I mean, it made sense for Tundras to get the extra skins this fest. They're the native dragon to Ice. The excess of Coatls is weird, though.
And... I'm not knocking any artist in particular, there's only one entry where I genuinely wonder why it was picked, but it looks like they were using 'this is my first submission' as a major criteria in the selections. Like, eyeballing it, it's about half and half, and that's... high. There's definitely a problem in competitions where the same highly experienced individuals constantly take the wins and there's no room for anyone else to get ground. That's when a competition stops being a competition and starts being a members' club. The sheer discouragement factor scares off would-be entrants. They'll try once or twice, then give up because they feel they can't compete, and eventually you're left with only the most talented/experienced/time-investing of the bunch, to all other artists' detriment. You'll have people that could compete with them, can match their level, but are too intimidated to try.
But I can also say that I've been chased off another website I was a long-standing member of when I, as one of the highly skilled recurring winners of one competition, suddenly could not win anymore because the ownership of that competition decided to shift fully towards letting new people in. That kind of thing is a surefire way to breed resentment, and ultimately gets people to stop investing their time - except now it's the other end of the spectrum that's going to give up on the contest. And when I look back on that old competition - it's basically defunct now. The quality choked out - first because they were picking weaker entries on purpose, then because most of the old guard outright left because they were being discriminated against for their past success and it just wasn't worth trying anymore when effort was continually rebuked. By this point, it's completely fallen apart.
It wasn't an art competition. I can't draw for beans and I'll never have a stake in the monthly skin/accent contests. But I think the principle is the same. I was deeply hurt by it when it happened, even understanding the rationale. So some caution is merited in proceeding, and I think we need more of a middle ground than this.
And... I'm not knocking any artist in particular, there's only one entry where I genuinely wonder why it was picked, but it looks like they were using 'this is my first submission' as a major criteria in the selections. Like, eyeballing it, it's about half and half, and that's... high. There's definitely a problem in competitions where the same highly experienced individuals constantly take the wins and there's no room for anyone else to get ground. That's when a competition stops being a competition and starts being a members' club. The sheer discouragement factor scares off would-be entrants. They'll try once or twice, then give up because they feel they can't compete, and eventually you're left with only the most talented/experienced/time-investing of the bunch, to all other artists' detriment. You'll have people that could compete with them, can match their level, but are too intimidated to try.
But I can also say that I've been chased off another website I was a long-standing member of when I, as one of the highly skilled recurring winners of one competition, suddenly could not win anymore because the ownership of that competition decided to shift fully towards letting new people in. That kind of thing is a surefire way to breed resentment, and ultimately gets people to stop investing their time - except now it's the other end of the spectrum that's going to give up on the contest. And when I look back on that old competition - it's basically defunct now. The quality choked out - first because they were picking weaker entries on purpose, then because most of the old guard outright left because they were being discriminated against for their past success and it just wasn't worth trying anymore when effort was continually rebuked. By this point, it's completely fallen apart.
It wasn't an art competition. I can't draw for beans and I'll never have a stake in the monthly skin/accent contests. But I think the principle is the same. I was deeply hurt by it when it happened, even understanding the rationale. So some caution is merited in proceeding, and I think we need more of a middle ground than this.
