Phoenix Colouring Contest Winner

[Alan Davis]

My apologies for taking so long to announce a winner in the Phoenix colouring contest. The entrant’s pages are now all posted on my ‘Colouring Contest’ link on my website.

So many people had seemed enthusiastic about the idea of a second contest after the Spirit contest that I anticipated more entrants. There were in fact significantly less— but lots of excuses. The main excuse being the absence of a formal alert and that the contest thread could only be accessed by Forum members. So it seemed fair to extend the deadline to accommodate anyone who had genuinely missed out... Most seem to have developed performance anxiety and have gone very quiet.

The second delay was simply due to the quality and diversity of entries. I found it incredibly hard to even decide upon criteria to base my judgement so I called on friends and family to help… But each new opinion made the process more complicated.

There was a virtually unanimous agreement that three entrants seemed far more adept and ‘professional’ than the others so, for better of worse and not wishing to diminish anyone’s status; I finally decided to divide entries into two categories.

In the first category are three highly polished pieces with very little to choose between them. Greg Hooper and Kirk Zan both enhanced the brightness of the Phoenix effect by adding a full dark background which was extremely effective and ‘not against the rules’. Zac attempted to get the same sense of brightness without extending the background but what impressed me most was his efforts to show the Phoenix effect encases Rachel rather than being a shape that is always somehow behind her—which is something I have always thought most colourists missed or messed up. For this reason I used my deciding vote to break the decisional deadlock and declare Zac the winner of this category.

In the second category Josef, Lars Johansson, Shari Q and Vincenzo all attempted to capture the ‘cocooned in light’ effect. David Savini, Juoko, Paulo, Scott Issacson and Vladimir Fiks focused more on bold modelling. Gerry, Greg Cordier, Jaana-Suorsa and Javier Garcia Gomez went for flatter colours—some being subtle and harmonious others vibrant and energetic. By a very narrow majority Greg Cordier’s unusual but colour coordinated entry was chosen to win this category.

Greg will receive the page posted as the prize for this contest and I will contact Zac to arrange another sketch of his preference. As an acknowledgement to the efforts and closeness of the contest I have decided to give all entrants one of the signed ‘Ex-Libris’ limited edition prints-- So entrants should all please send their postal details to the competition e-mail address.

Alan

[Gerry]

Alan, any thoughts on running another colouring contest at all?

[Alan Davis]

Not in the immediate future. Although there are a few enthusiasts who have proven they are willing to contribute time and effort I was disappointed that so few entered the Phoenix contest when so many had promised to get involved after the success of the Spirit Colouring Contest.

Alan

[Predabot]

Congratulations to Greg and Zac! Ya' beat us fair 'n square.

I would be very, veeery interested in participating in one of these contests again. It was a truly fun experience, and I got to try some all-new techniques.

I basically had a look at your old colouring and tried to use similar, but digital, materials. Didn't quite come out the way I thought it would, but hey, it was still cool.

I'd probably do some pluggin' of the contest if you hold another one, to see if some of me mates would be interested in givin' it a go.

[Gerry]

Not in the immediate future. Although there are a few enthusiasts who have proven they are willing to contribute time and effort I was disappointed that so few entered the Phoenix contest when so many had promised to get involved after the success of the Spirit Colouring Contest.

Alan

maybe the subject matter put folks off?

[Derek Muthart]

I wish I could have participated. Just didn't have the time with work and other projects. Congrats to the winnners.

[smisaacs]

Congrats to all!

It was super fun, I had never colored anything like that before. I would certainly enter the contest again.

-scott isaacson

[Alan Davis]

Apparently lost in the e-mail ether, I have included a late entry inked and coloured by Travis Walton. The high standard of execution and technique definitely places it in the upper category but does not replace the winner Zac.

Alan

[Predabot]

Oh yeah, you're right about that there skill

A big thumbs-up to Walton!