We had a huge response to our "Space Pirate" Character Design Contest, thank you all very much! I saw a number of new folks entering for the first time as well, and I wanted to be sure to extend a warm welcome to them. I hope we see you around here for a long time to come!
By way of introduction, I have downloaded all of the submissions and looked through them each. Because there are so many (101!), I can't possibly show them all. Instead I go through and single out those entries that have something really special or unique about them, and show those in a gallery. Those are our Finalists, and I pick the overall winner from that group. Sometimes it's for the overall impact of the illustration, but sometimes it's just for one element that I liked a lot.
If your entry isn't one of the Finalists, that doesn't mean it wasn't good (even VERY good), or that I didn't like it, or that you're a bad person. I just have to limit them to a manageable number and, like on American Idol where sometimes great performers get cut, some fine illustrations will get left by the wayside. That's why I encourage everyone to go through the original submissions one by one, because you might just find your favorite there that I overlooked.
With that said, here are your Finalists (click on any one to start the slideshow -- the name of the artist and the image name is at the bottom):
Some random thoughts:
- I like Alvacascus' environment and clothing a lot, but something about the head threw me. I couldn't quite fit that in with the rest of the design.
- Ariana Iris didn't put a link directly to the image so I almost didn't count it, but Tarkabarka was nice enough to do so later in the comments. Which is good, because this was a nice character.
- I dug Atomic Punk's ice asteroid. Neat effect!
- BornToBeALoser's "Kraken Starsea" echoes "Pirates of the Caribbean" a bit but it's still a nice looking image.
- Cliff's tiny little shoulder-mounted pirate wench was too cute not to include.
- I also dug Gendonesia's mech parrot, and that background is great.
- Headlessgeneral's "Damian" and "TheShade" both look like badasses.
- Kaylin88100's "Space Pirate Girl" has a nice, simple color scheme that works well both in the character and in the background, yet avoids making the two blend together too much.
- Kytana's "Space Pirates" has so much dynamism and cool stuff going on I hardly know where to start. Awesome.
- MadDoctor's fat space robot pirate has a ton of charm. And that parrot freaks me out.
- Marquis Samedi' group shot rocks, and that boat is out of this world. See what I did there?! Seriously, that pirate ship is fantastic.
- Myro's big bad space blob was funny and made me laugh. Not easy on a busy Monday.
- I love the way Rancid's entry feels piratical with the mishmash of parts and the generally grungy look.
- RobM's "Jolly Roger" is scary.
- roccopio_cuccurullo's "KALI" is clean, simple, elegant, and appealing.
- I liked Sohier-Legand's interior. The green guy's eye keeps following me around the room, too. Brrrr.
- SpellCheckingQuill used a neat pose and very effective coloring to make an impactful scene.
- Tarkabarka's "Magloria" is outstanding. I love the playfulness, the character design, the background, and the overall feel. Great work.
- Tool's "Space Pirate" hits all the right notes, from the nice background to the booty to the great Jolly Roger flag.
- Both of Trekkie's entries are awesome. I love love love those backgrounds. And the juxtaposition of the wooden spars against those backgrounds is very effective. Plus, the characters themselves pop with personality.
- Vampyrist's "Avlar" is just old-fashioned cool.
- I thought XavierKing5's robot pirate was a nice example of the concept.
Looking back through those, a few really stood out even among the standouts. Namely, I think Kytana, Rancid, and Trekkie all have just a hairs-breadth separating them. They're all fantastic illustrations, making it very difficult to choose just one. But, I have to, and so the overall win this time around goes to ... Trekkie!
Congratulations! Let me know what you'd like for your prize and I'll put it on The List. I believe this is Trekkie's first win after many many Finalist entries, which makes me super happy.
Thanks again to everyone who made an entry, and welcome once again to our newcomers! Stay tuned for a new contest later in the day that will really knock your socks off.
