CONTEST SUBMISSIONS
Daylily
By: Beka
Colored Pencil
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Daylily
"The fire in her hair is only matched by the fire in her eyes.
She is cold enough to be considered cruel, and soft enough to be loved."
By: Gwen Phillips
Pencil Drawing
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Daylily
By: Jemma (age 11)
Clay and Toy Model
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Faeries of the Between
By: Missy S.
Colored Pencil and Ink
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
The Well
By: Allison R.
Watercolor
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Daylily and the Songbird
By: Micailah
Clay Models
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Sun Eagle: Warrior
By: Jenelle Hovde
Pencil Drawing
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Nidawi the Everblooming
By: Beka
Watercolor
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
This Alone
This Alone
By: Gabriella Silverstein
Digital Art
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Lionheart
"He has lost his inheritance, and is quite unsure of himself,
but he still has the heart (and face) of a prince."
By: Gwen Phillips
Pencil Drawing
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Daylily
By: Anna
Pencil Drawing
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Nidawi the Everblooming
By: Missy S.
Pencil Drawing
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Sir Eanrin Takes a Risk
By: Jenelle Hovde
Pencil Drawing
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Felix
"This is not the young and naive Felix we know from the past.
This is a dragon fighting, (but still goofy) Felix we've come to love."
By: Gwen Phillips
Pencil Drawing
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Woodland Joy
By: Hannah W.
Acrylic and Digital Painting
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
I Shall Call Him Lion
By: Gabriella Silverstein
Digital Art
From: Shadow Hand
Book 6 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Munny and the Eyes
By: Allison R.
Watercolor
From: Goddess Tithe
Novella 1 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
Golden Daughter
By: Joni
Digital Art
From: Golden Daughter
Book 7 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
(coming November 2014)
(coming November 2014)
And there you have it, dear imps and art enthusiasts! An impressive display of creativity this year. I am overwhelmed by the talent of all these artists and couldn't begin to guess who the winner will be.
Your vote matters, so be certain to email me (aestengl@gmail.com) with your top three picks out of all these choices. Voting will last through the 18th, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be announced on April 19th.
Big thanks to all of you participants! You have made this year's contest the biggest and most exciting yet.
18 comments:
I am stunned.
Oh my goodness!! There are more submissions than I could have imagined! And everyone did such a wonderful job! I am amazed by the talent! I don't know how I'll be able to pick just three! Great job everyone!
Aaaahhhh! How am I supposed to pick between drawings, animations, clay models, and so much more! Everything is so beautiful!
Oh. My. Pumpernickel. I am in awe of all this amazing artwork. AWE, I tell you. Great job to all the artists; I don't know how I'll ever pick my top three!
How am I going to pick THREE? AUGH! These are incredible.
@Jenelle: I was so hoping someone would capture that moment! Oh ... poor Eanrin....
Last set! All this art is boggling!
@Beka: Awesome! Really nice depiction of Daylily!
@Gwen: Your pencil portraits aw me as always. Her eyes and lips...so real...so beautiful..
@Jemma: AWwwwww. Poor Daylily! Great way to add in the Bronze.
@Missy: Stunning concept art. *shivers* The Faeries are dangerous, strange folk. :D
@Allison: I like the almost tapestry-like texture of this.
@Micailah: Cute!!!
@Jenelle: WHOA. Amazing. He looks so REAL. Wow. *sniffle, sniffle*
@Beka: Beautiful! And nice to see the sorrowful side of Nidawi.
@Gabriella: Oh, this is heart-pulling. Amazing color and lighting. So sad and sweet. :'D
@Gwenn: Great picture of Lionheart!
@Anna: Lovely drawing of Daylily! She looks so desperate!
@Missy: Wow, what a beautiful and unique drawing style! I love it! Her ears, her hair, her eyes. Lovely!
@Jenelle: *heart stops* Oooohhhh....*heart begins again* This is amazing. So real; it looks just like them!
@Gwen: Another well-done drawing! Great job!
@Gabriella: I LOVE IT! They're so cute! And this is perfectly done!
@Allison: Yes, a picture form Goddess Tithe! =D
@Joni: EEK! What better way to end this contest then with a reminder of the fan art to come! WOW, this is so stunning. The movement, the perfection. Wow. Incredible job.
This was AH-MAAAAAAAAAZING. The talent and patience here is breath-taking! Voting will be really hard, for everyone's work is terrific!
Wow....
Every one of you did an excellent job pouring your heart into your work. So many different styles and mediums, all precious and beautiful.
Anne Elisabeth, thank you for hosting this contest. Just look at what your heart-felt, heart-rending fantastical stories of love, blood, and grace have inspired.
Well done and God's blessings to all of you.
What a vast array of extraordinary talent displayed here! So glad that all the novels inspired so much artwork, and such a variety of mediums, too! Congratulations to all the artists. You are all so gifted from God, and all of you are winners. God bless you all.
Thank you Hannah for your kind words. You have so many beautiful illustrations. A big thank you to Anne Elisabeth for hosting and creating! Rebekah- I figured we all read the kiss scene and then quickly re-read it just to make sure :)
Ooh! They all look great! : D
AAAAGGHHHH! How am I supposed to pick just three from all these gorgeous compositions?! I am stunned at everyone's creativity!
This does a wonderful job of inspiring imaginations! My girls lingered over them for quite a while remembering aspects of books and interested in learning about others.
As per usual, I'm going to start off by confessing that it's often very hard for me to socialize with other artists, especially if their work is incredibly intimidating, so every one of you should consider it a great compliment that I'm commenting at all, because you guys have just totally blown me away.
So anyway, I've somehow managed to muster up the courage to be a good little animation major and comment on what I find fabulous in every single one of them. If you'd like, just comment if you'd like to know any ideas I have and I'll be happy to throw out there any ideas that might help. :)
Overall I'm so ridiculously impressed and seeing so much art just warms my heart more than a cup of peppermint tea by the fire on a Saturday night. :D
@Beka (Daylily) : Aww Beka, this is really pretty! I absolutely love your design of Daylily! The colors and setting you chose of her Runaway Bride scene is really wonderful! I love the textures you used for the trees, and the rips and tears on her dress look fantastic. I especially love the small cuts on her face and neck. Her complexion looks really nice, and I adore her expression. Your knack for expressions is super awesome! My favorite part is definitely her giant mop of curly red hair. So. Stinking. Beautiful. The curly texture looks really amazing, and the lay of her hair is just so beautiful! You made her hairline and the part in her hair look really realistic and the color looks wonderful! :)
@Gwen (Daylily) : Oh my gosh, she's so gorgeous! I must admit, it's so great seeing your work again this year (Saw last year's beautiful work and was too much of a wuss to congratulate you)! She's so beautiful, and your shading is absolutely fantastic! The proportions are amazing, and her expression is fabulous. Her hairline and the texture of her hair is really realistic and super pretty. My favorite point is definitely her face. The shape of her nose, the shape of her lips, and the sheer depth and beauty of her eyes and the arch of her eyebrows. So very beautiful. Not to mention it looks exactly like what I'd imagined her to look like! Wonderful job! :)
@Jemma (Daylily) : Oh Jemma, this is so adorable and sad, what a wonderful job! You chose a wonderful figure for your "wolf" and it's expression and pose work wonderfully! The lighting is great and the "Daylily Wolf"'s chains look really awesome. My favorite part is undoubtedly the copper bead necklace. It's so powerful and the way you made it look like it's interwoven with the chains is absolutely genius. The "copper bead" you used works perfectly and the whole thing comes together so incredibly nicely! Fantastic job! I look forward to seeing more of your work! :)
@Missy S. (Faeries of the Between) : These designs look so awesome! I was kind of wondering if anyone would do a piece on the minor Fae characters, and this is so great! Kasa, Nidawi, and Tocho look awesome! Kasa's hair, antlers, hooves, eye color, and copper bead necklace look amazing. Nidawi's hair, dress, nails, and the vines coiling up her arms and legs look so fantastic. Tocho's fur, face, hair, feet, and markings are splendidly done! Between Kasa's antlers and eyes, Nidawi's dress and coiling vines, and Tocho's markings and feet, I can't decide what's my favorite part! It looks so great! :)
@Allison R. (The Well) : Wow, this is so dramatic!! Doing this piece vertically makes the impact so incredible! And the green and brown color scheme works great! The different shades of green look really nice, and the brown looks really striking. The shading of the hand also looks really awesome. My favorite part is definitely the texture. Even in watercolor, you managed to give the piece texture, and it looks wonderful! Awesome job!
Part 2!
@Micailah (Daylily and the Songbird) : More sculptures! Whoo! Oh my gosh, so cute! Once again, your paint job is exquisite, and the colors you used are so brilliant! Vibrant and bright, they're stunning and they work so well! I adore how you used Daylily's wedding dress, it's very beautiful. Daylily's lips and bright eyes are my favorite parts of her, they're so beautiful. And the markings and colors of the songbird are so bright and beautiful. Once again, you've done wonderfully! :)
@Jenelle (Sun Eagle: Warrior) : Once again, your drawings are astounding. Sun Eagle looks so awesome. His proportions are fantastic, and I adore the small details you put in there, like the feather in his hair (which is drawn fabulously, and feathers are ridiculously hard to draw!), the beads on his necklace, and the shadow of stubble on his face. The shading is once again exquisite, and the shapes and details of his face, and wrinkles on his forehead are awesome. And the shading and details of his hair is absolutely fantastic. My favorite parts are his facial features, the crease of his mouth and set of his eyes give such a serious battle-hardened expression. And I have no idea why, but I really love the shape of his nose, it's realistic and very handsome while being very unique. Awesome! :)
@Beka (Nidawi the Everblooming) : Aww so beautiful and sad! And the color scheme is so wonderful and the colors are so vivid! You blended the vines and such in her hair so well! Her dress and the thorns and vines around her look really nice and communicate the mood really well. I adore how her name is woven into the vines, it's genius. My favorite part is her beautiful green eyelashes. Great attention to detail! And it works so well! And once again your expressions are fantastic! Fantastic job! :)
@Gabriella (This Alone) : Oh gosh, how I adore your style. And you've drawn one of my favorite couples! Oh my goodness, the setup and composition are so fabulous. And the posing and expressions are just so wonderful. And heavens to murgatroyd, I can't even begin begin to tell you how gorgeous the color scheme and shading are. And the lighting is absolutely stinking exquisite! My favorite parts are definitely the lighting and the color scheme. The blue/orange complimentary scheme looks so wonderful with this piece, and the way you lit the amber and shone the harsh, warm lighting on Daylily and Foxbrush is perfect! Oh it's so beautiful! And I believe I've mentioned how much I love your style. I love this so much. And the mood is so touching, you've done an amazing job. This is pretty much exactly how I imagined the scene in my head! :)
@Gwen (Lionheart) : Oh ho! Oh my, what sort of dashing rogue is this? There was no question, no doubt in my mind whatsoever that I was looking into the very picture of roguish charm in the form of the former Prince Lionheart, without even reading the title. The way you did his hair and it's texture, the shape of his face, and even the collar of his shirt look amazing. Your proportions and shading are stunning, but my favorite parts are his facial features. The deepest intensity of his eyes is gorgeous, and the quirky half-smile looks amazing. And his "dimples"? Genius. Absolutely genius. It makes him so appropriately roguishly handsome. It looks so much like I'd imagined him to be! Absolutely amazing job! :)
Part 3!
@Anna (Daylily) : Aww, she's so sad and beautiful! This is so pretty! The composition and setup is fantastic! Putting her to the side rather than in the middle and having her head cast to the side with her hair flowing "offscreen" has such a gorgeous effect, I think you really made the most of your composition! Her nose, lips, and downcast eyes are really beautiful, but my favorite parts are her expression and her hair. Her expression is just flat-out heart-wrenching, it's so sad and it strikes the heartstrings just right. And her slightly parted lips just set the mood so well. Her hair is gorgeous. How you translated her curls in detail and shaded them so beautifully. Awesome job! :)
@Missy S. (Nidawi the Everblooming) : Wow, you've captured Nidawi so beautifully! She's gorgeous. I love the shape of her nose, her lips, and her face, and the texture and swirling sweep of her hair is simply stunning! I love how you "wrapped" the illustration in her hair, her hair works like a frame for her face, and it looks beautiful. My favorite parts are definitely her beautiful eyes, her gorgeous hair, the flowers and vines strewn through her hair, and the vine crawling up her neck. Her eyes work so well with the heavy lashes and the eye shape, it looks so feminine, graceful, and even a little sassy. You've placed the vines and flowers absolutely perfectly to go along with the hairline and direction of her hair, it's really super stunning. And the swirling vine design on her neck is really lovely, a gorgeous touch. Beautiful job! :)
@Jenelle (Sir Eanrin Takes a Risk) : Goshdarnit Jenelle! You beat me to it! And it looks almost exactly like it did in my head! Stop being fabulous! ;) I'm not even going to try picking a favorite part. You've meshed this puppy into such a condensed cohesive piece that I can't just talk about one part. Once again, your shading and proportions are fantastic, and their hair looks amazingly realistic. The angle of their heads and the details of their expressions (along with the super fantastic details of Eanrin's knuckles, for some reason) are especially fantastic! All around, this is super amazing. Awesome job! :) (And in reference to your comment, I believe I'm guilty of reading this part at least 5 times before moving on to the paragraph after it :P, no exaggerations)
@Gwen (Felix) : Gwen...you have now completely convinced me that I need to start pestering Anne Elisabeth about when she's going to write Felix's book. Totally serious. He. Is. Adorable. So much adorable. I want one. ;) So handsome... The chiseled features, high cheekbones, cleft in his chin, adorable ears, and gorgeous locks of hair...so adorable with an awkward rascally nature to it. You could definitely feel a slight "goofy" or "class clown" vibe coming off of him. Not to mention, your shading and textures are once again fabulous. My favorite part? His freckles. Oh my gosh, his freckles kill me. They really add to his character wonderfully, and they look adorable. Rest assured, when I read Shadow Hand again, this is the Felix that'll be in my head when I'm reading it. :)
Part 4!
@Hannah W. (Woodland Joy) : Ohh, Hannah, hon, this is gorgeous! I had been wondering if you were going to do a piece from Shadow Hand! And this was such a wonderful scene to choose! Once again, your backgrounds, shading, pension for detail, and color sense are absolutely phenomenal. Your color scheme is wonderful and peaceful and beautiful, it communicates the mood so very well. And the trees provide such perfect framing for the characters. Nidawi's dress and hair look absolutely jaw-droppingly gorgeous. The flow and direction of her hair (and Eanrin's too!) give such a wonderful implication of movement. And the way you drew her hair as this huge curly beautiful mass with flowers strewn about is just exquisite. Her fern dress looks beautiful, and her pose is breathtaking. I especially love the positions you chose for her arms. So adorable. Even more exquisite are their expressions. The expressions and feelings you captured for both Eanrin and Nidawi are so vivid and lively. Perfection. My favorite part is her trail of "Light Children" and...hold the phone. Did you paint the outline of the little Fae children in the front with acrylic or digital?! Be it acrylic, you are ridiculous, that amount of detail...be it digital, you've blended their outlines into the painting with the surrounding "glow" so well, I can't tell if it's acrylic or digital! And those white outlines look absolutely gorgeous, and I love the "Faerie Dust" trailing behind them, especially the ones in the front. The irridescent colors of the different glows around them also looks super amazing! The trail of lights itself does wonderfully. It leads the viewer's eye throughout literally the entire painting, so we don't miss a thing, and the movement is very smooth! Amazing job! Not to mention this is almost exactly how I pictured it!
Now what program do you work in? The only thing I can think of is, if you use photoshop or something like it, they have a "filter gallery" that has different filters in it that make it look super interesting depending on what you use and what you're going for. One super interesting thing you could do is have your "Faerie Glows" on one layer and your painting on another, then apply a "texture" filter to your glows, in photoshop they actually have a "canvas" texture, and you can make it infinitely more difficult to tell which parts are digital and which parts are acrylic. You may have to play with it a bit. It looks super awesome the way it is, and honestly, you're cleaning me out as far as tips and tricks go, I'm having a super hard time trying to find improvable stuff that I can give you tips on without being there myself. ;)
@Gabriella (I Shall Call Him Lion) : Awww Gabriella, I never thought someone would actually draw this adorable scene! It's so adorable I'm going to squeal! Again, your proportions and shading are incredibly superb...flat out amazing. Lion is adorable, and I adore the subtle little markings on his back. And the color scheme works so well! I can't choose what my favorite part is, Nidawi's pose, her expression, or her hair. Her pose and her expression are so dynamic, it has so much feeling and sets the mood fantastically. And that gorgeous mass of hair! Oh my gosh, her hair! The thickness, the curliness, the hairline, they're all so wonderful! You've really captured Nidawi fantastically! And Lion is horrendously adorable! Amazing job once again! :)
Part 5!
@Allison R. (Munny and the Eyes) : This is really beautiful! Admittedly, I haven't been able to get my paws on Goddess Tithe so I have no idea what's going on, but I won't skimp out on telling you how beautiful this is! The color scheme is so beautiful and subtle, and watercolor works so incredibly well with this piece! I also really like all the different sea creatures you put in there! They're all so vibrant and the variety makes it really beautiful! My favorite part is the washed out "trail" in the water that shows Munny's movements in the water, it looks especially fabulous. The implied movement is fantastic! Amazing job! :)
@Joni (Golden Daughter) : As if I wasn't already dying to read Golden Daughter as it was! You're making the idea of waiting so much harder! She's so gorgeous! The pose and composition is awesome, and the "wind"'s flow makes the implied movement of her hair and clothes look really awesome. The sword looks awesome, her face and hair are really beautiful, you've done an awesome job! I think my favorite part is her clothes. The design of her clothes and the colors you used are fabulous. It all works together so incredibly well. My most favorite part is the texture you used for her ruqun/hanfu/kimono/shirt/whatever you want to call it, it's absolutely exquisite! That little bit of pattern/texture just brings the whole thing together! The rest is solid and simple and sweet, so that little bit of pattern makes the whole thing stand out so much! It looks awesome! Looking forward to seeing more in the future! Awesome job! :)
NOW, everyone, I have done as I said and withheld myself from looking to see if the winners were even announced or not, let alone who those winners are, so you all have gotten my free and unbiased opinion of your works.
IMPORTANT: You guys have totally amazed me, you guys were so great! So whatever you do, keep artisting! And don't be like me and get discouraged by looking at other people's stuff! You are all the most amazing creations, created to turn around and be like our Lord by bringing creations to life ourselves with our the creativity that He's given each and every one of us INDIVIDUALLY, so take heart in the spirit of creativity He's given you, and feed it and let it grow by CONTINUING to create. The only way we can get worse is if we give up (and I'm saying this to me just as much as I am to you).
Joshua 1:9
Oh gosh, I'm done! I can't believe it, I'm done! It may be presumptuous of me, but I hope and pray I could bless you guys even a little tiny bit with words of truth and encouragement... Please keep doing artwork! I'm looking most forward to seeing each and every one of you doing more artwork next time! If I find out next year that there's less people entered than this year, there will be problems! :P Lord bless each and every one of you and all your creative talents! I'm keeping you all in my prayers! Never alone!
Oh! And don't forget! If you want any more opinions, or have questions/comments, don't hesitate to say so!
Congratulations everyone!
Blessings!
-Melanie J.
P.S. Again, if I've forgotten anyone, misspelled or misgrammared anything I'm super duper sorry, keeping track of all this type is really hard on a phone.
Now I suppose I'll have to go see if the winners were posted yet... ;)
I still love Joni's picture of Golden Daughter and wish it had one 1st Place.
Also, I think the subtitle for "Sir Eanrin Takes A Risk" should be...
*SPOILER ALERT*
"The Part Where Eanrin Gets Friend-Zoned"
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