Okay, since I took the mantle upon myself, I guess I'll fire up the fishing expedition.
It's been suggested that, in lieu of Pocket Books bowing to our experience and expertise in product planning (
), and because we feel that Strange New Worlds discriminates against an entire and large segment of Trek's creative community (this is what we agree upon, isn't it? 
), we will satisfy our urges by stepping boldly over the commercial landmines and setting our easels and digital tablets up right here, to create the first 'official' TrekBBS calendar.
To begin with, we'll need to establish some ground rules. I've volunteered to coordinate this project, so I'm going to say that allows me to throw out the first ball, but I'm only going to lob some guidelines over the plate for now, and try to avoid any curves this early in the game.
Firstly, I think it is a good idea to do this on a monthly basis, rather than creating a complete set of 12 images at once for a single calendar, especially since it's most likely that we will be offering this as an online wallpaper-style of calendar (my first suggestion, actually). As such, I'd say that, in addition to our regular monthly challenges by and for the membership, the calendar project should be an ongoing contest, with the winning image being chosen and formatted for the following month's calendar page. With me so far?
Secondly, since November is already well underway, I also suggest that the calendar 'auditions' begin next month, giving us the rest of November to hash out suggestions and details, then December for the first round of submissions, with selection to be one week before the end of the month and the final calendar art itself to be available on - tada!! - January 1, 2006!
Thirdly, do we wish to base the selections upon general membership votes, or upon a jury, possibly with acknowledged professional members of the TrekBBS (by their own choice, of course!)? This part will definitely depend upon the graciousness of our membership, as this project will be gratis.
It's almost like a plan, huh?
We have a few things to decide in the meantime. Should each month be a unique theme, or should we make the entire year a theme (as with the Ships of the Line calendars, etc.)? Do we want to do this individually, or do people want to partner up, maybe contributing different aspects of the final images based upon their strengths (say, a person strong in 3D modeling may want to work with someone else strong in concept design, or a Poser artist may add people to someone else's bridge scene, etc.)? What about wholly-original designs (such as Vektor's Grandeur or Vanguard), or do we wish to limit it to recognizable designs already within the franchise (though extended to such things as the New Frontiers series or even the fan video series such as Exeter and others)?
Keep in mind, this is not only for us, but can also be a visual demonstration of the imagination, skill and initiative of the TrekBBS (and Trek fan artists in general); perhaps we can show TPTB what we can do better than we can simply tell them. One thing I'd like to throw into the mix at this point is that we should be as original and complete as possible - not just Photoshop work on existing images, but completely original compositions (even if the elements, such as 3D meshes, may not have been created originally for the calendar image - and everything like this will require accurate credit given to the original creators).
The floor ... is open :thumbsup:
It's been suggested that, in lieu of Pocket Books bowing to our experience and expertise in product planning (
), and because we feel that Strange New Worlds discriminates against an entire and large segment of Trek's creative community (this is what we agree upon, isn't it? ), we will satisfy our urges by stepping boldly over the commercial landmines and setting our easels and digital tablets up right here, to create the first 'official' TrekBBS calendar.To begin with, we'll need to establish some ground rules. I've volunteered to coordinate this project, so I'm going to say that allows me to throw out the first ball, but I'm only going to lob some guidelines over the plate for now, and try to avoid any curves this early in the game.
Firstly, I think it is a good idea to do this on a monthly basis, rather than creating a complete set of 12 images at once for a single calendar, especially since it's most likely that we will be offering this as an online wallpaper-style of calendar (my first suggestion, actually). As such, I'd say that, in addition to our regular monthly challenges by and for the membership, the calendar project should be an ongoing contest, with the winning image being chosen and formatted for the following month's calendar page. With me so far?
Secondly, since November is already well underway, I also suggest that the calendar 'auditions' begin next month, giving us the rest of November to hash out suggestions and details, then December for the first round of submissions, with selection to be one week before the end of the month and the final calendar art itself to be available on - tada!! - January 1, 2006!
Thirdly, do we wish to base the selections upon general membership votes, or upon a jury, possibly with acknowledged professional members of the TrekBBS (by their own choice, of course!)? This part will definitely depend upon the graciousness of our membership, as this project will be gratis.
It's almost like a plan, huh?
We have a few things to decide in the meantime. Should each month be a unique theme, or should we make the entire year a theme (as with the Ships of the Line calendars, etc.)? Do we want to do this individually, or do people want to partner up, maybe contributing different aspects of the final images based upon their strengths (say, a person strong in 3D modeling may want to work with someone else strong in concept design, or a Poser artist may add people to someone else's bridge scene, etc.)? What about wholly-original designs (such as Vektor's Grandeur or Vanguard), or do we wish to limit it to recognizable designs already within the franchise (though extended to such things as the New Frontiers series or even the fan video series such as Exeter and others)?
Keep in mind, this is not only for us, but can also be a visual demonstration of the imagination, skill and initiative of the TrekBBS (and Trek fan artists in general); perhaps we can show TPTB what we can do better than we can simply tell them. One thing I'd like to throw into the mix at this point is that we should be as original and complete as possible - not just Photoshop work on existing images, but completely original compositions (even if the elements, such as 3D meshes, may not have been created originally for the calendar image - and everything like this will require accurate credit given to the original creators).
The floor ... is open :thumbsup:
