitted the same three images I had submitted the previous quarter, but I think I might have just up against different images from other artists that time. Or that that the people I might have been up against in the previous quarter won that quarter so I was kinda of next?
Maybe your friend should be the one to try different strategies and then report back to everyone else!
@tashari Thanks so much!
V38: HM, R, R, HM
V39: RWC, HM, RWC, HM
V40: RWC, HM, SHM, R
V41: R, RWC, R, P
We definitely need more activity over here in the Illustrators corner. Maybe between the two of us @tashari we can get something going...In the meantime, I would add that it's a good idea to work in the artists preferred mediums that they want to be known for and that the judges have said to submit pieces that are different subject matter from each other.
Volume 41 Q1 Illustrator Winner!
4x Finalist Illustrators
5x Semi finalist Illustrators
1x HM Illustrators
7x HM Writers
3x SHM Writers
https://clforsauthor.com
Author of the Primogenitor series: Cradle of Mars, Adaptation, Reunion, Schism: Available on Amazon under CL Fors
I don't normally mosey over to this neck of the woods because my four-year-old is about to eclipse my artistic ability, but my best friend is genuinely talented, and after a couple of years of nagging has finally agreed to enter. However, he's going into this blind. Is there a post even a quarter as good as Martin's unwritten rules for the writing contest? For instance, should he try to submit three separate styles, is it better that the topics all be from the same legendarium, or from a variety, et cetera, et cetera....
Thanks for any and all input.
It's wonderful that your friend is finally taking the leap into entering writing contests!