nvmay

[nvmay]

Art Fight: A (hopefully) low pressure, stress-free guide for new participants

Art Fight is an event that a lot of people in online art-based communities look forward to. It's an event that I've had fun participating in for years! But there's also a certain way some people seem to talk about it that rubs me the wrong way. If I were new to the event in 2025, it would be easy to get the impression that it was a community only for very dedicated OC artists – the type of people who seem to post artwork every day and never experience burnout. The truth is, it's an event for everyone, including the most infrequent and beginner artists, as long as you like the idea of making art of other people's OCs. The goal of this post is to clear up some misconceptions that people who are already vaguely familiar with the event might have. If you have no idea what any of this "Art Fight" business is, you can find more information about the event on their website.

You don't need to make reference images for your characters.

There's a significant culture around prepping for Art Fight in the preceding months by making detailed, up-to-date reference images of your newest characters. You DO NOT need to do this if it stresses you out! It's perfectly okay to have images of any quality on your character pages – bust drawings, uncoloured sketches, old art – there will still be people willing to attack your characters. Of course, the more detailed your reference image is, the better a stranger will be able to portray your character, but there is no requirement in the rules or even any social pressure for your character pages to be held to a professional standard.

You technically don't even need a character to participate.

Although this means that other participants will be unable to make art for you, there is no rule against participating in the event while having no OCs on your profile. If you would like to use the event as a chance to practice your art or just have fun drawing others' characters, while getting nothing in return, you're absolutely welcome to (in fact, I think many people would benefit from seeing the event in this way, rather than as an art exchange. There is no guarantee that you will receive attacks, and there shouldn't be).

Your art doesn't need to be digital or 2D.

There are a huge variety of artists who participate in the event. Along with the category for drawn/painted artworks, the site also supports scoring systems for 3D models, crafts, and animation. There are people who have made sculptures, plushes, cosplays, and even food art as attacks! Personally, I love to see these rarer mediums used, and I get the impression that other people generally do as well, so don't feel apprehensive about not doing things in the way most other people are doing them.

There's no skill requirement to participate.

Beginner artists are welcomed! Don't feel intimidated by the quality of other people's attacks – no matter your level of experience, there are plenty of artists around your skill level who participate every year. Also, don't feel embarrassed to attack more experienced artists! Each attack is a gift, and this includes yours. People love gifts no matter the quality (imagine the "holy shit, two cakes!" meme, if it helps).

You don't owe attacks to anyone.

Just because someone has attacked you doesn't mean you owe them a revenge. If you can't (or don't want to) revenge someone at all, that's totally okay. If you can manage a sketch, but it's lower effort than the polished piece they gifted you, that's also totally okay. This is an event we do for fun, in our spare time – remember again that the attacks we make are gifts, with no obligation for reciprocity.

There's nothing wrong with posting as few (or as many!) attacks as you want.

If Art Fight just doesn't work out for you and you don't get anything posted, don't beat yourself up. If the sum of your energy has gone towards one art piece, that's still an attack that made one person's day! If you'd rather post many rougher sketches instead of finishing just a few pieces, that's absolutely fine. The mantra "do whatever you want forever" applies here – in fact, it applies to all of the misconceptions I'm addressing in this post. It's my thesis statement for the event in general, if you will.

I hope this helped assuage any worries you had about the event! Of course still do your best to be kind and follow the rules, as well as other people's character permissions, but I think some people can get way too uptight about Art Fight. It's great if detailed character references and fully coloured and shaded attacks every day work for them, but for the rest of us I think it helps a lot to be told you don't have to do that. Have fun and do whatever you want forever, everyone!

[nvmay]

i'm like the smaller version of a nische micro-celebrity. what scientists are calling "not famous"

[nvmay]

Soup.

Soup.

[nvmay]

There should totally be a movement called “Sleep in Public” where people defend their right to sleep on public property. Sleep in your cars. Sleep on benches. Sleep at the park. Just make it a mundane and regular part of life to see someone napping in the library. It would make it much harder to single out the homeless for harassment if everyone else is doing the same thing and much harder to argue that it’s a “threat to public safety” when it’s so clearly harmless.

[nvmay]

WOOH! I'm fresh off listening to s1 with PBC, I cannot express how excited I am for this!!

That's RIGHT, demons! Just 14 days until Season 2 is in your pointy ears! 🎧 Who has already done a re-listen? Sound off in the comments! 📣

[nvmay]

Hey, It's NV <3

There's a less than zero chance you may know me as Cole from PBC! I'm the Co-Creator of Valdivian's Finest, a PodJam Pilot which has since entered pre-production for a fully fleshed out three season run.

This blog is a side blog of Valdivian's Finest, so if VF follows you, so do I.

A quick rundown:

Name: NV or Cole Pronouns: Any Podcast: Valdivian's Finest Nationality: British

I'm always open to a bit of chit-chat <3