Stony Character Design Art Chain Relay

FAQ

What is this?

This is an event for Steve/Tony artists. It’s similar to a remix relay, where each chain will start with one artist creating a new version of Steve and Tony with their own unique twist. That art will be handed to the next artist in the chain, who will re-create that version of Steve and Tony in their own style but maintaining the original character design, and thus on down the line. At the end of the event, each chain will produce many art pieces for the same version of Steve and Tony, and we’ll have many chains of art to admire!

What counts as a “version”?

Good question. This is a Stony event, so we definitely want you to start with Stony, but after that, the sky’s the limit. You can think of it as making a Steve/Tony AU, but your character design can be canon-based too. It’s probably easiest to understand with some examples:

Hipster smol!Steve with glasses, and flash, celebrity actor Tony
Tattooed boxer Steve and accountant Tony
1872 happy cowboys Steve and Tony
Glamourous runway models Stephanie Rogers and Antonia Stark
Post-Endgame, retired, elderly Stony

The ultimate goal is to layer character design on top of the Steve and Tony we already love, choosing things like their body type, hair style, clothing, body mods, setting, and point in their relationship. For a real life example, you may already know and love pineapplebread’s “Tattoo AU” which features post-Endgame Steve and Tony covered in tattoos. Recently thirstinart did her own interpretation of pineapple’s Tattoo AU Stony, and seeing the Stony we know and love, reimagined in tina’s beautiful style is what inspired this whole event!

Which parts of the Stony version am I allowed to change when the chain gets to me?

The goal is to keep the fundamental aspects of that chain’s character design, but reimagine them in your style and change the setting and mood as you desire. So if you receive art where Steve is his pre-serum self, and has a pink mohawk, he should still have those character design features in your take, but while he might be sitting in a coffee shop having lunch with Tony in the art you receive, you can have the same version of Steve and Tony fighting aliens on a New York street in your art. Backgrounds and detail level are optional and up to you, but the fundamental design of Steve and Tony should stay consistent to the best of your ability. The only information you’ll have is what you can see in the art that came before you, so there’s an element of broken telephone. There’s no wrong answers, just doing your best!

What if someone interprets my art wrong, though?

I repeat: there are no wrong answers. If you’re uncomfortable passing your art to someone else to reimagine in their own way, this might not be the event for you. I ask that everyone do their best to stick with the driving force behind this event (re-creating each chain’s Stony design in each artists’ personal style), but how they do that is up to them, and everyone will interpret what that means, and what the art before them means, in different way.

What are the rules?

You must submit your art on time or you’ll be dropped from your chain(s). If you need an extension for any reason, you can email me, but there’s a chance you’ll need to be dropped or moved to a different part of the chain instead, so as not to take time from the artist(s) after you. Please be up front about the time periods that you will be too busy to participate so that can be scheduled around.
There are no limitations on art style except that you must be able to submit a digital copy (so scans or photos of trad art are allowed, but please don’t snail mail me your submission :P).
This event is not age-locked so art must be kept PG-13, ie no sexually explicit or sexually titillating content. That doesn’t preclude nudity (female-presenting nip nips are not inherently sexual, tumblr) but it should be limited to the kind of nudity you can see at the Louvre.
Usually my events do not have content restrictions, however, because the chain groupings are random, which makes it more difficult for participants to curate their own experience, I’m asking that the art pieces do not include AO3’s “Big Six”. So no Graphic Violence, Underage (since sexual content isn’t allowed, I’m classifying this as no art where there’s an implied over18/under18 romantic relationship, just to keep things simple), Major Character Death, or Rape/Non-Con. If this event goes well and you want to run it again with some opt-in dark chains or kinky chains, I’d be totally down for that, but for this time around, please try and be conscious of the potential to squick the artists after you. If you feel you might be deeply squicked or upset by content that’s not expressly disallowed by these rules, this might not be the event for you.
Be respectful of the art and artists that come before and after you. This is both an individual and collaborative event, and I ask that you be understanding, kind, respectful, and encouraging to the other artists who participate, even if you’re not a personal fan of their work, don’t enjoy their take on Steve and Tony, or you disagree with how they interpreted the art before them. Variety is the spice of life, and the only thing you can control is the art you create, and the way you react to others. Keep it positive.
Art that is deemed to be harmful, bigoted (perpetrating harmful stereotypes), intentionally hurtful towards another human, non-Steve/Tony, or in violation of the above rules will be removed, and the artist responsible will be skipped in the chain. Don’t test me on this; it costs me nothing to drop you from the chain.

Sign up here to participate. Sign ups are open until March 6th. In your sign-up form, you’ll indicate if you’re okay with starting a chain (that means coming up with an initial design), and how many chains you’d like to be in. The event will be divided into two week periods. You’ll be making an art piece a minimum of one two-week period, and a maximum of once per every two-week period until the end of the event (depending on how many chains you are in.) We are planning on having 6 two-week periods, so the maximum number of chains you can sign up for is 6, however if you request 6, it may be fewer than that if we don’t have enough sign-ups to fill 6 chains. Jump to the schedule here.

That’s kind of confusing, help!

I know, but don’t worry! All you need to decide is how many arts you want to make in 12 weeks (with 2 weeks to make each one). That’s how many chains you want to be in. Then decide if you want to start a chain (design your own version out of thin air). That’s it!

Sounds great! How will it be run?

The event will primarily be run through email. You’ll get an email every other Sunday, with the art you’ll be working from attached. You won’t know who made it or what any of the previous arts in the chain look like! You’ll be responsible for returning your finished art by email on Friday, two weeks later. This allows for some administrative time in between. You are always welcome to send your art in early, but you won’t receive your next art until the Sunday, to keep things fair and on-track for everyone.

At the end of the event, all the chains will be shared!

Can I share my art on social media?

Absolutely, but I ask you don’t share anything publicly until the event is over, then everyone will be welcome to spread the love wherever they like. By participating in the event, you give me, FestiveFerret, the right to post your art as part of social media posts for each chain, with attribution (and links to your socials, if desired), at the end of the event. Beyond that, you’re welcome to share your own art, on its own, wherever you like, once the whole event is over.

Can I share this page on social media?

I’m keeping this event off tumblr, twitter etc, this time around, until it’s over. I wanted, at first, to make it a Discord server-specific event, but I also wanted to open it up to any universe, so it’s essentially just for those who are in Steve/Tony and Marvel-focused discord servers. I won’t turn away people I don’t know, and you’re welcome to share the link with your friends and discord servers, but we don’t have any major social media posts to retweet/reblog/share. I’d rather it be sort of friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends for now 😉

What’s the schedule?

The event will run for a maximum of 12 weeks total, with each art period being 2 weeks, for a maximum total of six possible positions in 6 possible chains per artist, depending on how many sign ups we get.

Sign-ups: Feb 27th – March 6th
Period One: March 11th – 25th
Period Two: March 27th – April 8th
Period Three: April 10th – April 22th
Period Four: April 24th – May 6th
Period Five: May 8th – May 20th
Period Six: May 22nd – June 3rd

Final posting will be in the first week of June!

Uhh, who are you?

Hi, I’m FestiveFerret. I’m not an artist, so I’m doing the primary running of this event so the artists I love can enjoy the fun without being spoiled. A lovely group of artists helped me shape the rules and structure for the event. Emails will come from festiveferret88@gmail.com and you can reach me on Discord at FestiveFerret#8704. There is also a discord server for this event, but it’s not a requirement that you join.