Invincible Overlord wrote:
Hey Look!  

I got this box and it's autographed by Frank Mentzer! Doesn't matter what's inside it, just pay me the $150.00 right now.

See how crazy that sounds? (Sorry Frank   )

The thing with art, is it's entirely subjective. And no matter what artist makes a piece of work, you just might not love every piece of his work...

p.s. Frank - Call me on this box idea... it will make millions...

IO,

Your response shows that you just don't get it.  If it is about the print or the artwork we could just go to the artist website and buy whichever prints we like.  This is about a group of people coming together to make something happen in an area that we are passionate about.  Art is certainly subjective.  I may not like the next artist we spotlight, but I will support this project because my friends and I are making something happen in an industy we care about.  Whether I like the artwork created is the last thing on my mind when it comes to this project.

Sorry (IO) for the rant.  I am passionate about this project.

Martin

Prufrock wrote:
IO,

Your response shows that you just don't get it.  If it is about the print or the artwork we could just go to the artist website and buy whichever prints we like.  This is about a group of people coming together to make something happen in an area that we are passionate about.  Art is certainly subjective.  I may not like the next artist we spotlight, but I will support this project because my friends and I are making something happen in an industy we care about.  Whether I like the artwork created is the last thing on my mind when it comes to this project.

Sorry (IO) for the rant.  I am passionate about this project.

Martin

I don't know, Martin. I think Andy has a point. We ramp up to $150 for something completely unknown? Put me on the list that thought the EO piece was certainly not his best work...not even freaking close. But for the money, I was ok with it.
But I really don't want to go down that road of..."ok I just dropped a some cash on something I really don't think is all that great..." Because that is exactly where we are going with this.
I am all for paying up front and solidifying the buyer list. But how about a little mission planning before we jump across the LoD. Maybe we, or whoever, comes up with a list of "subjects" for the piece. (a party battling a dragon, tavern scene, you get the idea). It does not have to be pinpoint specific, but some sort of direction.
I absolutely want to be 100% supportive of the Acaeum Art Initiative, but going down the mystery art road has been done...
You know, an annual piece of art featuring some sort of ongoing story would be cool, too. Think DM's Guide near the end. Adventurers moving from encounter to encounter. Done with a different artist for each encounter. I think that would be cool. But I am a simple guy, so there it is.

bbarsh wrote:
I don't know, Martin. I think Andy has a point. We ramp up to $150 for something completely unknown? Put me on the list that thought the EO piece was certainly not his best work...not even freaking close. But for the money, I was ok with it.
But I really don't want to go down that road of..."ok I just dropped a some cash on something I really don't think is all that great..." Because that is exactly where we are going with this.
I am all for paying up front and solidifying the buyer list. But how about a little mission planning before we jump across the LoD. Maybe we, or whoever, comes up with a list of "subjects" for the piece. (a party battling a dragon, tavern scene, you get the idea). It does not have to be pinpoint specific, but some sort of direction.
I absolutely want to be 100% supportive of the Acaeum Art Initiative, but going down the mystery art road has been done...
You know, an annual piece of art featuring some sort of ongoing story would be cool, too. Think DM's Guide near the end. Adventurers moving from encounter to encounter. Done with a different artist for each encounter. I think that would be cool. But I am a simple guy, so there it is.

Bill,

As a collector you drop money for items that are not that great all the time.  For the $80 we payed for the EO piece, we got a high quality print of an original piece from one of the Giants in Fantasy Art.  Even if it was not his best work (you all understand that only ONE painting can qualify for his best work) we got a deal.  Now if the best case scenario where to happen and we got BROM, Hildebrandt, or Elmore to be the next artist, I will shell out $150 for a high quality print of an original piece of shit by any of those guys (however, I realized that this is my particular sickness and not yours or IO's or anyone else's).  

For the money we paid - we got a great piece.  There's also the goodwill this project creates for the Acaeum Community to be considered.

As for shelling out money "for something completely unknown" I believe someone shell out a large amount of money for a briefcase owned by Mr. Gygax.  Breifcase had nothing of great value inside it.

As to your suggestions, I can get behind all of those.  This was the first run.  The committee did an excellent job but they learned some lessons along the way too.  I'm sure things will go even more smoothly next time.

Martin

Prufrock wrote:
Bill,

As a collector you drop money for items that are not that great all the time.  For the $80 we payed for the EO piece, we got a high quality print of an original piece from one of the Giants in Fantasy Art.  Even if it was not his best work (you all understand that only ONE painting can qualify for his best work) we got a deal.  Now if the best case scenario where to happen and we got BROM, Hildebrandt, or Elmore to be the next artist, I will shell out $150 for a high quality print of an original piece of shit by any of those guys (however, I realized that this is my particular sickness and not yours or IO's or anyone else's).  

For the money we paid - we got a great piece.  There's also the goodwill this project creates for the Acaeum Community to be considered.

As for shelling out money "for something completely unknown" I believe someone shell out a large amount of money for a briefcase owned by Mr. Gygax.  Breifcase had nothing of great value inside it.

As to your suggestions, I can get behind all of those.  This was the first run.  The committee did an excellent job but they learned some lessons along the way too.  I'm sure things will go even more smoothly next time.

Martin

Martin, my short essay wasn't really aimed at you. Just the first part.

However, since you opene the worm can even further...When I buy something as a collector - and overpay - I still know exactly what I am buying, or close to it.

I just think with art, we can be more proactive with the artist. No one is telling them precisely what to draw, but some guideline would be nice. Hell, they may even appreciate a little guidance.

And for the record, I have no complaints about the first go through. I think $80 was a deal for the print and the committe more than met any expectations I had.

Bill - I'm good with your suggestions.  I'm just going off because all some people can do is bitch.

We accomplished a great goal.  And now we have some dumbass with 28 posts calling it crap.  I guess I'm giving his opinion far more value than it's worth.  Well, there's something I can do about that.  Done!!!!!

Martin

I am definitely in for the next piece and I think Bill's suggestion about having each artist paint the same party in a different encounter is awesome.

You should not only count me in but also bill me for Prufrock's copy.

I owe him more than that.  

Hi,

While re-reading through the thread, (as usual) the brain cells were pondering and cogitating…

It sounds to me like there are two parts to the equation:

1. Finding a decent (ex-)TSR artist of some renown, commission them to do a pre-lim sketch based on a clear brief. Quality check the pre-lim and, if okay, the artist then goes on to create the actual picture;
2. Find a decent printers, pay for them to produce high quality (giclée if poss?) reproductions of the original piece, get the artist to sign and number a limited run of said repro's, and then send the signed ones out to a bunch of Acaeum members who were happy to sign up in advance and pay the premium. The same printer also does a run of standard (normal poster quality) prints for purchase by the rest of the members who want the art but at a lesser (more reasonable?) price.

Now the ‘catfish plan' the brain cells came up with… Just as a possible option, why not keep the two parts of the equation separate rather than try and lump them together?

A lot of artists will scan the original sketch and paint up a copy of it - that is what you get for the ‘original'. If the design wasn't too complex then the artist could quite easily produce more than one version of the painting from the same sketch without too much effort.

While it would obviously be more expensive than getting just one copy, I suspect the price for (say) four or five copies of a relatively simple picture might drop (per unit) to a manageable amount. Say an original from the artist was negotiated to around £2,500 (just under $4k)… five versions of the original might come in around £6k (just under $10k)… or shared across 5 people - £1.2k ($1.9k) each. (For a similar idea, just think ‘Andy Warhol').

"Why bother?" you might well ask.

Well, I for one would be more than happy to obtain a ‘copy' (i.e. one of the hand painted originals) of a picture from a decent artist if it came in at those sorts of figures. I suspect I wouldn't be alone in also wanting the original sketch (and be willing to pay extra of course for it -- additional funds for Acaeum from whoever got it).

The cost of the signed and unsigned versions of the prints would become far more manageable for those people on a budget as it would just need to cover the costs of printing and distribution (with a premium for the signing of course   ).

I don't imagine for a second that many people would want to stump up large amounts of cash at the moment but the beauty of this is that you don't need many -- just 5 or so ‘sponsors' (add in whichever appropriate word you prefer…'mad buggers', for example).

The only caveat I would add though is that anyone paying to this level would have to be involved in the original brief and be able to ‘quality check' the draft sketch[es] (majority vote for proceeding).

I know, I know… but I did say it was a ‘catfish plan'.

J

Not that I have a stake in this, but just some outside of the box thoughts...

A collective painting of all the artists as adventurers would be cool. Each one paints him(her)self as a character. The viewer being the foe being faced so as not to have to worry about who gets to paint the baddie (though who gets to do the background...).

Aside from the obvious transportation issues from artist to artist, which might be lessened by those who go from Con to Con where the artists frequent, I would hate to see someting like this without many of the artists who are now inaccesible (i.e. Trampier), or deceased (i.e. Parkinson).

Of course, they could all be assembled in electronic format I suppose...

Alternative B: Get Darlene to do a generic map. What would her game world look like?