Destructoid is full of talented artists. I'd link 'em all here, but that's too much hypertext for me. But for every talented artist, there's one of us that just doesn't have the time, or the skill to make something on so extravagant. That's where the Masterpiece Theatre comes in.

The MS Paint Masterpiece Theatre is a weekly Destructoid community feature, and everyone's free to join in. It's simple- every month, I'll give you a theme. Your job is to draw something- anything, as long as it relates to the theme. It could even relate loosely. Just make it funny, or cool, or insightful, or something that the community would like. To avoid cries of blogspam, just email it to me (electro.lemon at gmail dot com) with the subject MS Paint Masterpiece and your Dtoid username so I can credit you when I post them all at the end of the week.

But Lemon, why the hell would I take 5 minutes out of my day, and draw something in MS Paint? Because you can win stuff, that's why!

Every week, you guys get to vote on the best MS Paint Masterpiece, and I'll save it for later. At the end of the month, I'll put the 4 best selected (from across the 4 weeks) up in one blog, and you guys will get to vote for the best. The best will win a random prize. Keep in mind- that's 4 weeks. If you don't win the first week, you can submit another masterpiece and try to win again next week. And if you don't win in that week, you can submit ANOTHER one and try to win next month. However, within one month, if yours is selected in one of the 4 weeks that month, you can't submit another one until that month's contest is over. Just to keep it fair. But you can also submit as many paintings as you want in a single week.

Just to be clear- "the best" doesn't always equal the most skillful. You probably have a better chance of winning if your painting is funny, or clever, or insightful. I don't mean to discredit that skill, though- if your really good at making paint masterpieces, then make it look good. You know the Dtoid community- make it something we'll like. But it HAS to be done in a basic program. No Photoshop, no GIMP, no A.viary. Windows users can stick to MS Paint. Mac users? Check out Paintbrush. Linux users? I don't know, Tux Paint or something.

This week's theme is:


Jim Sterling's article on how to improve avatars struck a chord with me. Although my avatar is a picture-perfect representation of me, it's still kind of stupid. So your theme is avatars! Do anything you want with that theme.

Get to it Dtoid! Next Saturday, I'll post the ones I get, and you guys will get a chance to vote. But if you're going to submit a photo, make it Dtoid-safe. That means no porn, not a large file, and in compliance with
Got any questions? Email me, ask stuff on Twitter, or try yelling as loud as you can. That works sometimes.