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[Karnanyd]

That’s right!  We would like you all to have the opportunity to show off your artistic skills and maybe even win some prizes!  In fact, our goal is to have a different contest every month – some art contests, some other types of contests – and we are very excited about it!  So please read the following very carefully and get ready to make some art.  :D

Theme: "Turn an animal into a dragon!"

Submission deadline is February 28th, 2007.
Results announced March 7th, 2007.

- "Animal" refers to non-extinct terrestrial mammals. (In other words, animals currently alive on earth.)
- "Dragon" is admittedly a vague term, but generally we all seem to "know one when we see one". Still, you may wish to model your creation on the 'standard' dragon forms: Western, Eastern, wyvern, etc.
- Be creative! What is the most unusual or interesting design you can come up with?

Rules:

- Please send all entries in .jpeg format to karnanyd @ draconity.org (without spaces)
- Any site member may enter; however, we would request that if you are a professional artist you voluntarily refrain from participating. Members of sister sites may also enter, providing they sign up for an account on our site as well.
- You may submit as many entries as you wish, but you cannot win multiple prizes. However, remember we are judging on quality, not quantity, so one good piece might have a better chance of winning than many rough sketches would.
- All submissions must be your own original works (i.e: works to which you own the copyright). By submitting your work you are granting us permission to display and alter the image for display on draconity.org.
- Entries can be made using any media, either traditional or digital. Each entry should be accompanied by a note telling us how it was made and approximately how much time you spent on it.  This information will help us to form categories if we get enough entries.

Judging:

- Entries will be judged the week of March 1 - 7, with the results announced on March 7.
- Karnanyd, Selroth and AtomicDragon will judge the entries individually (out of 30) and then the scores will be combined (out of 90). Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. In the event of a tie, the general membership with vote on the tied entries.
- Each judge will mark entries on:
 
1) Creativity/Originality. (10 marks) Includes the use of the animal species; incorporation of dragon into animal; uniqueness of design; etc.

2) Artistic Ability/Technique. (10 marks) Includes composition, color, shading, detail, overall impression, etc.

3) Write Up. (10 marks) HINT: Even if you aren't the best artist in the world you can make up some marks here! Tell us a brief story about your design or character in 300 words or less. This will be judged on creativity, quality of writing skills, whether it holds the reader’s interest, etc.  (This is in addition to the note about how you made the piece, mentioned in the rules above.)

Prizes:

1st Prize – A commission purchased by draconity.org from our very own Luth’rai!  (You can view samples of Luth’rai’s work at http://luthrai.deviantart.com/ )  A prize icon to be used as an avatar or signature! Your own custom user title! Front page recognition!

2nd Prize – A commission by Karnanyd! (For samples of work see http://karnanyd.deviantart.com/ ) A prize icon to be used as an avatar or signature! A custom user title! Front page recognition!

3rd Prize - A prize icon to be used as an avatar or signature! A custom user title! Front page recognition!

Please note: If we have enough entries we may split up the submissions into different categories and give out 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes in each category!  (If so, prizes in each category may be done by different artists.)  I'd love to give out a bunch of prizes, so please send in lots and lots of artwork! We also have a bunch of other contests planned in the near future, both art contests and a variety of other types of contests. So the more interest you show in this contest, the more likely it is that you will have further opportunities to win stuff!

Also, please remember that art contests are subjective in nature, so it's possible that you might not agree with the judging results. This is for fun!  :D  So don't get too serious about it.    If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact an admin.

Now... Send me your art!  :)

[Shimdrashula]

I shall enter! It shall be glorious! Now to find a mammal I can draw :/

[W_Dragon]

Sounds like it could be worth entering, though I'll probably be using Blender 3D. Though I have entered weekend challenges at Blenderartists a long time ago and never got more then 2 votes.  Oh well.

[atomicdragon]

Each entry should be accompanied by a note telling us how it was made and approximately how much time you spent on it.

 
This information could also be useful to learning artists.  So it might be worthwhile to give more detail if you have a chance, like how and how long for different stages (e.g. planning, sketching, inking, coloring).
 

This will be judged on creativity, quality of writing skills, whether it holds the reader’s interest, etc.

 
Please take the time to spell check and proof read the write up part, possibly with the help of another set of eyes.  This could make a decent difference in how it is perceived by judges and scored.

[Selroth]

By submitting your work you are granting us permission to display and alter the image for display on draconity.org.

I just wanted to point out that we're going to display the winner :)  We're not going to alter the image any more than we have to in order to display it as the winner.  We're not really going to use the image beyond that :)


But yeah!  This will be a monthly thing, but this one is the FIRST one and that makes it special :)  Please participate, even if a quick 5-minute drawing is all you can spare.  You don't have to be any professional or such.  This contest is intended for everyone of all ages and all skill levels and all members regardless of longevity on this site.

[Karnanyd]

Ok, I've had a few questions about my definition of animal, so I thought I should clarify.

- "Animal" refers to non-extinct terrestrial mammals. (In other words, animals currently alive on earth.)

By this, I simply meant that you should choose an animal that you could find today on earth, preferably a mammal.  I was using "terrestrial" as in "of the planet earth".  That means that animals that live in the ocean are perfectly acceptible.  However, I would rather you didn't use fictional species or extinct species.  Birds would be ok, but reptiles and amphibians and the like are already pretty similar to dragons, so it's probably best to avoid those.  (As one person said: "Look, it's a crocodile-dragon!" "How can you tell? O_o")

[JoeCapricorn]

Can it be more than one animal?

And must it be vertebrate?

I was thinking a grasshopper walrus eagle dragon...

I got something even better than that though, and 'tis just a single mammal + dragon.

[atomicdragon]

My response to those questions, is that it sounds like ultimately it will come down to creativity points, and I would think the less dragon-like the animal you start off is, the more creativity points you could get if you do something decent with it.  I don't mean to say the most exotic species will win, but when comparing two images that look similarly like dragons, one from a lizard and one from some mammal, the latter will get more points.  And in that regard, remember that the dragons from a lot of early dragon myths were pretty chimeric in nature, based on animals there were "part dragon-like."
   
Karn might chime in with more specifics later, especially about the multiple animal question.

[Karnanyd]

Can it be more than one animal?

And must it be vertebrate?

I was thinking a grasshopper walrus eagle dragon...

I got something even better than that though, and 'tis just a single mammal + dragon.

I would prefer that you choose a single animal, just to keep everyone on a level playing field.

It doesn't have to be a vertebrate, (which I guess means it doesn't have to be a mammal, since mammals are vertebrates), but the less dragon-like animal you pick, the higher your creativity score will be.  Therefore, if you pick a bearded dragon (lizard) your creativity score will be low.  So when it comes to crustaceans and things, the choice is up to you.

[atomicdragon]

This is a reminder that there is about a week and a half to the deadline of the contest.
 
Also, to get a better gauge of how much judging there will be and if the deadline is working out (and possibly an idea if more than one category of prizes would be a good idea), it might be helpful if people working on an entry respond  if they are thinking of submitting an entry and possibly how it is coming along.

[Shimdrashula]

I'm late, yes, I know. I don't even know if it will be finished in time. This month became a very busy one for me. I'm truly sorry.

[Karnanyd]

It doesn't matter if you get it finished, just submit it!  :)

[Shimdrashula]

I should be able to finish the main subject by this weekend, but the background is another issue. I'll see what I can do. I'm happy that it is proceeding much faster than it would with a mouse.

[Karnanyd]

Background is not strictly necessary, although it may contribute to the overall impression, of course.  I'm sure that whatever you get done will be fine.  :)

[atomicdragon]

It is down to a couple days, and we haven't heard much from as many people as originally said they might be interested in such a contest.  If the deadline is simply the issue, there can be talks of extensions.
 
This was considered as possibly the first of many competitions, with the site willing to purchase prizes for, although if the turn out is similar to what has been seen with this one so far, it will be unlikely to continue.

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