by Alex Ziebart 
May 13th 2009 at 2:00PM
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Contests, Fan art
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Darkmoon Faire (Terokkar) | 11/1 - 11/7 |
| Call to Arms: Arathi Basin | 11/6 - 11/9 |
| Call to Arms: Eye of the Storm | 11/13-11/16 |
| Call to Arms: Alterac Valley | 11/20-11/23 |
| Pilgrim's Bounty | 11/22-11/28 |
| Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch | 11/27-11/30 |
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Dharmabhum May 13th 2009 2:10PM
awesome submissions. wish i could see them all easily. any chance you can move that shitty ford advert that pops up in the middle of every picture i try and look at?
Alex Ziebart May 13th 2009 2:28PM
When you run into ads like that, ones that sit on top of everything and don't let you close them, screenshot it and mail it to our tipline: http://www.wowinsider.com/tips
We'll see what we can do about it.
Mihn May 13th 2009 2:10PM
The grand prize one is truly "Art".
Yeng May 14th 2009 10:18AM
I like the moonkin one. Though it would be cooler if he wasn't hugging someone :D
Tish May 14th 2009 1:49PM
The "Moonkin of My Heart" is georgeous. I could see getting that one framed.
nobbie May 13th 2009 2:17PM
The style of the grandprize winner reminds me a lot of the art of surrealist Giorgio de Chirico, nicely done!
jellyphish May 13th 2009 2:18PM
While the grand prize winner is funny, i think some of the other submissions were more deserving. But nice work by everyone. especially the "level ?? elite".
Alex Ziebart May 13th 2009 2:21PM
All of the submissions were absolutely awesome, and I might try to see if I have some of the basic loot cards laying around I can give to the other people who sent in submissions. No promises on that though- I have no idea what I have stashed away.
jellyphish May 13th 2009 2:27PM
Well, if you find anything cool, send it my way too! =P
Zral May 13th 2009 2:24PM
The grand prize winner was awful...was the ret monkey one of the judges?
AishaLove May 13th 2009 2:31PM
I don't know seems that the wowinsider staff has some spesific tastes in art.
Should have narrowed it down to like 20 finalists and let the community vote.
Bubsa May 13th 2009 2:31PM
I presume the winning entry as done in homage to a famous artist's style? (My artistic knowledge is pretty damn poor)
Skarlette May 13th 2009 2:36PM
The "Level ?? Elite" was adorable. Good job, six-year-old WoW fan! ^_^
CursedSeishi May 13th 2009 2:41PM
I agree, though seeing how some artists in that gallery have multiple pieces, maybe it should of been top 5 instead of 3. Personally the 3 winners didn't impress me, but the ones after it, made by Mellanie Nicklo and Evan Hunt, and the Murloc dragging Frostmourne, were great to me.
CursedSeishi May 13th 2009 2:42PM
bah, bloody back button.
This was supposed to be a reply to AishaLove
Zooty May 13th 2009 3:05PM
I'm sorry but the Grand Prize winner looks like something a 13-year old could do with colored pencils.
Maybe being an artist makes my views a bit extreme, or maybe there weren't many submissions, but overall the top three were definitely not the best works in the collection.
Take the moonkin (not winner) one for example; great pencil/pen work, while using a very limited pallet to convey the mood. And about the color, a stained yellow with a parchment/scroll type look, I feel it gives the image a bit of an emotional touch, which I find gives it more of that 'artistic' feel.
Also the female in the art submitted by Evan Hunt has excellent pencil usage, (I'm assuming, unless he uses a crazy pen o_O) and awesome shading and light reflection, using only a monochrome scheme.
Even the few of a player simply standing at the camera utilized better drawing/inking techniques that far surpass that of the winner(s) which, again, look very unfinished, and made by someone with less-than-stellar artistic skills, so I guess w00t on winning the 'art' contest :P
P.S. The third place submission hurts the eyes, and would have been better off wasted on the level ?? elite XD
Alex Ziebart May 13th 2009 3:06PM
Those all were very good, yes. Unfortunately, they didn't follow the guidelines of the contest, which is kind of a problem. : )
Kittens May 13th 2009 3:28PM
And I, as a professional illustrator, must seriously disagree with you! :)
I think the grand prize winner is well-deserved, and certainly not something 'a 13-year old would color in'. I think Raymond Liang is the only artist in the gallery that shows a very distinct personal style here, which is something I personally would choose over the more realistic style of the images submitted by say, Evan Hunt. Plus, those kind of images... we've all seen them a thousand times before, right? While they may be technical masterpieces or whatever, they are not very original. I'd rather see some fresh different styles!
What I also like about the winners, is that they made a specific piece to fit the contest. Some of the other images rather seem to be some WoW related art that had already been made, and got sent in for the contest afterwards.
Though alright alright, I might have put the moonkin in the top 4 as well. Hehe
Pyornthe May 14th 2009 11:28AM
You do realize those are just cheesy after-effects added in photoshop, right?
I'd be more impressed with it if they'd done the entire piece in traditional media instead of just running it through the sepia and distressed-paper factory in photoshop.
I like the winner a lot, and I too am an artist. I think it perfectly suits the contest and it's really a great idea. They said in advance that the winner was going to be based on the idea over the skill, so I don't get why everyone's pooh-poohing the prize winners because they aren't super complex or the proportions are wrong. Honestly, who cares? It's supposed to be a fun contest, not a high end gallery opening.
FUN. F.U.N. Do all you people complaining whine and cry because the comics in your newspaper aren't perfect? I, for one, don't. If it makes me smile, it's done its purpose.
And thus, the winner fulfills its purpose of showing the WoWinsider staff in-game, going above and beyond by putting them in a humorous and creative fashion.
I fail to see what hugging moonkins has to do with WoWinsider.
Pyornthe May 14th 2009 11:30AM
Wow, on another note, you really don't know your mediums. The "pencil" picture by Hunt is quite clearly digital work. Just look at the little people in the background. You can see he's using a digital brush on a lower opacity.