- Beyblade Art Making Month -
A B O U T
BeyArMaMo is an annual art event that encourages fans of Bakuten Shoot Beyblade to get creative throughout October.
The Beyblade Art Making Month came about in 2008 after it occured to me that I loved art and I loved Beyblade but I hadn’t been combing the two together enough. I decided to rectify this by setting myself the challenge to create a piece of Beyblade art every day for an entire month. There were plenty of scribbles and hastily drawn nonsense (and a inexplicable drawing of Daichi sitting on a cow) but somehow I managed to complete the challenge. And I felt awesome.
The following year, I decided to take up the challenge again but this time I was joined by a handful of friends from DeviantArt. It was received positively and that was pretty much that. The event has since been held each October, growing year on year, and with fans participating from all around the world. This year we will be celebrating BeyArMaMo’s 10th Anniversary.
T H E C H A L L E N G E
The BeyArMaMo concept is pretty simple. Participants are challenged to create Bakuten Shoot Beyblade art throughout October - that’s it. It doesn’t even have to be good art. Or finished. The focus is on creation so there’s no problem if you can only manage a scribble or something comes out a bit wonky. It’s simply about creating something when we otherwise might not have done. It’s all good.
It sounds pretty easy but when you’re crawling in from a long shift from work the last thing you’ll probably want to think about doing is, well, anything. Or maybe you’ve got the school run, and the shopping to do and you need a tidy round and before you know it it’s bedtime and you haven’t had chance to pick up a pencil. Perhaps you just can’t think of anything to draw or you might simply be lacking any measure of motivation. This is where the challenge aspect comes in. Some days you’ll be throwing out art left, right and centre and others will leave you cursing all your life choices. But that’s part of what makes it exciting. It’s sort of stressful in a good way.
If you’re not loving the idea of stress then don’t worry - help is at hand. There are three challenge types for you to choose from. Each is akin to a different difficulty so if you want a nice gentle time, have at it. But if you want an all encompassing Beyblade art extravaganza then you can have that too.
Simply pick the challenge type that appeals to you most and rock on.
01 - BeyArMaMo
This is the original, and most difficult, challenge. Your aim is to create at least one piece of artwork every day throughout October. By the end of the month you should have created at least 31 pieces of art.
02 - Mini-BeyArMaMo
This is a gentle challenge to motivate you while keeping the stress at a minimum. Your aim here is to create at least one piece of art every week throughout October. By the end of the month you should have created at least 4 pieces of art.
03 - Super-Mini-BeyArMaMo
This is, in theory, the least challenging of the three options. Just a 1 piece of art, that’s all you need to do. Perfect for those of us with hectic lives. And procrastinators.
T H E M E D A Y S
Theme days are an optional extra to help inspire or challenge you. Each day, a new theme will be posted for you base your work on. It might be a colour or an object, a feeling or a place. You can choose to use all the themes, some of the themes or none at all. Participants in the Mini-BeyArMaMo challenge may pick any of the themes posted in each particular week.
The full theme list will be posted one week before the start of BeyArMaMo to help you plan your artwork.
R U L E S
BeyArMaMo was designed to be a challenge but it’s also extremely casual. Like, whatever. Above all else it’s meant to be fun so please don’t worry about the rules, even though there are technically rules. You can actually get away with a lot. But if you do wish to be mindful of the rules, here they are.
1) This event is solely for Bakuten Shoot Beyblade fan art. ‘Beyblade’ is not used as a blanket term for the entire franchise. Only art based on Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, Bakuten Shoot Beyblade 2002 (V Force), Bakuten Shoot Beyblade G Revolution, Bakuten Shoot Beyblade The Movie: Gekitou!! Takao vs Daichi (Fierce Battle) and the manga (including Rising) is permitted.
2) All art must contain Bakuten Shoot Beyblade characters. They can cosplay, reference other series or even dive into a world of crossovers, but the main focus must be Beyblade. OCs, however, are not permitted.
3) Your art shouldn’t be created in advance. Art for day one should be created on the 1st of October, day two on the 2nd of October, and so on. For the weekly challenge, art for week three should be created during the third week,etc. Creating your art in advance sort of lessens the joy.
4) Your art can be in any form. Digital illustrations, traditional illustrations, comics, literature, photography, crafts, cosplay - baking even! If you want to knit Kai’s scarf, you go for it.
5) Enjoy. It’s not technically a rule as such but… Please just roll with it and try not to stress yourself out. If you don’t finish or you miss a day, don’t worry. You’re still awesome because you’re embracing your Beyblade love. And that’s all that matters.
H O W T O P A R T I C I P A T E
You will be able to sign up for the event from the 1st of September until the 30th of September. A list of registered participants will be made available so you can share links to your artwork and find other artists so follow.
If you prefer not to sign up officially then that’s fine too. You can participate in your own way.
Exclusive BeyArMaMo goodies will be available for registered members to purchase during the event.
The sign up form will be posted at the beginning of September.
S C H E D U L E
BeyArMaMo runs from the 1st of October to the 31st of October but there are a few other noteworthy dates too.
1 0 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y
BeyArMaMo is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and to commemorate this momentous occasion I am planning a souvenir art book. I’ll be sharing more details about this shortly and I hope some of you might like to take part in it too!
A N D F I N A L L Y
I think I’ve covered everything here that needs to be covered but if there’s something you’re not sure about then just get in touch. I’ll be sorting out a few extra things over the next few weeks before sign ups start so expect one or two more updates before then. In the meantime, keep being awesome and if you feel like sharing news about the event then that would be lovely. Hopefully we’ll have an absolute bunch of us raring to go by October!
Take it easy, guys!
Laura (Gasara)
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