How about a reality-tv competition for visual artists?

[eminkey2003]

Here's a discussion topic I've been thinking of lately:

I like reality-tv competition shows like Top Chef, Top Model, and Project Runway. There's even a show for photographers and interior designers. What do you think a show for visual artists like illustrators, concept artists, etc. would be like? Would you watch it?

I'd love to see them put through different style challenges, time challenges, doing research, that sort of thing. TV would give the challenges a bigger budget too. The critiques could provide a lot of good tips for viewers as well.

[Portus]

There's one in the works.

[eminkey2003]

Heh, I guess I didn't put the right words in my google search. Do you mean this one from Bravo?
http://www.bravotv.com/casting

[Jovian M]

Based on that, it looks like they're doing a conglomerate of most visual arts. Something more specialized would be better, I think, but I guess the only people that'd watch that are other artists, so a big budget would be hard to come by. I don't think artists would be quite as temperamental as people on shows about models, chefs, clothing designers, etc. I guess I could be wrong, though.

But yeah. I'd watch it, probably.

[eminkey2003]

Top Chef and Top Model seem pretty popular to non-chefs and non-models, but yeah, not everybody likes art. Everybody likes food and pretty people though. :)

Specialized would work, but it'd be neat to see a show that tries to make well-rounded artists too.

Who would you get to judge a show like this? The judges' critique would also be a good insight into their thought-process.

[armando]

They had a show on mtv called "engine room". It was kinda interesting, kinda boring. The shows were only 10 minutes or 15 minutes long, I don't remember.
To make a good show of this nature, they'd need to spice it up quite a bit, expecially for lay people: they could have field trips to different cool places, guest celebrities, crossing over with other fields like fashion design and what not, get some models to wear the stuff for character designs and such.

edit: this made me think of the worst reality show I ever saw: it was some lame endurance competition where they see who can touch a truck for the longest time, the last one touching the truck wins. Turns out it's called "touch the truck" in the UK, I don't remember what it was called in the US and don't feel like searching around, but it was pretty fuckin boring.

[arttorney]

All they have to do is put it on an adult channel and do a lot of life drawing of typically hot people.

Regrettably the lay people won't actually care what the artist draws, unless it is also really hot

[Qitsune]

Or if they were painting with gross stuff:
Paint a dinosaure with poop!
Sculpt a bunny with 10 pounds of boogers mixed up with raspberry jam, washing your hands during work is forbidden.

[Black Spot]

Why don't you do a pilot on youtube over a couple of months? Get a few friends, some of them contestants and some of them judges. Prize - cut them in if it gets taken up (they all get a cut but the winner must get more - comments count). Make sure the artists have thick skins and can ham it up and some of the judges are right bastards. Don't forget the viewer vote and sue any channel that nicks your idea.

[J Wilson]

Strangely, I wonder if it would be visual enough for TV. I mean with chef shows, you see guys running around, chopping, fire, exotic foods and textures and all of that. It's similar with a design show, there's lots going on finding fabrics, cutting things, models, etc.

A visual artist show would be a lot of sitting at an easel or computer wouldn't it? Or maybe you down play the actual creation and focus more on finding reference, shooting photos, or choose more active mediums like cut paper, gigantic canvases, sculpture, etc. I guess there could be ways to make it interesting, but it wouldn't necessarily look like what most artists do everyday.

I'm just thinking if someone watched what I do on a daily basis, it's not going to seem very interesting to your average viewer.

[eminkey2003]

That's what I was thinking-- some people have told me it's fun to watch me draw, but that would make for some slow tv. Miami Ink does it well too. Ace of Cakes is pretty fun to watch, but that's sculpture, really.

I have a feeling it will be pretty PC like other shows, i.e. everyone will be confident and well-rounded and proud of their uniqueness and no one will take anything too seriously. They'll have to be characters.

In a way, I think that's good for art, and it does encourage you to really wear your style, but then it might also be digesting the big ideas in art too much when you make everyone well-rounded. But it's not like a thousand things haven't already done that, and I doubt it'd have a big impact anyway.

Really, I think it'd be good to show non-artists that art doesn't have to be all serious work, and that there's a lot more to it. Top Chef has had some revealing stuff about the food world.

[Black Spot]

Maybe not live, but some neat editing could make it interesting.

[Baron Impossible]

Part of me thinks it's a neat way of communicating what goes into creation of various types of artwork and could result in better appreciation of the arts by the general public. Another part of me thinks that contestants would be picked and promoted primarily on the basis of their wackiness, entertainment value and resultant bizarre behaviour rather than artistic talent, much like the X-Factor, and the whole thing would turn into yet another freak parade with little to do with the original subject.

[Elwell]

My wife thinks I should have a painting TV show. It would be like Bob Ross, but with more yelling at the canvas and throwing things.

[PieterV]

Another part of me thinks that contestants would be picked and promoted primarily on the basis of their wackiness, entertainment value and resultant bizarre behaviour rather than artistic talent

Would anyone honestly expect they would do it any other way?

[eminkey2003]

I think some shows treat talent as a higher priority. The Top model judges always seemed pretty tough, and the Top Chef contestants are charismatic, but never really wild. Sometimes I'm actually surprised that some of the contestants don't have special TV-interesting personalities.

[Ninjerk]

Strangely, I wonder if it would be visual enough for TV. I mean with chef shows, you see guys running around, chopping, fire, exotic foods and textures and all of that. It's similar with a design show, there's lots going on finding fabrics, cutting things, models, etc.

A visual artist show would be a lot of sitting at an easel or computer wouldn't it? Or maybe you down play the actual creation and focus more on finding reference, shooting photos, or choose more active mediums like cut paper, gigantic canvases, sculpture, etc. I guess there could be ways to make it interesting, but it wouldn't necessarily look like what most artists do everyday.

I'm just thinking if someone watched what I do on a daily basis, it's not going to seem very interesting to your average viewer.

What if they made you live and go to bars with the other contestants, who are MFA-holding conceptual artists and also pirates?

[Zirngibism]

I think watching sped-up digital painting has enough "action" to keep people's attention, provided that there are enough people who appreciate/understand digital art out there. (Those "sand painting" videos on YouTube seem to be popular among non-artists.)

Perhaps people could add celebrities to the mix. For example, they could have a portraiture faceoff where 10 artist contestants are all drawing Angelina Jolie, and she would choose her favorite... or maybe they could put all the artwork up on a website and fans could vote for their favorite one...

As for temperment, a show like this would be a good thing to test the stereotype that all artists are "sensitive"...

[eminkey2003]

I can picture them going to places like Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School (http://www.drsketchy.com/) (NSFW) for a life drawing challenge. I haven't tried drawing costumes yet, but I'm looking for places.