The chaotic joy of Art Fight

Crystal Du / The Verge

I was stuck between high school and college in the summer of 2017: one version of myself and another. The college version of myself was a mystery that burst with the potential to do and create outside of the box that I had formed around myself.

Something along the lines of "this seems fun; you should join it as well!" was the initial message. A lot of character designs were laid out in rows on the home page. It was overwhelming, not just because so many people had joined, but also because they had shared so many stories and characters. There were long back stories with the characters' pictures. I was invited to join them and there was a lot of passion.

Art Fight is very easy to understand. Artists are divided into teams for the month of July. They uploaded examples of their art along with personal characters and stories of their own that they would be interested in other people drawing. The games start.

Art Fight is a game in which you score points by drawing requests from other teams. The team with the most points at the end of the month will get a special badge on the site. Nobody is too strict about the teams. People can change teams multiple times. Drawing for other people and being drawn in turn is the real incentive.

I didn't spend a lot of time creating a social media profile or promoting my art at the time. It was exciting to know I could draw for other people and that they would like to draw back. I wasn't lost in the digital noise because of something about this space.

The time that I spent on Art Fight waned due to my own summer business. I made sure to draw at least one piece for it, taking the lovingly rendered illustration that another artist had made of their character and giving it life in my own art style. The act of creating for someone else was a constant.

There was a range of other artists that used the platform. Students or hobby artists used to draw in the free time that they had after work. Others pulled together attacks as a break from their own work. The range of people that Art Fight encompassed, with individuals from almost any walk of life with an interest in character design and story telling, came together to share their creations.

I didn't realize how special that was at the time. My art is often pushed to the background, something that can't be properly pursued unless it has a "purpose" It still feels great to have a space where that creation is encouraged and given a community.

Sharing online can be a blessing and a curse for artists. Artists are put at ease by platforms that can feel hostile. There aren't many platforms designed to make artists feel comfortable. The result is that creators are forced to stay relevant rather than following their own inspiration.

I think Art Fight is a good way to deal with that. There is something exciting about individuals making art for each other without the need for platforms or frantic scramble to be seen. The platform wants more than what you want to give to it. The month of July is a sanctuary for me because I know that it will be seen by others and possibly be special to some of them.

A recent graduate of Smith College, but a master of science student at Oxford University. She draws and catches up on TV shows about five years after everyone else.