Artists

Winterfest 2019 Art Table Sale Info

Winterfest 2019 art tables will go on sale Saturday, November 10, 2018, at 12:00 PM CDT! More info here: Becoming an Artist.

2019 Double Art Contest Announcement!

AI-KON 2019 MASCOT CONTEST

We’re looking for a new design of both Aiko and Doug, the Ai-Kon mascots, for uses on the convention’s promotional materials and merchandise. Aiko and Doug appear on a variety of Ai-Kon promotional materials, including t-shirts, posters, flyers, badges, programs, and the Ai-Kon website.

The promise of adventures and treasures across the vast land of Ai-Kon has piqued the interest of two individuals who are now bound together as travel companions. Stopping first at the marketplace to stock up on weapons, armor, and healing items, the kind Aiko and mischievous Doug purchase wares to suit their own set of special skills. As the two set off, both think of their own personal reasons for setting out on this journey and look forward to the dungeons and creatures they will encounter. This year’s theme for both Aiko and Doug is Fantasy Role-Playing Game (RPG). We are looking for Aiko and Doug in the style of the various classes associated with tabletop RPGs (i.e. mage, cleric, rogue, bard, etc.).

What are fantasy RPGs? These are games where players assume the role of a fictional character in a fictional setting. Players play the game either through discussion (tabletop games) or by acting it out (i.e. live action role playing or LARP). Players can choose their character’s race and classes and then establish their statistics and personalities as well. Typical classes for fantasy RPGs include rogue, bard, warlock, sorcerer, paladin, ranger, druid, monk, etc. You may choose whichever class you’d like Aiko and Doug to be – they don’t need to be the same class.

Generally, Aiko is a cheerful, stylish, energetic anime girl with pink hair and blue eyes. Doug is a young, lovable yet mischievous boy who is known by our community as a scamp and has white hair and blue eyes. Please keep the eye and hair colours for both mascots but feel free to change the attitude to suit the theme.  Also remember that Ai-Kon is a family friendly convention.

When choosing an Aiko and Doug, the Ai-Kon committee considers many aspects, including relevance to the theme, colour palette, pose, lines, anatomy, and overall effect. We favour entries that appropriately represent Aiko and Doug in age, physical attributes, and personality and that will represent both mascots well to our audience. In addition, we look for an entry’s ability to be placed on promotional media, including the badges, lanyards, posters, and t-shirts.

Rules and Requirements

1. Separate entries for each Aiko and Doug (you may choose to enter one or the other or both or neither)
2. Full-body entries only
3. Entries must have a transparent background
4. No entries featuring poses, outfits and/or hair styles of copyrighted characters, or copyrighted characters themselves. Any entries featuring copyrighted material will not be accepted.
5. No adult-themed entries will be accepted. This will be at the discretion of Ai-Kon executives. Please ensure entries are suitable for all ages.
6. A maximum limit of one (1) Doug (Winterfest) entry per artist and three (3) Aiko (Ai-Kon) entries per person will be accepted. Please note that all entries should be individual and not adjustments (i.e. palette swaps) of a previous entry.
7. Entries must be full-colour, 300 dpi resolution or higher, and submitted electronically in vector, PNG or PDF format. A smaller version of your entry may be submitted for judging as long as a higher resolution version is available.
8. Mascot should fit comfortably in a space of 11×17 inches without loss of quality
9. Do not use a watermark or a signature on your submission.
10. When submitting entries, please use the following naming format for your file: firstname_lastname_01.jpg.
11. All entries and rights to the images become property of Ai-Kon.
12. The same artist cannot be selected as first place winner for both 2019 art contests.
13. Ai-Kon may request a compensated commission of an alternate configuration of the winning mascot design from the winning artist. This second design will be used for promotional and/or merchandising purposes. Ai-Kon respects the artist’s right to refuse this request.

Entries for the 2019 Winterfest Mascot Contest (Doug) are due October 27, 2018.

Entries to the 2019 Ai-Kon Mascot Contest (Aiko) are due November 24, 2018.

Click here to submit your entries to our mascot contest!

Prizes

Winterfest 2019 Mascot Contest: The winner will receive: a free art table and two (2) artist admissions to Winterfest 2019. The winning Doug entry will be used for Winterfest promotional materials and merchandise.

No runners-up for the Winterfest Mascot Contest.

Ai-Kon 2019 Mascot Contest: The winner will receive: a free art table, two (2) artist weekend admissions to Ai-Kon 2019, and an Ai-Kon 2019 t-shirt. The winning entry will be used for Ai-Kon 2019 promotional materials and merchandise.

There are two runners-up for the Ai-Kon Mascot Contest. The two runners-up will receive: A free half art table at and an artist weekend admission to Ai-Kon 2019!

All entries to past years’ Mascot Contests can be found here.

Winterfest art table sale date will be November 10, 2018 at 12:00 PM! More info here: Becoming an Artist