Good evening, Steemians and artists! First and fore mostly, I have to apologize for the delay in rolling out the winner of the inaugural Steemit Comic Trials and new theme. Shortly after announcing the contest, I had to ready myself for ten days in LA and Palm Springs. I’ve had two shoots a day since I landed last Wednesday and passing out by 10:00p.m. because I’m still on midwest time.
I’ve been amazed by the participation of the first comics challenge. I designed this thing around what I’d want to do draw and participate in each week […and the themes are going to continue to be ones I can’t wait to sketch] and I was thrilled to see zombie portraits resonated with most of the Steemit comics community.
Here’s what I learned in the first week. I do not want to judge this thing for a long, long time. I’m looking for guest judges for upcoming weeks. Naturally, guest judges aren’t eligible to participate, but if you’re interested, please DM me on the Steemit chat.
Winner of Week 1
No more foreplay. This was an arduous decision and I still debate over a few entries for Week 1. I wish we had the rewards to break up in to a 2nd, 3rd place with honorable mentions, but I until we gain regular sponsors, it’s going to stay one winner each week.
Congratulations @ghostcode! You’re the winner of the Zombie Portrait trial for his entry, "Zombie Ghost". You’ll be receiving your 50.000SBD shortly. Big, big thanks to @customnature for generously matching the reward bounty and @steem-comic-con for contributing to the prize. I have to admit, when I thought of this contest, I was thinking illustration, pencils, inks or paintings. @ghostcode’s entry was a crazy hybrid of 3D modeling, texture mapping and Photoshop. My first thought was questioning how this approach fits with the challenge […which sheds light on the unexpected considerations that’ll arise with a weekly contest going forward]. Then I reflected on one of my favorite legacy comics, Sandman, who regularly used the same techniques for telling stories. Even Spawn went through phases where all the art was composite photos and renderings.
Here are some of the other entries from incredible Steemit comic artists that all deserve a follow if you’re looking to fill your feed with brilliant creators.
@bryan-imhoff 
@helloluis 
@catapanoart
“Trail by Comics”, is the new name and tag
This is super important. There’s a name change for the contest. Going forward, #trialbycomics will be the official name and tag used to be eligible to win. I realized after I began the contest, it was very easy to confuse “trials” with the many “trails” happening within various Steemit communities. I saw a clip of Tyrion Lanister demanding a “Trial by Combat”, and “Trial by Comics” just came to me. That “should” distinguish the competition from the Steemit “trail” initiatives, and it just sounds badass.
“Game of Thrones” is our theme for Week 2!
Speaking of Tyrion Lanister, I couldn’t imagine a more fitting theme for this week then Game of Thrones, considering tonight is the season finale. Any season, and character, and medium. Give us your best Jon Snow mutiny stabbing by the Night’s Watch. Embellish your fantasy art muscles with a detailed drawing of Daenerys atop Drogon, or if the zombie theme still has you inspired, an army of white walkers lead by the Night King! It’s up to you!
Deadline is Sunday, September 3rd 5:00UTC 12:00a.m. CTS
Rules
• Up to three entries per trial round [weekly].
• Original artwork only
• Winners will be chosen based on quality of work, submitted before deadline and ability to adhere to the weekly trial theme
• Must resteem the contest post you’re participating in!
• Must include #trialbycomics hashtag [please note the change because this is how we will find your entry]
The winner will receive 25.000SBD. If you’d like to contribute to the prize or match my own, please contact me as a sponsor, but note that sponsors cannot participate in that weeks #trialbycomics!
Your guest judge for Week 2 is our own Cryptkeeper of comics past, present and future, @cryptlectibles!
Thank you for everyone that participated last week and I can’t wait to see your best Game of Thrones entries! Resteem this post, help get the word out and make comics!
Thank you @kommienezuspadt, @customnature and @steem-comic-con for the prize.
Honoured to be the first winner in your Trial by Comics contest with my hybrid gore loving entry!
Congratulations, man! That was such a great entry.
Finally finished! Spoiler alert - you must go to the post to see the whole drawing --> Full post
I hope I am not late, This is my entry for the contest.
https://steemit.com/art/@artlover/game-of-thrones-khal-dorgo-drawing-for-contest-trialbycomics
Nice! Congratulation @ghostcode! So nice! And the next theme - o la la! This will be fun! I already have my plan even though I haven't seen the final episode. Thanks again for great hosting :D!
I used to watch Game of Thrones but stopped watching many seasons ago, so judging will be on personal art tastes alone lol! Good luck everyone!
This contest provides a pretty sweet place for would be comicbook writers to find potential artists.
I'm personally covered for now, but I wonder if you could advertise the winners to comic book writing forums? If such things even exist haha
I love that idea of using this as a platform to introduce small press comic publishers to new talent! That's a great idea! @drwatson. How cool would it be in a year if the anniversary #trialbycomics reward was a job with a publishing company!
That would be amazing. What better way to get steemit out into the mainstream, than to be the birth place of the next great comic book artists.
Steemit could be to illustrators what J.K. Rowling was to that pub where she wrote the Harry Potter books!
Here is my Entry for Week 2:
I'll probably be lynched for admitting I haven't seen a single episode! I have read the first 4 books however... though it's been about a decade! I probably will do something based off TV photo refs I'd imagine though... we shall see!
HAHA! I'm really surprised that seems to be the sentiment for many of us here on Steemit. I thought everyone watched GoT's. You should at least do a dragon @bryan-imhoff, because who doesn't love dragons. You just have to put a hot blonde on top of it and BOOM, Game of Thrones! :P
I have to admit I'm lagging on getting started, but I have Friday & Sunday off so I'll be digging into it. I think you convinced me on my subject matter...
Oh my goodness! I feel so tempted now.
You should do it @m31! As it turns out, not a lot of #trialbycomics participants are GoT's fans, so it looks like it'll be an easy 25.000SBD, plus I'd love to see what you come up with.
Argh! I just saw @artlover's entry mentioning barely hitting the deadline... I hadn't noticed 5:00UTC was only 1 in the afternoon for me! I thought I had all night!
I was really struggling on this one anyway, perhaps I'll show it later, but looks like I'm out 🙌 for week two. I vow a stellar performance in week three... I'm anxious to see the topic!
Thats too bad man ;(( I see there arent much entries for the contest. Atleast I haven't found much. It wuld be great if yours could be included.
@cryplectibles got you a $1.78 @minnowbooster upgoat, nice! (Image: pixabay.com)
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This post has received a 1.22 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @cryplectibles.
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Snap. I haven't seen this show. I'm not sure if Ill get to participate.
How about next week a real comic challenge? As in sequential art. Just a thought.
I'm surprised so many people haven't been watching Game of Thrones @neopatriarch, but that definitely seems to be the case. This week may be a bust, but I'm definitely going to do sequential art themes coming up shortly. Next week I was thinking about superheroes [...because I want an excuse to draw Spawn], but the following week was going to be sequential art, and entire week on inking, and at some point I even want to do a writing challenge.
I'm planning on putting up a post later tonight... not a competition but just a rundown for my goals for the remainder of the year and invitation for others to join in, use common tags, etc.
So I'll be launching into Penciltember, followed by Inktober, Colorvember, and Sequentialcember! (Yeah, ridiculous names building off the well known Inktober... but that's my style!)
Well done @ghostcode! Great technique your using. Very impressive! Unfortunately I'm not gonna join in for this event as I'm not a follower of Games Of Thrones. I'm also super busy... ;-( Good luck everyone!
Nice Art !!!!!!