May IGDA Philly Art SIG Meeting

This was the first meeting of the IGDA Philadelphia chapter's Art Special Interest Group.

The first order of business was to establish a regular meeting location. Following our rendezvous outside the Schuylkill Expy. entrance of 30th Street Station, our first meeting was held among the many vacant patio tables just inside the Market St. entrance. Aside from the background noise of the busy transit station, the location served us well and should be adequate for future meetings. Another possibility would be to reserve a second room at Drexel; or perhaps the same room reserved for the chapter meeting, only arrange for it to be reserved and unlocked at an earlier time. My understanding is that reservations would need to be arranged through Drexel's game development club, as is done for chapter meetings. An overlap in meeting times may be a concern if Art SIG meetings carry over beyond their scheduled time.

The second order of business was to better define what the Art SIG would be. A few suggestions are as follows:

1. Expand upon topics presented in chapter meetings by focusing on issues specific to artists and aesthetics. May include guest speakers to discuss visual production pipelines from concept through final release.
2. Participate in forum based art challenges (GameArtisans, CGSociety, Gnomon Workshop), both individual and group categories. Critique and discuss challenge entries as a group. Provide a source of technical support.
3. Outsource the group as an artist collective. A practical experiment in marketing and business. A contract based support system for local studios in need of a solution for overflow work.