Hey folks!

Let's cut to the chase, shall we? :3

Thanks to everyone who sent along a note with their entries. Got quite a turnout, and it's great to see so many people enthused about *TheReal-OCT. I think at the rate it's going it's going to be a real swank event. (At least if the characters I've seen so far are any indication.)

Anyway. I'm hard pressed to call the following people 'winners' since.. well there's no reward for this, outside of your own satisfaction with your work, haha. But these are the folks that created some lasting impressions on me with their characters, presentation, and a bunch of other factors I'd like to detail below. Keeping in mind this list doesn't say anything about your characters or the worth of your individual stories, I'd certainly hope nobody would take it that way, that's ridiculous. : P

Without further ado!






Endless heaps of love for this. Easily the single most memorable reference sheets I came across, done by the incredibly talented ~acsmith12. This ref sheet has everything that I personally believe makes it just.. work. One of the single most important key to any kind of reference (well, where competitions like ATR are concerned) is conveying a sense of intrigue about your characters. Making people eager to see more of them, and more from you as well. AC has kicked down that door with a steel toed boot wrapped in barbed wire.

For starters, it is easy to read. A common pitfall most sheets make would be picking flashy but incredibly frustrating text, either in its inherent design or by choosing an ill-fitted color for it. There isn't a bit that's convoluted in this piece.
Secondly, the ratio of imagery to words is in brilliant balance. A sheet shouldn't be too dominated by one or the other. You're trying to explain a character with your words, sure, but that can be accomplished with any text document. This is a VISUAL business no matter how you look at it, and nice, substantial visuals are key. Ideally, I think, none of the pictures should be in the process of being crushed under chunks of text. Less is more. The more concise you're able to be with your words, the less clutter you'll have in your reference, and the less clutter you have, the easier the eye can travel around the piece soaking up all the stuff they NEED to know. Effective brevity = .
Third, just the flat out production values. LOOK at it. It looks amazing. The color choices don't clash. You are 'introduced' to the sheet as if by a rising curtain. There's just enough depth to make it look like an art piece instead of a sheet of information. It ends in a graceful, smooth way. You can almost hear the clapping of an audience as AC takes a bow, and you get a glimpse of the other OCs she plans on introducing. And you're hooked. Mission accomplished, haha.
Fantastic job, AC. I can't wait to see what you do in sequential format come the contest, because I know you're going to make it into the lineup. Hands down. A brilliant effort all around.






I will level with you guys. ~CyrilTheWizard didn't even technically enter the contest. But his reference sheet makes too many right points to pass up displaying here.
I don't know if you've ever noticed, but occasionally you find a piece of art here on Deviantart that catches your eye just by the thumbnail alone, even if you're not sure what it is to begin with. Something about the color, maybe the composition. But it happens. (Again, at least it does to me.) Usually, this means the artist struck on something dynamic and hit gold. This is the case with Cyril's sheet.
Even just looking at the thumbnail of this, it is instantly readable. He didn't need gobs of noisy textures, glowy special effects or random music lyrics tacked on to his work to make it stand out as an effective, to the point piece.
For every bit of text there's an image to go with it, creating balance. The color choices are indicative of a mood for each character; their personalities are practically 'felt' before you read about them. No single aspect of these sheets fights with another, it all works together in a really excellent harmony.



I think *arvanahmodray's reference sheet makes a good use of visual variety to keep your eyes moving, but never feel overwhelmed. It draws your attention using a very effective contrast in colors, while sticking to a simplistic palette. The text adds a light-hearted and interesting touch where it is applied, with little points that add to the overall character of both the sheet itself and the OC within it.
As I was saying earlier, the variety is what gives it kick. The close-up headshots and full body shots mingle very well, like a series of sequential images that keep a comic book page looking fresh and interesting. As with the previous two folks I've talked about, all the elements of an excellent sheet are here, I just thought I'd detail some of the little things that made this one special. Very well done.


And what would any good contest be without some honorable mentions? These are entries I thought stood out amongst the rest as well.




Thank you everyone for participating, and I hope to see you in !



Now on to another matter entirely. A few friends of mine here on DA are in a bit of a sticky situation. A planned trip to visit one another has gone awry and they've come up a bit short on cash, in what's now become a bit of an emergency in terms of whether or not they'll have to cancel. I'd like to do what I can to at least make you folks out there looking for commissions aware that they are ALL taking commissions, and now more than ever would appreciate your patronage in an effort to raise the necessary money to get where they want to go! If you could take a look at their work I'd much appreciate it, and hey, if you end up commissioning them, all the better. Thanks a ton in advance. :3