I would rather have bad art in a game or comic than fake "art."
I would rather a real person get paid for their creativity than have a company get paid for scraping content.
The Bad Art Jam invites creators of all stripes, whether you make ttrpgs, video games, comics, novels, you name it, to join in with your poorly illustrated works. That’s right: draw your own pictures. No stock art, no ai, no faux-D&D templates, no Canva. Just you, whatever skill level you're at, and whatever tools you have at your disposal, be it pen on paper or ms paint. Artists, you’re absolutely invited to get messy, sloppy, experimental, and weird with your art too.
I’ve been drawing more lately because my 2-year-old loves it—the art on this page was made in collaboration with him. He doesn’t care that my mermaids and dinos look silly. He just loves mermaids and dinos. I want him to grow up in a world that still values creativity, humanity, art, and each other. I want him to grow up still loving to draw, even if he’s not very good at it. I stopped drawing years ago because I didn’t think I was good enough to do anything with it, and I was so wrong. You can just do art for art’s sake. So, c’mon, draw some bad pictures with me and my kid and let’s have some fun.
In addition to the general theme of “draw your own art,” the following chart can be used as an achievement board or challenge checklist for the Bad Art Jam. Some are mutually exclusive, so don’t sweat getting all of them. Look for ways to push yourself further out of your comfort zone, try something you’ve always wanted to do, or just have fun in unexpected ways.
| Achievement | Description |
| Artist Edition | This entry is an existing work (of yours!) that you've newly filled with art for this jam. |
| Avant Garde | Use mechanics you've never included in a game before. |
| Color by Numbers | This game requires little to no setup before play begins. |
| Color Outside the Lines | Largely or completely omit common borders, like panels in a comic, sections in a text, or page breaks in a novel. |
| Feeling the Movement | The art and/or design approach is strongly associated with a specific art movement, like Bauhaus, Cubism, or Futurism. |
| Graphic Design is My Passion | Create design elements, like typography, borders, or layout/columns, by hand. |
| Interactive Design | The audience of the work is encouraged or required to participate with the original work and/or create their own work as part of the experience. |
| Leave Nothing to Chance | Make no use of random elements, such as rolling dice or drawing cards. |
| Mixed Media | Combine elements from multiple types of project, such as a game with an included comic. |
| Paint Mixer | Combine two or more systems/engines, like mixing two SRDs. |
| Postcard | Everything fits onto a postcard (approximately) |
| Rage Against the Machine | Feature specifically and explicitly anti-AI and/or anti-exploitation content and themes. |
| Self-Portrait | This entry is autobiographical. |
| Special Thanks | Get help from (and adequately credit) someone special, such as an old teacher, a local professional, or a new community (hint hint). |
| The Impressionism That I Get | Feature surreal, abstract, or indirect content and themes. |
| They Were Studiomates | Work in collaboration other creator(s). |
| Traditionalist | This entry was made entirely (or almost entirely) without a computer. |
These Achievements are self-reporting. Pick out the ones you accomplish and post them up on your creation’s page to let folks know what to look forward to in your work. Plus, if you've got some suggestions for additional Achievements, post 'em somewhere and I'll add what I can.
Acceptable Submissions
I'm a TTRPG guy, but all projects are welcome in this jam. I'd love to see TTRPGs, board & card games, video games, asset packs, comics, novels, zines, visual poetry, abstract sculpturistic neologisms, sanctimonious necromantic recitations, or cookbooks. Whatever. Just fill it with your own bad art.
No AI
Absolutely no AI. Any submission including AI generated or modified material, such as images, texts, or sounds, will be automatically disqualified and removed without warning.
No Bigotry
No bigotry, fascism, racism, sexism, transphobia, or hate speech will be tolerated. Any games with bigotry or promotion of hatred towards marginalized groups will be removed. These themes may be included as forces to overcome, overthrow, or undermine, but not to be celebrated. Don’t make the Nazis the good guys. Don’t punch down.
Theme Requirement
Submissions must include your own art. If you work in a team, not everyone is required to produce art (but everyone is encouraged to do so). No stock art, no asset packs, no templates, no Canva, no cutting corners. Engage with the achievements however you'd like.
Submission Guidelines
Submissions must be new content. It can be started early but can’t be released before the jam’s start date. Supplements or additions to existing content or significantly modified new versions of your old stuff are allowed, especially if you go through and illustrate your old work.
Multiple submissions are welcome and encouraged (so long as you’re not spamming).
Simultaneous submissions to other jams are okay as long as your game genuinely suits the themes of each jam you’re submitting to (and you’re not spamming).
You can collaborate with others as long as everyone involved in a submission is properly credited. Please come to an agreement well before publishing how revenue will be handled.
Adult and NSFW content is permitted. Please label with appropriate content warnings.
Late submissions are allowed—just ask if you need a little extension. This will be a small window since we'll need to prep for the bundle.
Also, feel free to join us in The TTRPG Collective Discord Server and share your process! We're always hyping each other up, and giving a helping hand so if a brand-new project seems daunting, we’re here and we’d love to help!
Accessibility
Update: bots are scraping itch.io for ai models, so please price your submissions to protect them from the dark harvest.
Your submission may be paid or free, but it must be available to other jam participants while the jam is active. You can include community copies, share a download link or file in the TTRPG Collective Server, or make it accessible in some other way of your choice. However, do consider putting a price on your work—your creativity, time, and energy are valuable and valid.
Safety tools are an important part of all roleplaying games. Please use the TTRPG Safety Toolkit curated by Kienna Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk.
Jam Parameters
This jam will not be judged or ranked. There are no prizes other than the ones you give yourself for completing the Achievements. There is an opportunity to opt-in to a bundle that will run once this jam is over.
Have Fun
Have fun! This is not the kind of jam to lose sleep or stress out over. Participate with your community, share drafts, bounce ideas off each other, and enjoy the process. If your idea fizzles out, try something new! If you're running down to the wire, submit something incomplete (just try to come back to it later)! If you don’t finish, that’s okay too—I hope you had fun in the meantime, and I’ll catch you in the next jam.
What’s wrong with good art?
Nothing! But this jam is about saying that art doesn’t need to be good, just human. “Good” is also very relative. I’m not saying your art is bad, either. In fact, I think it’s amazing that you’re even doing art, because you are a human and art is a thing we do. And that’s beautiful no matter what it ends up actually looking like.
What if I’m good at art?
Awesome! You’re welcome to draw at whatever skill level you’d like. However, in the spirit of the jam, I’d encourage you to try something new or weird or different. Maybe draw in a medium you’ve never tried before, like exclusively ballpoint pens and highlighters, dollar store crayons, or just using a mouse. Draw with your non-dominant hand, or only spend a fraction of the time you usually do on each piece of art. There will be no comparisons, rankings, or competitions involved in this jam.
What’s wrong with AI?
A lot! Here to provide a good faith explanation of how deep this issue runs, special guest FAQ answerer Rosie will take this one:
Hi, I’m Rosie, and I’m an illustrator and a very shameless anti-genAI advocate (by genAI here, I mean generative AI — basically, any type of machine learning that is used to generate content, from art to photos to writing).
A lot of anti-AI advocates talk about false information being dangerous, which is absolutely true in the case of deepfakes and other realistic generated images. “But what about artwork?” someone might ask. “Surely an unrealistic, cartoon depiction of a dragon for my new TTRPG isn’t hurting anyone, right?”
Wrong! There are so, SO many reasons with so many explanations on why genAI is harmful, but in the interest of keeping things brief, here are my top 5 reasons for why illustrative genAI is harmful, and why you shouldn't use it:
- GenAI actively takes work away from artists, writers, game designers, and other creatives — who are already undervalued in our society. Art is a skill that is honed over years of dedication, and generating images reduces art to a shallow, bland commodity. The generation of text or "ideas" is no different than generating art or other images — every single creative endeavor is threatened and devalued by AI.
- GenAI models are trained on stolen artwork. Millions of images from thousands of artists were scraped and fed into programs to train AI — and these images were used without the original artists’ consent. While the courts are still arguing whether or not this was legal in the first place, it was still most decidedly not cool, as nobody gave their consent for their art to be used this way.
- There is no such thing as ethical genAI. Many companies with their own bespoke generators claim that they only source art from artists who give their consent. There is, realistically, no way to verify that any model was trained in this way. Furthermore, many of these companies auto-opt in consent without informing their users beforehand. Even if you were to use a (hypothetical) “ethical” model, you would be contributing to the culture of AI images, along with all the harm they do — and there’s no guarantee that others won’t see your generated images and try their own out, with no regard for the model they use. Every single generated image adds to the problems, regardless of the users’ intent.
- AI all-around is directly bad for the environment. From data center energy costs to water used to cool technology, AI (including genAI) is a massive drain on resources. I’m no scientist, so I’ll include an article with data from a study MIT ran hereif you’d like to dive deeper into this particular item.
- Generative AI takes away from what makes us human. Creating art is a deeply personal act, no matter if it’s a hastily-scribbled doodle or a masterpiece made over the course of months. Every single aspect of an artist’s work (from their subject matter, to their style, to even the way they hold a pencil) is informed by their collected experiences, influences, and worldview. Using generated art sanitizes humanity, ignores these experiences, forces uniformity, and destroys creativity. How long until every generated piece of art starts looking the same? How long until we as humans forget how to create; how to share our own stories and experiences using visual media in a way that nobody else can? How long until you lose what makes you you?
What's wrong with Canva, specifically?
This one's a little complicated because Canva can be a great tool. However, it's very clear that Canva openly embraces and encourages generative art. They're also pretty lousy at crediting the artists behind its assets. Also, even if you don't use Canva's image generator, there's no guarantee that the assets weren't generated and then uploaded. Many Canva contributors have generated images in their portfolios, so, y'know, it's a whole ecosystem over there.
I can really add whatever achievements I want?
Pretty much! It's the honor system, so as long as you're honorable, which obviously you are because you're participating in this jam, you're good. Skim through the list, use the achievements as inspirations for your project, and give yourself little trophies. You earned them. It's a fun gimmick that lets this jam be more things to more people.
What's with the bundle?
When you submit, you'll have the opportunity to opt in to have your submission included in a bundle. You get to pick the percent you want based on your own needs and goals—there'll be no policing on this. Whatever percent remaining will be donated to a charity emphasizing art and creativity, especially in education. I'm familiar with a few local options, but I'm still researching organizations with a larger reach (this will be decided before the bundle launches). Please share any suggestions of verified, reputable charitable organizations that align with this mission. Let's make sure kids can make their own art for many years to come.
Where can I go to talk about this jam?
Anywhere! But, specifically, you can use the #badartjam tag on the social medias (stay off twitter, that's a bad place), post in the community section of this jam, or come hang out in the TTRPG Collective discord server. We've got our own thread over there. Also, yes, even if you're a video game or comic person, we're a chill group, you're welcome to join too.
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