UPDATE Well, I got my first claw back today. Let me say this, you guys are in for some serious competition. Much better than the one I had tried to paint myself. Good luck to all. I am excited now to see what other kind of sweet claws I get back. This one is definately a nice addition to my claw army.
Although I sent all of them on the 6th, I have been informed that a few participants have not recieved theirs yet. If it seems like there is going to be a problem with the shipping times, I may extend the deadline a week or so. We will see I guess as the contest progresses.
I have decided not to post pictures of the contestant's art until closer towards the deadline to avoid participants from duplicating each other's work. I want variety.
Another thing I wanted to discuss that I have been thinking about since the get go is I hope there is no hard feelings when this competition is over. I am going to appreciate all the claws returned to me, but sadly only offering three prizes. I don't want somebody to feel hurt or pissed if I do not choose one of theirs as a prize winner.
On another similar note. Although these claws are for my collection and I stated I will be the judge of the winners, I have been pondering the thought of having a few judges, and working on some sort of point system to decide the winners. My personal vote may be worth a couple more points, however a pannel of judges would prevent a bias decision. How would you guys feel about that? There are a few members here who are much better artists than myself (Godbeast maybe) and I am sure they would be better judges of art and paint jobs than me anyways. The last thing I want to hear after this competition is "Oh he picked him because they are buddies" etc... or something similar (not to mention you guys are all my buddies). If so, the judges would not know the names or to who each claw belonged to, only rate them accordingly. Is that more fair? Give me a little feedback here if you can.
Finally, I can tell this is going to turn out good. I am sure all of you will do a superb job on your claws, and even if I only get a few decent ones out of the whole competition, I will have then achieved what I wanted to out of this contest. This first claw is beautiful. I am going to sleep with it tonight.
Good Luck to all!!!!!