GlorDamar

Playername: GlorDamar Titles: Avatars Team Leader (Already have that one) and The Architect Description (from my personal profile page): "Good architecture should inspire, revolt, elevate, depress... create any response, anything except disinterest." I see the bones of the world. I see them take shape. I watch them writhe, rise, fall and come together. Through my pen things become real, my ideas populate this place. I carve the environment, shape it. I am here to build, to create and to control. I am the agent of change... The architect. Should you find you need a place in this world, come to me and I will build your dreams. *note: This is actually somewhat true. I'm helping to draw scenes and infill areas that are less complete. There is room for things to happen in this game, for new things to develop. Ideas already proposed: A Dojo / Training Ground, A Celestial Simulator, and an Architect's Office

Yes, grayscale looks much better. Nice work. You still need some work on anatomy a bit, but your technique is decent.

Without giving too much away... The artisan's guild has the potential (and probably the need) to expand beyond 5 members, so we are open to more positions. I won't be hiring anyone until after the contest though... this is actually in your best interests as you get prizes for winning the contest. When it's all over with I will definitely have some things to consider.

Alright, that's fine. You may be able to set your scanner to grayscale too, or your camera to black and white, depending how you're inputting them. Here's what you can do to it in photoshop you get a bit better value range with a little bit of contrast adjustment.

I came to this place with memories. I had no form, but I remembered things. I had hands once, I used those hands to craft, to build. Why could I no longer do these things? As I bound creatures to my will, set them to battle and watched them develop my body began to reform. I was something new, something different. My conciousness changed, but somewhere locked inside were the memories, the desires, the need to make new things. I began to see this world both as it was and as it could be and I made it my mission to create that vision, to add to what was here before me and make this place better for those that would come after. These lands are unfinished, but I will work to finish them. I know that task will never end, but one man cannot achieve perfection on his own. I need others. I pray that others will follow me and take up my mantle when I am gone, but for now I build. I make myself a servant, the agent of development, of change for the better. Bring me your dreams and I will make them my own - I will be your slave and your master. I am the Architect.

Amorte the first two are very cool but don't fit with the game. The first sketch of the bone dragon has great form and motion to the composition. The second skeleton is very nice. I like the rendering on the torso, the look of the ribs... The eye flying out of the head... I could do without that, but it's well done. Dex - Better anatomy. You might try converting that to grayscale and playing with the levels and contrast a bit. It looks good though.

"Good architecture should inspire, revolt, elevate, depress... create any response, anything except disinterest." I see the bones of the world. I see them take shape. I watch them writhe, rise, fall and come together. Through my pen things become real, my ideas populate this place. I carve the environment, shape it. I am here to build, to create and to control. I am the agent of change... The Architect. Should you find you need a place in this world, come to me and I will build your dreams.

I think .Jonn. is like I am (.GlorDamar.) in game. He has an important game role, but is not a RPC, and doesn't have the Role Playing role and the powers that RPCs have.

GlorDamar

Nice work DiKra. I DEFINITELY recommend that you enter the contest. I like your style. It got a flat, graphic art quality that is different from the current stuff, but it looks really clean and you have a nice touch. Blackthorn is right though, gotta go grayscale. That's how we roll here. Blackthorn, you're a machine! You're cranking out some good stuff there and I appreciate both the quality and the sheer volume. Make sure you send me all of those. Can you put all of your stuff that you've done since the 12th of August in a .zip file for me and send those in. It'll make my life a little easier if you don't mind. Same for Morrel. I'm going to send in another batch soon. Thank you again to everyone who's been submitting drawings for the contest and for the guild applications. I'd like to reiterate that the winner of the contest gets an automatic job in the Artisan's guild and everyone who submits will also get credits for any drawing used in the game as well as consideration for guild membership, so please, keep them coming. Send your submissions as a group of 5 to glordamar@gmail.com. -GlorDamar

and DiKra wins the prize. That's not a real submission, but you have to admit, it's pretty appropriate.

Yeah, and I just drew this one...

Something about the centaur doesn't quite look right... I think it's the upper body. At first I thought she was missing a breast. I LOVE the flute playing woman. The way you used the light to illustrate the dress at her thigh without drawing lines there is excellent. I always end up using too much linework. The guy in the roots is a very cool scene as well. Good work.

Thank you Calyx. Going for the game's style has been my goal. I really enjoyed doing the lady (no, not like that) and the sword. Those are some of my favorites.

I thought I'd post a few that I'll be putting in the next batch of avatars. I suppose I should do this more I'm not happy with the face in this one, but oh well.

Nice work. I like the drawings. The contest means that recruitment from this topic is temporarily on hold. Yes you can use stuff you posted already, but I'm only counting the 5 best that I receive from each entrant and I would appreciate it if everyone only sent in the 5 of theirs that they think are best so I don't have to do a bunch of sorting. Everyone's welcome to keep posting here for consideration, as the contest is not the only way to get in, it's just an automatic bid, as it were. On a related note, it looks like this is the largest topic on the forum as far as number of posts, and possibly views as well. Keep posting and lets see how big we can make this thing.

Okay, some additional info. The avatars are for players, not creatures. We're looking for things that the community will want to buy for themselves. You can send in work you've already posted as long as it has not already appeared in the actual game in some fashion. Also, the art needs to be in the style of the game. You have some range to play, but anyone submitting manga will be kicked in the teeth (okay, not really, but your entry will not be used as an avatar in the game and it will certainly count against you in the voting. Manga's cool, but it is most definitely not the style of this game). Also, please don't submit symbols (or cymbols, although someone playing cymbols would be okay) or partial figures... I want to see heads and feet, unless of course your creature has no head or feet, but even if it doesn't, I want to see the thing in its entirety, its full glory. Also, I've gotten this question a lot too... "Can I reserve an avatar for myself." The short answer is NO, however there has been some discussion about this and it may be possible in the future. For now, though, no mechanism is in place to allow that. Even I had to purchase my avatar. Lastly, please only submit your best 5 drawings. While it would be great to get more from everyone, I need to see the same representative sample from everyone to make things fair. I won't immediately disqualify anyone if they send an extra one or two, but we will only be judging on the 5 best for each contestant. Remember, if you get chosen to join the guild, you will then be able to submit all of those extra drawings you have laying around, so there's no reason to do it now other than to overload my email box, and that's not something that will make me happy, and me not being happy with you makes me not want to put you on my team. Good questions and I hope I answered them sufficiently. Please ask away if you have any others.

Introducing the Great MagicDuel Avatar Contest. If you think you’ve got some artistic talent and can produce the kind of avatar artwork that this game needs, now’s your chance. Anyone can participate except existing members of the Artisans Guild. (We have a separate contest). Each participant must submit 5 avatar drawings. Each drawing should be in jpg or gif format, they can be as big or as small as you want as long as the ratio of width to height is somewhere around 3x5. Send your avatar submissions to glordamar@gmail.com and they’ll be judged by Manu and GlorDamar. You’ll have until Sunday, September 7th to submit your 5 drawings. Every drawing that we like will get posted in the MD Shop and the artist will receive 3 credits for each one used (or cash if he allready has over 150 credits). The top 3 contestants will receive the following prizes: 1st place - $50 Cash + a spot on the avatar team 2nd place - 50 credits in MD Shop 3rd place - 50 credits in MD Shop Look for a forum topic under the Contests portion of the Forum regarding this. There you can ask any questions and get advice from current avatar. The submissions of the winners will be posted there at the end of the contest. Give it your best shot! Even if you don’t win you still get shop credits for good avatars, so it’s worth your while to try your best. Let’s see the undiscovered talent out there. Good Luck!

You've got good technique. I'd like to see more. I also like pen drawing. I'm typically more of a sketcher than a drawer, so I've had to make an adjustment here, but it's been fun to do.

I like the whole war/peace thing with the Dove on the shield. Do you have photoshop or anything? Your drawings could use some level / contrast adjustments.

Unfortunately, you're going to have to wait for the next submission. The current batch is already in and should be posted soon.

Here, I took it to grayscale (in game drawing should be in grayscale) and played with the contrast a little. I also applied a little bit of a dodge around the feathers of the wing to help separate it from the body a bit. It's subtle, but I think it looks better.

Archnov - Your meditating elf is MUCH better. The beast needs some cleanup, the elf could use a little too. I put them both in photoshop and worked on the contrast a bit and they look better. I like the pose of the beast, but it still seems off to me. The elf needs a bit of refinement, but it looks like you're starting to get more consistent, which is really what I'm looking for from you. Keep going, you're getting better. Raven - I've already drawn one of what I imagined for you and it should show up in the next Avatar batch. It's not a bird or a man with wings, it's an eccentric looking older man with huge eyebrows and a massive beak of a nose wearing a feathered cloak. He kind of looks like something out of the Munsters. Good work Dexter. Yours could use a little photoshop work too, though. Morrel, fantastic as usual. Blackthorn, I love the Indian Birdman, that's a cool idea.

New avatars have been turned in. Watch the ChangeLog to find out when they get posted.

I'm sending in new Avatars today or tomorrow, and there's a raven-man in there, so you'd better get on it Raven.