Quarter-Finals - Real Emotion

Round Opens: Friday, September 9, 2005 Submission Deadline: Monday, October 10, 2005 at 11:59pm PST Reader Voting: Monday, October 17 - Thursday, October 20, 2005 Winners Announced: Friday, October 21, 2005

The Challenge "There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion." Carl Jung Emotion is at the center of every RPG. Whether it's the joy felt by the heroes after defeating the villain and saving the world or the sorrow that comes with the loss of a comrade in battle, emotions permeate every aspect of characters and story in virtually all RPGs ever made. The way emotion has been depicted has changed in recent years. Writers and designers of 8- and 16-bit days had to rely on text and exaggerated emotion icons to convey the emotions being experienced by their characters. Now, as game graphics become increasingly realistic, artists can more easily show those emotions in faces and movements. Of course, many RPGs still often use those quirky and cute sweatdrops and anger veins. Why do they still use them? Well, for one, it's easier to give a character an anger vein icon than it is to perform the animation for moving the character's eyebrows down and clenching his or her teeth. Regulars to RPGamer's Fan Art gallery will also recall that many of our artists are also fond of using these emoticons. While there's certainly nothing wrong with that, these are the finals of the biggest RPG fan art contest ever, so the challenge for the first round will be a bit of an exercise in realism. For Round One of the OmniArt 2005 Finals, artists will rely on the faces, movements, and actions of their characters to convey the emotions of their scenes. Sorry, no emoticons allowed here! To start, artists will select one (and only one) emotion from the list below to depict in their piece: Dismay Anxiety Jealousy Hunger Scorn Embarrassment Confusion Panic Remorse Loneliness Loyalty Terror Curiosity Bliss Exhiliration Irritation Anticipation Benevolence Hesitation Despair Enthrallment From there, artists may use any character(s) from any game(s) they choose to create a scene that conveys that emotion. In addition to the usual information (artist name, title, game(s), character(s), website/e-mail), please include the emotion you selected in your submission e-mail. The Rules Except as specified above and in the Official Rules, all other normal fan art submission guidelines apply. Please be sure to include "[CONTEST] Artist Name - Title of Work" in your submission e-mail's subject line. All entries should be submitted to fanart@rpgamer.com by 11:59pm PST on Monday, October 10, 2005. Please note that we cannot accept entries after this deadline for any reason. For confirmation that your entry was received, please include an automatic read receipt request with your e-mail. OmniArtists, please pay special attention to the Additional Rules for the OmniArt 2005 Finals. Reader voting for this round will begin on Monday, October 17, 2005 and run through Thursday, October 20, 2005. The results will be announced on Friday, October 21, 2005 at 8pm Pacific Time in Fan Art's IRC channel (RPGamer IRC FAQ | RPGamer Java IRC Client) and later than night on RPGamer.com. The 12 contestants with the most votes will advance to the semi-finals; the other nine contestants will be out of the competition.