The "Design a Swordsman" Contest Winners Revealed!!

It is finnaly time that everybody has been waiting for! On Monday 4th August 2008 the "Design a Swordsman" Contest was revealed to DeviantArt. There was over "100" people who wanted to be contestants however there was only "61" contestants who actually gave their entrys in. This was becuase summer was a busy time for people however I am very pleased with the amount of entrys I have received. On Sunday 31st August 2008 the contest had finnaly ended and so the judges began judging the 61 entries on Monday 1st September 2008. After almost 3 hours of judging late into the night, we had finnaly decided on the winners. Now before I reveal the winners I want to first explain which individual roles the judges were marking the contestants entries on:

~Neonlare: He was the judge of "Artistic Quality" he was marking if the entries were drawn cleanly, had an attractive style, the level of detail involved and such.

~PyroJesus: He was the judge of "Design Quality" he has seen many different designs of swordsman, so he marked entries on their uniqueness and creativeness.

*chioky: Finnaly I was the judge of "Concept Quality" I was marking entries on the concept of the character as a swordsman, if he or she was truly shown as a swordsman.

With 3 judges marking entries on the quality of the art, design and concept this is how we decided the winners. If a contestant had fufilled each of these qualities they were the shining examples of what we were looking for. Now without further adieu I reveal the winners of the 2008 "Design a Swordsman" Contest!:

3rd Place: Blind Bushido by ~YoKho



Now let me tell you the Judges had a tough time deciding whose swordsman design should get third place. We were thinking long and hard which swordsman design had fulfilled the three qualities the best. However in the end by unanimous vote we chose Blind Bushido. We had all agreed this swordsman was pretty much perfectly designed. We loved how well drawn this swordsman was, the style of the art was fresh and really effective. The colour theme of green was portrayed excellently in the swordsman alongside with the background. The blind swordsman is nothing new however this design was done brilliantly. I personally thought those swords were awesome and tottally fitted his character. All in all this was a splendid swordsman design and the Artist deserved to be a winner.

2nd Place: Akino Kaede by ~Heartless-iPod-Ninja



Now all the judges agreed that this was the best japanese swordsman design out of the whole contest. Her colour theme of orange blended excellently throughout the entire picture from her clothes and hair to the leaves in the background. Her clothes were drawn beautifully and her anatomy was pretty much perfect. Her sword was drawn just wonderfully and tottaly suited her character with a leaf tsuba. The character herself was drawn very beautifully with her sleek hair and soft face. What was the best was she was not drawn as a women with a sword. She was drawn as a women who has followed the path of the sword and that is her only path in life. The way she gazes, the way she draws her sword she is a swordsman in every sense of the word.

1st Place: Adelaide by ~LeakyPen



When the time for judging came, we all looked at this swordsman together and unanimously agreed, this was perfect. We were completely blown away, this wasnt just a breath of fresh air, it was a hurricane. The first thing that hits you is the intense level of detail. Just look at the detail in her sword with all those engravings and also every single crease in her flowing cape. We all had fallen in love with this art style it was so monochrome and the texture was so soft and smooth yet the level of detail was so intricate, nothing was left out. Then we looked closer to her weapons. The swords drawn were very accurate and what caught me eye was the small shield strapped to her arm that made it perfect for me. This is becuase small shields like those did exist and were used in old times. This swordsman does not even require a background when looking at the computer screen she dominates the entire room your sitting in. She was the perfect example of a female swordsman and deserved to be the 1st place winner.

Honorable Mentions

However that is not all people! before the end of the judging I asked each of the judges to choose their own individual Honorable Mention. The judges own honorable mention was decided completely on their own choice and the other judges could not intefere with their choice. They unfortunately don't win any prizes but they deserve to have their own spotlight:

Honorable Mention: Toxic by ~dorarpol chosen by ~Neonlare



~Neonlare: "TOXIC" is a pretty damn awesome piece. The lines are precise, shadows are soft and used effectively, and the entire piece has a polished, proffessional feel about it. It is a shame that a full body picture wasn't available, but this is mighty impressive indeed.

Honorable Mention: Adria of the Phoenix by ~Valdore chosen by ~PyroJesus



~PyroJesus: I really love how this swordsman has been designed. Her armour is very well detailed and reminds me of certain armour designs from Final Fantasy. Her swords match her character well and whats best is she is looking at her reflection in the sword, awesome.

Honorable Mention: Maeryn Shirin by ~Aika-Shi21 chosen by *chioky



*chioky: In my eyes this is brilliant. She is well drawn and coloured perfectly too detail. She is shown as a true swordswoman and not just a women with a sword. What I love is the sword drawn on its own showing the sword is just as important as the person who wields it, fantastic.

Final Words in Closing

Well those are all the winners and Honorable Mention's of the 2008 "Design a Swordsman" Contest! The winners of the contest can now choose which prize out of the three they desire starting with the 1st plact winner first and onwards. Finnaly in my closing words I am very satisfied with the amount of support and excitement I have recieved with this contest, you have surpassed my expectations and therefore I thank you. If all these swordsman drawn were real people then all 61 of them together would have the power to overthrow an entire country with their sword might! So I present all the other Swordsman Design entries and may they forever be called:!!

The League of Swordsman