I know its still early for Christmas, but I just wanted to put the idea out there early xD I remember so many years ago, there was an Artist Secret Santa event here on subeta and I liked the idea of it. Just wondering if there is anyone else who would be interested in participating in one this year? I might try to set one up if theres enough interest~ Let me know your opinions!

I would definitely be interested! I remember participating in one before and it was so fun.

oh man that sounds like fun!! i would totally participate if this happens :>

I'd be interested in participating if a secret santa was held. I've participated twice before on another forum and it was so much fun ^_^

for those ones, by the way, it was open to different kinds of creators so artists, musicians, writers etc. and each participant gave a general prompt or wish for what they wanted. idr if we made one for each type of media, but I think it works better if the request is general enough to encompass all media. So that's a thought for this, maybe it can be used or expanded upon. But I'd be interested if it was more traditional as well ^^

I would consider joining if that's ok, depending on what mediums would be preferrred. My present would be something handmade with yarn, either knitted or crocheted.

Maybe categories could be digital art and traditional/physical art? I know some artists sell physical pieces like prints, postcards, stickers, etc. Some of the Subeta community does things like that on Etsy.

v.v.v. interested

i'm hoping to enter an art-only one, though... not that all other types of gifts wouldn't be unappreciated-- but that seems like a more general secret santa to me, versus an art trade, which is super nostalgic and reminds me of the good ole deviantart secret santies :bowtie:

I would defenitely be interested in this but I would prefer an art-only event and I'd avoid physical objects because not everyone on subeta is in the same country and it could get very expensive to ship items to different continents.

Glad to know! and I agree C: Ive participated in an Artist's SS once and it was fun ^_^

oooh interesting, I know you said everyone would just give a general prompt on what they want, but Im not exactly sure how that would work or how to set that up? :o Ive never done something with different types like art/craft/music/etc, but for the artist's secret santa ive participated it was more of posting a character you want drawn so its more of an art trade that way xD I dont think it has to be limited to digital artworks though, Im thinking it could be traditional if scanned, good quality photo, or shipped depending on what the user wants to do

I think that would be super cool! I think if the artist wants to, they can send out a physical object or traditional piece to the person ^_^ but personally, how do you feel about shipping since I thinking it could probably get expensive if you have to ship internationally? ;A; and also what I had in mind for everyones "wishlist" was to post the characters they would want drawn, like a male, female and/or animal character, so when you say crochet/knitting, did you mean like only hats/scarves/etc., or like crocheted/handmade dolls? :o

thanks for your feedback! I agree with you, although I think it would be ok if people wanted to do traditional works and send it to the person personally if they really wanted to, like for example a clay sculpture of your character or something? but idk, I would love to hear your opinion on that as well~ this is the first time Ill be hosting something like this if I decide to do it XD

ooooh... yeah I could see how that could be a problem >_< unless the artist really wanted to pay to ship it out, or if there was someway of knowing whether the person lives within the same country, but Im sure certain people may feel uncomfortable about giving their info x-x; I'll try to see what the others think about sending physical objects, personally I think its fine, but like you said Im sure shipping fees will be expensive and Im not sure how thatll work out ;A;

TO EVERYONE: If I were to host this, which would be better?:

Option 1: I would personally assign everyone their "giftee" (the person they will draw for), collect everyones gift by a certain deadline (probably like December 20th or something) and personally smail/email each person their gift and also reveal their secret santa. This means I probably wont be participating, which Im ok with xD

Option 2: Use a random generator to generate everyones "giftee" and everyone will personally deliver their gift to their giftee on Christmas Day. Or maybe we can all post it on the forum topic? idk xD;;

Let me know your thoughts! Again, its my first time hosting something like this, so I'll do my best to make it work out~ ^_^

I think a digital exchange would be best since cost is a concern for many people. Good luck with your OC art Secret Santa, it’s a great idea. 😊

I guess thats true D: I wish there was someway handmade crafters could join somehow, but I guess the shipping aspect would end up becoming an issue >< so sorry about that though!! ;A; and thank you so much, I will try my best! ^^

:O yeah i agree with everyone on keeping with the the digital art/even scanned drawings aspect

you're more than welcome to make a secret santa that DOES allow sculpture, knitting, music, because that sounds like a lot of fun! i just think there will already be secret santas like that (there usually are). the art idea is specific and unique and i think its special for artists to be able to exchange work with others :)

me personally i just would be more interested in an art exchange for the reasons you mentioned ^^ in order to receive art of OCs and stuff

also i think a combination of options 1 and 2 would be best: for example, the individual participants can contact one another to give the gifts on lumi if they so wish, or post in the thread pinging their secret santa, but i think it would also be ideal if you kept track of who had "completed" their gifts and who hadn't, like let's say a list of all the participants on the first page and whether or not theyve contacted you to say theyve finished etc.

thank you for your input!! :D and I think that would be a great idea, maybe there could be a place where everyone can put their wishlists all in one place, maybe a google spreadsheet or something? and then have everyone just let me know like "I finished my SS gift~" or something, that way I could put a checkmark next to their username stating that their gift is completed, and then the individual participants can contact each other during christmas

Im also considering on using a random generator that emails each person the user theyre drawing for, that way I could prob join in on the fun as well~ I'll just hold onto the masterlist in case someone didnt get an email, and I could tell them who their giftee is personally xD Im thinking that could probably work out, but I'll see what everyone else says too~ ^_^

Great idea! :D good luck if you plan on doing it~ if you need any help, let me know, i'd be happy to assist

thank you so much!! >w< I'll let you know when I start it up~ I'll probably start gathering people who're interested starting the first week of november and around mid november I'll assign everyone an SS c:

i personally like option 2 better! c:

iirc, the way it worked was everyone filled out a form with what they could do (drawing, graphics, etc) and what they would like. Something like "I want something with character x and y" or "I want something festive/christmas/etc". Those were close to the prompts I gave, btw. A prompt I got was to make a wallpaper (since I had said I could do graphics). So thinking back I think maybe we made several potential requests or something that was so broad it could be anything. From my perspective that's still an art trade, since everybody is creating something instead of buying an item. But I see everyone's points about it being too general. By traditional I meant prompt-less, since traditional secret santa is a total surprise what you get, right? But it might be hard since we don't know each other. I thought I'd share how we did it then anyway, in case anyone wants to use the set up at some other time ^^

I like the idea of a visual art/drawing-only secret santa as well. Like you said it could be focused on OCs and maybe other characters? People in this thread seem more interested in that as well.

Option 1 is the exact one that we used too, haha. The problem with option 2 is that the gift giver won't be anonymous if they send it themselves (they can choose to reveal themselves later, or not). But with option 1 the host(s) doesn't get to participate, which I don't think is very fun. So I think if you found a solution like you said, that randomly assigns people and emails them, that would be best. If nobody wants anonymity/guess who their secret santa is, then option 2 with a masterlist available is the best option.

I absolutely love the idea that you came up with there for the spreadsheet, and I'd be happy to participate. I'd also be happy to do one of two "make-up" gifts, in case people are unable to finish by the deadline.

I'm interested!

so sorry about the late response guys! I was so caught up in doing intktober and other rl stuff, I think I will start to think of ways how to set up SS~ :D

and oooh thanks for sharing your input!! I think its a cool idea, but I think youre right about us not knowing each other too well, its prob best to keep it simple and more straightforward ^_^ and yeah I think I might go with a combination of both options somehow! I'll probably start gathering interest and maybe get everyones email so that I could put the ss list through a random generator? :o

awww thank you for the thought! >w< I will prob gather interest soon~

YAY~ :D I will let you know when I start creating a list soon of all the participants!

No problem at all 😄 I think the solution proposed so far with everyone posting their OC or something that they want art of of is a good way of doing it.

I hope you figure out a solution! I know just hosting can be fun in it its own way, but participating is fun too. Do you mean actual email or sMail? I've heard sMail is kind of unreliable since it sometimes eats messages. So I would be fine with sharing emails but that might turn some people away? I'm not sure which is the better choice. Definitely I think starting to gather interest already now is a good idea, the more people we get the better 😄 Maybe a forum group should be made? Or at least a dedicated topic we can link in our signatures and such for those who want to do that.

I look forward to this ^_^