Artist Table Sale Update
Ai-Kon Winterfest 2021 is going Digital!
Our digital marketplace booths will go on sale at 12:00 PM CDT Saturday, November 21, 2020.
To read the full rules, how it works, and how to apply CLICK HERE!
APPLY NOW (REGISTRATION FORM)
2021 Double Mascot Art Contest
It’s that time of year again, we’re looking for a new design for both of Ai-Kon’s mascots: Aiko and Doug! Aiko and Doug appear on a variety of Ai-Kon promotional materials, including t-shirts, posters, flyers, badges, programs, and the Ai-Kon website. Their designs can be created by you!
Winterfest 2021 Mascot Contest
Due to Covid-19, all of our lives have changed drastically. Doug is braving the situation and helping out his community any way he can. We’re looking for a Essential Worker-themed Doug for this coming Winterfest as a thank you to the many professionals who have helped make Covid-19 a little less stressful!
Ai-Kon 2021 Mascot Contest
Happy 20th anniversary to Ai-Kon! Aiko is so excited to celebrate this very special year. We’re looking for a Porcelain or Platinum-themed Aiko for this upcoming Ai-Kon!
EDIT: To clarify Aiko’s theme: It’s Ai-Kon’s 20th anniversary this coming year, and generally for a 20th anniversary, a material gift given to a partner is porcelain/platinum. You can interpret how to use the material throughout Aiko’s design how you deem fit! Hope that helps, and good luck, artists!
Mascot Must Haves
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 badges, lanyards, posters, and t-shirts.
Rules and Requirements
- Separate entries for each Aiko and Doug (you may choose to enter one or the other or both or neither)
- Full-body entries only
- Entries must have a transparent background
- No entries featuring symbols, logos, poses, outfits and/or hair styles of copyrighted characters, or copyrighted characters themselves. Any entries featuring copyrighted material will not be accepted.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Mascot should fit comfortably in a space of 11×17 inches without loss of quality
- Do not use a watermark or a signature on your submission.
- When submitting entries, please use the following naming format for your file: firstname_lastname_01.jpg.
- All entries and rights to the images become property of Ai-Kon.
- The same artist cannot be selected as first place winner for both 2020 art contests.
- 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 2021 Winterfest Mascot Contest (Doug) are due 11:59 PM CST, Saturday, December 12, 2021.
Entries to the 2021 Ai-Kon Mascot Contest (Aiko) are due 11:59 PM CST, Saturday January 9, 2021.
Click here to submit your entries to our mascot contest!
Prizes
Winterfest 2021 Mascot Contest: The winner will receive: a free art table and one (1) artist admission to our next physical event (this may include Ai-Kon). You will also get adspace for our Digital Floorplan. The winning Doug entry will be used for Winterfest 2021 promotional materials and merchandise.
No runners-up for the Winterfest Mascot Contest.
Ai-Kon 2021 Mascot Contest: The winner will receive: a free art table, one (1) artist weekend admissions to our next physical event, and an Ai-Kon t-shirt and lanyard printed with their mascot. You will also get adspace for our Digital Floorplan. The winning entry will be used for Ai-Kon 2021 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 our next physical event!
All entries to past years’ Mascot Contests can be found here.
If you have further questions, give us a shout at art@ai-kon.org