Whether you enjoy making physical crafts, writing stories, traditional art, or any art form, Artfight has a place for you. Artfight is an annual art event that takes place every July. It’s an art gifting game that consists of you drawing for other people, and other people drawing for you!
How does it work?
At the beginning of May, a theme is released (like sun & moon or dream & nightmare). This results in two teams, and you get to choose which one to be on. Your goal is to be the team with the most points.
How do you get points, one might ask? Well, as a player, you can “attack” people on the opposing team by making art of their original characters. An original character is a character that you make that doesn’t exist in another form of media. When you first register on ArtFight, you upload characters to your profile.
The word “attack” is another word used for “gift”. You’re gifting someone else art, essentially, but this is artFIGHT after all. You are free to use almost any visual art form for your attacks, whether it be illustration, clay figures, felt, jewelry, or any sort of craft; it’s available on ArtFight. Some people even go as far as drawing something simple and then making songs or short stories as an attachment to their art form.
When you submit an attack, your team receives points based on what you created. A fully colored piece will be worth more points than a sketch, and ect. The artists that receives your attack can counter it by drawing your own character, this is called “revenging”. Revenges are worth more points, yet is important to not that people do not have to revenge you. This is an art gifting game. Not an art trading one.
If you want to attack someone on the same team as you its perfectly doable. This is called “friendly fire”, but it is worth fewer points.
At the end of the month, the points from each team are tallied up, and the team with the most points wins!
How do I register?
When on the ArtFight website, you can sign in using your email and create a username. When setting up your profile, it may look confusing, but there are some simple things you can do when first starting out.
On the edit button of your profile, you can write a bio. Most long-term art fighters have very extravagant profiles with blinkers, images, icons, and more. But the process for having those is complicated, so there’s no need to worry about them. All you need for your bio is your name, age, what type of art you make, and any goals you have for the year’s art fight. Maybe even a little about yourself, when people decide to attack you, they want to read everything on your page, so don’t be afraid of writing too much!
When submitting a character, it asks for a name, a picture, and a description. I highly recommend putting at least two short paragraphs on your original character’s personality, or about their stories. People want to attack characters they are interested in, not only with their looks but also by their story. If they know more, they feel more comfortable attacking them.
A lot of people stress making reference sheets for their characters, which is not completely necessary. A reference sheet is like a character’s blueprints, usually consisting of multiple drawings of a character on a single canvas. Despite its helpfulness this is, it’s quite tedious. The minimum is one full body and a color chart. That’s all that’s really needed, let your character’s description and the other person’s imagination do the job.
After this, your account and profile are fully finished!
Artfight etiquette
Artfight etiquette is important; it helps you build bonds with the other artists without seeming rude.
One of the most important things to do is always say thank you to those who attack you, no matter how satisfied you are with their work. It sucks to work really hard on a piece, for the other person to not even acknowledge it. So always make sure to compliment them and show that you appreciate their time! People do this for free after all.
Another thing is that people often join Art Fight, thinking that they will receive “revenge” from everyone they attack. Remember, this is an art GIFTING game. No one is required to create something for you, and this mindset can ultimately ruin the game.
And lastly, a recurring problem is people drawing poc or disabled characters in a disrespectful manner. People draw black or darker-toned characters with significantly lighter skin, and disabled characters lose their disability altogether (like wheelchair users being drawn on the floor or characters using crutches standing perfectly fine in the art). This is extremely disrespectful, even when unintentional, so make sure to be careful and respect the character. And if you think you can’t do it? Then move on to another character.
Artfight is a game that artists from around the world look forward to, with almost 400,000 players joining every year. Yet a lot of people feel discouraged by the confusing site, so I hope this encourages someone else to join the wonderful experience known as Artfight!
