Alternate Link
The amazing art of Guild Wars has inspired us to start drawing and art has become such a big part of us now. We wanted to bring you this art contest to share this inspiration with all of you. Myself (Dream Haunt (DVDF)) and Illudia Absurdus (H Eleni tis Troias (WCC)) invite you all to spend an evening with our mesmers.
To enter,
1. Draw YOUR favourite Guild Wars Character in the perfect situation along with EITHER Dream Haunt or H Eleni tis Troias. Imagine how your character would like to spend an evening with a mesmer. Choose one of the two mesmers and draw your character along with her in the way you want to.
OR
2. (Difficulty: Master) Draw your character in the same picture along with BOTH Eleni and Dream Haunt (both the mesmers). We understand this takes more time and patience, So the rewards will be greater. Although there's more effort involved, drawing 3 characters will not automatically ensure a place in the prizelist. The winners list will be decided more by the quality of the drawing (See notes on judging below)
Who can enter ?
Anyone with an interest in the Guild Wars universe can and should enter :grin:
Any styles preferred ?
The drawing style is completely up to you. Western comic style, realistic, semi realistic, distorted realism, anime-esque, stick figures, uncolored sketches or even 2 or 3 sets of hands in first person view (if you feel really lazy :smiley

The theme:
The theme is "an evening with a mesmer" which we feel is not too restrictive and allows for a lot of possibilities - hunting together, resting after a fight, travelling together, discussing fashion (again !), teaching skills to each other, dancing, romancing, acting silly, playing music etc etc etc... You might get some suggestions to scenarios/poses from the characters of our mesmers (See notes below). Anything Guild wars-ish or medieval will apply.
The only restriction to the theme is - No modern stuff please (No Disco lights or a ferrari or my mum's vacuum cleaner in the background please:smiley

Deadline:
The contest will end on 30th November, 2008. I've already extended deadline twice. This will be most likely be definite.
Judging :
Will be done by myself and my co-host and friend Illudia Absurdus.
Stuff that will influence judging :
1. Clever ideas. Always a win in my book
2. The general "mood" it creates.
3. Facial expressions and pose. If they convey a message, it's a plus.
Stuff that which will NOT be judging criteria :
1. "Effort put in" is very relative because some artists can draw very complex stuff in 1 hour while some others could take a day to draw that perfect line. This will not decide judging simply because it's so darn hard to figure out.
2. Coloring or the lack of it because we understand that many artists are very good at drawing but not so good at coloring. So an uncolored sketch has as much chance of making it as a fully colored image, if it is a good sketch.
If we have all the entries at hand, we should take less than 3 days to decide on the winners.
PRIZES !
1st place : 350k + 5 ectos + a red rose
2nd place : 160k + 4 ectos + a red rose
3rd place : 120k + 3 ectos + a red rose
4th place : 70k + 2 ectos + a red rose
5th place : 60k + 1 ecto + a red rose
6th place : 50k + 1 ecto
7th place : 30k + 1 ecto
All the other artists who entered will get an ecto + a bottle of grog each
All artists are encouraged to post their drawings here by uploading the finished piece to a free image hosting service like imageshack for example. However, if anyone doesn't feel like posting the art here, please pm me or my friend either in forums or in-game and we can arrange something.
Here's some background and screenshots of our mesmers,
Dream Haunt :
Born to a Vabbian father and a corsair mother, she is the heiress to one of the largest sea-trade businesses in vabbi. Her ships are involved in spice and textile trade to Cantha and iron trade to Tyria. However very few people know her true intentions are to use her power against the order of the sunspears which she despises. It is her wish to give the Istani people a taste of the true freedom that she enjoys. After Kormir's Ascendance, she continues to secretly mastermind and fund several corsair raids against the sunspears in Istan.
A half-corsair and a half noble makes her a complex character. words to describe her include friendly, witty, exotic, mysterious, intelligent, passionate, adventurous, "dangerous corsair babe" and "filthy rich" (cos she spends a lot of money to host art competitions and such). To summarize, this is one bad mesmer girl always ready to do some chaos damage !
Likes:
Weapons: the big and bad ones - chrysocola staves, fellblades etc.
People: Master Togo, Shiro.
Fav places: Areas with lots of water - Mehtani Keys, Fisherman's haven
and also alchohol - the piratey smuggled rum sort.
Dislikes:
- Sunspears and their ridicluous rep point grinding methods. She dislikes Kormir and her "you never fight alone" rubbish. She has "visions of regret" because she didn't CoP spike the goddess of truth when she had the chance.
- Mhenlo = lameness personified. Has no clue why Cynn thinks he's hot.
If she's the one you feel like drawing, please try and draw her in one of these costumes,
Alternate Link 1
Alternate Link 2
Face and headgear,
Things to remember - Brown skin, the mysterious spot above her upper lip

H Eleni tis Troias (Eleni) :
Born to a Kurick painter and an Ascalonian mother, she was a promising young student of Lady Althea in the Ascalon academy. Although she survived the searing, she lost her family and her beloved mentor Lady Althea, leaving her cold, vengeful and lost. Fleeing to her father's Kurzick homeland of Brauer, she honed her skills as a mesmer. After an unsuccessful attempt to unite the Kurzick houses left her frustrated, she left again to Tyria to face the charr. Several thousand dead charr later, she still felt no better. It was then she had an encounter with Lyssa's muse that changed her life for the better. So powerful was Lyssa's inspiration that she finally left the demons of her past behind. These days, in addition to fighting evil, she is also a mathematician, textile designer, writer and artist.
She can be descibed as tall, pale, romantic in a cold-hearted way, artistic, noble, and an "ominous" looking girl who very often likes to wear her mask for days, who hates blonde jokes and loves black humor.
-Likes:
Satin, Silk, corsets, masks, veils,long boots, stockings, roses, gowns, candles, moonlight, violins, Serenades by the water, bulky dresses, snow and black, deep red and white colors and mathematics.
Favourite Places: Anywhere with lots of snow - Droknar's forge or Port sledge.
-Dislikes: Charr, arrogance, Abaddon, filth, unassuming and vicious rabbits, Norgu, not having enough money at times, vanity, too much sun.
If she's more your type, please try and draw her in one of the following costumes. Eleni being half-kurzick envies armor worn by Kurzick NPCs a lot, so if she could get to wear the Kurzick NPC armor below, she would be most grateful

Alternate Link 1
Alternate Link 2
Face and Headgear,
Things to remember - Pale "kurzick" skin, blonde hair.
In conclusion, We'd especially like to encourage those of you who do NOT believe they can draw to pick that pencil up and try something. You never know how good you are till you make an effort. That is also the reason we've included the option to draw your own character just cos some people may find it easier to draw their own characters. And remember even a scribble will be accepted as an entry, so please don't feel shy or intimidated by other entries.
We'd like to wish good luck to all who wish to enter. Have fun and stay inspired ! :smiley:
Any questions, comments, doubts feel free to ask. Thanks for reading !
EDIT : Extended deadline for submissions by 2 weeks.
EDIT : Small prize buff
EDIT : Deadline extended again cos some feel they need more time.
EDIT : Final extension to deadline
EDIT : Final, Final extension to deadline
EDIT : All entries online here : http://powercozmic.blogspot.com/2008...rs-fanart.html. Not expecting any more. Winners to be announced in a few days !
EDIT : Final update to prizes
WINNERS ANNOUNCED ! : http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...0323118&page=9