September 19, 2007

Big Mailer Etiquette

Hey folks. As more and more people get a hold of the Big Mailer, I thought I'd remind everyone of a few things. A friend and fellow artist has given me a heads up on the status of the book on its 10th stop along the way and it's time for a Come-To-Jesus about it.

I had originally sent the book with a laminate sheet detailing a few simple guidelines for being a participant in this. It's not because I'm a control freak, but I understand that one book seeing 100 different hands, brushes and pencils will tend to get beat up and it just behooves all of us to treat it kindly.

That said, here was what should have been sent along with the book. I don't know who ditched the backing sheet so I'll try to resend it.

> Only draw on one side of the page, but feel free to use the back of your
drawing to list any emails or websites you wish. There will be a credits page
at the end also.

> You can draw anything you want and use any media. The only restriction
is that you don’t use any copyrighted material, or anything too violent or
sexually explicit.

> If you’re going to use heavy wet media, please be considerate and use
a backing sheet
behind your drawing to avoid bleeding onto the next page.
This sheet was laminated to provide you with a backing, but feel free to use
whatever you want.

> Please make sure to package the sketchbook and this sheet together when
sending it to the next artist.

> When you are finished with your piece, email me at 100artists@gmail.com
and I’ll give you the address of the next artist.

> If you want to scan your work, that’s ok. Try not to show the work to
too many people as the contents will be a surprise to the eventual owner.
Also keep in mind this is a perfect-bind book and scanning may compromise
the spine. If you want to scan it to help the project, scan it in at 300dpi, and
save it as a tiff with LWZ compression, then you can email it in.

That's it. It's not rocket science. There was even someone who just added a drawing to the book that they took out of another book. I don't know who it was, but I doubt I'll be using it. The point is to draw in the book, not use the sketchbook as an envelop for a drawing.

So, going forward, please treat the book nice. It has to go to 99 other people than you and if you treat it poorly, chances are other people will too. This is a serious endeavor for me and the others involved. Let's be professional and courteous.

Carry on.

2 comments:

Annje said...

Hey Ben, I'm pretty sure I mailed the lamenated sheet on to the next person but I'll check and make sure.

-Annje-

Unknown said...

That's odd. One of the earlier people in Texas said they never got it. Unless they didn't understand what I was talking about - which is likely. I'm apparently hard to understand.

Thanks!