Contests:


How contests work:
Every month or two, people of all ages from all over the world can come together and participate in a gameartisans.org's competition. When a competition starts, it will be announced on both this gallery's home page and on gameartisans.org's forum home page. Additionally, there is always a discussion stickied thread where people can talk about and ask questions about the current competition. You can find the general Discussion forum - here -

With each new competition, new guidelines will be released. This is called "the Brief." These guidelines contain exact information on when the deadline will be, what is the topic, and what are the restrictions. Additionally, there will be a second page that lists the rules for what you need to hand in to enter into the finals. This is called the "Submissions Page."

Every new competition will have new prizes. Prizes are always different from one comp to another. You can find these neat prizes on the "Prizes Page."



Joining a Competition, how?
To join a competition on gameartisans.org, press any of the join buttons on most of the competition pages (View Entries, Read Brief, View Prizes, Submissions, Contact Us), or on this gallery's HomePage.

Warning - You must be logged in with "remember me" enabled to join a competition. To become logged in, naturally, you need to be a member of gameartisans.org. You can register here if you are not already a member.



Why Enter?
Game Concept Artists and Game 3d Artists generally enter to take part in a like-minded community who are all here to improve their skills as an artist. Additionally, with an added insentive of a rating system, the higher up you go, the more notice you get from the public and potential watching employers. Of course, if this is not enough for you, then there are always some neat prizes up for grabs to who ever wins each event.



How long does it take to release the final results?
Depending on the amount of finalists and on the complexity of the competition, the final results are generally released in 3-4 weeks. Why so long? Usually, artwork has to be created for the relaunch of the finals, and intereviews, if any, have to be created from scratch for a few of the exceptional artists in the finals. If you still think things are taking too long, please feel free to harrass the admin in the appropriate competition thread in the general discussions forum located - here -



Thumbnails - Why won't my new thumbnail show?
If you upload a new thumbnail, you must wait for it to be approved by an admin before it can be shown to the public. Why are approvals necessary? Basically, this feature is in place to prevent malicious advertising and/or pornography.

Warning - Firfox users beware. If your thumbnail is approved, and if you get a confirmation email that states your thumbnail has been accepted, it still takes 2-5 page refreshes to get your new thumbnail to show up. So Please refresh your page before resubmitting your thumbnail over and over and over again.



About prizes
There are new prizes given in each and every new competition, however, if you are under the age of 18, we must have your parents consent before we can award you your prizes. Additionally, all prizes will be shipped or paid to your parents.

Generally, prizes are dispensed within one month of the announcement of who won the competition. For cash prizes, paypal is gameartisans.org's prefered method of payment.



About sponsors
There are two forms of sponsors in gameartisans.org competitions:

1. Game Company sponsors - When a game company sponsors a competition, it is generally theirs to do with as they wish. They determine the theme and they determine the prizes, however, gameartisans.org's staff will maintain and run the competition.

2. Product and merchandize sponsors - These sponsors provide prizes to the winners because they believe in game art and because their products are usually capable of making game art even better. Product sponsors do not influence the topic of the competition nor do they influence the final results of a competition.

Sponsors other than gameartisans.org or gccore.org are responsible for sending the prizes to the winners. GameArtisans cannot be held responsible, nor can we provide a substitute in case prizes are no longer available or if the sponsors have retracted their sponsorship at any time during the contest.



Community awards, why?
What are community awards? Community awards are giving to special members who participated in one of gameartisans.org's commemorative events or who helped gameartisans.org in some special way. If is generally announced before hand how community members can earn awards, however, in some rare cases, awards are given out because a unique event has occured.

To find a list of who has which award and which awards are available, search this page here:
http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/awards.php?



Competition award icons, why?
What are competition award icons? On the forum, or on a few places in the gallery, icons are given to members to show how many competitions they have entered and to show how many competitions they have won. How many they won? Yes, even if people don't win every competition, these icons show how committed they are in finishing their work, so this is just as impressive as being a top finalist.

To find a list of who has which award, search this page here:
http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/zawards.php?



All artwork must be original
Unless otherwise specified, all artwork created for a competition must be specifically made for the competition. You may not use any old models or use any pieces from old models.



Deadline extensions, WHY!?
GameArtisans always reserves the right to cancel or extend the contest at any time for whatever reason, without further notice or advance warning.



Master Artisan, Elite Artisan, Game Artisan, why?
Why are there different titles for artists? These 3 titles represent how many competitions an artist has won on dominancewar.com or gameartisans.org. Higher standings puts you on top of every search list and also demonstrates your strengths and accomplishments as an artist.



Teams and how they work
Unless otherwise stated, artisans are allowed to enter a 3d competition as a team of two maximum. One must be a concept artist and he can not touch anything 3d. Additionally, Concept artists can not help with a models textures and scene environments.

For concept art challenges, no teams are allowed. Everything must be done by one artisan.



Does my character have to be rigged and posed?
No, your character does not need to be rigged and posed, however, if you pose your character, it considerably raises your chances for a win. Additionally...
1. Rigging a character is good practice, the more you do, the better you will get at it.
2. Most game characters will be animated, so learning how to rig is beneficial to your carreer.
3. Posing your character for final renders helps set a mood and again, better your chances to win the event.



Artwork ownership
All art, sketches, and photographs submitted remains yours to do with as you wish. If GameArtisans.org or Dominancewar.com wish to use your work for show and tell, we will ask you for your permission.



Is joining multiple times allowed?
You may only join each category, concepts and 3d, once. Unless otherwise stated, concept artists may pair up with 3d artists. There are three restrictions:

1. A concept artisan may only create concept art for a 3d artisan. He may not touch the 3d model, 3d environments, lighting, textures etc. Basically, A concept artisan can not touch anything related to 3d.

2. Concept artisans who enter a concept art challenge have to make unique art for this challenge. They may not use the same concepts they created for their 3d partner, if they have one.

3. If the theme permits it, a 3d artisan with concept art skills may enter his same concepts for both concept art and 3d art challenges.



Why Polygon and texture restrictions are necessary for game art
The technical restrictions are required so that a game can process all needed data (models, shader effects, ai, etc) in a single frame. The character may be a focus of the scene, but a character by itself is not a game. Polygons all take a certain time to render per frame, and texture maps each take memory, even when they are compressed.

In light of these facts, game art competitions use these restrictions as a guideline for creating game art. Without these restrictions, it wouldn't be game art.



Themes, why are they so restricted?
Themes help limit content to one genre or style so that judges can objectively compare one entry to another and choose a winner. If themes were not in place, it would be hard to compare a cute kid to a monster, or a cartoon character to a hyper realistic character and then choose a winner.



W.I.P Competition, what does this mean?
W.I.P stands for work in progress. All Gameartisans.org competitions are w.i.p based competitions. Everyone is required to show their work and how they made everything. If you hide your work (termed a "ninja"), you would only hurt your reputation in the eyes of other professionals who took time out of their busy schedules to show and inspire others how to create something 3d.



W.I.P, Do I really have to show my work in progress?
Yes, you must absolutely show your w.i.p work. Artists that show their work all in the last day or within the last week will be disqualified from winning the event. No exceptions. Ninjas (people who hide their work) hurt the spirit of the competition and the artists who enter them. Please show your work well in advance and please show how you got to each point in your model. This will help everyone, as a community, grow.



How can I show images in my forum threads?
There are two ways to make images show in your forum threads.

1. upload your images to your personal website and then insert your image's url into these tags [img]your.image.url[/img]

2. Use the attach file feature found in the advance post page on gameartisans.org. You can not use quick reply to attach images, you must press on go advanced to find the attach files section under the input text area. When you have this attach file page open, find the file on your hardrive, and press upload. If your file is not too big, everything will work fine.



Polygons and tris, What are they?
Competition guidelines are always listed in tris. Example: 5000 tris maximum. If you have one tri, and it's a square, this means your software is counting it wrong. A tri is a triangle so if you see a square, this means you have two tris (two triangles form a square). Always make sure you are counting tris.



Lighting and shadows, what is allowed?
Advanced lights, raytraced shadows and mental ray renders are all allowed.



3d programs, which are we allowed to use for this?
You may use any program that makes 3d. There are no limits.



Pedestals: What is and is not allowed?
Sometimes, artists are required to create a pedestal in a 3d competition. Unless otherwise stated, you may use unlimited polygons and textures for your pedestal. There is only 1 major restriction, you may not create anything on your pedestal that your character can pick up and use. Broken swords, half buried weapons, boulders for giants, etc are all not allowed.



Double sided polygons?
Unless otherwise stated, you may use double sided polygons for your entry. Additionally, you may use seperate uv channels and texture materials for each side of a polygon.



Post effects, glows and particles
Using post effects for final renders is not permitted. Glows should be placed on polygons and these polygons should always come out of your budget for your character and/or vehicle.



How many competitions per year?
On average, there is a competition every two months. Depending on whether there will be special events held in between, there should be around 6 competitions a year.

Personal Galleries:


How Personal Galleries work
Galleries allow the general public and employers, to find in one place, all the contests you have entered to date. Additionally, since artists usually have fulltime jobs, their competition finals have usually been rushed. In this light, gallery owners may re-submit revised works for every competition entered. Higher file size and resolution sized images may be uploaded to replace old entered works. Furthermore, there is an additional option of handing in a wallpaper for each competition entered.

One last thing of note, for each victory an artist attains, there will be placed one medal of the appropriate standing (gold, silver, bronze) beside his or hers name. In time, as awards are accumulated, your rating and title on gameartisans.org will change. There are 3 titles:

1. Game Artisan - This is the standard starting title for every artist who has a gallery on gameartisans.org. The more competitions these artists enter, the higher up they will appear on every search forms on gameartisans.org.

2. Elite Artisan - Elite Artisans are artists who have won one special event like the Dominance War or who have accumulated enough victories on gameartisans competitions to merit the change in status. These artists always appear above standard Game Artisans on all search pages.

3. Master Artisan - Master Artisan is the highest standing one can attain on gameartisans.org. It takes a significant amount of wins to achieve a Master status, but once you are there, you will be on top of every listing on gameartisans and your gallery is likely to appear on GameCon's home page more often then any other gallery on this site.

For a chart on the point system, please visit this page - here -



How can I get a gallery?
Galleries are automatically given and only given to artisans who complete a competition on gameartisans.org. If it is an artisan's first time completing a competition, he or she will receive a new gallery as soon as the "Submit Finals" button is pressed on a competition entry form.

New galleries are not shown to the public until the results for the contest entered have been announced to the public.



How can I change my name, bio, location, etc?
To update your personal details, such as name, bio, location, website, email address, etc., you must visit your user cp on GameArtisans.org's forum.



Email, why does it not show?
In order for you email address to show, you must enable "Receive Email from Other Members" on Edit Options on your personal User CP - here -



Wallpapers, where do I upload?
Only artisans with galleries can upload up to 3 wallpapers for each of the competitions they entered. In Artist Home, upload wallpaper options can be found on each available Edit Competition #00 forms.



Why doesn't my gallery show to the public?
New galleries are not shown to the public until the results for the contest entered have been announced to the public.



Why are finals entries and gallery entries not the same?
Since artisans usually have fulltime jobs, their competition finals have usually been rushed. Because of this, gallery owners may always re-submit revised works for each competition they have entered. Higher file size and resolution sized images may be uploaded to replace old entered works.



How can I revise my artwork?
Artisans may never revise original submitted Finals that appear in the Archives; However, artisans may hand in revised entries for their personal galleries. To revise artwork in personal galleries, simply press on any of the "edit comp #numbers" under Edit Gallery options, or press the little tool labeled edit beside each of your entered competition numbers.

Contests Archive:


How Contests Archive page works
In competition Archives, there are categories for each previous held competition on gameartisans.org. If you press on the clicking on the winner's image of a catagory, you will immediatly go to his or hers individual artwork for that topic. To see all the entries for that contest topic, on the innitial contests archive page, you must press on the little 'more' button to the right of every image. Or, you can press on the 'see all' loacated on the top of each individual's page.



Can I change my finals?
No. Original submitted finals can never be changed.



What does "brought to you by" mean?
"Brought to you by" icons represent the main game company that sponsored the competition on gameartisans.org.

How to create what you need for contests:


Initial ideas and concepts
Initial Ideas and concepts are considered part of a competition. If these ideas are done before a competition starts, they would not be allowed for use. Why? Coming up with an idea for a topic is one of the hardest parts of a competition. Before an artisan can start on an entry, he or she has to form an idea and/or create a concept. This usually takes a week and sometimes, if lucky, less. If an old idea and/or concept is used, a significant time advantage is gained over other artisans. So, if participants are found using old ideas, they can potentially be disqualified.



How to model your work under contest guidelines
In every competition, there are specific polygon guidelines that must be adhered to. If for example, the rules state that you have a maximum of 5000 polygons to use, you may not go over this in anyway. You can use less, like 4000, or 4999 but if you have 5001, you are over the limit and could potentially be disqualified.

Stay within the limits, and you will be fine.



How to texture your models
Unless otherwise specified, these are the types of maps you are allowed to use:
- Color (diffuse)
- Reflection Map
- Specular Map
- Normal Map
- Bump Map
- Opacity(transparency) Map
- Glow map (emisive map)
- Glossiness map.

Texture Maps can always be broken down into smaller maps. If, for example, you are given a single 1024 sheet, feel free to break this into smaller sheets that add up to 1024 x 1024. Remember, it takes 4 x 512 sheets to fit inside a single 1024 sheet and if we make our sheets even smaller, it takes 16 x 256 sheets to fit into the same 1024 sheet.



How to get things ready for final voting
To get things ready for voting, you simply need to upload your final images on your personal entry forms (the form found when you press join). Be sure to press "Preview Finals" to view how your entry will look in the finals. When happy, press "Submit Finals."

Warning, you may not change your thumbnail if you submit your finals. Thumbnails are extremely important. If you have a great entry, but a bad representing thumbnail, judges might not enter your entry page to see your great work.



The voting process
Depending on if a game company is voting or if elite guest game artists are voting, voting methods change from competition to competition. Sometimes individuals choose favorites and write comments and other times one person gathers up everyone's choices and comments and submits them as one single submission.

Judge selections:
There are various aspects of your creation that will influence a judge's choice.
- Technical merit
- Theme Idea and carry through
- Textures
- Pose and atmosphere
- Personality
- Model and silhouette

Each aspect of your creation is important when creating your model. The more aspects you master, the more likely you will win a competition.

About Artist Spotlights:


How can I get into the light?
To be interviewed by gameartisans.org, you either have to win a competition, or be an extremely good game 3d or concept artist. If you meet one of these two requirements, gameartisans.org will contact you.



Interviews, what is needed from me?
After someone from gameartisans.org contacts you, you will be asked to answer a few questions and to forward a few unique images that have never been seen online. When these are submitted, together with an admin, two webpages will be created that talks about you, and only you.

If you make it into the spotlight, you certainly must have earned it.

Advertising:


How can I advertise with GameArtisans.org?
Anyone or company can advertise on gameartisans.org. To find more info about advertising, simply visit - here -



How can I sponsor GameArtisans.org?
Official sponsors on gameartisans.org contribute the following:
- Contribute prizes to each bi-monthly gameartisans.org competition (excluding Dominance War at dominancewar.com)
- Purchase an advertising package at a discount price depending on the value of your contributed prizes.

Benefits:
- Showcase your products every time someone looks at a prizes page
- Advertise your business via banners on almost every page of GameCon.org, dominancewar.com and the forum homepage of gameartisans.org
- Advertise on one of the few online websites that is specific to game art only
- Any magazine coverage for a competition will have your company's logo in the articles.

For additional details, please contact fredh@dominancewar.com



Is Dominancewar.com included in advertising?
Yes, Dominancewar.com is included in advertising, however between the months of December to April, advertising fees increase when dominancewar.com, a multinational site becomes active.



How can my Game Company create a competition on GameArtisans.org?
It's extremely simple to create a competition on GameArtisans.org. For more info, please contact fredh@dominancewar.com.

If a game company sponsors a competition on gameartisans, they can choose the theme, decide on the specs, and create the page designs for the entire competition. GameArtisans will simply be around to insert your design into the system and then maintain the competition during its active duration. Effectively, any competition a game company sponsors is their to do with as they wish.