Every fest, fourteen lucky winners get their skin submissions turned loose into the world, and get the hard-earned admiration and love they deserve.
But there’s a lot more than fourteen good entries each fest, and while the runners-up that FR chooses get a skin blueprint, they don’t get much in the way of notice – which is something every artist needs, especially those hoping to run their own shops. And spending hours on a piece of art only to have it passed over unseen is a deeply disheartening experience.
Let’s change that! This thread is for showing off some of the entries that didn't win. Share what you liked about them with the world, and maybe even ask if that artist plans to print!
This thread is not to complain about the winners. It's fine to say you wish a skin had won, but let's avoid 'this is so much better/more thematic than any of the winners,' much less anything more targeted. Stick to talking about the losing entries and what makes them great.
The link to the submissions thread.
I’ll start! There were so many amazing entries… might do a second wave later.
There’s No Time To Roost by @Archserpent. What a fun and playful accent this is! Banes are pretty much the closest things we have to bird-dragons anyway, so this bamboo-festooned Banescale is having a blast with some kindred spirits. The texture on the wings is great, straddling the line between organic bamboo and worn parchment, and the birb friends perched there are sweet. Free taxi! The crow trying to keep up is such a lovely touch of personality, helping its armless friend carry some mail.
Paper Wings by @Caecilius. Such a neat concept… the classically draconian wings on Tundras are already a bit out of place on a body shape that’s 95% mammal, so this clever accent gives us a flightless Tundra who took touching the sky into their own claws! The carp-scale pattern on the kite-wing is gentle and windy, and does that thing I love where a bit of the dragon’s natural wing color is allowed to peek through as part of the decal. Also appreciate the attention to detail in drawing some dang seamless lineart to continue the Tundra’s mane and tail where the wing would be.
Way of the Monk by @Anduins. A quintessentially Windy accent that’s extremely versatile. The gusty swirls are a perfect mimicry of the style used by FR, letting this accent blend in with any past Mistral Jamboree items seamlessly. But I’m also a huge fan of the semi-shiny bronze bands along this Ridgeback, and the swirling runic gild along her spines. Lots of fine and curving lines to draw the eye along here, and they look lovely on darks and lights alike.
Paper Dragons by @igenious. The username is apt here, because this right here is ingenious. This one thrilled me so much… it managed to create something that wholly captured the spirit of the flight without using any colors at all. The idea is novel and the lines and shadows do exactly what they need to, crisply and cleanly. Here’s a paper dragon set sail on the wind. It’s whimsical, fun, and exactly the sort of thing I would expect to see lashed to the rails of the Cloudsong.
Chakra by @SingedFeathers. Some accents make themselves work through minimalism. Others go all out, and this right here is one fine example in reveling in tossing all your cards on the table. The red and gold scale-gild is striking enough, and I adore accents that accent the edge of scales, but the neatest part to me was the windy essence bursting from their edges – leaking from seals along the chest, the tail-guard, and of course that widely grinning mouth. Wind is a great elemental fit for this concept, and the male Spiral pose was used to its full advantage for haloed shapes and gusting wind gone wide.
Cartographer’s Apprentice by @wellykang. The mottled green on the wingtips is excellent and fades well into the dragon’s natural secondary, but that’s the least of what this accent has to offer – the dangling compasses, the dripping brush, and of course the Sornieth globe with its gorgeously banded axel are all impeccably done. Seriously, the shading is beautiful, and the lineart is crisp and clean. The landmass on the globe confused me for a bit until I considered the position of the southern icefield – this could be a look at the other side of the map, the lands dragons have yet to chart. Whether this travelling cartographer is scribing details on his globe or simply exploring the world as the wind takes him, he’s doing it in style!
Smooth Sailing by @karahalios. Not gonna lie… Wind breaks my heart in a way, because their aesthetic encompasses so many beautiful things – feathers, clouds, kites, music - but it’s shackled to that same light green in a way many other fests aren’t, even the ones with extremely prominent colors (like Fire and Arcane.) Sometimes you get some orange and yellow with your pale green, but it’s a monochrome fest for the most part. So when I saw this gorgeous Spiral dancing through the clouds, bedecked in sky and water vapor, I was living. The swirls are whimsical and freely flowing, and the sky shifts between daylit and star-speckled seamlessly. A stunning accent on any spiral, blue or green or otherwise.
Nightly Kite Flyer by @Riimi. Another mold-breaker! These cheery tasseled Chinese lanterns and kites perfectly capture the spirit of the Wind Flight without resorting to its main colorm and I love this accent for that. The mix of sunset and twilit shades here creates a very pretty palette, and the subtle light and shadows reflected on the Pearlcatcher’s wing add a nice depth to the picture. Even without the playful swirl of mist to set them aloft, I love the idea of kites and lanterns together – the image of the Zephyr Steppes at night this provokes is lovely.
Gale Dancer by @Saerino. This one caught my eye for being so sleek. Skydancers are already lithe and graceful, but this accent takes a bird and makes a bird. I think it’s the shape of that mask that seals it for me, the way it pulls up from the cheek and flanks itself with the long, graceful hawk feathers. The patterning and shading are both beautiful. I also really like that while it uses the pale windy green, it ties it into a more natural template with warm beiges and emeralds that then fades out; that design choice lets this be played many different ways, especially with the bright yellow feet. Are they talons or are they just her ombre colors? This accent leaves it to the wearer’s choice.
Aerborne Ambassador by @Mistygold. While you can tell that this Tundra is inspired by the familiar that shares its name, one of the reasons I love this skin is that it’s not that overt about its source – it works better as an interpretation. You could put this on an orange-brown tundra and get a lookalike of last year’s Mistral familiar, or you could wear this over greens, golds, whites, or blacks to get a gorgeous Wind dragon with breezy tasseled silks and polished malachite beads. The shading here really shines, both on the apparel and the dragon below. I also like the detail that the dragon has two banners embroidered with the wind flight symbol – the ambassador familiars have one flight and one beastclan, and the traitor familiars have two beastclan. It’s a nice touch!
But there’s a lot more than fourteen good entries each fest, and while the runners-up that FR chooses get a skin blueprint, they don’t get much in the way of notice – which is something every artist needs, especially those hoping to run their own shops. And spending hours on a piece of art only to have it passed over unseen is a deeply disheartening experience.
Let’s change that! This thread is for showing off some of the entries that didn't win. Share what you liked about them with the world, and maybe even ask if that artist plans to print!
This thread is not to complain about the winners. It's fine to say you wish a skin had won, but let's avoid 'this is so much better/more thematic than any of the winners,' much less anything more targeted. Stick to talking about the losing entries and what makes them great.
The link to the submissions thread.
I’ll start! There were so many amazing entries… might do a second wave later.
There’s No Time To Roost by @Archserpent. What a fun and playful accent this is! Banes are pretty much the closest things we have to bird-dragons anyway, so this bamboo-festooned Banescale is having a blast with some kindred spirits. The texture on the wings is great, straddling the line between organic bamboo and worn parchment, and the birb friends perched there are sweet. Free taxi! The crow trying to keep up is such a lovely touch of personality, helping its armless friend carry some mail.
Paper Wings by @Caecilius. Such a neat concept… the classically draconian wings on Tundras are already a bit out of place on a body shape that’s 95% mammal, so this clever accent gives us a flightless Tundra who took touching the sky into their own claws! The carp-scale pattern on the kite-wing is gentle and windy, and does that thing I love where a bit of the dragon’s natural wing color is allowed to peek through as part of the decal. Also appreciate the attention to detail in drawing some dang seamless lineart to continue the Tundra’s mane and tail where the wing would be.
Way of the Monk by @Anduins. A quintessentially Windy accent that’s extremely versatile. The gusty swirls are a perfect mimicry of the style used by FR, letting this accent blend in with any past Mistral Jamboree items seamlessly. But I’m also a huge fan of the semi-shiny bronze bands along this Ridgeback, and the swirling runic gild along her spines. Lots of fine and curving lines to draw the eye along here, and they look lovely on darks and lights alike.
Paper Dragons by @igenious. The username is apt here, because this right here is ingenious. This one thrilled me so much… it managed to create something that wholly captured the spirit of the flight without using any colors at all. The idea is novel and the lines and shadows do exactly what they need to, crisply and cleanly. Here’s a paper dragon set sail on the wind. It’s whimsical, fun, and exactly the sort of thing I would expect to see lashed to the rails of the Cloudsong.
Chakra by @SingedFeathers. Some accents make themselves work through minimalism. Others go all out, and this right here is one fine example in reveling in tossing all your cards on the table. The red and gold scale-gild is striking enough, and I adore accents that accent the edge of scales, but the neatest part to me was the windy essence bursting from their edges – leaking from seals along the chest, the tail-guard, and of course that widely grinning mouth. Wind is a great elemental fit for this concept, and the male Spiral pose was used to its full advantage for haloed shapes and gusting wind gone wide.
Cartographer’s Apprentice by @wellykang. The mottled green on the wingtips is excellent and fades well into the dragon’s natural secondary, but that’s the least of what this accent has to offer – the dangling compasses, the dripping brush, and of course the Sornieth globe with its gorgeously banded axel are all impeccably done. Seriously, the shading is beautiful, and the lineart is crisp and clean. The landmass on the globe confused me for a bit until I considered the position of the southern icefield – this could be a look at the other side of the map, the lands dragons have yet to chart. Whether this travelling cartographer is scribing details on his globe or simply exploring the world as the wind takes him, he’s doing it in style!
Smooth Sailing by @karahalios. Not gonna lie… Wind breaks my heart in a way, because their aesthetic encompasses so many beautiful things – feathers, clouds, kites, music - but it’s shackled to that same light green in a way many other fests aren’t, even the ones with extremely prominent colors (like Fire and Arcane.) Sometimes you get some orange and yellow with your pale green, but it’s a monochrome fest for the most part. So when I saw this gorgeous Spiral dancing through the clouds, bedecked in sky and water vapor, I was living. The swirls are whimsical and freely flowing, and the sky shifts between daylit and star-speckled seamlessly. A stunning accent on any spiral, blue or green or otherwise.
Nightly Kite Flyer by @Riimi. Another mold-breaker! These cheery tasseled Chinese lanterns and kites perfectly capture the spirit of the Wind Flight without resorting to its main colorm and I love this accent for that. The mix of sunset and twilit shades here creates a very pretty palette, and the subtle light and shadows reflected on the Pearlcatcher’s wing add a nice depth to the picture. Even without the playful swirl of mist to set them aloft, I love the idea of kites and lanterns together – the image of the Zephyr Steppes at night this provokes is lovely.
Gale Dancer by @Saerino. This one caught my eye for being so sleek. Skydancers are already lithe and graceful, but this accent takes a bird and makes a bird. I think it’s the shape of that mask that seals it for me, the way it pulls up from the cheek and flanks itself with the long, graceful hawk feathers. The patterning and shading are both beautiful. I also really like that while it uses the pale windy green, it ties it into a more natural template with warm beiges and emeralds that then fades out; that design choice lets this be played many different ways, especially with the bright yellow feet. Are they talons or are they just her ombre colors? This accent leaves it to the wearer’s choice.
Aerborne Ambassador by @Mistygold. While you can tell that this Tundra is inspired by the familiar that shares its name, one of the reasons I love this skin is that it’s not that overt about its source – it works better as an interpretation. You could put this on an orange-brown tundra and get a lookalike of last year’s Mistral familiar, or you could wear this over greens, golds, whites, or blacks to get a gorgeous Wind dragon with breezy tasseled silks and polished malachite beads. The shading here really shines, both on the apparel and the dragon below. I also like the detail that the dragon has two banners embroidered with the wind flight symbol – the ambassador familiars have one flight and one beastclan, and the traitor familiars have two beastclan. It’s a nice touch!
Noodledad's wayward child on a whirlwind tour of Sornieth
