Quote:
Originally Posted by Ilovebe
Has there ever been a successful community-funded commission from start to finish? I know there have been pieces of art, sequences, and comics that you could donate to and unique circumstances like people donating to Arania to finish the long-ago abandoned Tome sequence. However, has there ever been an instance where a bunch of people got together, formed an idea, and then commissioned an artist?
I'm not being disingenuous with that question. I'm sincerely curious.
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Not that I'm aware of, though that doesn't confirm much of anything.
I don't think it would be too difficult of a task, though.
I mean, let's look at it in a broad sense. Let's say that before we do anything,
we elect a member from our ranks to represent us. Obviously, this person should be a respected member of the Process (someone like OhZone, Qzar, TF-Viewer, Vincent, ect) who has a strong presence here (I'm thinking 1000-2000 posts, at the very minimum). Whomever wishes to be the representative, and meets the qualifications, can throw their hat into the ring for election. This person would collect all the donations (likely through Paypal, and then deal directly with the artist on the community's behalf).
Then, we donate to that person. Whoever wants to can donate, and however much they want to. Once maybe a week or even month has passed, our representative would then announce how much cash is available for the project. If it's only $20, then the community will commission something worth $20 then (poor, but at least we'll get something). Likewise, if we accumulate $320, then the community may be in for a treat.
Onward then, we consider the following next based on what's in our coffer, so to speak:
1. A genre would have to be selected, be it Growth, Transformation, Shrinking, ect.
2. Then, perhaps we'd select a broad theme, or what causes the process to occur (magic, science, ect). Once a theme is selected, it could be refined (Moonlight, potion, injection, ect).
3. We'd need to come to a consensus on both size and style (how many pages, and comic-style or full page, or a combo of both).
4. A general outline would be needed for the story (dialogue and whatnot), and then approved by the community.
5. Finding an artist who's willing to take on the commission, depending on the above factors.
Difficult to accomplish? Maybe, and very likely chaotic with the number of polls that would have to generated. Not to mention that the genre chosen may not be your favorite (making you feel as though you've wasted your money). But the majority of the community will have benefitted from your contribution, and who knows, the next community-commission might be right up your alley (and something far larger than you might have commissioned on your own).
We're a community of over 20,000 members (IIRC). If even .5% of us were to donate $5, that's $500 right there. And that, my friends, could buy a very nice commission for us all.
Just my take on the matter. I envision community-funded projects as generic creations, rather than extremely specific. The broader the idea, the more likely it'll appeal to a crowd.