In the UK we have something called the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme. It's a scheme designed for young people (aged 16-25) to demonstrate allroundedness and general good citizen ship. Website here if anybody is interested - www.dofe.org/default.aspx

I am doing the Gold award and I have a year left to get finished. I have to have completed 5 sections including a skill - MLP customising!

Unfortunately since I left school I haven't been part of a "group" and so I'm kind of running blind with it. I have been customising for a couple of years now so I meet the time criteria, but I also need a way to show the progression of skills.

I have a blog in my signature which - when I get my backside in gear and update it - will show all of the customs that I've made as a kind of portfolio - but I need somebody to assess my progress and fill in the form. I have somebody in mind for this if they are willing, but need ideas on how the customs could be assessed.

I have a couple of ideas:

1. Scoring customs out of 5/10 on certain criteria
2. Repeating my first custom (still in my possession) to show progression
3. Selling a custom and trying to hit a certain value (in 2010 my PonyCon fundraising custom hit around £30 I believe)

Any suggestions?

I think one thing that can help with criteria is did the materials do exactly what you wanted them to do?

We often start out with fairly similar materials. In the first customs, the paintwork may not be as controlled. This applies to sculpting, etc. I think of it as a somewhat less biased way to view skill/progression.

Selling price is another interesting marker, but while it is more cut and dry it doesn't really take economic factors into account.

Repeating the custom might be an interesting project. Sounds neat!

The remake of an old custom design sounds like a pretty solid way to show your improvement; I'd definitely do that. I knew an artist once who drew/painted a wolf portrait every year to show her progression, and having the same sort of subject shows the differences in pure skill really clearly.

Attempting to reach a certain sale price might be more difficult with all the financial crises going on in different countries. Besides, I think it's pretty well understood by most people that expense does not necessarily equal quality.