THE CONTEST, IT IS OVER. AND THE ENTRIES ARE AWESOME.

MY CHILDREN

THE TIME HAS COME

That time I know you all love! THAT'S RIGHT It's time for Leslie to run yet another of her contests! The last time I ran any event was the Masquerade end of last year, and months before that was the last contest. So I think it's about time.

This contest is something I've been itching to do for a while, a straight-up DRAW THESE CHARACTERS contest. The theme and subject are MENAGERIE CHARACTERS. The basic idea is as follows:

You check the refs I'll provide links to, or surf through my Menagerie Gallery or my Menagerie Art on LJ and find a character or characters from the Menagerie setting that you desire to draw. Then, you draw him or her or them in whatever way seems best to you (with consideration for the rules on which I will expand below). You send me (via dA notes, LJ messages, or my email, paperback_writer (at) verizon (dot) net) a link to your piece of art, which you have uploaded to dA or Photobucket or the gallery/imagehosting site of your choice. When all the entries are in (see the deadline, also below), I will judge the entries, declare winners, and make charmin' prizes of all sorts for everyone (again, more below).

Does this sound like a plan? Unlike my other contests, I think this one should stay pretty simple.

Timeline

Deadline for entries: July 16, 2008, 2AM Eastern time CONTEST IS OVER
Winners announced: July 26, 2008
Deadline for prize requests: August 5, 2008
Prizes will be completed at my earliest convenience thereafter (if you don't make the deadline for prize requests, you forfeit)

Rules

If you ask about something that’s already in the rules, I’m probably going to tell you to reread them. Save your time and mine by reading them carefully. They’re here to give you ideas and help you.

1. One entry per person.

2. Any Menagerie character is acceptable. I'm only going to link to refs to a few, but don't feel limited to those. If you find a character in my Menagerie folder on dA or my Menagerie art on LJ you'd like to draw, feel free! If you're not sure whether a particular character is Menagerie or not, ask me! If you have a question about a character you'd like to draw, ask me! If you'd like to know colors for a character of whom only b&w art exists, as me! I may even whip up a quick color ref for you.

2. On a related note, because this was an issue with my Robo-Beatles contest, creatures from the Menagerie setting are also acceptable. However, if you are going to draw, say, a Menagerie dragon, I expect you to dig around and find out what it is that makes a Menagerie dragon unique, and your entry should reflect that and not just be RANDOM CREATURE LOL.

3. Any static visual medium is allowed. I say "drawing," I mean drawing, painting, sculpture, textile... whatever. Just nothing written. Judging fanfic, poetry, or animation would be a totally different animal and I don't want to throw that into the mix.

4. Keep your content decent. I hate to impose specific ratings, but I know it's necessary to set some guidelines. So. In general no swearing--my position on fictional language is complex, but I think it's just less confusing for everyone if we avoid cursing. No strong sexual content--okay, something mildly pinuppy I might not mind, or a slightly edgy joke, but I really do not desire to see any strongly sexual entries. No excessive gore/violence--this is actually something I have fewer issues with, so a fair rule of thumb is yes, you can throw the blood around, but try to keep the organs inside. Good? Good. If you have any questions about the content of your entry, please feel free to ask me. I will not bite--in fact I'll be grateful you asked beforehand.

I think those are enough to be going on with. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. If you bring up something major I've overlooked, I'll edit the rules accordingly.

Judging & Prizes

Once I've got all the entries in, I'll be judging and that will be an exciting time. This time round, instead of the traditional first-second-third-runners-up setup, I'm going to judge in categories. These are the categories:

Best Humor
Best Romance
Best Group
Best Human (Individual)
Best Nonhuman (Individual)
Best Illustration
Best Sequential

And runner-up prizes for everyone else. The winner in each category will get a picture, in the medium of their choice, of up to 3 characters (one piece cannot win in multiple categories). I reserve the right to interpret the characters in whatever way I see fit (i.e. it might be a portrait, or full-figure, or a comic, or... you get the idea). I will try to maintain a certain equality between prizes, though. Runners-up each get a full-figure sketch of 1 character.

Also, I will be doing four Character's Choice awards (Simon's Choice, Saul's Choice, Ritchie's Choice, Cass' Choice). These are purely silly. What you get if you win one of these is an art request as drawn by the character (i.e. me pretending to draw like them). Which, uh. Will in some cases be pretty mediocre, because the best artist of the lads is Saul and he's not what I'd call amazing. This is a strictly for-fun prize, which will be awarded in addition to regular prizes. So don't worry you're gonna get stuck with Ritchie's stick figures and nothing else. In fact, don't worry about this one at all.

In fact, it's just as well that you don't worry about the categories at all. You don't have to declare your piece for a particular category--I'll make that call when judging. So just draw your entries as you see fit, and let me worry about the categories.

References

Here I've compiled handy links to a few of the more major characters in Menagerie, the ones you're likely to know best.

Simon: [link] (more links in desc)
Saul: [link] (more links in desc)
Ritchie: [link] (more links in desc)
Cass: [link] (more links in desc)
Amelie: [link] (more links in desc)
Glinda: [link] [link] [link] [link] [link]
Jack: [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link]
Anaximander: [link] [link] [link]
Deathface: [link] [link] [link] [link]
Theo: [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link]

However, don't feel constrained to this list! Menagerie is a diverse setting, and you can find pictures of many other characters, all of whom you are welcome to draw for the contest. To hunt for refs of those characters, check out either the Menagerie Folder on my dA, or Menagerie Sketches on LJ. Again, if you're not sure whether a character is Menagerie or not, you have a question about the character, or you need color information, feel free to ask! You can comment on this entry, note me, LJ message me, or email me at paperback_writer (at) verizon (dot) net.

FAQ

1. What do I need to do to enter, again?

Draw a picture of a character or characters from my Menagerie setting, upload it somewhere, and send me a link to it. That's all! After judging, one winners and runners-up are announced, you'll also need to contact me with your prize request within ten days, or forfeit the prize (I'm doing that this time around because I've had problems with people not claiming their prizes, and I'd like to avoid the nagging and whatnot I've had to go through).

2. When's the deadline?

The entry deadline is July 16, 2008, 2AM Eastern time. The deadline for submitting your prize request to me, once winners have been announced, is August 5, 2008.

3. How does judging work? What's the deal with these categories?

When I get all the entries in, I'll sit down and pick winners for each category. I'm not sure how I'll do that--sometimes I just pick, sometimes I create a scoring system for myself. I might also consult my sister if I have a tie. Either way, I'm in control of who wins, and the decision is based on my preferences. I try to be somewhat objective, but you know, it's a subjective kind of thing by definition.

The categories thing is just that--categories of winners. I'll decide which piece seems to be strongest in the elements of a category, and that's the winner for that category. Each entry can only win in one category--so if, for instance, your entry is very strong as a Human (Individual) picture, but also screamingly funny, I'll award it whichever aspect I think is stronger, and take it out of the running in another category.

None of this really affects you, however. All you have to do is make an entry.

4. Do I have to have a dA/LJ/etc?

Absolutely not! All you have to have is a place to upload your picture, and a means of contacting me. You can upload your entry to any image hosting service (Photobucket, Imageshack, etc), or any gallery site (devART, Elfwood, Furaffinity, Jaxpad/Artspots, etc.), your own webspace... wherever. You can contact me via email (paperback_writer (a) verizion (dot) net), via dA notes, or via LJ notes. You have options!

5. I want to draw <Menagerie character>

Feel free! You can draw any Menagerie character, not just the ones I've provided references for. Browse around my Menagerie Folder on dA or Menagerie Sketches on LJ. If you need to know more about a character, feel free to ask! If you need a color ref for a character I've drawn only in b&w, let me know--I may be able to toss together a quick color ref for you. If you're not sure whether a character belongs in Menagerie or not, again, feel free to ask.

6. I want to draw <non-Menagerie character>.

Sorry, the contest is only open to Menagerie characters. If you're not sure about whether a character hails from Menagerie or not, ask me. I know it can be hard to discern who's who and where everyone comes from.

7. I have some other question not answered here.

Ask! You can email me, note me, or comment on this entry (or the announcement entry on my creative journal.

Summary

1. Draw a Menagerie character(s): [link] [link]
2. Upload your drawing somewhere and send me the link.
3. Entry deadline: July 16, 2008, 2AM Eastern time CONTEST OVER
4. There will be 7 category winners. Everyone else gets runner-up prizes.
5. If you have a question, read this entry carefully. If it's not answered here, ask me!
6. HAVE FUN, CHILDREN.

Enrtries

- [link]

- [link]

- [link]

- [link]

- [link]

- [link]

- [link]

- [link]

- [link]