Freakshow6's COVER of a COVER CONTEST!

Contest time! Yay!

Classic gamers, rejoice! The challenge for this contest is to lovingly reinterpret the cover art of your favorite classic video games. Really, it's as simple as that.

What do I mean by reinterpret? Well, look at the cover art (as seen on the game's original packaging) of your favorite classic video game and draw that cover art...with a twist. Perhaps you can stay faithful to the original and simply draw it in your style. Or maybe you want to comically misrepresent the game. Maybe, even, you would like to take the cover art for your favorite game and draw it as if the game took place on a different planet or during a different time period. Perhaps you just want to update the characters to make them seem more "now." Really, the possibilities are endless.

Be sure to present your artwork as if it were an actual cover (with the illustration surrounded by the necessary logos and graphics, which can also be reinterpreted if you choose).

Entries should be clearly inspired by important aspects of the original cover art, like the composition or the characters featured on it, but you do not have to stick to it 100%. In fact, I encourage you to veer off and experiment!

See, you're covering a cover! *giggles at how clever he is*

What counts as a classic video game? See this Wikipedia entry: [link] Anything before the "Sixth Generation" is considered a classic game system and you may reinterpret the cover art of games from those systems, handheld or console (PC/Mac games that fall into the same time period count, as well). The only exception to this rule will be Sega Dreamcast games. That's right, you may reinterpret the cover art of games from the now-defunct Sega Dreamcast even though many lump it in with the Xbox/GameCube/PS2 generation. It's the least we can do after not buying it and killing it and all.

Prizes:
FIRST PRIZE: A free, one character, full-vector illustration (full-bodied character with no background or portrait of a character with a simple background) and these lovely Goron and Young Goron figurines, as seen in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (this portion of the prize is open only to residents of the United States for shipping reasons).

SECOND PRIZE: A free, one character, full-color sketch commission from me.
THIRD PRIZE: A free, one character "inked" sketch commission from me.

_{*Note: All commission prizes will be carried out in a similar fashion with regards to my commission rules (minus all of that stuff about payment): [link]}

The Process:
1) Make your entry/entries!
2) Post your entry/entries to DeviantART in the appropriate gallery (please include a link to the original box art in the artist's comment).
3) Send me a note with the link to your entry.
4) I will link to your entry on my journal to be displayed with the other entries.
5) Sometime shortly after the February 13th deadline, I will pick the three best entries and announce the winners! Yay!

Rules:
1) The entry/entries must be created for this contest.
2) No more than two entries per artist.
3) Entry/entries must be uploaded to DeviantART. Non-DA entries are not accepted.
4) Do not trace! Reinterpret and re-envision, don't recreate!
5) For the sake of the contest remaining friendly to all visitors, please keep entries clean. That is, no nudity or profanity (though blood is acceptable where necessary).
6) Any entries found to be stolen artwork in any way, shape, or form will automatically be disqualified.
7) Entries can be 2D or 3D digital or traditional artwork only.
8) Entrants may choose to reinterpret any version of the game's box art that they choose. For instance, some folks like Japanese box art better than the U.S. box art.
9) All entrants should include sufficient copyright notice in the image or in the artist's comment section of the deviation. Really, something as simple as "(c) Konami" is better than nothing. Respect the copyright owners, please.
10) Entries should be noted to me on or before the deadline of February 13th, 2009.

The Deadline: February 13th, 2009 (about two months from now)

Please feel free to ask questions in the comments section below!

Happy competing!

~Andrew