I'm currently brainstorming for a new feature on TwoInchBrush.com.

During "events" or "contests" users will have the chance to upload paintings with a theme during a certain timeframe.
Example: Knife only paintings, portraits, modern or abstract art, etc. Something that takes you a little bit out of your comfort zone and helps you grow as an artist.

That's where your input is needed!

Would you like these events to happen as competitions? I.e. users are allowed to vote for their favorite entries.
If so, would you like everyone to be able to vote or only participating members? Voting during the upload period or afterwards?

How long would be a fitting timeframe? I was thinking somewhere between two and six weeks.

If possible I would like to get sponsors for prizes for these events. Maybe for the top voted entry, maybe for a random participant.

What's your take on it? Every feedback and input is appreciated!

Wow, that's incredible idea Felix! You are very creative!

I think it worth having pictures painted within competition time frame and then give extra week after event is over for voting. I suggest to think about having voting at the last week of the event plus one extra week.
Time is from 4 weeks probably to 6 weeks.
I think it will be challenging to get sponsors that are available everywhere in the world- maybe Starbucks, macdonalds, Amazon, etc.

Voting: this is a tricky question. I think 3 votes shall be given per member of the site. They shall not be deposited to the same person/painting to give wider pool of voting. Votes may be they can be granted to someone outside of the membership as well. This will allow to attract more viewers and potential members. It also depends how many time you have to maintain the process going as I think jury from sponsored events also can be an option. But this is time that's needed from you and from jury to go through the paintings.
In case of voting after or at the end reminder will need to be sent may be once a week.

For posted paintings we will need to have some filters by color or by size, to let those that were posted first to be seen and be voted for. Or just sorting by day or by week of posting. May be to see them through scroll bar rather then going page by page. I think on average by a week around 200 paintings get posted. May be for competition it will be 400 per event?

Another thought - i hope you meant photos not real paintings sent to some physical address in some country? I guess one entry per user? I know you did not ask to ask more questions. šŸ™‚ sorry.

I just mean I am alright with format of competition however I am not a competitive person. At all. I am sure people here will be interested.
Another format would be a Challenge rather than work for the prize. May be challenge fits better your idea of exploring one's own capabilities and hearing back from others and getting votes as success indicator. But for challenge I think time frames shall be shorter to make it tough and to step out of the comfort zone. May be 2 weeks only.

Regards,
Sunnylady

This is really great Felix. What a terrific idea.

I am only an occasional painter so even if I am not submitting a painting in the contest I would still like to be able to participate by voting. I also think that voting should be done after all submissions are entered.

Would you like to use a score card for voting?

I like the idea of calling it an event(and not a contest). You could feature the most voted painting on your website somewhere.

The time frames that you said (4 Weeks for uploading during the event and 2 weeks after event closes for voting) seems reasonable.

This would be really fun!!

Hope It works.
LJM

    This sounds like a great idea! I think the four week timeframe works well. I’d be fine with it just being more of an event and less of a contest. And maybe feature the top liked paintings? Would definitely love to participate. I think the idea of working towards a type of painting at the same time as others is really cool!

      That sounds like a great idea! I think it would really allow all of us to step outside that proverbial comfort zone and try something new. It would also provide us with new, fresh ideas. A little friendly competition never hurt either šŸ˜‰

        Lovely idea!
        perhaps entries could be classed according to the number of pictures previously uploaded, that would encourage less experienced painters to enter.
        I love the challenge of being given something new to paint, I often feel inspired by one of Bobs classes to reinterpret the picture in a different way.
        Bob would love this!

        Hello,That's super cool.I'm looking forward to it.Love the challenge.Cheers,P

          I like it, I find myself looking to try a non Bob Ross painting lately, they’re great and all, however they can be redundant. Knife challenge, fan brush only, recreate a classic, abstract, 3 color challenge are off the top of my head, I’m 100% amateur so I don’t know all the possibilities you could say. Prizes/voting, I’m indifferent on how that’s done or if it is even done. Perhaps put out list of the challenges ahead of time, months out even, so people can work at they’re pace; some weeks I do 3, sometimes I go weeks without doing any. Whatever happens or doesn’t happen it’s nice to have an outlet to share our work with some anonymity.

            I love this idea! I wouldn’t stress over getting sponsors/prizes. You already built this awesome site - Thats prize enough for me. I think most of us are just excited about having challenges and try new paintings/techniques. Maybe the top 3 could get a badge like when we complete regular challenges?

            Maybe a new challenge every month? And encouraging folks to wait until the last week to vote so that those who post first don’t get all the votes before everyone submits their painting. Very excited to see how it turns out 😊

            I love this! I also wouldn’t stress over getting sponsors, I think the pride of winning one would be enough for most people. I think that your time periods and everything are perfectly laid out, and you seem to have a good grip of what you want to do. I’m excited to be involved!

              I will say, if you do find a couple of sponsors willing to work it out, maybe do a World Series championship on here or something, we are the winners of previous challenges go head to head for an attempt to win the prize. I would also be happy to donate to a Venmo fund if you start collecting money to get a prize, but prices are definitely not necessary. You’ve done such a great job on this website, I think we are all just happy to have it! Personally, it’s a great way to catalog my journey and I’m thrilled to be on here.

              Felix,
              I really like your ideas. Contests would be fun and as you noted would push some of us outside of our comfort zones. The idea of a portrait for instance is terrifying, but if I never try I’ll never know what is possible. The knife painting is another I’ve avoided but would certainly try.
              I think 4 weeks would be a good time frame to complete the contest, and I like the idea of only participating members being allowed to vote after the upload period. Prizes aren’t necessary, yet they can be a motivator to get the contest paintings posted in a timely manner.
              I’ve really enjoyed participating on this site, and receiving helpful feedback from others is valuable to me. Above all I think this would foster more connection and communication between artists making it even more enjoyable. I’m all in!

                Felix it's nice that you are adding more interest to the site but beware of making the site too competitive Felix, you don't want all the novices (and there are a lot of us) feeling out of the loop. Don't forget the reasons we come here, one important reason is that we are not judged. Its what makes twoinchbrush a great platform. A place we can get help, advice, encouragement, constructive criticism and discussion. I can only speak for myself, not being judged is the main reason I'm still here.

                Thank you all for your input!

                We'll probably start with 3 weeks to upload paintings, 1 week to vote on them.

                TheLandscapePainter Keeping it open and non-judgemental is my main concerns with this project. I want everyone to be able to enter in these events without fear of 'losing a contest' or any other negative feelings. After all this is a place of positivity.
                What do you think of keeping all votes secret and only showing the top 3 entries, without any order? So you'd only know if you uploaded one of the three most liked entries, but not your exact position or the number of votes you received?

                I'll leave this topic open for a while longer. Unless we get some longer period of bad weather here in Austria it will probably take until fall to add this to the site anyways.
                (It's hard to stay inside to code on the weekends during summer after spending all week doing the same for my day job šŸ˜‰)

                Without question a great idea. Thanks for continuing to evolve this site- Great Job!!!

                  Felix However you decide to do it Felix I am sure it will be just fine. I would be happy to take part and I see a lot of members are excited about it. I haven't done a seascape yet so that would take me right out of my comfort zone so I do understand where you are coming from and I'm looking forward to it. I haven't painted for 9 months for health reasons and it's time I got back into it. One of your projects is most welcome at this time.

                    I don’t know how difficult it would be to code but is there any chance that we can choose 2 or 3 paintings to vote? I can just see myself agonizing over picking the ā€œtechnically perfectā€ painting or the one that just speaks to me artistically. That could be a way to make sure the novices get some love.

                    I do love the random oddball ones the most šŸ˜„

                    Lilikins Great idea! I think I'll just allow to vote for as many paintings as one would like