Hello EoFF! I've come here in hopes of gathering as many talented artists as I can for my collaborative project, The Final Fantasy 500. This project's goal is the creation of a group picture of 500 characters from across the Final Fantasy series. This is no small task, so I've been searching for as many artists as I can to help me out. I've noticed this site has an unusually large amount of extremely talented artists, and I hope some of you would be willing to help me out in this. I've created a site to act as a resource center, status update page, and general Q and A page for anyone interested in what the project is about. You check it out here:

The Final Fantasy 500

I've gotten decent support so far, but with a project this size I'm always looking for more artists to help me out, so here I am. Anyone that is interested please check out the site for the basic idea behind the project. Any artists who want to help out can contact me either here in this thread, via PM, or via email at espritduo@hotmail.com. You can also find me on AIM occasionally, also as espritduo. Just browse through the characters listed on the site and let me know which character(s) you want to do, and I'll add you to the ever-growing list on the update page.

Also, for any artists interested, here's a few important guidelines to keep in mind before you go rushing off on a drawing spree:

1. There's no deadline on the project. I will be working on it as long as it takes to get it done, and I'm giving the artists involved all the time they need to do as much or as little as they want to do in their own time.

2. As far as actual submitting goes, there's a limit of 10 characters at once per artist. Most people only take one character, but there are always a few eager beavers that like to take a bunch at once. This is great, but to keep a limit on how many characters I have up in the air, I'm limiting it to 10 at one time. As you finish characters you can then add more to your to-do list. Just don't go too crazy, since I've noticed I have a lot of people who have taken many characters, and have yet to finish their first one. Take as many as you think you can do in a reasonable time, and then as you finish them you can choose whether or not to do more.

3. I'm not screening artists based on quality or anything like that. If you're willing to help me out, I won't turn you down or ask you for samples or credentials(although I'm always curious to see anything the artist has done if they want). Just let me know what you want to do, and you're in. Simple as that.

4. Style and method. There are some things all artists needs to keep in mind when drawing their characters.

4a.) First and foremost, all characters need to be in color. If you really want to participate in the project, but can't color for beans, there's always the option of giving it to someone else to draw. I won't be actively looking for people to color other people's work, but if you can find someone, then go for it. As long as the finished piece is colored, I won't care how it got that way.

4b.) Secondly, the characters should not be in any sort of action pose, like jumping through the air, or swinging a sword, or anything too stylish. This picture is a group picture like you'd see in a graduation picture or some other gathering where you have a large group of people standing in front of a camera. The characters can be doing static things like holding up their sword, or posing in a "cool" manner, that's fine. Also, make sure the entire character is in the picture. No wings/feet/tails/limbs cut off from the edge of the picture. Just try to think of your character as a person(or animal, as the case may be) standing(or hovering for the flying types) as naturally as possible in front of a cameraman waiting for the flash.

4c.) Pencil-drawn (and colored) characters are acceptable, but I strongly recommend ink/computer drawn if you can manage it reasonably well. If you can go over the pencil-drawn character's lines in ink, then that's a good alternative. I'll still accept a completely pencil-drawn character, but unless the artist takes care to draw clear, solid lines and smooth coloring, it will come out as blurry, faded, and grainy, and may need to be touched up before I can add it to the final version. You can see examples of all kinds of drawing methods in the done characters I have uploaded on the site's character list page.

4d.) Last one. Backgrounds aren't needed and will only be removed by me when I get them and put them into the group picture, so don't go crazy with fancy backgrounds. Best background is just a plain white background with the character clearly and completely in view. You can add your signature if you like(just don't plaster it over the character!), and I'll keep that intact for the individual picture which will be displayed in a seperate credits section along with the names of everyone who participated in the project.
And that about covers the basics of the project. If you want to know more, you can always check out the FAQ page of the site.

Feel free to post any questions or suggestions here and I'll be sure to address anything anyone brings up. Thanks in advance and good luck!