Illustration Contest - Pets

Welcome one and all to the next contest. Sharpen your pencils, grab some markers, or fire up your tablet. This contest is a run on the last contest centering around "man's best friend". We want to extend this contest to any kind of pet. Keep in mind that I am not limiting this to any type of literal pet or common pet. Let your imagination be the limit to what you can come up with and then break those limits. I want to see your imagination flowing outside the paper.

Entries can be rough as a sketch or final, colorized works ready to be framed and hung. Just play around with the subject matter and see what road your imagination takes you down and then challenge it.

Contest deadline: August 22nd, 2011 at midnight.

(For this contest there will be prizes awarded for community favorite and runner up of two gift cards to Dick Blick: Art Materials. They will be small cards as I'm a grad student but I like the idea of adding incentives for you to put forth your best effort. I will have details later detailing the community decision-making process we will use.)

Good luck everyone!

Dinosaur Hunt

Well, I guess I misread their deadline by one day. Oh well. You fellow reader will get to enjoy the entry that I put a lot of time into. If you do not know what I am talking about let me explain. There is a cool website that features information, tutorials, workshops, etc. all centered around illustration. They had a contest that was due (I thought tomorrow) last night at midnight. I spent a lot of time (a few hours a week ago and a whole day off) working on an idea for the contest. When I logged on I realized I was too late.

The contest centered around a few quotes and I chose one that said something to the effect of "Don't play what's there, play what isn't there." I had a fun idea of a girl and dad that are doing exactly that, playing that they're on a hunt for dinosaurs. I'm really bummed that I wasn't able to enter my illustration, not that I would have won but because I worked for a long time on this piece. Well, hopefully you can enjoy my misfortune in the form of enjoying my entry.

Vote for our fellow contributor Scott Wiser's illustrations: (by clicking 'like' he gets votes and the winner of the contest is based on how 'like'd or how many votes you get)

http://www.paperwingspodcast.com/2011/07/think-pink-ink-by-scott-wiser/
http://www.paperwingspodcast.com/2011/07/gone-gong-by-scott-wiser/
I'll have a new contest up on the blog within a couple of days for you all to participate in. You're the best!

I've included below the initial sketch if you're interested in seeing where I first started from.

Dogs! - Illustration Contest

Thank you participants! Great work! Your illustrations and sketches were fun to look at. Enjoy these great dogs and leave some comments!

 
Kristi G.


So I tried sketching with a pen for my rough ideas. I hope you don't mind me sending you these along with the finished. I was pretty excited about them - I usually use a pencil and find myself using the eraser more than the side I should be using. I tried to not worry so much about getting it perfect, instead tried to capture the movement. I am more pleased with the sketches than the final. Liezl has been following Jingle around the house for the last couple of weeks with a paper and pencil in hand. She has not decided which one she wants to send yet.

(I just took a peek at the scanned pictures and they look pretty fuzzy - sorry)

Nate S.


For my picture I just compiled a bunch of sketches of different breeds of dogs that were high up on the popularity rankings and some that had unique characteristics. Mostly I just wanted to explore the world of dog lovers and see where it led me. My reason for wanting to work on dog pictures for this contest centers around a story I’m working on that centers around a little girl and her greatest wish, to have a dog. She’s young but at her tender age she’s a sort of scientist, categorizing the breeds of dogs and doing her own scientific sketches. It’s a work in progress and this activity helped push me in the right direction. I went with the pen-only approach which was harder than I thought it would be but an enjoyable challenge. Hopefully this contest was as beneficial to you as it was to me. Either way, thanks for participating with me.

Scott W.


I took some time to draw lots of reference (didn't include all of it in this selection...should've included a skeletal sketch, which was really important.) And the biggest drawing is the design I was going for. Fun contest though, lots of room to play and if I had more time, I probably would.

Also, on my personal blog, I'm posting a process post for my Paperwings podcast entry. Thanks for mentioning it on your blog and I'm excited to see how both websites benefit from these fun contests!

New Contest - Dogs!

For this contest I'm going to give a general topic and let you individually decide where you want to go with it. The subject is...dogs. I have a short story idea that centers around man's canine friend and I wanted to offer a challenge to the group as well as to myself. I just may let everyone look over my shoulder on this one and see what I've been up to.

Thank you everyone for your continued participation. Our deadline is set for two weeks out (remember that this doesn't need to be a final piece of art but a sketch or simple demonstration of ideas, composition, etc).

July 22nd, 2011 (7/22/11)

Send in your submissions to the blog's email. Good luck.

BEST OF 2010

Hey everyone. I've gotten so far behind so I'd like to apologize for the lateness of the blog entries. I'm currently finishing my first year of graduate/pharmacy school and with all of the tests I've gotten pretty behind. Thanks for your patience though and I'm excited to move into summer where I don't have all the deadlines and tests to study for.

Great submissions to everyone that participated. You should be proud of yourselves. I've included in this post all the newly reviewed submissions; anything not included in this post can be found on the nominations post. Thank you for your continued participation throughout the year of 2010 and into 2011. I'm hoping to get the blog up and running as soon as I finish my last final in two weeks. You guys are the best. 

Kristi G - Mermaid

Nate S - Recruiting a Viking (Work in Progress. Time has continued to escape me with the end of year routine in my schooling. Sorry everyone it has taken me so long but thanks for your patience!)

Scott W - Auguste to Bed

Quick Draw - Character Relationships

Thank you for the pictures submitted. Great work. Here's the submissions I received for this quick draw contest.

Kristi G

Nate S


Mine I ended up not developing as far as I hoped to at this time. I’ve been working this month on a picture book marathon that has entailed coming up with the rough draft of a children’s book every day, on top of the finals I’m trying to keep up with. I appreciate the work you guys put into these contests so I knew I had to at least give you a real rough draft of my thought process. The story can be found on my blog and centers around two brothers, a big box of crayons, and a lot of imagination.

Scott W


I'm still playing around with the vegan twins. I like the personality of peace-loving, eccentric, etc. that they bring to my mine. I actually pitched animating something based on them at my school (but my mentor felt it was too complex). I would have a clearer, more polished sketch but I ran out of time...It'll come soon, no worries. So the sketch that I'm leaning most toward is the bottom left: one twin is drawn to the top secret box while the other pulls her away : The story I'm exploring of these two peace-loving-vegans who are incredibly skilled and talented, but refuse to be secret agents.

Also I wanted to share a comment that Scott sent me, I found it helpful (thanks Scott):

“Hey Nate, so I thought I'd share this too since this contest was a quick draw. I was in an online meeting and not feeling too positive, so I started sketching. I first made an interesting scribble shape and then started shaping a character out of that. I was only half concentrating in the drawing, so I was quite surprised with the quality of the character and rendering. It just reemphasized that sometimes we try too hard when we should really keep things loose and experiment.”

Just so everyone knows, I'm finishing up tallying all the results from the votes for everyone's nominations. I'll have them up this week.

New Year, New Contests

Welcome back everyone to a new year in the pursuit of dreams and aspirations. Thank you everyone that contributed to the blog, you made 2010 a great year and hopefully you can see the progress in your work that I have noticed. Let's get into it, I've gotten so behind in graduate school that it isn't funny, literally. Anyways, I got a sinus infection that forced me to slow down for a few moments so here I am and I'm ready to make 2011 a year that the ball starts rolling. Here's what I have for you:

A double contest. First I want to do a normal quick draw contest so do your best in the time you've got and send it in on time. This contest is to do a piece that shows relationship between two (or more) characters. You need to be able to convey relationship, emotion, in other words the two need to have eachother in the picture for it to work. Make it something that reads well. Do your best you have until February 6th at midnight. (Beware though, that only gives you little over a week so work quickly and just submit whatever you have done, this isn't going to be hung in a museum.)

Second, I want your feedback. We're going to put together a highlight of 2010 submissions. For every artist that has submitted at least 3 times last year, I want you to submit what you think/feel is their best piece from the whole year and also, what you think/feel is your best piece of the year. So send in the nominations to the blog's email and I'll tally them up and anounce the winners of each contributor. Best part is that everyone wins in the end and you'll find out a lot about your work hopefully through this contest. Remember that means for every contributor that has made at least 3 contributions through the year, you will nominate one piece that highlights their work (as well as one of your own). Email them to me at shoeboxofdreamsentries@gmail.com. Same deadline as the contest above, Feb. 6th.

Christmas Illustration - Story Contest

Grab those pens and pencils because we've got our second to last contest of the year and this one's a quick draw contest. There will be little time for developing this entry completely but I'm more just challenging you to submit something in the small time frame, for an illustration it can be a quick sketch, some ink, or even throw some color on if you get the chance. A story could just consist of the beats of the story or the general idea and story arc. For this contest we will aim it towards the Christmas holiday.

Your mission is to come up with an illustration and/or story that centers around Christmas. The plausible idea I'm throwing out there to offer as a challenge if you want to push yourself further is Christmas in a place that you wouldn't normally picture as a Christmas setting. Submit a general storyline centered on the theme or a quick sketch on the same theme. If you're going to do an illustration I have a second additional challenge to throw into the challenge: your illustration needs to demonstrate a sense of depth. I think this will push us all a little further. I'm excited to see what comes out of it.

You can do it. Put a little thought into this one and then quickly sketch out your idea and submit it before you let your eyes burst from fretting over all the errors and details. Just get something in for this one. Have fun with it; I dare you.

Email me your submission by: Monday, December 13th, 2010 at 7 AM.

Thanksgiving Story - Illustration Contest

Here's the final collection of entries for the Thanksgiving Contest. Thank you everyone for participating in this contest. Great work.

                                                                         Kristi G.


Yesterday I walked into the kitchen and noticed Liezl and Quincy working on a project together while Ava stood watching, hoping to join in. I asked what they were up to, and Liezl responded by saying they were planning a Thanksgiving play. She was the Indian princess and Quincy was the beautiful pilgrim girl. I asked them if they could include Ava in the play, and they both said she already had an important part. Ava was thrilled to be their turkey and did a terrific job. I am so thankful for my silly girls!!!!

                                                                Nate S.

For about a year now, really it began about when I began this blog, I heard a story that just made me laugh, it was so sweet. My niece heard about the wonderfully magical properties of turkey wishbones and began scheming how she could insure she was able to make the wish and also presure her younger sister to wish for the same thing in case. I wanted to make some story off that idea somehow, about a girl that wants to make a wish or that does and the zany things that follow. So far I've only had ideas on this story, no direct storyline but the girl would have to be a compeling character.

                                                                            Scott W.

I almost didn't have time, but I do have some quick sketches. I have been toying with the idea of vegan twins...my family liked the fat ones the best...the idea for thanksgiving would be that they don't want to eat the turkey, but I'm also toying with the idea of the same twins not wanting to be secret agents - as a short story. Could be fun.

(Sorry Scott, I have attempted to fix the squashing of the picture. I have attempted to repost this and add the image in various ways but it comes out squished horizontally everytime. Great picture though.)

Illustration / Story Contest: Thanksgiving Adventure

Hey group, let's get going on a quick contest. I want you to do a quick sketch and/or story idea centered around the wonders of Thanksgiving. You can explore the idea as you wish but I want it to center somehow around the famous holiday for food, family, and fun (for most). Have fun with it and don't feel like you have to develop the story or illustration past a rough sketch.

Deadline: Sunday, November 28th at midnight.

(If you send them in to me before Thanksgiving I'll do my best to post them before Thanksgiving as a visual treat to munch on while you're digesting turkey or cranberry sauce.)

Illustration Contest: Final Book Cover Design

Alright team. This next contest will consist of making a finalized rendering of the book cover you submitted for the last contest. Keep in mind it doesn't have to be one of your submitted drawings with color. Start from where you left off and really push towards producing a final draft of a book cover. Think about all the details you want to include. Make sure the proportions are true to the proposed final dimensions of the book. Ask for input by leaving comments. If you have a version you want to put past people before the deadline, email me your submission and I'll add it to this post for others to see while you work out the details. (I'll do my best to post it the same day.) Let's see what you can come up with. Keep up the hard work!

Deadline: Midnight, Saturday, October 30th, 2010.

Illustration Contest: Book Cover Design

Thank you to everyone who made submissions to this week's illustration contest. We had some great drawings showing potential covers for future book ideas. Great job everyone; keep up the great work!

Kristi G. (Top 3) So I am going to focus on working on the story I had a while ago with the play date of boy and girl siblings.  I am changing it up a little bit.  I needed to simplify it to make it not so overwhelming.  I am going to have just two characters.  I am still going to contrast their likes, resulting in frustration, but ultimately they will learn how similar they really are and have a fun time doing it.  My first cover idea was both of them posed back to back looking frustrated, but I felt that was a little negative.  My favorite (and the one I put more time in) is the one with both of them side to side happy to be who they are and even happier to be with their friend (even though they are different).  Something I need to change with this picture that I am noticing now is that they are too far apart.  I was worried that this one was a little posed and stiff, so I thought about them on a swing (something they will be doing in the book).  I like the idea, and obviously need to put more time on proportions and angles.  I would like the title (which I am still not sure about) to be in block letters across the top.  –Kristi

Nate S. (3 previous) I wanted to explore different layouts for the cover of the book I’m writing/illustrating for my daughter. It centers on the tooth fairy, the one from my last contest entry. I used some ideas from the covers’ of books that we like right now to rough out some general ideas. Let me know what you guys think. -Nate

Scott W. (2 above) I have one that actually would be near the climax...one with the wild idea of having them both in the bubble jar....and the last of a close up with the entire world rendering in the background.



I'd love to know what you think! -Scott

Illustration Contest: Design Your Book Cover

Everyone did a great job for the last contest. It took me a while to decide where to go next for this next week’s contest. I’ve been debating between moving along with book illustration or continuing loosely related subjects chosen at random ‘whim’. Sorry for the delay but I’ve decided to give a very different challenge for this next contest.


Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to come up with a cover design for the book you’re interested in completing. You could reference other books you love to figure out a composition you enjoy but for this week’s contest I’m looking for a book cover design. You could submit up to three designs, rough submissions, and I’ll post them for others to comment on. That way we can find out from the community what is a preferred cover and for a future contest you’ll come up with a more polished version. Good luck; you have until:

Deadline: Midnight, Saturday, October 9th, 2010.

Character Design Contest

Here's the entries for the character design contest. There were some great entries, good job everyone.

My picture was inspired by Nate’s story that he’s currently working on and the hardworking fairies in it. I’m not good at faces but I love costumes so I wanted to explore what they would wear.

Aubrey S

I wanted to work on giving my character emotion this time around and also see if I could create the same character twice in different settings and different angles and see if they really looked like the same character. I am happy with the emotions - one being quiet and focused, and the other proud and excited. I am not sure if they look at all alike though. Thank you for the book ideas. I am excited to learn more.

Kristi G

I was exploring the character design of the main character of a story I’m currently writing for my baby daughter. It’s all about the Tooth Fairy and how she becomes famous all over the world. I’m pretty happy with where I have gotten to, although it may not be the final product.

Nate S

Here are some quick sketches followed by explorations of the gestures applied to the character designs:

Scott W

Illustration Contest: Character Design

Great work everyone in the last contest. It's fun for me to see how everyone is progressing individually. Keep up the hard work. For this next quick draw contest we're going to center it around developing characters for a story. (Thank you Scott for the idea.) In this contest you're to come up with a character, could be for a story, and to work on developing who they are or how they look. Possible interpretations of the contest could include: various designs in appearance, different poses to explore personality, different clothes or coverings, or whatever else you come up with, just keep it centered on a character.

I'm excited to see what you come up with, so please start working. Our deadline is Saturday, September 18th, midnight. Good luck and happy drawing.

Illustration Contest: Theme/Background

Alright everyone. The next contest is centered on creating a theme for a book, which can be interpreted however you wish. It could mean that your backgrounds have a certain stylized appearance or that you use words as part of each image sewn into the image itself. Use your imagination. You've got two weeks from today; get going.

Submissions due: September 2nd, Midnight

Illustration Contest: Backyard Neighbor

Friends we've got another challenge for you, a contest inspired by your backyard (or favorite park if you don't have a backyard). The contest is to come up with a mythical character or illustration of who visits your backyard when you're not there. Who plays on the swings while you're eating lunch? Who makes the lawn into a racetrack?

This contest in my mind was centered around mythical creatures but it could be animals too; you decide. Just come up with something fun and the challenge is to put it together in a fun way. Good luck everyone! Leave a comment with any questions or thoughts.

Deadline: August 11th at Midnight

Change Contest Entries

This contest was centered around the various types of change that we encounter, good or bad. It can affect us in many different ways. Thank you everyone for participating and sharing your talents and ideas. Great work! Here's this contest's entries:

Kristi G. - New Shoes - "With school coming up, this topic has been on all of our minds. I love how new shoes can turn worries into confidence."

Liezl G. - Buddies - "Liezl wanted to show the physical change that happens when something frozen melts, but when she put cute faces on her popsicles, she could not bring herself to melt them."

Nate S. - Little Texter - "I wanted to show with an illustration how quickly little kids change and how baffled it leaves you sometimes to see how quickly they move ahead on you to different things. I didn't get too far along in the development but I hope you can see the general idea."

Scott W. - Tie Dye Girl - "So I saw this girl with a tie dye shirt at Wal-Mart and she looked so sad - like few people understand or appreciate her - and so interesting...I could tell she had done her makeup extra and could imagine her having the desire to be beautiful...I also thought a character who looks like her and thinks she is beautiful would be very intriguing...."

Moving! Illustration Contest

Sorry everyone for taking so long to post again. I just got back from a family trip two weeks ago, moved my family last week and started graduate school this week. I've been busy but we all are, lousy excuse. I wanted to jump on here between studying to challenge you guys out there to a contest.

Moving means change, and (setting political platitudes aside) change can be hard to deal with sometimes. Illustrate a quick picture that somehow narrates that conflict. You've got 2 weeks; deadline is:

July 21st, 2010

(Also worth note is that I don't currently have Internet activity at my house, so connection time will be slow for right now. I'll do my best though. You guys are great.)

Quick Draw Ideas

This blog is slowly transforming with time and I'm learning to readjust along side. I really like the concept of working towards printing a tangible book around the end of this year and the concepts are more going to stand as benchmarks as we work towards that goal; showing our progress along the way. Are you guys okay with that? All in favor say Ay!

In light of that slight variation that has really already started creeping in I wanted to morph the random contests from before into a weekly quick draw contest where a shorter period of time was given for a quick drawing of an idea/illustration. We're talking like a week or two weeks per time period. What do you think about that idea? These pictures would be more rough and more centered on content and presentation than the depths to which you develop them. We don't want pieces that will hang in the Louve but pictures to explore composition and concepts. Marksmanship can reach your own prefered level. Let me know what you think.