Hmmm. I have been watching this and wondering what would come of it. I have little in the way of arting skills, or I would have had a texture or two on the table already. But, something has occurred to me. Even though this contest is open to the community, it is still closed to the public. The artists are out there as lone individuals due to the rule of "No posting in public". This robs blooming artists of much needed feedback and critiquing such as this:
"That looks great, but if you were to smooth this area..."
"Your fur looks too flat. I found a tutorial that may help."
"That texture is too dark to use ingame."
Or simply "Good start, now add more details."
When submitting a project to Talad, is it done blindly, or do you nudge him once in a while with the WIP to see what would be better? Now, I know that would not work with this project, as he is a busy man, so I suggest that the community itself takes that role. Let the artists post thier works-in-progress in public and let the community do what they do best...tell them what they are doing wrong.
Let this truly become a community project. As to the "Oooo and Ahhh" factor, lets face it, most players rarely come to this part of the forum and will never see it. Also, many more players that do will flood the sewers -just- to see something they had all created together, as they will see it. Then, they will kill it.
