How to ★ WIN ★ Art Contests

[romesilk]

The background section has been completely revised and expanded! It now has actual tips and techniques that you may find helpful as opposed to just saying "lol idk." XD

[romesilk]

And now I've added a section with some quickie lighting tips and references. heart

[ChiiDoLLx]

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/saves this to read later.

However, I love what you did so far. I love the many examples and details, specifics in some categories while still giving examples~ o w o!

[veelafleur]

I've been following these tips unknowingly for a while now.. hehe.

[romesilk]

"We hold these tips to be self-evident..."

lol

[Xrylz]

I practically use most of your ways ever since I start participating in contest. XD

A habit extended from my real life shopping experience. I am a careful person that do research a lot before buying a certain thing.

[Lordess_Avarnis]

romesilk

"We hold these tips to be self-evident..."

lol

A lot of the tips retain to the anime/manga style art.

There are some other tips for those who approach art with a more realistic look to it, semi realism or realism.


One thing that I get compliments on is how smooth I can make my shading. That it looks effortless and it flows.

Now, I just recently started to enter contests, but I have been working several art shops, and now work a bribe shop.

Here is just the latest sample of my work: Art Gallery

The first one in that second post is a contest entry, and I will not know if I have won until a couple months from now.


I also have to disagree with your 'rush and just get it done'. For me, I enjoy seeing art in which people spent time on, and some people work faster then others, I understand that.

Also if you rush through it, you are going to skip over details, and you won't find your mistakes until its to late. I have had several people look at some of my art and compliment me on the details that I put into the art.

Also, a background isn't always needed. Like in said above picture, they are simple coming out of the shadows. the host wanted dark art, and to give the illusion of it being dark, a black background -or dark colors- with the characters seeming to come out of it, or disappearing into it along with enhanced shadows, and darkened colors -with a simple styled layer of brightness/contrast- gives it that darker look, but its the details on the faces in which really set the tone, the background and style just lock it in place.


Now I haven't gone to school for this, and I am basically self taught, so all of the above is just what I have found people prefer.

[romesilk]

Style

Actually, pretty much all of these tips are universal to digital art no matter what style you use. A lot of the examples are in anime/manga styles because those were just the examples I found first, or happened to have on hand.

Rushing

This isn't about what you like looking at. This is about winning art contests. "Rush and get it done" is good advice regarding contest entries because you have a deadline to meet. It's better to have a finished piece that's a bit rushed than to never finish some giant masterpiece. For your own personal masterworks, take as long as you like. ^^

In general, learning to work more quickly will help you immensely in every regard.

If you look at the best artists we've got online, they actually work really quickly. This helps then churn out 5 amazing images in the time it would take you to finish one above-average one with the same level of detail. It's because they've learned to work quickly. How do you get to the point where you can knock out a great piece in a short amount of time? By practicing! Contests allow you practice stuff and get prizes.

I think, though, that you might be a bit confused at the difference between rushing something ambitious (and getting a decent image as a result) and just doing a quickie piece. Rushing doesn't mean you skip details, it means you draw them quickly. Skipping details is something you do if you're just doing a quickie piece. I'll add a note about the difference to prevent others from the same confusion. ^^

Backgrounds

I didn't say backgrounds were required, I said they are advised. If someone running a contest doesn't want backgrounds or says they specifically want something, then go for it. But in general, backgrounds will improve your prize placement.

Case Study
Every main winner in this contest has a background. The highest-placing images without backgrounds are category runner-ups: Chibi Runner-up (but it's animated), Cutest Runner-up, Not Cute Runner-up. Images with backgrounds won all of the main prizes, and outplaced images without backgrounds in the categories.

Percentage of entries with backgrounds: 33%
Percentage of winning entries with backgrounds: 66%

Including a background gives an image a more finished quality, displays more effort, and shows more skill!

A picture with a background is more likely to win a prize than one without a background. If you have two artists of the exact same skill level and one draws a background and the other doesn't, the one that drew the background will win probably around 90% of the time.

The only time a picture without a background beats one with a background is when the artist in question is much more skilled. On many occasions artists of slightly lesser skill have beaten better artists because they draw a background.

Do you have to draw a background? No! Of course not! Will you win better prizes if you do? YES, obviously!

Someone could easily beat your contest entry example by doing a dark piece that has a dark background to match. If their art skills aren't as good as yours, you might still beat them. But if they are as good, it's likely they'll beat you.



I'm not sure what you're saying people prefer. No backgrounds? I don't think the evidence bears this assertion out, at least as far as contest results are concerned. Dark art? Well, sometimes people specifically ask for that because they prefer it, but actually most people seem to prefer cute art. (I don't prefer cute myself, I'm just saying.) But then, I'm not making tips specific to doing any one style or theme, I'm trying to provide tips that can be used regardless of whether you're working on a cute piece or a dark one, or something else altogether! ^^

I'm also a little confused about the comments you say you get on your art. I'd actually say your coloring is rough-looking, more painted than smooth, and while your stuff is nice, I wouldn't say it's particularly detailed. Have you posted stuff in picture post? You might be able to get some better feedback so you can improve! Or maybe on dA or something where you can get better feedback on your work.

[romesilk]

Also, it's worth noting that a lot of contests don't get any entries that have backgrounds, which goes right into that contest selection advice! Winning in contests where no one else draws a background and you do? Cakewalk! whee Even if you don't get top prize, you'll still most likely improve your placement a bunch.

This is why it can be so good to scout out the smaller contests that still have a decent top prize.

[Lordess_Avarnis]

Some of my art lacks details, because the avatar's lack some detail. The contests that I come across usually have very simplistic avatars so its easy to get many contestants to enter.


And I get what you are saying about the background, what I was trying to note is that sometimes a background would be to much. And if you can't draw a background that is just as great as your main image, then I don't see the reason to draw one.


It is true that most people skip out on a background, multiple people, trying something new. I have ran across that.

And yes, I enjoy making my art look like its painted. Its my style, and it looks different to each person, which makes me happy.

Win or loose, my main reason for entering any art contest is the wide amount of subjects that one could draw.

I do post my stuff on DA but normally don't get any good feedback, and I haven't tried picture post. I have seen what some people get when they try and get art feed back and I don't think I want all the idiots coming and talking. ^^; -granted, you could and quite possible do get an artist or two that will come in and give you good feedback! I am not saying that isn't possible-


That, and I do art for fun, it won't be my future job. lol

[romesilk]

Even if a character's design lacks detail, you can add details in all sorts of subtle ways like clothing seams and folds.. I'll try and do a section on this. I can find some instances where two artists have drawn the same character and show how one artist did more detail than the other, even though the reference might have been simple!

I added hair strands to the finishing touches section. ^^

Coming soon: sketchbook challenge, coloring imitation challenge, and some links to tutorials and such!

[romesilk]

Two more exercises added to the general advice section! May your artistic skills come to match the ambitions you have for them. heart

[romesilk]

Two small additions! Added Examine the Thread to the contest selection post, and a Details section to the Draw Different post which addresses Spirit of Gold's issues and has some really good tutorials and examples of how an artist can change a simple character outfit into something with a lot more detail.

EDIT: And added a few notes on making images more dynamic in the new Motion section, also in the Draw Different post.

[romesilk]

Minor edit to the backgrounds section, I've edited the design elements section to include some nice examples of framing elements. Easy to do, easy to theme, and highly effective, particularly if you combine your frame with some sort of theme of element relating to the character in question. X3

[romesilk]

Added a section under the general art tips about creating an inspiration file!

If I remembered to keep inspiring images open while working on art, my art would be so much better. ;_; I almost always forget.