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[Czarine]

I submitted mine too! And I'm so tired, I spent the whole day drawing today (I thought I started working on this at least a month ago??!). I've got same feelings as Wildfire, though I might be ready for some not so labor-intensive drawings once in a while. And Maggie, a huge thank you for putting up so much effort all these years! <3

[Yavia]

@Wildfire: Thank you so much for saying that. I feel much better knowing I wasn't alone having difficulties. 

[Berit]

If this site still stays up, Would it help if the Calendar theme would simply be something like "Wolfrider" or "Go-Back" where people could draw whatever characters cannon characters that happened to be of that specific tribe? sure it would mean there was multiple pictures of cutter or Rayek but does it really matter?... or what about theme just about one character? similar to all about Ekuar?... would that make people more active in drawing?...

[Treefox]

I can absolutely understand that there isn't much motivation to keep the site up if can't even get the people to submit 1 drawing per year.... if it's decided to finally let go of this to me still wonderful site, I will be so sad.
But there is indeed no point in investing all the time and money for such little activity here.
 
Whatever is decided Maggie, I am really, really thankful that you put all this effort in for so many years. This was always and always will be a safe haven for me.

[Treefox]

By the way, I am actually pretty surprised that there wasn't much more interest in the calendar this year. Our last calendar was such a public success and the Pinis themselves promoted it so kindly. Plus, it was sold out! But even that couldn't generate enough interest in the calendar or this site... or if it did, the interest waned fast and didn't last. .. *is sad*

[Maggie]

@Treefox you hit the nail on the head.

Richard Pini sees our calendar artwork each year, he helps judge which pieces go into the printed version and then he takes time out of his schedule (and let's face it, he probably has more going on in a day than any of us) to make the printed version. Sonny Strait has also judged the artwork a few times. And this has been going on for many, many years.

When I joined the calendar for the first time and found out that Richard Pini was involved I was blown away. That's like being a singer and your favourite songwriter hearing something you've written/sung.

Richard being involved isn't why I keep doing the calendar but it is a huge bonus and I'm surprised that doesn't register more for others. That and there are EQ fans that actually buy the calendar with our work inside...to me that's amazing.

@Berit I'm open to whatever suggestions you have for the calendar. I just really wanted to keep it going. For the reasons stated above and because I do enjoy organizing and working on it. Plus it is the only time I do any artwork. If there's no calendar then my artistic endeavors will cease to exist. My biggest issue is last minute dropouts. I think most are aware we are a small group, if someone drops out the day before the deadline then I have to assume they never started in the first place. This isn't always the case but I would rather give someone more time to finish than have them dropout and then expect me to find a replacement. So any ideas or suggestions to make the calendar more fun, easier etc. go ahead and send them my way.

@Czarine As long as we're up to something here I'm happy to continue, I just think it's necessary to have a group project to focus on. I would like to continue the calendar but rules are made to be broken so if you have any ideas on how to make it (or anything else) less labor-intensive let me know. 

[Wildfire]

Perhaps it's more a question of promoting it? Posting a "signups are open!" post on the Facebook group would generate a lot of attention, as would contacting the various holts. Generally making people aware of the project and what it has to offer throughout the year.
Another thought - maybe losing the locked format would make some people more interested as well. But it wouldn't be possible to have a printed version if there's 12 different aspect ratios of course... Maybe trying a vertical version would mix it up a bit?
It's curious that the weekly calendar from a few years back was hugely successful. The portraits one was really popular as well.

[jaRf]

*sigh*

Well, well, well. Or not so well.

I am certainly surprised. I thought we had a good lot of participants this year, so many characters were claimed.

I had not enlisted this year and written early that I won't be able to do some emergency fallback. For once I did lack inspiration on the topic (or read: certain characters were already claimed), but mostly I had an "elevated" workload this year. I had to get some things in life fixed, which I partially succeeded in. But I knew from the beginning that this would consume time, energy and attention.
I managed to do some other ElfQuest related project, though, but alas, that won't help the EQFA calendar project.



> old calendar sold out
Okay, but allow me a remark / question:
The last calendar print version had a late start (redbubble no longer offering calendar print on demand), it took time to find an alternative.
But how many units were made, anyway?
If we might see 100 units sold, then this is still acceptable for the late start. Guess most people see it as a fan-collector thing, not as a actual calendar to use.
(For me usually it was earliest end of January that I'd receive one from Redbubble, so the first month was already gone and "useless".)

Either way, of 100 units sold let's say roughly 10 are sold to artists who participated. But the question is: Among the 90 remaining people, will some feel this as an invitation to do art? Are they into doing art at all? Or are they just consumers? Or too shy?



Well, on to possible reasons and chances:

I can't really do anything about people dropping out.
I don't really know why the ElfQuest fandom seems to vanish. Or in general, why fewer people (all around the world, all sorts of projects) seem to have less time to engage in spare time projects. (Maybe that's just my perception, but this place is not the only one since I am involved in a lot of things.)
One reason for me still is that the scrolls of colours was closed and that subsequently fans got scattered all over the internet in smaller forums / holts / interest groups on so called "social" media.
Anyway, that's past.


Let's look at things:
We seem to have few (active) artists.
We had that situation in the past years occasionally. I remember having warned before (yeah, I wear Captain-told-you-so's uniform ). You always (no matter what project) have 10 to 20% of dropouts. For what reason o'ever. Doesn't matter. Always calculate with 20% dropout. And be happy if it's less in the end.

Countermeasures:
You can't really countermeasure dropouts. It's simply impossible.
You could mitigate afterwards by people "stepping up" and doing multi-submissions but that'll not work always and possibly exhaust some of them.

Of course higher numbers of participants would help. How to possibly achieve that?

* leave artistic freedom
* no strange topics that scare off people (yes, might attract some, but we need as much freedom as possible still)
* let character duplicates happen
If something is called "EQ favourites" then you just have to accept that of 100 people 50 will scream "Cutter! Cutter!", Skywise will follow with his fangirls with 25 voices and the rest spreads between other characters. Reduce that to 12 and you'll have like 4 Cutters, 2 Skywises, 2 Leetahs, Winnie & Rayek and Pike and maybe someone with a Go-Back. There won't be that much variation, unless a few people decide to have "obscure" (side) characters as favourites. But usually people have fav. characters that can be seen on more than 2 pages in the whole series. It's just normal.

I know it's not awesome to have less variation, but rather have 5 Cutters (pffft....) in the calendar than no calendar at all.
Well, and maybe people would also have included multiple characters.
And even just with one character alone - as we have seen - there can be a lot of variation.

more solutions:
* start early (better chances to get things done. I love to start early because I KNOW from life experience that usually "stuff" comes in-between)
* actively reaching out:
It's not enough to just announce things here.
Besides, the server acts up and people don't get email notices always.
Do NOT expect people to check by here every now and then.
Some might remember maybe during May, check by and see that character slots are already filled or something.

Reach out:
Post in holts and message boards with ElfQuest-reference.
e.g. father tree holt, some of the RPG holts, are there still fan-groups, fan-sites?

check the art platforms such as
deviantart, artstation, maybe even this pesky tumblr (it's not an arts platform, but people post art there for reasons beyond me)

so called "social" media
eq@FB, twitter, IG, whatsoever

personal and directly addressed emails

and last but not least print media:
print on the calendar's back cover, nah, better before 1st month "if you'd like to participate then check by during November at eqfa.com for the poll" (and re-print that very message on the calendar November page!)

We need these kinds of advertisements especially during November until maybe February (assuming the topic is set in early January)


> site close
Well, the eqfa calendars (weekly planners) 2012 - 2014 were reason for me to get myself started again with art. I did stuff in the past, some analog art (pencil, aquarelle), but not EQ related.
I did participate then, not always (e.g. having PhD troubles in front of me), but most years and dedicated many hours per image, many weekends and clicked myself silly with the vectors, ogled at it, corrected it, looked up photos and references to see how things should look like, how people might do it, experimented.
Well, this year, as I wrote, I knew was going to be a lot of work in many areas, but at least I had a good feeling that a lot of artists had enrolled. I know that I am still slow and won't be able to whip up something from scratch within two weeks.

So I'd kinda miss this site with all it's ElfQuest art, and the place which made me deal with artstuff again.

just my lengthy 2 cents

[Czarine]

Good points on promotion! I too think that people aren't aware of the yearly calendar project. The facebook pages seem active with some creative people too, so I think the fandom is alive, just scattered, like jaRf said.

About the calendar:
- I agree that duplicate characters should be allowed. I was sneaky and added duplicates in my entry this year (though they are in the background).
- Personally, I'd also like to share my calendar-related sketches and character study drawings with the community, but since it's not allowed to post anything related to the calendar before it's been published, all the material has to wait for months. I understand that it ruins the surprise, but I think it would encourage people to draw (and remember to start their entries earlier).
- I've really enjoyed participating in collaborations in the calendars! Maybe that could be somehow encouraged? It might make it possible for some to attend even if they didn't have time for a whole entry. The same goes for unfinished entries; they could be sent to someone else to finish them.

One thing I'd like to address is if we're to keep the calendar and site running, we're going to need more hands on deck. With promoting the site, running it and making the calendar happen there's a lot of stuff for just one person to handle. If the workload was split, it would leave more time for Maggie to make art, eh?

[Foxeye]

{{hug Maggie}}

  You’ve been amazing for a long time.  Whatever you decide you gotta do, it’ll be the right thing. 

[AceQuester]

A few days too late (emailed a few weeks ago that I would not finish on time) but I rushed to finish my entry. Hopefully it's good enough and will it get into the calendar.

Maggie> how many entries do you have by now?

I am more of a reader and admirer of all the beautiful work made on the site. I don't post much but I would miss it if this site were canceled. I would also miss the calendars.
I understand the annual stress and doubt, but so far it has always worked out well. In fact: I, as an artist who contributed to this year's calendar, was too late to get one myself :S
Hopefully this year it will go so well again and with the help of the Pini's it will get attention again.

[Maggie]

@Wildfire I don't have Facebook so I wouldn't be able to promote it there myself but I do send out personal invites to members of this group that aren't always active (but have participated in the calendar in the past) as well as places like DeviantArt. Messaging people here has often worked and I have had a positive response in the past from going around and inviting artists from different sites but ultimately those invited artists have rarely worked out. They say yes, I want to participate and then end up dropping the calendar at the last minute or just not responding to messages after a point. So nowadays I tend to shy away from invitations.

As for the format I think it's always been the way it is now and I can't really go messing with it without consulting Mr. Pini. It would probably be very difficult to get a printed version if everyone handed in a different sized image. The size we use currently makes it easy to go to any print site and make a calendar. As for the planners, they were popular but required even more artwork than the calendar we do now. Not sure that would be a good gamble.

@jaRf I like to keep the calendar varied so I would prefer if people picked different characters but I said that if someone had their heart set on a character that was taken they were still welcome to use that character. I would never say no, if that's the only character that inspires you well too bad. I want the calendar to be varied but I would never be so inflexible as to no allow someone to work with a character that inspires them.

I get what you're saying about letting people use who they want and who cares if there are 5 Cutters, that's better than no calendar at all. But ultimately, if I didn't keep some control over that aspect of the calendar every year we would have the same characters over and over and given that choice I would rather there wasn't a calendar. People tend of gravitate toward the Wolfriders and Rayek. If I had to work to produce a mostly Wolfrider/Rayek calendar year after year it would be pointless and boring. This is a fan art calendar, we're making the fan art but I think we have to also understand that fans of the series will be looking for their favourites among the pages and if all we have to offer is a calendar of the same 6 recycled characters year after year I don't think it would have lasted for 18 years.

Having so many submissions with the same character would also be difficult when it came to judging. If I receive 15 submissions and 5 of them are Cutter then those 5 get judged against each other and in the end it's likely that only one or two of those submissions will get in to the printed version (but that is only after they are judged against the rest of the submissions). This would have nothing to do with artistic ability or how well the theme was interpreted but simply because there are too many entries with the same character, so you have to narrow that down.

As for starting early, I don't think it can get much earlier and truthfully giving everyone so much time is a downfall. Most people are working on their images weeks before the deadline and not 9 months before when the calendar is announced. Sign-ups should be in August and the deadline is the end of October. That way people really know if they have the time or not. What would be even better is to start in January and give everyone until March or April. Then when the dropouts come there will be plenty of time to find alternatives.

@Czarine duplicate characters are allowed, I just ask that we all try to vary things. As for sharing sketches and the like, I didn't make the calendar rules. They were passed down to me but I think the reasoning behind the not posting anywhere rule is getting an advanced look at the artwork does dull the excitement of seeing it finished and for the first time but it also taints judging and may allow someone to usurp an idea and use it themselves. If you want to send private messages and share work behind the scenes please go ahead.

Collaborations are fun and encouraged. We've had a few in past calendars and if that is something that interests people we could do a whole collaboration calendar.

As for splitting the workload, the only thing I can't do is Facebook stuff. If you are a member of a holt or EQ social media group then it would be great of you could mention the calendar to other artists but as I mentioned up top, inviting artists is great and they're usually open to the idea but I've had little luck getting them to actually hand anything in.

@Foxeye Thank you and a hug right back at you!

@AceQuester I think we have things covered. But if I need more artwork I'll holler at the group for help.

[Wildfire]

@Wildfire I don't have Facebook so I wouldn't be able to promote it there myself but I do send out personal invites to members of this group that aren't always active (but have participated in the calendar in the past) as well as places like DeviantArt. Messaging people here has often worked and I have had a positive response in the past from going around and inviting artists from different sites but ultimately those invited artists have rarely worked out. They say yes, I want to participate and then end up dropping the calendar at the last minute or just not responding to messages after a point. So nowadays I tend to shy away from invitations.

The dropout rate is discouraging for sure. Especially if they've been invited personally.
Should the calendar continue, I'd be happy to do some promoting on Facebook. I've posted about the calendar a few times and people are always excited about it, so there has to be some untapped interest there. Doing a monthly/bi-monthly promo would (if nothing else) help garner some excitement.

...As for sharing sketches and the like, I didn't make the calendar rules. They were passed down to me but I think the reasoning behind the not posting anywhere rule is getting an advanced look at the artwork does dull the excitement of seeing it finished and for the first time but it also taints judging and may allow someone to usurp an idea and use it themselves. If you want to send private messages and share work behind the scenes please go ahead.

Collaborations are fun and encouraged. We've had a few in past calendars and if that is something that interests people we could do a whole collaboration calendar.

A thought - is it possible to set up a subsection of the forum to be for invited members only? Having a place where people can collaborate openly or ask and receive feedback might be good, both for the calendar and the website. Having somewhere to turn to for help if you get stuck without an idea or need some help with posing or colours. Even just hearing some positivity and a few encouraging words from other members might help people finish their entry. As it is now, it is a fairly lonesome challenge. Treefox has helped me out a ton through the years (), but that was through email, and establishing that connection for a new member would be nigh impossible.
Sketchfab (https://forum.sketchfab.com/c/past-challenges/halloween-contest-2015) does monthly challenges where people post WIP works and it's a lot of fun to follow the different processes. Doing something similar might be worth a shot. We might all learn something new.
People stealing ideas is honestly not something I'd worry about with how small of a group we are. Even if they did "steal" (there has been similar ideas in the past), it's still fun to see the difference in execution and style.

starting earlier

Tasks expand to fill the time available. Most years I start properly sketching a few months before the deadline, and I doubt that I'm alone for that. Usually the fandom challenges that I've been a part of has had a runtime of 4-5 months at the absolute maximum. Most run for 2 months for a reason. Interest quickly starts to dwindle and people simply forget that they've signed up for it.

varying the characters

For the "Tribes" year, we were each assigned a tribe. How was that received? If we're no more than 12 people that might be a way to do it unless people hated it.

[Maggie]

The dropout rate is discouraging for sure. Especially if they've been invited personally.
Should the calendar continue, I'd be happy to do some promoting on Facebook. I've posted about the calendar a few times and people are always excited about it, so there has to be some untapped interest there. Doing a monthly/bi-monthly promo would (if nothing else) help garner some excitement.

If you or anyone else is able to promote the calendar via Facebook that would be much appreciated.

A thought - is it possible to set up a subsection of the forum to be for invited members only? Having a place where people can collaborate openly or ask and receive feedback might be good, both for the calendar and the website. Having somewhere to turn to for help if you get stuck without an idea or need some help with posing or colours. Even just hearing some positivity and a few encouraging words from other members might help people finish their entry. As it is now, it is a fairly lonesome challenge. Treefox has helped me out a ton through the years (), but that was through email, and establishing that connection for a new member would be nigh impossible.

Sketchfab (https://forum.sketchfab.com/c/past-challenges/halloween-contest-2015) does monthly challenges where people post WIP works and it's a lot of fun to follow the different processes. Doing something similar might be worth a shot. We might all learn something new.
People stealing ideas is honestly not something I'd worry about with how small of a group we are. Even if they did "steal" (there has been similar ideas in the past), it's still fun to see the difference in execution and style.

I'm sure we could come up with something like that.
 

Tasks expand to fill the time available. Most years I start properly sketching a few months before the deadline, and I doubt that I'm alone for that. Usually the fandom challenges that I've been a part of has had a runtime of 4-5 months at the absolute maximum. Most run for 2 months for a reason. Interest quickly starts to dwindle and people simply forget that they've signed up for it.
For the "Tribes" year, we were each assigned a tribe. How was that received? If we're no more than 12 people that might be a way to do it unless people hated it.

I've always felt that too much time was given for the calendar and that people are excited to sign up but then forget and drop out when it gets too close to the deadline and they haven't done anything. One year I started late with the thread about themes, which meant the whole calendar started a bit later than usual and no one was happy about that. It seems that most would prefer more time to less but I feel like that is something that is causing an issue now. I don't start my cover image until all the submissions are handed in, which means I sometimes only have a week or two to get something together. Last year I think I did it in just over a week and that was after I scrapped my original idea for a new one. I would much prefer cutting the time down and seeing if that helps at all.

As for the Tribes calendar I guess we would have to ask if that was a hated theme or not. I would be happy to offer themes like that every so often. Berit suggested doing a just Wolfrider calendar or Go-backs or once again choosing one character and having 12 interpretations.

If there are only a few who want to work on the calendar each year it can still be done it would just be done differently. There would be more of a collaboration and discussion between the small group of participants rather than the whole nominating themes, voting for themes...it would be up to those who have decided to continue to figure that out together. I'm happy to do it with a small group or going ahead and trying to get more people involved. I was even thinking of challenging myself and doing a page a month and just putting the calendar out myself if the interest dwindles much more.

[Hyakurin]

I submitted mine, totally sorry for being late! I could absolutely submit another one if needed before December. Just let me know! Thanks for all you do Maggie!

[Czarine]

I'd really like the calendar-only subforum! I feel it has been quite difficult to keep drawing while making the calendar entry solo (though I do discuss ideas with Berit, which helps a lot), and a private thread for the calendar participants could offer both help and inspiration.

I too think there's too much time for the calendar. I usually spend about maybe a few days combined making my calendar entry. Usually, I procrastinate until the end of September, when I start sketching, after which I forget about the sketch completely until like a week before the deadline (usually less), and then I finish my piece with burning passion . Or that's how it went this year. Last year I spent a lot more time looking for references and sent my entry early (and another). So for me, a month or so would be ideal (but that's just me). Maybe we could halve the amount of time?

I like the idea of tribes! It would challenge me to draw different elves and environments. It could also solve the too many Wolfriders -problem. I also enjoyed the Entirely Ekuar theme we had.

[Tah-Marien]

oh my,  oh my . . . so many thoughts are racing through my head.

{Calendar}  Glad things are working out Maggie *hug*  You are appreciated both as an artist and an administrator.  {Snow}  We got it early in the teeth also and barely got all the broken branches cleaned up before Halloween.  House okay - fence lost.  So many old trees marred or lost (sob) it  looked like a green war zone.

If submission format is needed for the site to remain active; I am in.  I will change up my involvement time.

 

 For the calendar I guess I do sorta always need and prefer a collaboration. I know I cannot submit to the calendar without tech-help, and I did exhaust my resources very early in the game; so did not sign up an idea - (and) -  I should have fought harder for the honor of being in the calendar;  Because I also appreciate a reason to stretch my drawing goals in an Elfquest fandom based environment and love catching up in the Gallery on what is inspiring people, and look forward to the cross-overs and fan characters and random mediums used to create.  And hope for a success with an narrative story format that can bring people together and maybe evolve into more.


 Anyhoo . . .   It seems all the artist are pretty able to "create" within a 8 week period, either in a frenzied fashion or slow and steady wins the race -and-  I am thinking about how much my environment and current activities Always effect my art _ and I am going to suggest a Seasonal submission idea:  Staring early -  Maybe getting submissions every 8 weeks of the year will give people time to offer help or do a collaboration or take inspiration from their own global/personal season."   The rules could stay the same - just restart the hands of time a few, or three, times a year.  More than one submission date? Or?  Early submission acceptance for those who can only draw. (I admit I did not know how to ask for help from the Site and stay within the clandestine calendar requirements.)  So Czarine's {ideas} inspires me to say that it really can be done within an 8 week period - and if not -
 Wildfire is also right - - you have outlines, ideas, drawings, !early!  feedback and exchanges.  Take the idea further: Yavia did an amazing sorta ying/yang drawing on one page, of a character, for a past submission (so) Two artists could share a page or an idea/character/theme/insert on the same page.  Sometimes half a page seems less scary.  I have had so much fun doing the collaborations for the calendar.  I do not want to babble. . . but

Coming in late to this discussion I see Ideas and Hope filling this forum - I want to be a part of that - and a part of saving the calendar, even if it is just submitting more to the Gallery all year long.

     
     

     

     

[Yavia]

@Tah-Marien, Did you mean the "night and day" submission drawn by Treefox 2017? That was in a yin and yang fashion. If not I'm a little puzzled what submission do you mean and how does that fit to your argument but thank you.
I was just watching the calendar "tribes" with the great collaboration work in it. Amazing! Do you mean something like that? Two or more artists draw a completely part (outline and color) of one picture?

Because I have done my drawings only solemnly I would be highly interested in a closed ward place on the forum to meet up with people and share art and ideas. Especially ideas. Quite a few calendars I don't commit because I had no idea for the theme.

As for less time till deadline I'm totally in it. I too have made the experience that more time makes submitter more often drop out. It's been 10 Month till everyone can see their results. Don't see any elfquest often out of this side or facebook and forget about it. Its not so prominent as other things as Marvel or Harry Potter. Many other interesting things hop along. No one can see the WiP during that time.  I don't get any resonance all the long time. All reasons I encounter at a writers forum. The last one was the often heard.

Maggie
...which meant the whole calendar started a bit later than usual and no one was happy about that.

That shocked me a little bit. How many time do any of us need to finish a submission? For me I am a fast drawer, I know how long I need for a pic and can calculate the time. And I take the time out of the weekends if I have it not otherwise. I do see it as an commitment. But this year have told me not to say anything in the threat till I do have an idea. Made my pic, but boah I feel ashamed to wanna participate first and then droped out few Month later. Sorry.

If there is a new deadline, I suggest a month length (if there are 4 weekends all is good). Don't pick on me, just saying. I conduct a calendar for the time before Christmas (called Advent here). The first mentioning of this event is July. And all on the side are screaming 'whoa, so soon, have to hurry' and do nothing till December the first. (btw Deadline is November 30Th)
As for those with the winter catastrophe that month limit wouldn't work anyways. I hope all are fine and only fences and trees are broken.
So 8 weeks till deadline it is? If all here agree it's okay.

What seems to be an important part is the character choice. I assume as in the forum posts hinted (and said jaRf) two people droped out later because they don't get their favourite character. If that closed calendar forum is only used to talk to the people who took the favourite character and switch or collaborate that could be a great win. I get the offer to switch character and it was a really good feeling. But I don't took it cause I love more than one and I'm interested in the pic that would come up with Redlance. It don't have to be him. I like the calendar to be variant.

For submitting more often. That was everytime the given promise as things gone south and wasn't kept in forums I was in. Not once. That didn't work ever. Hope it will be differend here but I have low hopes.

I am totally in for promotion more. The fact Richard Pini is involved in the calendar and sees all the submissions is something that is really great. But if I don't have a friend here who told me early on I wouldn't have known till some randomly droped posts maybe years later. This here by Maggie for instance. For me it is awesome. And really something to promote more.

Last, a one person only calendar is in fact a good idea. One tribe also. I do think it must be one more favoured than Ekuar. I wouldn't have submit anything, if there wasn't not enough entrys.

Please don't bite me. English is not my mother tongue and I fear something might sound meaner that it is meant.

[Snarkclaw]

As someone who only discovered and started participating in the calendar last year, I am not sure how useful my input is, but why let that stop me? 

I had been thinking about the issue of people signing up early in the year, only to either drop out or not start drawing until the week before the Halloween deadline, and actually was coming up with an idea much like that proposed by @Tah-Marien.

4 Sign-Up & Deadline Sessions Throughout The Year
- "Winter" session:  Feb & Mar, Mar 31 deadline
- "Spring" session:  Apr & May, May 31 deadline
- "Summer" session:  Jun & Jul, Jul 31 deadline
- "Autumn" session:  Aug & Sep, Sep 30 deadline

(Maybe plus an invitation-only "Buffer" session in Oct & Nov, in which @Maggie invites artists who have proven reliable to submit, if there are still too few submissions after all four submission sessions.)

Or more spaced out throughout the year, however works best.

Artists still sign up for their preferred characters who have not been used yet.  However, if an artist drops out in a session, then the characters that artist claimed in the earlier session would be released and available for anyone to claim in the next session.

So, if someone claims Cutter, Leetah, and Skywise in February, but fails to create the image by March 31, then someone else could claim any or all three characters in April.  If the February artist does submit art by March 31, then yay!  Since that is the goal!   

It means more frequent administration, but hopefully more art throughout the year, and less pressure in November to gather those images that should have been submitted earlier.

As for theme ideas... I thought the themes allowed for pretty broad interpretation already, and have been impressed by the submissions I have seen for the past years.  But, again, newbie, so maybe I am missing something.  (I would totally buy an all-Rayek calendar, though; rowr.   )

[Amberfox]

Wow.  Now I feel exceptionally guilty.  I had originally thought I'd be able to participate, but life has been insane for over a year for me. The death in my family threw me off and I'm still having issues. Still not over the death, but life is settling a little bit, especially regarding my job and the residence.

To be honest, people dropping off happens no matter where you are or what you're doing. I see the same thing over and over in the fandom holts. I don't know why, but it happens. Putting the word out through other media certainly could help for the calendars. Drumming up interest on this site might help if perhaps something was done in the gallery. Some people don't bother to check the files and some still have issues with their inboxes for messages. It's a thought.

Having vague themes wouldn't really do much. Themes are already rather vague and open to a wide interpretation. As for characters, I think we could try this year allowing for multiple representations of the same characters, but I would definitely prefer to keep the list up so for those that want to avoid replication, can choose someone else. Personally, I like that challenge. Who hasn't been drawn or spoken for? When I did Mardu and Kalil, I didn't even really know who they were. I had to look them up and read about them. So, let's see what happens.

Since life's been rather nasty to me, I actually have a few illos I never managed to finish for previous calendars. I can at least finish one or two of them and submit this coming year. No, really, I promise! I've been eyeing the one with...oops, SPOILERS. I can PM you, Maggie about them and take it from there. And if not, I can post it to the gallery.

I have been trying to post to the gallery, and I've sketched a bunch of members' characters. Almost done with one now with one immediately behind for coloring.

I'd truly hate to see this site close; this is my EQ fix and I try and check on it regularly. I get inspiration to draw from it and from others' work even from the non-EQ folder. I enjoy the community; it has been much friendlier to me than some others I've been involved in over the years. I can understand closing due to lack of time or enthusiasm, but I certainly want to stress how much I love this site. It helps me with depression. It inspires me. It keeps me busy, off the streets, and out of prison (joke, for those that don't know my humor). I'd be proud to volunteer more often if it helps. Can't guarantee amazing work, but I certainly would do more.

[AceQuester]

HI Maggie,

Can you give us an update? Did everything worked out fine? Do you have enough entries? Did you and Elfpop go over the entries? Is he willing to help? And when can we place our order?

[Maggie]

@ Tah-Marien - Having collaborations should become more commonplace for the calendar moving forward, especially if people are struggling on their own. As should a discussion forum for participants.

@Yavia - I won't bite you. You have suggestions and they are as valid as anyone else's. I wanted to know how you feel and you've expressed that. Thank you.

@Snarkclaw - I was thinking the very same thing. Breaking up the deadlines into sections. I was leaning toward two times but we can chat about that further and see what everyone else thinks. Thanks for your input.

@Amberfox - Please don't feel guilty. If you would like to hand something in for the calendar please do. I was planning to add whatever artwork I do for the cover as one of the months but if you have something then that's great. If not that's ok too.

@AceQuester - I have enough artwork. I would have already been harassing people for more if I didn't...haha.  I don't have any info on the printed version at the moment but the reveal doesn't happen until January. Sometimes the printed version comes out slightly before that but not much.

[Afke]

I'm glad I was on the reserve list and managed to make a picture for the 2020 calendar. I realised I haven't participated in the calendar since 2015, even though I did originally plan to every time. There are a number of reasons for this I guess. But definitely not the themes, they are always great.

My biggest mountain honestly has been the character claiming. I understand why it was set in place, but in my opinion it is done too soon. Look at the long list of claimed characters for this year, and how few actually managed to make their picture in time. When a theme is chosen the way my brain works it looks for an original idea first that makes a great match with that, and it doesn't matter what characters it involves. Then when the idea is there, and the main character is already claimed, I have to restart this process, but in a disappointed mood which kills my inspiration.
Two ways to solve this I think; the discussing of picture ideas with the people who want to be involved so characters will be known to them up front AND definitely drawn, which I've seen mentioned. Or the claiming can't be done until you've shown Maggie at least a decent sketch.

Finding a place just for this (the calendar discussing) would be fine by me. I know you've brought up this same question about the site a couple of years ago, Maggie, and I understand your reasons for keeping it up since then and wanting to take it down now. Perhaps it is time to let it go.
There are so many places we can post our stuff, though the forum and the people here have always had a special place in my heart. But it is very separate, so I have to think about not forgetting to come here, especially since I don't really make that much new EQ related stuff. I am mostly on Instagram nowadays, and I would love to come across more EQ related content there, because I really don't right now.
Like said there are a number of places we can go, but I can understand if people don't want to sign up for some places, like Facebook; though the groups do offer a private setting so you know exactly who can read it. A neutral space that is either free or cheap but offers a locked option so the ideas remain a secret until the calendar reveal is something we might be able to find. I'm on Weebly with all my sites, it offers password protected pages I believe (like if you've made a photo-album you only want to show family members).

On to the promoting part; we can all chip in on that, on whatever platform we are. I'm sure we can come up with a nice text that we can all copy/paste to spread the word. There is indeed not one place you can reach all, everyone has their fave new places to hang out nowadays.

I like the idea of shortening the timeline as well, because it's true; it's a long time to wait to showcase your work online, when you already finish in April. And the spreading out through the entire year will dwindle the interest as we've seen again and again. One month would be too short for me, mainly because the definite deadline will probably remain close to the end of October, and that is my busiest month for crafting and thinking of nothing else. But three months of discussing and working on it sounds fine to me. A short burst for working on the picture works best for me, because my focus tends to be better when I actually finish one project at a time.

The calendar feels like something special to me. We all work on it together, and I look forward to seeing the result each year. I would hate to see it go; I feel it connects us all, the way we might have felt connected to EQ when we were younger (and active in holts and such like I was a decade ago).

So yeah, a secluded place for calendar discussion sounds great to me. It leaves great hope for collaboration, as well as extra theme ideas such as a link of continuation between all months, or a story being told, or some kind of chronology that may be completely random now. And a transparent talk about which characters will be used as the main subject by each, and inspiration by others when you might be stuck on an idea that doesn't quite work yet.
I AM hopeful.

[Elftanner]

Damn. I just found this. I was thinking about entering something this year. It's been a while.. Maybe next year.

[Maggie]

@Elftanner - There may not be a calendar next year, that's kind of what we're discussing.