Collab Train

What is a Collabtrain?

A Collab Train is an artist-driven event designed to combine the tenacity of old artistic hands with the beauty of the unknown. In short, it's a three-phase 2D art trade with a twist!Phase One: Each participant sketches out an illustration of their own design, optionally inspired by a chosen prompt! Whether this includes canon characters, OCs, or is entirely environmental is each person's choice; just remember that there's no guarantee that your characters will be recognized by your phase two and three partners.Phase Two: Each participant is handed someone else's sketch to refine in the way that fits them best. Many folks prepare for coloring by applying digital inks to the sketch, but others "carve out" their inks by refining and cleaning up the original sketch. It's up to each participant how far they wish to take this refining phase, because the ultimate direction the sketch will go in is in their hands!Phase Three: Images are once again traded and each participant will finalize an image worked on by at least two other people. With nothing to go on but the refined image handed to them from Phase Two, it's up to each artist to decide what the final image will look like as it pulls into the station of Being Done!After all three phases are complete, each artist will have contributed to three complete illustrations, the contributors will be announced, and final pieces revealed. Hooray!

As with any group project, there are a few rules that need to be in place in order for everybody to be on the same page. Let's lay down the law:

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Schedule: ArtJam Train 00

Sign Ups will be open until Thursday, January 30 2025. Anyone from the Art Jam Discord is welcome to participate, as well as friends of those in Art Jam.The optional theme hasn't been announced yet.Phase One (Sketching) will start on Saturday, February 1 and will close on the night of Friday, February 7th. The sketch phase is the shortest, at one week's time.Phase Two (Inking) will start on Sunday, February 9th and last until the night of Wednesday, February 19th, giving participants a week and a half to complete this stage.Phase Three (rendering)'s deadline will be the night of Saturday, March 8th. This gives two full weeks of time to colour, render, paint, or whatever you need to do to make the illustration in your care look its very best.Note: Assignments for Phases Two and Three may go out earlier than the listed start date, if there are no late or missing submissions or things like that. Give yourself and your fellow participants extra time by being timely yourself!

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I'm not a digital and/or 2D artist, can I still participate?
A: I would very much love to have you, but it's entirely your call as to whether you feel comfortable enough with your process to both participate in all three stages and whether you think it's fair to your mystery partners. Traditional 2D artists likely have very similar steps to digital 2D artists, and it's easy enough to translate digital to traditional and vice verse. 3D artists may have a rougher time of it. If you still aren't sure, contact Xella directly and I can maybe help you decide if we'd all be a good fit for each other!Q: I don't take commissions or have a social media presence anymore, can I still participate?
A: Yes! There's no requirement that you be on any given website (except this one, I suppose) to join in the fun. All three participants will have a chance to post the finals to their social media if they like, or they can coordinate with each other to choose a "spokesperson" for the groupQ: I want to know/I already know who drew the illustration I'm working on!
A: Many artists involved in the Train have a very distinct style and if you've been around Twitteroth or other furry or MMO-themed art events in the past, it's probably no surprise if you can recognize some folks' styles, since that's where a lot of us are from! That said, part of the fun of the swap is the "telephone" style secret where (in theory) all you have to work on is what you were handed. Once the final week is over, everyone's contributions will be revealed and everybody will get to see everything, all at once!Q: I want to participate, but there's someone who might be here who I absolutely do not want to interface with. What can I do?
A: Let Xella know, and I'll do my best to make sure you and they don't get paired up on any rounds. I can't 100% guarantee it, though, so if that's not enough I understand and hope you'll still enjoy some of the artwork that other participants will create!Q: I want to post the finished results on my social media, what do I do?
A: You do that! You may want to coordinate with your erstwhile partners so you're all credited or you don't all post the same thing at once or something, but honestly that part is out of my hands. I believe in y'all to be good to each other <3 If we ever get to a point where I make a separate Bluesky account for the event or make it a feed or some such, I'll be tracking the #collabtrain tag, so keep that in mind!
That said, make sure not to post until the illustrations have been revealed, so we can all enjoy the results at the same time!Q: I like this idea a lot and want to run it myself with my friends!
A: Absolutely, go ahead! The CollabTrain isn't a completely brand new original idea Do Not Steal, and everyone's trains will be different. Feel free to use what I've got here as a springboard for your own events!

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