I think the staff has set a record for their time in judging this month's (last month's?) bardic and artisanal winners.

Congrats to those who won, especially Veo, because I know she worked her ass off on it. I didn't win, but it took me 10 minutes to write, so I wasn't expecting too much.

Wooops, I totally foprgot to submit mine!

The reason it was fast is because there was such an OVERWHELMING number of entries that we thought if we didn't buckle down and do it right now, it'd kept be putting off forever!

This is my last one, and I'm kind of curious how people will react to it. It's very different from the others, and designed to get a wide variety of reactions from different people. (I also kind of see it as a film short; I could adapt it into a screenplay easily, if someone has a few million bucks to produce? )

(Though I am almost thinking of writing of Gwylifar's final, failed vision quest... but I won't because that's too tragic even for me! And even if I did, I doubt I'd submit it.)

You just want to get on my good side because of the grudge I hold against you over the last bardic I entered .

Yes, congrats to everyone!

I think the Richter picture should have won.

Why don't you just run me through with a sword Richter.

...because he uses maces?

Don't listen to him, Kaileigh! Your picture was absolutely fantastic!

Though the Richter picture was excellent too... except that it was titled "Richter"...





Just kidding!

You get my hopes up, then you just dash them like that .

I honestly cannot say that I'm too impressed with how the Bardics were judged, and placed. My own opinion, I guess.

*allows Revan to borrow his sword to run him through with, since, Geomancers like use a staff and such*

That wasn't meant as an insult to anyone. I didn't even mention -what- places or even names. It's my own personal opinion anyway. All of the entries were great

Normally, I'd say it's all subjective anyway, but there is one thing I'm actually curious about this time: what happened to all the Portal of Fate pictures?

A whole slew of them were made for the Portal illustration contest, and I recall a number of people saying they planned to enter theirs in the artisanals, as invited to do so by Estarra.

Even jealous as I can be of the work of other artists ("Yeah? I can do way better than that. Pfft!"), I had to admit there were several excellent entries that didn't win that contest. And Estarra said as much: that there was a lot of great work there.

So why, when there were all these great pictures, did not even one of them qualify for a passing nod in the artisanal contests? There was even one less artisanal award handed out this month than last, so it's not like the judges hit quota and stopped.

From here it looks like someone didn't get the memo about Portal of Fate pictures being eligible, and sent every interpretation of it straight into the round file.

Because they'd been seen, no novelty, versus "oh look this is so cool and no and I've not been seeing it for a month now!"

Maybe they forgot to submit them until it was too late?

The ones that won though were fantastic! And the bardic entries too! I was really happy to have won a prize, and even more so when I read the other winning entries.

Congratulations everyone!

Perhaps. But hardly a valid criteria, since the people who did the portal pictures did so with the explicit understanding that they'd be eligible for the lesser contest if they didn't win the big one.

I mean, I've got the next sketch of a Shanthine Pride member already waiting in the wings, and it didn't show up this time because the Portal picture I did took its place.

Nah, I liked your picture, and actually took the time to go through all the old entries that I'd never seen (that would be all of them) and enjoyed your older stuff as well.

I'm just a bit biased towards the Richter picture, for obvious reasons. Plus I'm paying him to do it.

I didn't.



Not meaning to contest any of what DID win. But as I said, one less prize was handed out this time, which translates to "there just wasn't anything else good enough among the submissions to warrant any sort of recognition".

Now pardon my ego, but I do good work. Professional level work. Literally. I've done comic covers and illustrated novels, and have one publisher who's told me flat out she'd publish any pin-up I bothered to contribute to one of her comic books.

Being beaten out? Okay, it's subjective. They didn't like my choice of material? Okay, it's subjective. But taking on an assignment that was pre-approved, and then having the results completely dissed as beneath notice, not simply lesser works than that of the competition?

I used up what was supposed to be a relaxing afternoon to recover from a week-long trip, unaware if anyone else had even tried to pull together the needed picture of the portal, unaware if I'd even have mine done in time to be used for its intended purpose, in the good faith that I'd have a realistic chance of seeing something for my efforts regardless.

Up 'til now, I've only submitted things I would have done anyway, so it's been no big deal to me how they were judged. But if the Portal pictures weren't given a fair judging in the artisanals (and I don't know how they could have been), that's a breach of faith to everyone who entered the original contest.

So much for praising the artisanal entries and the Divine's work in judging them, watch out! It's Exarius' self-love hijack thread! You musn't say a word against dear Exarius' wonderfully crafted and intricately detailed piece, he's a professional you know!



Okay, something more serious and we'll try to ignore the ego for a while before it blots out the entirety of the sun. Very well done in winning Kaileigh, it's pleasant to see! That's a nice pic there as well Richter, was thinking so when I saw it there the other day. Classy! Congrats to the Divine's good work there in judging too, I was also surprised to see it done so fast.