Well....not really I just called it that so the song would get stuck in your head for the rest of the day

What kind of contest is this, then? It's the kind where I shamelessly bribe you to draw my OCs in exchange for swag! But before we get to the delicious bait of my artistic trap, let's have a look at the rules and characters...
(je peux uploade une version francophone pour le concours si tu ne comprends pas cette version. Envoyez-moi une note).



Your entry must include one or more of *Acaciathorn's OCs (more details just below).
You can use any art medium - digital, traditional, sculpture, photo manipulation, 3-D render, whatever - as long as it follows rule number one. You cannot, however, submit poetry or prose. Sorry!
You can enter as many times as you want in as many categories as you want. just don't hurt yourself
Follow basic Deviantart etiquette: no art theft or traces, please!


The first set of characters all come from the same story, so you can draw one, two, or all three of them together! Shipping is fine, fanservice is fine, aaaaaangst is fine, humor is fine...just go for what you feel
Settingwise, the story takes place a lot around tropical islands/coastlines, in a world where there is only one continent and a HELLA big ocean, and this new isolated archipelago is being discovered/colonized for the first time. It's sort of loosely based on the European exploration period, except without the gunpowder, sexism, and the genocide of indigenous peoples

OC 1: RUM:


Rum has a power similar to waterbending and is capable of tremendous acts of destruction, but she is terminally ill with an autoimmune disease that sometimes afflicts people in the world of her story (this is the reason for the dark circles under her eyes). Rum struggles to ignore the fact that all her vast power means nothing in the face of a body that's falling apart with her inside it. She is a girl who suffers a lot from fear and doubt, and she searches desperately for something to fight for. Her tolerant, humanitarian tendencies are in constant conflict with her bitterness and her desire to destroy, just as she is being destroyed. Though she's an intellectual, the awful reality of her situation compels her to run as far away from her own contemplations as she can. Fortunately, she is granted a reprieve from her death sentence in the form of the next character on our list - Lackadaisy, who has healing powers. Lack can't cure her, but through daily healings, she will be able to keep Rum alive indefinitely.
**EDIT: As pointed out by the lovely ~mehitsme, people might want to draw these characters in a more realistic style, and so I should add a small note about their looks and ethnic background. Rum is Caucasian with tangled/stringy hair more or less the color of peanut butter She's kinda cute, but on the unhealthy, grim-looking side.


OC 2: LACK:


Lackadaisy (AKA "Lack", "Lackluster", "Lackey", "Lackwit" etc.) is a petty thief and con artist who's in it for the lulz and doesn't care about the consequences. She's multi-talented, fun-loving, clever, and mischievous, but also greedy and egocentric. Her healing power is wasted on her; instead of using her ability to help others, she tries to get money out of people in need of medical help (and then still complains about what a lame power she has). She admires and covets Rum's destructive abilities, and she heals the sick girl in exchange for loyalty and "bodyguard services". This leads to a sort of co-dependence between the girls, with each relying on the other, yet neither one totally trusting the other. Rum especially fears that Lack will leave her, thus condemning her to death, but there's some indication that Rum is one of the few people that Lack actually loves enough never to abandon. Then again, it's really hard to tell with her... One final thing to remember about Lack is that she's a little sensitive about the fact that she's uneducated, so she carries around a dictionary and peppers her speech with fancy words (often used incorrectly).
**EDIT: Lackadaisy has a rather unusual appearance, with brown skin, hair only a shade darker, freckles, and greenish-hazel eyes. She's a mix of ethnicities, maybe a sort of exotic Caribbean look... For those who've asked about her clothes, she wears brown pants and a yellow-to-white dress with a shirt belted over it. The shirt has a brown band across the boob area and the rest is transparent (it's designed to be worn by itself, she just layers it over the sundress).



OC 3: CAPTAIN:
  


(yes, it's his NAME, not his title) A Governor's son, Captain grew up watching his parents get away with all sorts of nasty crimes, all while they maintained an appearance of righteousness and legitimacy. Terrified of abusing his own power as a good guy leader, Captain decided to just jump the gun and become a criminal before that could happen. Ya, nobody else sees the logic in that either . All-Growed-Up, Captain is now the head-honcho of the main antagonists of the story, not because he's actually evil, but because he thinks his fellow baddies will do less harm with him pulling the strings. He fights Rum on numerous occasions, and although he should technically be her greatest enemy, the fact that Captain is a good guy trying to be a bad guy makes it a tad confusing to figure out whose side he's actually on. He's fond of convoluted plots and chessmaster-type strategies, and this puts him at odds with Lack, who he dislikes for being ignorant, selfish, and disorganized. You'd never know it (since his feelings and true agenda are on nearly constant lockdown in his robot brain), but he's got a nascent crush on Rum and her "fascinating" contradictory strength/weakness.
**EDIT: Captain is half-Asian, half-white (or, as one of my friends put it, "dude looks like a Civil War soldier mixed with a Korean pop star"). He's a bit on the boyish side, physically speaking, partly because he's actually a little younger than the girls.

You can also consult the master list of ULTIMATE CLUTTER for physical descriptions and links to more references:
:thumb289524346:


The only reason there are 2 categories here is that I'm anal retentive and wanted to keep the chars in Option 1 together in a set
For Option 2, you can draw this character by himself or with any of your OCs (or even with you and your friends!). You'll see why when you read his description.

OC: Lucidus, The Dream Guide (AKA Kevin):
  
His backstory is pretty simple: it's his job to ferry people from place to place inside their dreams. And for some bizarre reason he prefers the nickname Kevin Maybe because his job is so trippy, he wants something that makes him feel normal...

Lucidus/Kevin wears a scarf made of words, which constantly transforms as the script of the dream unfolds. The design on his shirt is both a simplified ribcage and a scorpion, and he wears skull makeup to ward off evil forces that might harm him or the dreamer. But don't let his sinister appearance fool you - he's pretty cuddly.
His personality largely depends on what kind of person he's visiting - he takes on aspects of his dream host. By himself, he's on the quiet and reflective side.
**EDIT: Lucidus is Caucasian, with brownish-copper hair and bright green eyes.

Again, you can also consult the master list of ULTIMATE CLUTTER for more info: :thumb289524346:


The Judges are: , and
Entries will be awarded points by each judge based on the following categories:
Effort (trust us, we can tell if you put thought into it) - max 5 pts
Faithfulness to Original Designs - max 5 pts
Creativity (subjective, I know, but we'll do our best) - max 5 pts
Bonus: The Holy Shit Factor Basically, if it makes us go "holy shit!" you get extra points.




The deadline for this contest is July 5th, 2012. Send your entry to me, *Acaciathorn, in a note by that date. Again, that's 7/5/12.




Here is the tentative list:

1st Place
$50 Cash (through paypal) OR 1 year dA sub + points or cash (together equaling $50)
Free pencil sketch commission from ~Super-Chi
Free colored bust from *Sho-kun
Free fullbody colored commission from *Chronorin
Free fullbody colored commission from ~britcandy
Free colored chibi group of 3 characters =Yuki-Kyroche
Free halfbody sketch comm from me, *Acaciathorn (wrist allowing)
100k Gaia gold, if you have a gaiaonline account
Feature and +devwatch from *Acaciathorn
feature from #Deviant-Contests
feature from ~Elyniya
feature from ~amorekristall
feature from *Urvy1A
feature from ~Forun-enjeru
feature from =Yuki-Kyroche
feature from ~KumoriNinja08
feature from ~famouslies
feature from ~go-a-w-ay-yyy
feature from ~GypsyJadu24
feature from ~TheLitanyofRa
feature from ~absurd-reality
feature from ~MissZenGray
feature from *AnotherStolenRelic
feature from ~DaintyStain
feature from YOU?


2nd Place
1 year subscription to dA OR equivalent cash sum (through paypal)
Free pixel art or dA avatar from *mokia-sinhall
Free colored chibi commission from =Yuki-Kyroche
Free fullbody colored commission from ~KumoriNinja08
Free colored bust commission from ~britcandy
100k Gaia gold, if you have a gaiaonline account
Custom AMV from ~Ajir [link]
Feature and +devwatch from *Acaciathorn
feature from #Deviant-Contests
feature from ~Elyniya
feature from *Urvy1A
feature from ~Forun-enjeru
feature from =Yuki-Kyroche
feature from ~KumoriNinja08
feature from ~famouslies
feature from ~go-a-w-ay-yyy
feature from ~GypsyJadu24
feature from ~TheLitanyofRa
feature from ~absurd-reality
feature from ~MissZenGray
feature from ~amorekristall
feature from *AnotherStolenRelic
feature from ~DaintyStain
feature from YOU?

3rd Place
3 month subscription to dA OR equivalent cash sum (through paypal)
Free colored sketch Commission from =Yuki-Kyroche
Free lineart commission from ~britcandy
100k Gaia gold, if you have a gaiaonline account
Custom A:TLA music video by ~Instrumentalsftw
Feature and +devwatch from *Acaciathorn
feature from #Deviant-Contests
feature from ~Elyniya
feature from *Urvy1A
feature from ~Forun-enjeru
feature from ~KumoriNinja08
feature from ~famouslies
feature from ~go-a-w-ay-yyy
feature from ~GypsyJadu24
feature from ~TheLitanyofRa
feature from ~absurd-reality
feature from ~MissZenGray
feature from ~amorekristall
feature from *AnotherStolenRelic
feature from ~DaintyStain
feature from YOU?
I would really, REALLY appreciate it if you () would kindly donate a prize of some sort. Spread the word about the contest! Offer to do a journal feature of the winners. Feeling creative? Donate a poem. Do you know how to program journal CSS? Donate that. Do you like making music videos? Donate an AMV! Your contribution can be an icon request, a free commission, an extra subscription, a banner of their OTP, whatever. You can even offer an old DVD you have laying around your room.

Donating a prize does not preclude you from entering the contest. You can, for example, donate a journal feature and still participate in the contest. The only people who cannot enter are the judges.

Thanks in advance you guys. I hope to see lots of wonderful entries!

YOU CAN VIEW THE FOLDER WITH SUBMISSIONS HERE: [CLOSED]