The 7-star challenge

Requirements

It's easy! Complete one new finished piece of artwork per week and post it to your blog no later than 11:59pm PT every Saturday night. Failure to do so results in disqualification and removal from the challenge. Again, I am currently the moderator as well as the only contestant. I am also currently winning.

Participants must post the completed piece to their blog, preferably with a timestamp from the server. You can download the 7-Star logo for use in your piece, or just to show your participation.

The Rules

1) Your weekly art has to be a finished piece; no exceptions. Preferably color, but b/w is okay.

2) Monochrome pieces must be post-ready: pencil drawings must be inked or traced in vector.

3) All pieces must appear finished. Can you print it? Would you turn it in as an assignment/commission? If you're not sure, check your master copy and see if it is print-ready: 300+dpi bitmaps or vector for digital work, high-res (300+dpi) scans or photos for natural media.

4) Pencil drawings created with vine/compressed charcoal on illustration paper do not have to be inked, and meet the criteria by virtue of the great pain involved with working on full sized illustration board with charcoal. But the piece still must be in a finished state.

5) Logos are allowed, but text-only images must display evidence of "design"; typographic or otherwise. A general rule of thumb: if all you had to do was type to finish your logo, it doesn't count.

Restrictions

No pencil-only drawings, UNLESS they are of the highly-rendered art-school type, in which case they qualify as a finished piece anyway (see above, re: pencil drawings).

No work(s)-in-progress. If it's half-done, it's not done.

No other, not explicitly defined loopholes either. Fixing the PHP on your site does not count, for example. If it can't be posted as an image and look finished, it doesn't qualify. Having said that, other creative work that doesn't fit into the guidelines might still be acceptable. See the FAQ.

Best Practices

These guidelines aren't going to make or break your standing in the challenge, but following them will definitely help develop your skills and make for better portfolio pieces. Adherence is purely optional, and disobeying the suggestions won't get you ejected.

Try to avoid doing pinups. That is to say avoid doing static poses of a single character on a white background. If you have to do a pinup, try to work in a background or at least a background color. Work in a second character. Make the character interact with an inanimate object.
Work outside of your comfort zone. Are you drawing 3/4 heads every week? Do you avoid doing backgrounds? Are you still creating inventive ways to hide people's feet? Draw some feet. Draw some backgrounds. Try a new pose. It might suck the first few (hundred) times, but you'll be that much closer to not sucking at it. And besides, it's not against the rules to draw sucky. We're trying to get better, and working through the stuff we hate is the only way to do it.
Draw what you want to draw right now. Stop waiting to be good enough to start on your dream project and just make yourself good enough instead.
Draw every day. I realize the 7-Star Challenge is a weekly participation exercise, but still -- this is the single best piece of advice for any artist looking to see improvements. I got this tip from a friend of mine: promise yourself 5 minutes. If you can't get into a groove, at least you've done your 5 minutes, but chances are you're going to look up at the clock when you're done and wonder where the last hour went.

And just from a practicality standpoint, it is much easier to do one piece a week if you break it into 7 little chunks.

FAQ

Why 7 Stars?
Well, because 3 stars is just dangerous. 5 stars is crazy. But 7 stars can get you killed. We are THAT HARDCORE. Plus, there's 7 days in a week, though that is probably just coincidence.

Who else is doing this thing?
Hella people!

I want to take part in the 7-Star Challenge!
Really? Oh, okay. Shoot me an email at mikemoss (at) 8bitartist (dot) com and I'll add you to the participant list, along with a link to your page. Please link back to my blog or the rules page from your posts.

How long does the 7-Star Challenge last?
The 7-Star Challenge runs from June 4th, 2011 through August 13th, 2011. The first official weekly deadline is Saturday, June 11th @ 11:59pm. The original idea was to have it run pretty much forever, but that kinda makes it hard to restart if everyone drops out. It's only 10 weeks long this year; about half the distance we covered last time. Less challenging but more accessible. And if you make it to the end, you'll have 10 new pieces to show for your trouble.

Who's moderating/enforcing the challenge?
Us! Everything is on the honor system here. If you want to "rig" your posts and make it look like you hit the deadline when you actually botched it, there's not much I can do about it. But it's lame, and anyone who knows what you're up to will think it's lame, and if you have to cheat your way through a challenge that's supposed to make you a better artist, then you're lame. Besides, it's not like we're winning anything.

Wait, I don't get anything if I complete the challenge?
Well, you get the love and admiration of your peers! You also get that satisfying feeling of accomplishment, like when you build a fence, do all the dishes, or hold off a zombie attack!

That kinda sucks.
Okay, fine. I'm going to come up with some kind of reward. Suggestions welcome — try to remember I have no money.

I'm a (graphic designer/sculptor/3d modeler) and your guidelines don't really cover my style of work. Will I be disqualified?
Nonsense. Just shoot me an email at mikemoss (at) 8bitartist (dot) com and we can figure something out. The rules are only in place to keep you from cheating yourself. If you're pumping out finished creative work every week, all the power to you!

I'm not good enough to make work that looks finished. Am I a goner?
More nonsense. Even if you're still learning how to draw (read: every artist on the planet), you can create qualifying work. It is not against the rules to suck. And you'll suck way less by November if you can stick this whole thing out, I guarantee it.

Hey, you haven't addressed <random issue>.
Send me an email at mikemoss (at) 8bitartist (dot) com if there's anything else unclear (important distinction coming) about the contest.