THE ULTIMATE CONTEST OF HIDDEN CHAIN

The contest has ENDED! Please go HERE to see the updates from now on. This contest information page won't be updated anymore. Please go to my dA account to keep track of the entries, results (coming soon!) and also the prizes list status! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT! :)

~~ Ultimate Contests: kinda like having 8 mini contests and 1 main contest~ :) ~~

1.0 - The "What; Why; Who; Where; When" of this contest.

2.0 - Please READ THIS first before proceed to next section!!

3.0 - The Ultimate Three Categories:

3.1 - The 1st Category: Individual Character
3.1.1 - Have 5 Sub-categories

3.2 - The 2nd Category: Duo Characters
3.2.1 - Have 3 Sub-categories

3.3 - The 3rd Category: Group Characters

4.0 - Deadline

5.0 - Summary/Conclusion

What?
It is the contest for my online comic, Hidden Chain (HC). I know that the comic/story hasn't already went deep since I did not have much time to update the comic, but overall you can get the summary and basic understanding about Hidden Chain from the site ---> CLICK ME PLEASEEEE!
And another more info especially on the main characters' full profiles and also the FAQ section here in my DA journal ---> CLICK ME PLEASEEEE!

Why?
The reason for this contest is to see more and varieties of HC fanarts from various artists and various styles. And to make this happen, if I want the probability of many people enter to be high, that means I need to make the probability of many people win to be high too. So expect more prizes from me if many artists enter this contest~ For the prizes, I can only offer request arts from me to become most of the prizes, but I'd really love too to see many submissions from various artists. :) Really hope you'll like my art style to enter this contest. I hope this will encourage you to enter, so don't be afraid to enter neh~

Who?
Who can enter this contest? Anyone can enter since I want to see my characters in various styles of artists~ (well.. as long as you didn't draw stick people..^_^;; )
Whom to draw? There are 5 main characters of HC; Keegan, Calder, Maia, Vance and Craig. This contest will go around those 5 characters.

Where?
This contest is held mainly in my website and my DA account. But I will try to promote it more in other places. Please feel free to promote this contest too~ The more people participated the merrier~
Where to send the entries? Just email me at bsapphirez@yahoo.com or upload it anywhere and then give me the link to it. Or if you're a DA people, just send me a Note.
Where to find information on HC? From its website and also its DA journal section.

When?
This contest will be held about 5 months starting November 15 2007 and will probably end on April 30 2008 depends on the target of the entries. If there are still very lack of entries by the end of April, I might extend the deadline. (Now extended until 7th June 2008)

[The arts in the picture above are not entries. They're fan arts I got before the contest, so DON'T be confused with them]

Objective:
Draw just one of the HC's characters (that's why this category has 5 sub-categories as there are 5 main characters). And if you want, you can create a new designs costumes or weapons lot better than their original ones that can match their elemental power too~ like Fire Knight design? Water Deity design? It's up to you ~

Types of arts allowed? :
I don't mind if your entry is colored or B&W/toning/screentone/monotone (and any medium is accepted)
But don't think that only colored art can win! B&W/toning/screentone/monotone can win too (I've seen soo many good B&W arts out there~ XD ) Just choose which one you're better at. If you think your colored art is better than B&W, then do colored art. (but I guess B&W arts need more efforts than colored art.. So choose wisely.. )

There are FIVE sub-categories!
But each will have one prize only which means for the best one:

[1] best Keegan
[2] best Calder
[3] best Maia
[4] best Vance
[5] best Craig

My Target number of entries: Minimum 5 entries for each sub-category, otherwise I'll cancel the sub-category that didn't have entries at all, or will give each entries something special if the sub-category didn't reach its targeted number of entries.

Prize for the best: Request one art from me; colored or B&W (depends), max 1 character only.
(so there will be 5 main prizes for this 1st category. but expect more extra prizes if there are many entries)

RULES + NOTES on this 1st category:
[1] You MUST draw at least half-body (but please don't feel too limited or burdened with that..it's up to your creativity actually. ) More than that is welcomed. Poses are up to you; sitting, standing, hero-figure pose etc. But please, a very weird pose is not encouraged..

[2] You can enter all 5 sub-categories (if you want) but just one entry only for each sub.

[3] Background is optional but it's an added bonus if you do it.

[4] How about Collaboration? Since I myself don't know how to split the prize and plus the prize is only 1 max character so I think I won't accept Collaboration for this category. Sorry neh :P

[5] Please keep the art PG-13.

ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE CHARACTER NAMED CALDER: He isn't a Water Possessor (he's just an ex-Water Possessor..) so he didn't bear the water elemental power.. but just for this contest, you can have fun if you want to design him as one of the water elemental Possessors. (so meaning you can make him to have water power too. :) )

[The arts in the picture above are not entries. They're fan arts I got before the contest, so DON'T be confused with them]

Objective:
Draw two of the HC's characters (depends on the sub-category you chose). Please refer to each sub-category's objective below.

Types of arts allowed? :
I don't mind if your entry is colored or B&W/toning/screentone/monotone (and any medium is accepted) .
But don't think that only colored art can win! B&W/toning/screentone/monotone can win too (I've seen soo many good B&W arts out there~ XD ) Just choose which one you're better at. If you think your colored art is better than B&W, then do colored art. (but I guess B&W arts need more efforts than colored art.. So choose wisely.. )

There are THREE sub-categories!
But each will have one prize only which means for the best one:

[1] best "Maia And Him"
[2] best "With Chibi"
[3] best "It's Boys Time!"

My Target number of entries: Minimum 5 entries for each sub-category, otherwise I'll cancel the sub-category that didn't have entries at all, or will give each entries something special if the sub-category didn't reach its targeted number of entries.

[1] best 'Maia And Him' art - For your information, Maia is the only female among the 5 characters, so do you suddenly ever think of shoujo theme? Now you can have fun to pair her up with any of the 4 males you like. (Ohh, just wanted to let you know that Maia isn't paired (yet) with anyone in the original story so don't be disturbed with the original story.. Just have fun pair her up with any of the 4 males. ) Draw them doing something as it is an added bonus (interaction mark)

[2] best 'With Chibi' art - You have to choose anyone from my OCs, and then draw him/her together with his/her chibi form! (like example Keegan with chibi/little Keegan). Draw them doing something as it is an added bonus (interaction mark)

[3] best 'It's Boys time!' art - You can choose any 2 of the 4 males and draw them~ Draw them doing something as it is an added bonus.(interaction mark) You wanna put BL? Yaoi? Shounen ai? Err.. sorry but I kinda don't encourage that since I want to keep PG13 for this contest..heheh.. but if it's a friendship between males, so it's OK then. :)

Prize for the best: Request one art from me; colored or B&W (depends), max 2 characters only.
(so there will be 3 main prizes for this 2nd category. but expect more extra prizes if there are many entries)

RULES + NOTES on this 2nd category:
[1] You MUST draw at least half-body (but please don't feel too limited or burdened with that..it's up to your creativity actually. ) More than that is welcomed. Poses are up to you; sitting, standing, hero-figure pose etc. But please, a very weird pose is not encouraged..

[2]You can enter all 3 sub-categories (if you want) but just one entry only for each sub.

[3] For "With Chibi", the chibi must be the chibi of the character you choose! If you choose Keegan, then you have to draw chibi Keegan, not chibi Calder or chibi Maia or chibi others..

[4] Background is optional but it's an added bonus if you do it.

[5] How about Collaboration? Not very encouraged since I myself don't know how to split the prize. But since the prize is max 2 characters, so unless you don't mind receiving one character per art, so it will be 2 separate arts with one character per art. Hope you get what I meant, lol

[6] Please keep the art PG-13.. so avoid drawing ecchi/hentai/sexual/nudity scenes especially for the "Maia and Him" category.. V_V and avoid BL/yaoi/shounen ai scene for "It's Boys time!", but if it's a friendship between males, I guess it's OK, lol.

[The arts in the picture above are not entries. They're fan arts I got before the contest, so DON'T be confused with them]

Objective:
Draw ALL five HC's characters. The art must include all the 5 characters, AND must include situational background and you must create it by yourself~ what I mean by this category, I want to see some situational arts. Some scenes arts. Not just conceptual arts. I hope you know what I meant. Here are some examples of situational themes/ideas for you to understand about this 3rd category:

Again, a reminder that you do not have to draw based on just these listed themes/ideas only, you are free to draw the characters in whatever situation you like ^^

Types of arts allowed? :
Entries for this category MUST be colored. I don't mind if it's a detailed colored, or a simple/soft colored, or a cell-style or just a quick doodling coloring colored as long as it's not a Black&White or monotone art.. And any coloring medium is accepted as long as it's colored~

RULES + NOTES on this 3rd category:
[1] Your entry must be colored. (I don't mind if it's a detailed colored, or a simple/soft colored, or a cell-style colored, or just a quick doodling coloring as long as it's not a black&white or monotone art.. And any coloring medium is accepted as long as it's colored~)

[2] Your entry must have situational background (not that patterned bg; circles or squared bg. Even a very very simple situational bg will do. How about PHOTO manipulated? Hermm.. you can draw the bg based on PHOTO reference but please don't lie to me by manipulating the photo, cut and paste it and then use the filtering tools.. I want you to draw the bg by yourself neh, even if it is the very simplest one you could do. :) I might not know whether you're manipulating or not but I just want to be fair to all. )

[3] Your entry must include all the 5 characters but it's not that you have to make all the 5 characters being main focused (since I know it will be crowded), so you might want to think of the perspective too. Like example you can focus maybe on 2 characters, and the other 3 will be at the back (which means, they're not the main focus). It's just that I want all of the 5 to be in the art, not all the 5 need to be focused. Use your creativity on how you want to do with the perspective. :)

[4] You can submit more than one entry BUT with different situational scene only, but you can only win just one place even though you submit many. (I want to give others chances too)

[5] How about Collaboration? It's accepted but it's up to you guys on how you guys want to split the prize if you guys win. :)

[6] Please keep the art PG-13.

And I am sorry I know this category is kinda complicated but I hope it's worth of the prizes. :) HAVE FUN!

Prizes:

1st place:
3 months DA subscription (or USD7.95 via Paypal only) AND a B&W (toning+screentone) request art max 6 people, with simple bg
OR
1 months DA subscription (or USD4.95 via Paypal only) AND a COLORED request art max 3 people, with simple bg

2nd place:
3 months DA subscription (or USD7.95 via Paypal only) AND a B&W (toning+screentone) request art max 4 people, with simple bg
OR
1 months DA subscription (or USD4.95 via Paypal only) AND a COLORED request art max 2 people, with simple bg

3rd place:
3 months DA subscription (or USD7.95 via Paypal only) AND a B&W (toning+screentone) request art max 2 people, with simple bg
OR
1 months DA subscription (or USD4.95 via Paypal only) AND a COLORED request art max 1 people, with simple bg

(so there will be 3 main prizes for this 3rd category. but expect more extra prizes if there are many entries)

4.0 - Deadline:

!! DEADLINE for all categories!!

About 5 months starting November 15 2007 until April 30 2008.
(But if there are still very lack of entries, I might extend the deadline.)

NOW EXTENDED UNTIL 7th June 2008~
(sob.. there still few entries only..T_T )

Contest summary:
total main categories = 3
total sub-categories = 8
Total main prize = 11 main prizes to be won!

But if there are many artists entering the contest, I might will add more extra prizes in the future.. maybe some consolation+surprise+ prizes for honorable mentions or best medium or best digital or best traditional. (even it's just a doodle/oekaki) can expect participant gift too.. haha
err but I can offer request art prizes and some dA subscriptions only, not other than that... So you might have the chances to win.
I wanna draw for you guys in return too! :) Be creative and have FUN! :)

Conclusion:
I guess this is my ultimate contest I've ever held so far.. and it's the first and maybe the last contest for HC. So I guess I won't make another contest after this for a looooong time.. (that's why I'm holding a life-long contest with many categories and sub-categories) Hope you guys will be interested to enter~ If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask me (but make sure you've read this page first otherwise I'll be just repeating the things I've already stated, lolz ^_^;; ) ~ You can show your rough works too to me if you want whether it followed the category's objectives or not~ But please, don't let the many things and rules to limit your creativity~ I'm not that evil to reject any entries you've made, lolz. X3

In this contest, you can do whatever you want about their costume designs and such. But if you want to stick to their original costumes designs, I don't mind. :)
But as for the clothing part, if you want to make them wearing casual clothes, no need to match too exaggerate their cloths' color with their elements.. like example I don't want to see Keegan wears all red from head to toes, or Vance wears all green from head to toes.. it will kinda make them look like Power Rangers you know.. lol!! I hope you get what I meant. Their original costumes are based on their elements' colors because it's kinda an official costumes for working. Kinda like an office costumes, lolz.

Lastly but not least, this is kinda a life-long contest (that's why it has many categories and sub-categories; something like many contests at one time) so take your time to read this page and hope that won't stop your interests to join this contest. Have fun and be creative! ^_^