In order to try and stimulate a bit more "Community spirit" on caedes. I am going to start running a new project called "Artist of the week". The idea is that we will focus on a single artist on caedes who will be nominated by caedes members. I thought some of the benefits might be that it would allow people to see images that they might have missed previously; it might encourage good artists to post more images; it might provide valuable feedback for artists to improve their work, even if only to a small degree; it will encourage people to become more involved in the caedes community; it might allow people to learn from the "experts"; and it might allow members to "get to know each other" better and maybe make a new friend/aquaintance. This project will be run by myself and perhaps a few others if they want to be involved (I know at least one other person already suggested this in the forums, sorry I can't recall who it was just at the moment). It is not an "official" project so any feedback should be directed at me rather than caedes, mods, the site in general, etc.

The first step is to select an artist from the multitude of talent on the site. Please PM me with a name if you want to nominate someone, it should be an established member with a fairly large personal gallery, maybe someone you feel deserves a bit more attention, but still someone who is fairly accomplished in their area of work. It should also be someone who is currently active on the site as providing feedback to someone who probably won't ever read it is futile :-). I will probably go with whoever receives the most nominations. I will then post the name on the "Desktop Wallpaper" discussion board with a link to the members profile and gallery. Hopefully members will visit the gallery and leave comments on images or on the members profile with feedback on images, general encouragement, questions regarding their techniques etc. Members will also be able to leave comments in the post itself if they wish. If anyone has ideas that might improve this project please post them HERE rather than on the "Desktop Wallpaper" discussion.

PS even though I have called this "Artist of the week" it might change to artist of the month/fortnight/whatever depending on how the thing pans out. I won't really be able to tell what the best timeframe is until it's been up and running for a while I think.

cool idea , i'll be happy to nominate some members.

Thats a great idea Sam...

Great idea, Count me in....this will be a great and motivational contest...good idea!!!!
Im in :)
my new image, takea look, "untitled"
any feedback is apreciate

Great idea. I think that we can easily make this an 'official' project with a few modifications. What would you say to something along the lines of a short interview or in-depth analysis of a specific image?

sounds like a very good plan! something similar is implemented in deviant art.. featured artist who is blurbed and work shown!

I think that is good idea, it migth work to get more involved people in caedes, dont u think??

I think it's a great idea.

I really like his idea Samatar... it can't help but get people to know each other a bit more, and maybe venture out a bit to GET to know anyone a bit more..I hope no one is too shy to suggest who might be "the one" for the week//month//day//etc....it'll be fun to see the outcome. Thanx for such a nice effort.....we all just gotta keep this thread going so we can all motivate and be motivated eh?!

Definitly like this idea. Esspecally with the special section on the site that will give a little bio on the artist. I sent my nomination in. Hopefully everyone else is doing the same.

OK a few more ideas: Instead of having a thread on the "Desktop Wallpaper" forum, I think we should have it on in the "News" section on the homepage (with a link from the forum for those who don't visit that page much). This would allow newbies or people who are just browsing the internet to see the article and take part. Each week/fortnight/month there would be a new news item for each featured artist. I think we should at least have an in depth profile on the artist if not an interview, this could be posted on the news item also. People would be able to provide general feedback on the news item. I think it would also be nice to have a permenant link on the featured artists profile to the news item so anyone visiting their page could refer to the news item in future.

PS I have recieved three nominations so far... waiting for more so we can get started...

PS if the person you nominate isn't chosen that week, I'll carry your vote over to the next one, and so on.

It's a great idea, how motivated will people become as a consequence.....? "Very". Accredetaions and recognition are great with reason however pride is just given out willy nilly these day's. It will give people focus and determination. Cracking Idea. Evolution for Caede's starts now.

I like the idea of having a permanent profile on that person...so any newbie can look at it and get to know the artist...at any time....it sure makes things a bit more personal...no other site that I know of has this kind of personal interest.....keep up the great comments everyone!!

Fantastic idea! One of the best ideas I've seen on here for a long time! A big high five to Sam for thinking of it! Wen

Nice thinking - you could call it 'featured artist' or whatever and then also have a link to previous featured artists.

I'm open to any bribes for nominating members - paypal preferred, please don't send any cash through the post.

well I have on mind, who could be "the artist of the week"....

I'll throw my 2 cents in & say I really like this idea !! Especially the part of having a permanent bio on the featured artist, a great way for new people to get to know their other classmates...

I think it's a great idea and I suggest a small thumbnail of each featured artist to be included in the bio to give it a bit more personal touch. I guess that will probably have to be optional for each artist though since some may hesitate to do that, particularly some of the younger members whose bios would probably have to contain less personal info and no self-portrait. As long as their are no strict demands on any of the artists for bio info, pictures, etc... I think it should just be a welcomed honor for anyone nominated. I love the idea of having a place to browse all the previous featured artist bios, and maybe if it works out as a weekly thing then you can open winners up to re-nomination every few months so that folks can be featured more than once moving forward but without any one artist being featured too often.

Nice idea Sam.

Great idea Sam...I suggest a start would be a descent photo in the self gallery;-)

Yes I would like to welcome this brilliant idea warm-heartedly Sam. I know at least a bunch of good photographers here in the net who deserve a nomination. I am looking forward to the beginning of this project.

Greetings
Ewa

Great idea, I would suggest the person nominating should give a brief reasoning as to why they are nominating that person. Hopefully helping you in the decision process..........

Cheers...........

very cool community oriented idea!

I'm not sure if it was mentioned up above and I admit I could have missed it
but just like we can save a fave pic into our own faves
I'd like to have a fave artist list in my profile too
so that I can more easily return to my favourite galleries

Caedes has a good idea.I like the idea of a little interview Sam.Something that tells us about the person and their approach and feeling to their art.
Peace&Respect Jojo

The first artist has been selected. Standby for the official announcement soon.

Ohhhhh nice, I love this anticipation stuff....kind of like waiting for the ketchup to flow slowly out of the bottle...gosh....I am as nutty as the rest of you all!!

This is a good idea.
And I hope this will stimulate all of us, to post better shots and stimulate our fellow artist to do the same.
And the idea of some background info of that artist is great.
I am looking forward to see that announcement.

Great idea Sam! This should be fun! As you know, my nominee for the week is in.; ) It was really hard to decide, there are so many good artists here!

I like the idea, however, having a large gallery is, to me a deterrent. I have submitted posts, and am improving with each one, however I do not have anything in my gallery at the moment. I know there are others here like this as well. I have seen some AMAZING images from artists with 5 or less images in their gallery, and they will be excluded. I think if you see an amazing image, you should be able to submit that person for the artist of the week. It will get EVERYONE involved then, not just those who know what they are doing. Especially newer artists to the site, who have only one or two pics. For instance, there is a very new artist here who submitted a fantastic New Orleans image that just stopped me in my tracks. Yet I cannot nominate that person simply because that person has only 1 or 2 images in their gallery.
Does this make sense? I understand what you are trying to do, and I think its a great idea to feature, but I feel that everyone who has at least one image posted should be able to be nominated. Of course that one image needs to be amazing, but they won't be left out simply for not having "x" number in their gallery.

Waiting to know...

Is the Great Kreskin still alive ? Cuz we could cheat & ask him...

akashastrega, you can nominate whoever you like. However I think it would be very difficult to spend a week giving feedback to someone with only one or two images in their gallery.

Hi, Sam. I've skimmed much of this discussion. Would like to nominate someone for the next award. Just want to make sure I've got the "criteria" straight, as it says to make sure that nominees "meet the criteria" as detailed in this discussion. Would you be so kind as to simply summarize what ever "criteria" it is that nominees must meet? Thanks! Wen

From above: "Please PM me with a name if you want to nominate someone, it should be an established member with a fairly large personal gallery, maybe someone you feel deserves a bit more attention, but still someone who is fairly accomplished in their area of work. It should also be someone who is currently active on the site as providing feedback to someone who probably won't ever read it is futile"

Thanks, Sam! I thought that was probably what you were referring to, but when I noted your specific reference to "criteria" on the front page, I wanted to make sure I didn't miss something. <G> Wen

A few updates in regards to nominating:

1. Once a member has succeeded in becoming "Artist of the week", their name and the names of members who nominated them will be placed in a seperate list for future reference. The artist will not be eligible for artist of the week again until an appropriate amount of time has passed, or there are no other artists left nominated who have not had a run as artist of the week.

2. If a member nominates more than one person to be Artist of the week, that persons nominations shall have less "weight" than a member who has only nominated one person; eg if I have three nominations for "Paul_Gerritson" and three nominations for "Samatar", but one of the people who nominated "Samatar" has also nominated "Guesstheartist", then I would select "Paul_gerritson" as artist of the week. However, unless another artist has three nominations by the next week, then Samatar would be the next choice for artist of the week. (Maybe this sounds confusing but it will actually make the selectiong proccess easier for me, so just nod and pretend you understand ;-)

So far I have four artists with two nominations each this week, which is going to make my choice very difficult unless I get some more nominations! So if you haven't nominated anyone yet (or you nominated Paul and you haven't sent in a second nomination yet) then send in your choice. Ideally I would like to announce the next winner about 1 week after I announced Paul as the first Artist of the week, so at the time of writing this, we have about 2 days before everything needs to be ready. Taking into account that I need inform the artist and get a bio from them, that leaves probably 24 hours max before I need to make a decision.

nods

Oh BTW I think I was so busy noting the last four nominations that I forgot to reply to the members to let them know I had taken note of them. Sorry. I think they were Mia04, Paul_Geritson, ekowalska and groo2k (the nominators, not the nominees). Just so you know your nom.'s weren't lost in the system...

Thanks!

You may note that Geri has created a link under "Other stuff" where all the bio's will be stored from now on.

PS the next AOTW will be up on the homepage very shortly.

*bump* for those who need clarification of the criteria and nomination process. ;=)
Must read whole thread though!

The next member of the caedes community to be in the spotlight will be on the front page soon. Stay tuned ;=)

Great idea.......I'm in.........lol.

Hey I'm in..still hanging around even though my work is slower now.

Oh this is a grand idea! We will all get to know each other better, and find a bit of fun and appreciation for the creations of others. Maybe get to know some of the new artists
a bit quicker in this way. And the ones of us that have been
around a bit longer will for sure enjoy the whole package. Looking for this a lot! Thanx Sam for coming up with this, I think it will really be enjoyed by all. Verena

The Artist of the Week was replaced with the Artist Spotlight feature.


Any questions, please PM me. Use this link

Thanks!