emmy2

Sorry it took so long, folks! We were on vacation and were unable to reach you.

After one year, my friend finally decided to end the contest, although we still don't have a publisher. I'm really sorry for all those delays and lack of news from my side. This contest was surely one of the longest. We wanted to close it last September, but in the end it lasted a whole year! I feel kind of bad about the whole thing... I'm sorry it didn't work out. To tell you the truth, finding a publisher is hard. A LOT harder than we expected. Getting your work into bookstores is confusing and tricksy. One needs a bit of luck as well. We're a bit disappointed. Most of the publishers we contacted did not want writers (especially first time writers) to 'pick' an illustrator for themselves (we insisted on that). My friend wrote this story-book because he loved to write not because of money or fame. Of course we can still wait. We were told that a process of book publishing (from manuscript to finished product) takes anywhere from MONTHS to YEARS. But to tell you the truth, my friend and I are slowly losing our patiance and interest for that project, so we'll not sure what we're going to do in the future. There're few options left, but we haven't decided yet. We'll let you know, though.


Anyway, back to the contest. Over the year we've received more than 40 great entries drawn in many different styles and techniques - from black-white sketches to full colored digital pictures. All of them were very interesting. You're probably interested in WHAT and HOW did we judge, right? As I wrote before, colors and background surely helped to make the entry look good, but it was NOT the most important thing for us. We looked at the characters, their poses and expressions and the style they're drawn in. There were some nice entries with a crocodile's head only, but we prefered "full-body" pictures. Another thing we looked at was the feedback those entries got here on dA and how popular they  became. And finally, we showed the best entries to some kids and listened to their opinion.

HOW did we pick the winner:
Me, my friend and his brother firstly picked best 10 entries and showed them to our friends (and their little kids) to hear their opinions. We also asked some random deviantArt users to be our additional judge. In the end we got ny-ny-tokio (ny-ny-tokio.deviantart.com/) (Thanks again!). Together we managed to pick top 3 entries (those who had most votes). In the final step we picked a winner.

First of all, I must say it was a VERY hard decision, because as you can see, there were so many amazing entries. I'd like to start with three great  entries that didn't make it into top 8, but need to be mentioned nevertheless. They're RaunchyOpposition's one: fc01.deviantart.net/fs50/i/200… , Ewa's fc03.deviantart.net/fs51/f/200… and AppleMutt's entry  fc07.deviantart.net/fs50/f/200… All of them are top class pictures, as you can see.

Another thing I should mention is ko-kitsune-maru and his great entry. It surely had one of the best backgrounds and the style was very nice, too. Unfortunately this artist is no longer active on dArt (his account was deleted, together with his pictures), so I guess I can't count on it.

All right, let's take a look at the BEST 8 (of +40) ENTRIES now :

altarisart ... (fc06.deviantart.net/fs46/i/201…) One of the best we've received. Amazing colors and superb style. But some of the little kids we showed it said it is too scary. (The same thing goes for augustok's (fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/201…), BrendanCorris's (fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/201…) and refluo's (fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/201… ) entry. They're all still terrific jobs, though.) Perhaps it's our fault; I should made it clear enough that the crocodile is in fact a positive character, a good guy in the story. So we prefered entries where the croc doesn't look too scary or evil.

Coringa123 (coringa123.deviantart.com/) did a great job as well. We really loved the crocodile's pose and its expression. Some judges didn't like the colors but we all agreed it's one of the 8 best entries. It just didn't get enough votes to make it top 3.  (fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/i/201…)

Beatdude (beatdude.deviantart.com/) -->(fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/201…) did a great job too. All the kids we showed it liked this one very much. In the end it didn't receive enough votes to make it top three, but it was close. I can say it's a decent entry.

vonholdt (vonholdt.deviantart.com/): --> fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/201… Beyond doubt, one of the most hilarious entries we've received. Kids loved the crocodile's expression and the title. Some our "judges" said the colors are too dark, but I personally like the color of the lake - it's really something special. This artist's cartoon style is very enjoyable and funny and I suggest you to take a look at his gallery and his interesting blog (doodleaday.wordpress.com)


demiveemon (demiveemon.deviantart.com/): -->(th07.deviantart.net/fs50/PRE/i…) What can I say? So many animals, so many details, wonderful colors, great title... It must have taken a lot of time to draw and color it. All the kids loved it. However, most of us agreed that it looks more like a COVER or even a PUZZLE, as someone suggested. One of our judges complained that there're too many animals around the crocodile. I personally don't see it as a problem, but it's true that we basically asked only for a crocodile and a tiger. It didn't make it in top 3, but it's certainly TOP 5 entries. Great job!


the best 3:

HarleyGreen (harleygreen.deviantart.com/): --> fc07.deviantart.net/fs50/i/200… My friend liked that one most. This artist has a really adorable cartoon style and she chose great poses as well. As soon we've received it, we all knew it would make it in top 3 (if not #1). Some kids thought the croc looks a bit scary, though. In the end: Third place. Congrats!


Skylat (skylat.deviantart.com/):  She submitted two great entries: fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/200… fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/200… They're my favourites. Amazing style, without doubt. Great colors. Some of our "judges" said the crocodile should be bigger (or the tiger should be smaller). However, all of them agreed that the background is simply the best, perhaps the very best of all entries we received. Second place. Congrats!


          


............. and the WINNER is ........


                                              
                                
                                

Sasha-Krasivo (sasha-krasivo.deviantart.com/)! Her entry: fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/201…

Amazing job! Her style has a lot of charm, I suggest you to check her gallery. Sasha-K was able to put something of her own in the characters. The croc looks nice, almost friendly. Colors are wonderfull and we especially like the little details (like the little frog) she added. It was a hard decision, but since all the kids liked it very much, too, we decided to pick it as a winner. Congratulations!


Congratulation to the winners! Thank you all for participating and making this a real contest. I hope you were having fun! I really wish I could somehow pay you or give you something in turn... I don't have a paypay account yet, but if I manage to get it in the future, I'm probably gonna buy DeviantArt Subscriptions or something like that to those artists whose entries were in top 3. You can also let me know if I can do something else for you!

Thanks again for participating!

Emmy

Hello folks! Like I wrote in the forum, our 1 year long contest is finally closed. Unfortunately we've been very busy lately and we won't be able to pick the winner very soon (there are so many good entries that we'll have to take our time)... but we'll def let you know our decision as soon as possible.


Thank you all for participating!