Elven Artwork Contest 2017

To go along with the Ta'Illistim Grand Arts Gala in November of 2017, GM Galene proposed a real-world art contest. The submitted artwork was required to have something to do with the elven race as related to Gemstone IV, with the interpretation and the medium up to the artist.

The deadline was midnight eastern on Sunday, November 5th, 2017. The winners were announced on Tuesday, November 28th.

Prizes

GM Galene announced there would be 1st and 2nd place winners, and each winning piece would be displayed on the Gemstone IV front page at a future point. The 1st place winner would select two items from the prize list, and the second place winner would select one from those remaining.

The prize list was announced as follows:

• 750 SimuCoins
• 2 one-line Feature Alters
• 2 General Item Alters
• Custom Title
• Custom Verb
• Custom Swear

Entries

1st Place

"The Mirror, Alone" by Raelee's player

Artist: player of Raelee

Title: "The Mirror, Alone"

Prize: First Place

Artist Notes:

This is a portrait of the Argent Mirror, Myasara Illistim, taking a moment alone in the morning, away from the court and away from the practiced formality that's so often demanded of her. A dried black rose is tucked away in the pages of her book, the symbol of Laethe and a reminder of her lost love - Caylio. She allows her mind to wander away from her reading, thinking of him while watching the airships dock in the distance and breathing in the scent of the fresh mournblooms..

This was digitally painted in Adobe Photoshop on top of a pencil sketch, with some additional work done in Adobe Illustrator. As a final point of trivia: there are 17 peacock feathers hiding in this portrait.

2nd Place

"Anyway, Here's Wonderwall" by Bristenn's player

Artist: player of Bristenn

Title: "Anyway, Here's Wonderwall"

Prize: Second Place

Artist Notes:

Pencilled, inked, and painted digitally in Paint Tool Sai. The original idea was to convey a more lighthearted scenario of a Vaalorian cataphract courting an elven maiden with the help of his buds. FEASTDAY IS FOR THE BOYS.

Other Entries

Vaalin and Violet Feystone Geldaralad, by Mourne's player

Artist: player of Mourne

Title: "Vaalin and Violet Feystone Geldaralad"

Artist Notes:

While I enjoy digital illustration periodically, metal is my primary medium. As such, I chose to create an elven geldaralad out of woven wire and maille. A mixture of fine silver and anodized niobium is my approximation of the pearly white and rainbow sheen of vaalin. The pattern I chose for the suspending chain is a variant of a simple spiral weave, intended to capture both the required 'twisted' nature of the chain in order to be a proper elven geldaralad, as well as present an open and airy aesthetic that would allow me to marry the white silver and rainbow niobium together in such a way that neither became too dominant. Finally, the "feystones" are Swarovski crystal.

A still image from the Abominate Panoply of House Illistim, by Naamit's player

Artist: player of Naamit

Title: The Abominate Panoply of House Illistim

Artist Notes:

Art as Process; acrylic on canvas, presented as a slideshow with artist's statement in digitally enhanced voice-over to sound like Naamit.

Proclamation on The Abominate Panoply of House Illistim

Fifty-eight days on the dot I sought to eke a single vein of thought on which to paint. Day after day, applying layers of paint, only to scrape them back away, revealing yesterday's ruminations and notions of those before. How could such a surfeit of existence be condensed into a single subject when the dearth of their deceit runs so deep?

My eyes ran red with rage as the generalizations of judgment finally transformed into a fully realized characterization and the genesis of my complaint: The very essence of Illistim wisdom is woven from thousands of years of discrimination and selective recollections stowed so neatly away in that mausoleum on the mountain where they reside. Billions of tales recount unrealized lies, while each life mentioned is but a soul spared some millennia of anonymous ennui!

Now, I shall not refute any claim that abjection bleeds hard and true through these lines and through these hues, for this is no unenlightened cant of mine! The core of my missive lies in each layer pulled and each layer plied, for every stroke represents another facet of this abominate elven panoply that I cannot adequately visualize! Like a lemniscated ambulation where the end and the beginning lack absolute clarity, the process of contemplation through application IS the evidential journey!

The Pie Shop: Elven Exports, by Ordim

Artist: player of Ordim

Title: The Pie Shop: Elven Exports

Artist Notes:

I doodled on my tablet

The Look, by Regwen

Artist: player of Regwen

Title: "The Look"

Artist Notes:

The colored pencil portrait entitled "The Look" depicts a young elven girl who's daydreams have been interrupted. She is casually dressed in a lavender spider silk tunic and seated near sun lit window in a castle tower. Her hand is gracefully held where her chin recently rested. Her long brunette hair has been swept up into a loose bun, with sunlight causing several stray strands to seemly glow with radiance. She seems to gaze directly at you, her head lightly cocked, one eye slightly quirked and lips pursed as if to say, "Don't you dare draw me". '