Black Celebration in the Future – A Swordsfall Sponsored Art Contest
It’s not an art contest, it’s an art CELEBRATION.
The Idea
With everything going on, having black representation is more important than ever. It’s one of the reasons Swordsfall was started in the first place. Many others have been doing amazing work running donations and fundraisers, and I applaud them!
I’ve decided on a different take. An art “contest”, but one in which each entry gets PAID!
THEME:
The theme of the contest is Black Celebration in the Future. That can mean Afropunk, Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, and any other version of black lives in the future.
The Black Celebration in the Future Award Show
The Art
The art that was turned in was simply AMAZING! We had 40 artists complete their pieces and it was such a great time seeing what everyone came up with. The three judges and I each made a ranked list with your top favorites, and then compared notes and came up with the top three.
Grand Prize Winner
Joshua Clarke (Tomeofscribbles) – We Contain Universes
Second Place Winner
Mikhal Gallien (Mikhal G) – The Future Is
Third Place Winner
Felicia Daniels (Mysti) – Ladies Night
All the Entrants
Just because they weren’t the top three doesn’t make the rest of the pieces any less fantastic! It was a truly hard choice coming up with the three, and the rest deserve equal attention. Make sure to check them all out!
Raine-Williams—Untitled Rue-Dickey—Mobility Felicia-Daniels—Ladies-Night Mikhal-G-The-Future-Is Joshua-Clarke—We-Contain-Universes Leo-Piedade—Angolan-Family-Dinner Aaron-Radney—Great-Spirits Afferton-Reynold—Space-Jam Allison-Terry—Night-in-the-City Breedo—Rogue-Magazine Chelsea-Roberts—Quintessance-Train Chikanma-Pondexter—Untitled Clarissa-Williams—Untitled Daniel-Blaize—No-One-Left-Behind Dennis-Johnson—Afro-Future-Freedom-Day Deviex—Future-Lo-Fi-Beat Dion-Harris—Afrofuturism Gai-Rancy—Discarding-The-Mask-That-Grins-And-Lies George-F-Baker-III—He-Said-Alive Imani-Phillips—American-Sister Jackson-Williams—Friday-Night-With-the-Gals Jen-Delis—United KariKawachi—Radiant Leah_Henderson—Untitled Lemon—Nightwatch Momo—Fireworks Nichaulis-Harris—The-Cookout NikCool – Partyspheres2120 Nikodraws—Freefall Ogunsola-Oluwatomisin—In-My-Feelings Olivia-Carasco—Festival Olivia-Dinnall—Untitled Pupsiin—Pride-to-Power Ren-Brown—In-the-Sky Sarah-Wright—Untitled Sharmylae Taffe Fletcher Interstellar Travel Shynikai—City-Celebration Sierrah-Hardley—Untitled Teneshia-Deschamps-Grant—Take-Flight-and-Dream Tobias-Wheeler—Homegrown
COMPANY SPONSORED PRIZES
Swordsfall Studios
1st Place – 24x 36-inch Swordsfall Canvas Print of their choice!
2nd Place – Swordsfall T-Shirt of their choice!
Every entry will receive a PDF copy of Summit of Kings!
XP-Pen USA
1st Place – An Artist12 Pro Display Tablet!
Copic Markers
1st Place – Copic Sketch 36pc Set A, Blending Basics 7pc Set, Skin Tones 6pc Set, Brights 6pc Set!
2nd Place – Copic Sketch 24pc Set, Sketch 6pc set!
3rd Place – Copic Sketch 12pc Set, Sketch 6pc set!
Various Sketch 6pc sets for the entries (First come, first serve)
Clip Studio Paint
1st Place – Clip Studio Paint PRO (unlimited license)!
2nd & 3rd Place – Clip Studio Paint PRO (1-year license each)!
R. Talsorian Games
1st Place – A signed copy of the Cyberpunk Red core rulebook (upon release)!
1st, 2nd, and 3rd place – A half-hour zoom meeting with Jaye Kovach, the Art Director of R. Talsorian Games to review their portfolio!
Every entry will receive a PDF of their choice from the vast R. Talsorian library!
Paizo
1st Place – Starfinder Core Rulebook PDF, Starfinder Starship Operations Manual PDF, and Starfinder Character Operations Manual PDF (Paizo account required)!
Every entry will receive a PDF copy of Starfinder Core Rulebook!
Hero Forge Minis
1st Place – $100 Gift code to their store!
2nd Place – $75 Gift code to their store!
3rd Place – $50 Gift code to their store!
Role
1st Place – 1 year of Role Master Edition at launch, and a free copy of The Fifth Ebon Expedition.
2nd & 3rd Place – 1 year of Role Master Edition at launch
Hit Point Press
1st Place – The Deluxe Humblewood Box
Every entry will receive a PDF copy of Humblewood!
Nerdburger Games
1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place – Copy of Capers Deluxe Hardcover!
Every entry will receive a PDF copy of CAPERS!
Metal Weave Games
1st Place – Signed Limited Edition Embers of the Forgotten Kingdom Hardcover!
Every entry will receive a PDF copy of Embers of the Forgotten Kingdom!
Masif Press
1st Place – A copy of Lancer RPG hardcover and PDF bundle!
Onyx Path Games
1st Place – The Dystopia Rising: PDF Bundle!
Every entry will receive a PDF copy of Trouble on the Steel Pier: A Dystopia Rising Evolution Jumpstart!
Green Ronin
1st and 2nd Place – A copy of Basic Hero’s Handbook, Deluxe Gamemasters Guide, Rogues Gallery, Superteam Handbook, Roadtrip to Ruin, Height of the Storm, and Atlas of Earth-Prime.
Every entry will receive a PDF copy of the Basic Hero’s Handbook for Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition
Evil Hat
1st place – Physical copy of Uprising and a $100 gift certificate good toward anything in their store!
2nd place – Physical copy of Uprising and a $75 gift certificate good toward anything in their store!
3rd place – Physical copy of Uprising and a $50 gift certificate good toward anything in their store!
Every entry will receive a PDF copy of Uprising!
Tabletop Loot
1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place – $50 Gift Cart to the Tabletop Loot store!
The Rook & The Raven
Every Entry will receive a $50 Gift Card to The Rook & The Raven store!
Pelgrane Press
1st Place – Signed, Limited Edition copy of Swords of the Serpentine (upon release)!
Campfire Writing Software
1st Place – Copy of Campfire Pro!
Charisma 20 Bodycare
The first 40 entries will receive a free bar of their RPG Class themed!
INDIVIDUAL SPONSORED PRIZES
SuperDillion
1st Place – A copy of Neverland RPG!
The first 20 Entries will receive a PDF copy of Neverland RPG!
Avery Alder
1st Place – A copy of The Quiet Year, Dream Askew, Dream Apart, Monsterhearts 2, Variations on Your Body and Ribbon Drive!
2nd Place – A copy of The Quiet Year!
Every entry will receive a PDF copy of The Quiet Year!
Jonathan Sifton
The first 20 Entries will receive a Kindle copy of Swordsfall, Volume 1: The Beginning ebook!
More companies to come!
RULES:
– The art piece can be whatever style the artist chooses
– No copying.
– All art must be original, no copyrighted material unless the artist owns it.
– Entry will require a name (does NOT have to be your legal name), social media links to share, and either a link to a portfolio or current art.
– The format should be no smaller than A3 or A2 size.
– Art should be 300dpi and .jpg or .png format.
– Entry Form Will Open on June 19th (Juneteenth!)!
– Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges selected by Swordsfall.
– Art entries will be judged based on originality and creativity.
– You own the copyright to your contest entry as its author.
– The winning entries will be published on the Swordsfall website at www.swordsfall.com.
Thanks for your support in not only bringing more black art to the world but helping those artists get paid!
If you’d like to be a prize sponsor contact me! Let’s make this prize pool amazing!