Paint contests

Most paint shops hold paint contests on a regular basis. Some hold them once a week, and some have contests several times throughout the day. Paint contests last anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes. The person or people running a paint contest start with a pre-cut avatar, which everyone can see. Everyone who has decided to join the contest takes a screen shot of the avatar, loads it into their paint program, and competes to create the most appealing avatar. Sometimes the chat rooms vote on the best avatar, other times the folks running the paint contest decide who the winners are. There are other variations to paint contests too: sometimes there is more than one pre-cut avatar used and contestants can choose which one to paint. Some paint shops also hold email paint contests, in which people mail in their entries. Paint contests are immensely popular in avatar-based chats.