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Hi, please move if posted in the wrong section.

Do DakkaDakka run artwork contests? If not, would you be interested in giving it a try? Perhaps it could be open themes trailing the current GW fancies (i.e. Necromunda theme at the moment, whatever new Codex is out, maybe BFG theme later if this game gets re-released), or maybe it could just be whatever you fancy. Themes could be narrow ("Depict something beyond the battlefield, regardless of faction") or broad ("Do something Imperial, do something 30k, do something Xenos"). You could have versus themes, or something very specific ("Show us a glimpse from the making of a Space Marine" or "Depict boarding action" or "Depict the Adeptus Administratum"). Some could be exploratory, with the Dark Age of Technology, Age of Strife or the Techno-Barbarians on Terra as themes. Usually, though, it's best to have themes as broad and inclusive as possible.

I would be more inclined to ask for such a thing on Deviantart, if that was possible. But it isn't. As such, better turn to the largest 40k forum instead. You could generate some nice community-made stuff this way, and if you write a clausul into the terms of contest, you'd also be free to use whatever gets entered, for your own purposes should you wish to.

I'd be willing to donate a set of alien heads to the first contest you run, if you try this out.

Just an idea. Please think it over.

If YOU build it they may come.
Your request isn't really the job of the Mods or Dakka Overlords, they have enough to get on with.
So yeah, make a post and see if anyone enters.
Take a look in the Painting and Modelling forum for some inspiration as there are already a couple of monthly building/painting competitions/challenges that do quite nicely without any official Dakka sanctions.

By experience from other sites, these things are usually best run officially with prime place announcements outside the relevant forum section, so as to stand out. Still, let's check pulse.

I'm sure that that would increase traffic to that post but why should anyone else be doing that for you or that post over anyone else's post?
At the end of the day it's your project for the moment and it is an as yet unproven concept. Similar threads exist and they have slowly grown and are doing just fine.
Start something, drive traffic to it (in a sensible, non spam way), get others to drive more traffic and it'll stay at the top of the relevant page.
IF it becomes a key feature of DakkaDakka, is recruiting tens of thousands of new members, dozens of additional threads are being started just to chat about it and the Mods like it, they may be interested in promoting it further or giving '2D Artwork' it's own subforum with the contest stickied at the top of it. ymmv.
Best of luck.

For the record, these things should not primarily be viewed as anyone specific's project, but a community get-together and generating event of good stuff. The initiator is irrelevant, and a popular and/or officially endorsed contest series would be expected to have multiple torch carriers if it succeeds.

I did actually acknowledge the fact that you may need, want or get some help with it at a later stage.

Alex Kolodotschko 753396 9895708
b61a8a95356deb108930e416ed497970.jpg wrote:
At the end of the day it's your project FOR THE MOMENT.....

As much as you talk about it not being your project, it is your project. Start small and grow it. No one will steal your idea and it won't lose any hard hitting impact without a big launch. The Internet really doesn't work that way.
Just start it and prove that it's a thing that people want.

The amount of effort that has gone into this thread would already have been enough for you to start the thread and a few similar ones on other forums and see what the uptake is.
Once you are running a few of these mini competitions then combine them and host them wherever you like? Perhaps you'll eventually get enough traffic to warrant your own website or server but I doubt it.
The 'Dakka (Unofficial) Painting Challenge' has been running for 3 years and has been on the top page of the P+M forum for all of this time giving it almost all of the exposure that Dakka can provide. On a miniatures-centric forum it now has about 30+ entrants per month. This includes all genres and manufacturers. It's a hell of a lot of work for all those involved but everyone enjoys it, has links to it in their sigs, links to it from other sub forums, forums, social media etc
LoER gets a few less but is also a fun thing to do with 10-15 entrants. https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/751255.page
I can't see anything like that sort of uptake for 40K art as it's a niche within a niche and i'll guarantee that there are far fewer 2D artists using this site than model painters/builders but it'd be great to be proven wrong.

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Also FYI in my nearly 10 years on this site I can remember just a handful of times that DakkaDakka has really promoted anything officially.
These include....
The DCM scheme.
Various large forum changes.
Dakka Dice, Shirts and Merch.
I have a hazy recollection of a few official Dakka painting competitions? Citation needed but I think this was just a thread started by a mod.
A few Dakka meet ups.
Maelstrom's Edge. Their own game.
There may be a few more, help me out guys.

Seems like an alright idea.
However, over the years I've noticed that interest in art related forums dies quickly.
Either no one pays attention or it just becomes a group of Eldar players demanding pictures of Striking Scorpions.

That's oddly.. specific!

But yes OP, Alex Kolodotschko has given some excellent feedback on how to best go about this. If you want something to work, you will have to persist and keep at it!

It would also help to have a general theme that is open to as many people as possible. Once things have taken off you can always look towards more challenging subjects or paths less trodden.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:

I have a hazy recollection of a few official Dakka painting competitions? Citation needed but I think this was just a thread started by a mod.

There were a few run back before everybody just got too busy... you can see them here - https://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/The_Dakka_Painting_Challenge

These days, the painting comps so ably run by Paradigm fill that void quite nicely, and he's done a massive amount of work keeping it going.

Which is ultimately the problem with getting this sort of thing off the ground. Having the idea isn't enough, someone has to have the energy and the time to actually run it. So as others have pointed out, if there is something like this that you would like to see happen, your best bet is to step up and make it happen. While there are all sorts of things that we would love to do 'officially', Dakka mods are volunteers who are putting in their spare time to keep the site going, and for most of us there is only so much of that to go around.