Well, it took a few days longer than I had intended, but it’s time to announce the winners of the Fan Art contest! I should note that there was a good deal of debate over the winner, and also the CATEGORIES of winners. See, I recieved a lot of stuff that could be categorized as “fan art”, and a lot of stuff that would go into the category of “Guest Strips”. So, at the insistence of the other two judges, (Liz and my Mom, respectively) I’ve split the first and second place winners into two categories – Fan Art and Guest Strips. The figurine winner will be the “best of show”. :) Anyhow, I’ll be presenting the Fan Art entries below… the guest strip winners will actually run in place of the comic for the next few days – only three, I promise. Now, on with the winners!
First, our runners up. These pictures by Jeremy Forbes and Luis Deliz were good, but didn’t quite make the cut. However, we felt they were certainly worth mentioning – they’re phenomenal pieces of art. I personally especially liked the look of Tony in Jeremy’s piece. As with the rest of these pictures, click the thumbnail for the full-size artwork.
Here is our second-place winner – a picture by Joel Bartlett (left). This could work almost perfectly on a poster or t-shirt – I really dig the style. Dave reminds me of a mad scientist the way he’s drawn – it’s great. :) Congratulations Joel, you’ve got a $10 certificate on its way to your inbox.
I have to be honest – I ARDENTLY fought for this picture by Madeleine Hiller (right) to be the grand-prize winner – I really did. I mean, it’s hand-drawn, hand-colored… and I will admit to being more than a little biased based on the subject matter alone, if you know what I mean. :) However, as I’ve mentioned, the other two judges were Liz and my Mom, who don’t have the same… erm… criteria that I do, and I was outvoted. However, it does win the First-Place prize for the Fan Art side of things, which is a $25 gift certificate on the Real Life store. (Not to mention a special place in my heart… and on my wall.)
That, of course, brings us to the grand-prize winner – Patrick Rodriguez! (left) This is a great depiction of the Shirt Ninja…er, Greg… well, both of them really. And not only is it a great picture, it’s also fairly apt, considering that it won Mr. Rodriguez a Shirt Ninja Figurine! Congratulations, Patrick… you earned the adoration of my wife and mother. That’s pretty high praise, there. :)
Anyhow, stay tuned over the next few days for the runner-up and winners of the Guest Strip side of the competition! Also, I’ll be using the next few days to be getting the Fan Art section up and running, so you’ll be able to see all the entries. (as well as any new fan art that gets sent in, and any OLD fan art I can manage to find in the labrynth that is my hard drive) Thanks for sending in your artwork, lifers! It was a blast. :)
Seriously though – don’t think that just because the contest is over, there’s no need to send in Fan Art! I love every piece I get, and now that the Fan Art section will be well and truly open, I’d love to see more of your work… there are some truly talented readers out there.