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TBAOTL Sprite competition - Meet the winners !
Well, to those who haven't checked the results directly in the public poll at least...
Attention everyone, please make place for :
3rd Place - Detective Jonathan Lebrun, by Tear
I have the pleasure to start this post with the creation of a French member and trial reviewer, Tear.
Jonathan Lebrun is a perfect entry, in that it corresponds exactly to what I had in mind when launching the competition. A man of the law, with a honest and serious, hard working attitude : a detective you could trust completely.
Add to that the very high quality of this work, in particular the facial expressions and animations, and the fact that it contains no less than 12 poses (4 poses and 3 clothing variations for each) : it should be no surprise that Jonathan made it to the top 3 !
Congratulations, Tear !
2nd Place - Ranger Justice, by mercurialSK
First to submit an entry in this competition, mercurialSK set a very high standard from the start.
Ranger Justice is definitely the most surprising work of this competition, and in more ways than one.
First, of course, is the daring choice of submitting a vigilante when the competition is about trust in justice. This was most unexpected - at least for me. But my doubts vanished when looking at the character's face : honest expressions, confident smile... He definitely has an aura of trust around him, and looks like he's acting alongside the law, rather than in the shadows of it.
Surprising also because of the number and variety of the poses and animations. No less than 14 poses, plus a few startup animations... and even a "breakdown" pose ! This would be enough for a main character - and I expect that quite a few people will want tu use this sprite set for their sidekick character once it's included in the editor.
Congratulations, mercurialSK !
Competition winner - Chief of Police Laura Frost, by Lind
Time to announce the winner at last. Like Tear, Lind made the "perfect entry" I imagined : fitting exactly with the theme, and of very high quality.
Indeed, Laura Frost alternates between a trusting smile and a strict, severe frown, but never loses her serious and capable look. It makes one feel that the law is in good hands.
The amount of details on the sprites is amazing, too - especially when comparing the regular sprites with the young poses. The difference between the older and younger faces feels obvious, though it comes from barely noticeable wrinkles, and the changes in the uniform convey clearly the gained authority.
Lind said that this entry is unfinished, as he couldn't get it done on time : in the end, this unfinished entry reached the top of the competition !
Congrats, Lind, you truly deserve the Trustworthy Spriter title !
Also, if you wish to finish your entry (I guess adding a few young poses) at any time, let me know.
With that, the competition is over !
Let me congratulate once again the winners, and thank all participants for their entries - I hardly imagined such impressive results when launching the competition, and I'm really proud of what this community has done !
Also, keep in mind that characters that are not added through this competition are not lost. This competition, and the whole Bright Age of the Law event, is announcing changes for AAO, as I want AAO to be more and more open to art created by the community.
Those who did not make it this time will have their chance later - until then, keep working and improving till you reach perfection !
...
Oh, and by the way, one more thing.
There is one more result to announce !
Unas's choice - Officer Groovy, by gotMLK7
If it had depended only on me, the decision for this additional winner would have been hard : gotMLK7's officer Groovy and Silver Glas's officer Brian Stewart are both characters that I'd be proud to feature on AAO.
But the choice of the community helped me settle between the two : as gotMLK7's work almost reached the top 3, it feels fair to make it our fourth winner !
Officer Groovy's quite similar to Ranger Justice in several ways.
First, it's a well developed character, with 9 poses, and a breakdown animation too ! It's a character that many will want to use as a main character in fangames.
It's also kind of a borderline entry regarding the theme. This time, it's a man of the law, no doubt, but he looks like he doesn't take things very seriously and looks quite narcissistic to me... Not someone that inspires trust at first sight, I'd say !
That being said, it's a fourth set of sprites that I'm very proud to include to the AAO sprite database.
Congratulations, got !
With that, the spriting competition is officially over. These sprite sets will be added to the editor in the next few days/weeks depending on my free time, and Lind will receive the Trustworthy Spriter title in a few minutes
Time to look forward to the end of the next AAO TBAOTL event, the case competition, ending on Sunday August 31st !