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[Seeking] Item-Centric Artist (app deadline has ended)
Now Seeking Item-Centric Artist
Role Description & Responsibilities

A Mycena Cave item-centric artist focuses on creating official site items. Artists are carefully selected based on their experience, artistic ability, ability to execute the Mycena Cave style, and on conduct and professionalism. Artists are expected to create art contributing to the overall feel and look of Mycena Cave, and extending it with their own personal and professional touch to the site.

At this time, we are primarily looking for an artist to specialize in site items.

General Expectations & Requirements

Listed below are our expectations for a Mycena Cave artist:

  • Artist conducts themselves in a professional manner
  • Artist exhibits confidence with their artistic ability
  • Artist responds to and incorporates critique into their work
  • Artist has the time and the motivation to work on Mycena Cave regularly
  • Artist meets deadlines and follows instructions
  • Artist communicates effectively and professionally with Mycena Cave players and staff
  • Artist is willing to use echoes, staff forums, and staff discord to communicate with staff
  • Artist is friendly and gets along with Mycena Cave players and staff
  • Artist keeps staff-only information in confidence
  • Artist is willing to work primarily on items
  • Artist mimics the Mycena Cave style willingly and effectively
  • Artist uses SAI, SAI2, Photoshop Creative Suite, or Clip Studio Paint Pro/Ex
  • Artist is familiar with clipping, masking, layer effects, group folders, and .psd and .png file formats
Item Artist Expectations & Requirements

Making items often requires doing adjustments or redraws to ensure that items fit all of our different bases. A good fit would be an artist who would find this process relaxing rather than tedious. We are looking for an artist who is self-motivated and willing to take initiative — unlike customs and sprouts, items don’t often have hard deadlines, and would rely primarily on the artist’s own drive and judgment to reach completion.

Some projects we have slated for the near future which would benefit from the addition of an item artist are: event items & collaborations, items for recipe expansion, kelph item conversions, item recolors, and Bag of Wonder items.

Here is an example of some new items we are looking for. Artists on Mycena Cave are independent contractors which means they are paid by the task. Item-centric artists have the option to claim items from lists like this one, and they can have their own item ideas approved by Myla. Once reasonably acclimated to their position on staff, item-centric artists will have the option of being trained to make coats and claim queue orders if they would like, but item creation should remain their main focus.

Incentives & Drawbacks

Before you apply, be sure to ask yourself why you want to be a part of the Mycena Cave team. While Mycena Cave is a fun hobby for many of you thinking about applying, it’s important to realize that joining the staff team would lead to a dramatic change in the way you interact with the site and community, making it much more like a job — and as with any job, there are both positives and negatives to consider.

Incentives:
  • Artist will bring their item ideas to life
  • Artist will be matched with a staff artist mentor to help guide them and integrate them into the team
  • Artist will receive compensation
  • Artist will become part of a close-knit staff team
  • Artist will help glitch and Myla make informed decisions about site policies and site directions
Potential Drawbacks:
  • Artist may feel a strain on relationships between them and non-staff friends because they will know information that they can’t share
  • Artist may feel more stressed because they may have Mycena Cave art deadlines on top of a busy schedule
  • Artist will be held to a high standard of conduct. This includes forums, chats, and echoes, as well as anywhere else they are recognizable as part of the Mycena Cave staff
  • There is an increased likelihood of being a target of harsh off-site critique by the community because the artist is more visible
Overview of the Application Process & Trial Period

Our hiring process is broken down into several steps:

Application Round One: Open to anyone who is interested in being considered for the position. The application consists of three parts:
  • Art Examples - Examples of previous work
  • Mycena Cave Style Request - Artistic freedom item drawn in the Mycena Cave style
  • Application Questions - Set of questions to which applicants must submit answers
Application Round Two: Up to four artists will be picked out of the first round entries and will be asked to complete the second round. This consists of two parts:
  • Further written application questions
  • Making a prompt-based equippable item

Application Round Three: Up to two artists will be picked out of the Application Round Two entries and will be asked to move to the third round. This consists of two parts:

  • Short live interview using a text-based chat
  • Rework of item created during round two incorporating artist critique

 

Trial Period: One artist will be selected for a three-month trial period. Trial artists will:
  • Sign a contract
  • Gain access to Mycena Cave art resources
  • Start receiving compensation for their work
  • Meet a staff mentor to help guide and orient them
  • Read and apply staff information with the assistance of their mentor
  • Meet the staff team
  • Create site items and save them in upload-friendly formats
    • Trial artist should be producing site items regularly during this period, with an expectation of producing a minimum of 6 new items during these three months
    • Trial artists will receive and incorporate art style critique during production stages of these items
  • Use staff interfaces to upload and modify their items
Full Artist: After the trial period has been completed, Myla and glitch will give the artist a final evaluation. If they meet all qualifications, then the artist will become a full member of the Mycena Cave staff.
The Initial Application

Please complete your application here. All applications must be received by the end of the day on August 31st (23:59 Server Time).

IMPORTANT: In order to keep the application process as fair as possible, please do not post or otherwise show off the contents of your application during the initial application period to community members or staff publicly or privately. Once we have posted that we’ve moved to the application round two, submissions may be shared.

You can review the content of the application below, but you will need to complete the application using the Google Form. Any applications received via other means will not be looked at.

Art Examples
Please select and link to 3 pieces of recent (within the last year) work you feel exemplifies the quality of your work. 

Mycena Cave Style Request
We will be looking at your creativity and ability to mimic Mycena Cave style, follow directions, and organize your .psd. For reference, here is a sample .psd of a Mycena Cave item (this file also includes all of the bases for item making). We also encourage you to use the Magic Puddle to take a critical look at our items.

Follow these directions closely:

  • Draw an equippable item and display it on one pet base of your choice (e.g. the upright cat)
    • Use this .psd to create the item—this file also includes an example item.
    • The item can be any category of equippable item (pet, weapon, clothes, wig, tail, accessory, etc.)
    • The item should be made with the intent of showcasing your creativity and ability to mimic Mycena Cave style
  • Submit a .psd of the file by uploading to dropbox/google docs/firefox send/etc and linking or e-mailing if none of the uploading options works for you

Here are some specific aspects of your art we will be focusing on:

  • Lineart width
  • Lineart color
  • Contouring of pattern
  • Shading style
  • Shading color/intensity
  • Highlight style
  • Highlight style/intensity
  • Perspective of the drawing
  • How well all the colors/shapes work together
  • The item selected (does it work well as a display to the techniques listed above, is it creative, etc.)
  • Organization and layering of the .psd file
  • Ability to follow request directions

Application Questions

  1. Are you at least 18 years of age?
  2. What country/timezone are you living in?
  3. What is the easiest way to contact you outside of Mycena Cave?
  4. How much time do you spend on Mycena Cave weekly? (Please provide an hourly estimate.)
  5. Tell us about your current responsibilities offline. Are you balancing a school or work schedule?
  6. How much time can you dedicate weekly to Mycena Cave, not including recreational use? (Please provide an hourly estimate.)
  7. List any art programs you currently own, and any programs you do not own but have experience with.
  8. Provide your current model of tablet and any additional hardware used for your digital artwork.
  9. Please list any relevant experience you may have, and any associated references. This may include but is not limited to: commissions or freelancing, operating an art shop or adoptables shop, or working as a staff artist or contracted artist elsewhere.
  10. Please list any current art-related engagements. This may include but is not limited to: commissions or freelancing, operating an art shop or adoptables shop, or working as a staff artist or contracted artist elsewhere.
  11. Are you more comfortable working on pieces with specific direction or pieces that permit more artistic freedom?
Questions?

Feel free to ask any questions you may have regarding our application process or expectations in this thread! You may also echo Myla with questions.

FAQ

Can a joint account apply / Can two potential artists file a joint application?

We require that applicants apply as separate individuals. A player from a joint account may apply, but we do require that staff not have joint accounts and so the applicant would need to separate into their own account at the trial artist phase.

What does the full application timeline look like?

We expect that we’ll be picking the trial artist in mid-october. That gives applicants a full month to apply to round one, and two weeks for round two, and two weeks for round three with some extra time between the rounds for the selection process.

Do I need to be an active member of Mycena Cave to apply?

No, though applicants should be willing to make it a part of their routine since we expect staff to log in regularly.
Posted 08/01/19, edited 09/29/19
A reminder that the application deadline is quickly approaching (August 31st @ 23:59 Server Time)!
Posted 08/27/19
The deadline for submitting an application is by the end of today!

We look forward to going through the applications next week!!

Posted 08/31/19
Thank you for submitting your applications!

I plan on sending on confirmation messages to the applicants later today so that those who applied know that their application went through and has everything that we need, as well as a rough timeline for when we expect to make the round two selections. <3

Posted 09/03/19
Application confirmations were just sent out!
Posted 09/03/19
We have moved onto round two

Thank you again to all who applied; the high quality of all the submissions made it a very tough decision!!

Posted 09/14/19
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