Due to this conference taking forEVER and cab rides in Manhattan at rush hour being endless, I'm awfully late getting the results of our last Character Design Contest posted. My apologies. Time constraints are also keeping me from doing a writeup for each Finalist, which I regret, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Your challenge was to come up with an illustration showcasing a common soldier from any genre. Not the high and mighty generals or the one-off super hero, but your line grunt, the kind of man or woman (or orc or robot or ...) that fights on the front line against the enemy. All of the entries were great, but I picked out a handful that each had something special, unique, and/or spectacular about them.
I also wanted to send a special shout out to all our new folks, as well as returning stars Sean David Ross and Superfan1. Good to see you guys back!
Ladies and gentlemen, your Finalists!
Of course, as always there can be only one winner, and this week I am compelled to go with ... Ploughed Jester!
Since this was a Memorial Day contest, wherein we honor soliders who have died in the discharge of their duties, I thought this was an appropriate representative. I also really liked the lens flare effect, as well as the way Ploughed Jester left the camo pattern on the legs visible. That's a nice effect. Plus, the whole illustration evokes a real emotional response, which for my money is one of the hardest things for any artist to accomplish.
Congratulations to our first time winner! Email me or post a comment to this post with your prize request and I'll throw it on the ol' list.
Thanks to everyone who entered and a hearty well-done to all of our Finalists as well.
