Curse

Nienna Valar · Oct 31, 2009, 06:48 AM // 06:48

Hey all!

This year, I thought I'd try my hand at creating a Guild Wars themed costume and submit it to the Halloween '09 Art Contest as well as share it all with you fine people! To my dismay, it didn't even place.

I thought we had a real chance with all the detail work we did but I guess it wasn't what ANET was looking for.

I'm not sure, maybe we missed something somewhere. If you see whatever that 'something' is, let me know! :P

And congrats to all who won the contest!

YunSooJin · Oct 31, 2009, 07:02 AM // 07:02

that looks wonderful, sorry it didnt place

Braxton619 · Oct 31, 2009, 07:38 AM // 07:38

Looks really good. Sorry it didn't place.

Gift3d · Oct 31, 2009, 07:48 AM // 07:48

the quality of the photos taken sucks, maybe that's it. kinda blurry. cause the costume itself is awesome and accurate, i could see something like that placing.

Rhadamanthys · Oct 31, 2009, 08:17 AM // 08:17

This didn't place?? What the hell!?! This is like over 9,000 times better than majority of the stuff that did place. What a shame, anet.

Eragon Zarroc · Oct 31, 2009, 10:04 AM // 10:04

nice

definitely beats some of the winners that were chosen

DetreS · Oct 31, 2009, 10:46 AM // 10:46

you will be more pretty with a mask!
lol! is a joke :P

Very nice cosplay

Masmar · Oct 31, 2009, 10:53 AM // 10:53

Very cool, sorry it didnt place ;(

wilderness · Oct 31, 2009, 11:11 AM // 11:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhadamanthys

This didn't place?? What the hell!?! This is like over 9,000 times better than majority of the stuff that did place. What a shame, anet.

I disagree. I think the costume is ok, but it certainly lacks the detail and overall effect of the 1st place costume.

I can see why it didn't place, not saying it's bad, just that this years submissions were generally of an exceptional quality.

Tzu · Oct 31, 2009, 12:24 PM // 12:24

A really well made costume. The competition was extremely hard this year, that could be a fair reason why you didnt place.
Anet must've had a hard time judging so many incredible entries spread across so many different categories. :/
At least you have an awesome Halloween costume, which will be with you forever!

Thanks for sharing though!

thetechx · Oct 31, 2009, 02:22 PM // 14:22

it is better then a few of the places and honorable mentions. they chose way too many mad king thorn stuff.

Duranin · Oct 31, 2009, 02:28 PM // 14:28

That looks really nice!

Rit armour is always so pretty when made in real life... xD You did a great representation of the casting pose the first picture too.

Nienna Valar · Oct 31, 2009, 05:46 PM // 17:46

Thank you all for your kind words!

I know the pics weren't perfect. We can't afford a professional photographer and don't have friends who are so we had to make due with what we had and our temperamental Oregon weather.

I definitely do admit that the Jora entry deserved to win. I would have loved to see pics all the way around the costume to see all the detail (and maybe some action poses, rawr! :P ). But I happily applaud her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wilderness

I disagree. I think the costume is ok, but it certainly lacks the detail and overall effect of the 1st place costume.

I can see why it didn't place, not saying it's bad, just that this years submissions were generally of an exceptional quality.

Like I said before, I definitely admit that Jora deserved to win. It's a well put together costume and looks fantastic. However, I don't feel the detail work on my Rit costume should not be completely overlooked. It's difficult to create actual functional jewelry pieces that match or are close to the pictured product. It's somewhat hard to create panels and connect with cord or chain but to create intricate beading, not to mention all those beaded cords *shakes her head just thinking about them*, that takes a lot of effort too.

I wasn't looking for a grand prize win. (though it would have been nice lol :P) I would have settled for at least an honorable mention...

On a similar note, I've been seeing some of the work other people have produced this year that didn't place either and I am so disappointed that some of the winners this year beat them out. It seemed obvious to me why these other people should have won but then again, I thought I had a good chance this year and I was wrong. :/

Oh well...next year I will be creating Nienna Valar's in game armor...and I don't think I will be submitting it for the GW Art Contest. But I will definitely share it with all of you fine people!

Have a safe and happy Halloween everyone!

TakagiNaoSama · Nov 06, 2009, 08:19 PM // 20:19

Beautiful costume, Nienna!

I'm no expert, but as a fellow cosplayer I can give you some constructive criticism if you like

First and foremost a wig makes any costume 100x better. It just helps complete the whole fantasy feel rather than risking looking like a girl wearing a costume. It helps you 'become' the character!

I love all the detailing you did, especially with the jewelry. I mean, that piece hanging from your bra--STUNNING! Did you make that? I love the little skull on your necklace. You didn't neglect the Rit tattoos either. Excellent work! Unfortunately, like others have said, the photos don't really help to show off the intricate details of your costume as much as nicer ones could. They're better than some GW cosplayer photos I've seen, but still a little blurry.

But yeah, I see nothing wrong with your costume. I even brought up the in-game model and flipped between the art and your costume, and you got all the details! I'm impressed!

The only other thing I can add is more of a personal preference, but I'll add it here just because I've wanna vent lol. There's so little GW cosplay out there, and it's really sad because it's such a great game with great characters and so many beautiful designs. However, every other cosplay that's made seems to be a Ritualist. (Or Eve...ugh, please no more Eve.) Maybe it's because I'm not a jewelry and bead person, lol, but I'd really like to see some other characters and classes represented by the fans. Absolutely nothing against anyone who wants to make a pretty Rit costume, it's just my personal wish for more characters

(have you seen the Charr? woooooooooow!!)

Ravenhawk · Dec 03, 2009, 04:54 AM // 04:54

Awesome costume! I agree with Tagaki, the wig would really add a nice effect on the overall appearance.

If only I have the time, I'd cosplay as a mesmer. I miss cosplaying as well!

Chicken of the Seas · Dec 03, 2009, 06:11 AM // 06:11

I dunno, there is rit hair that looks exactly like hers. If it was a wig imo it'd look too fake.

Operative 14 · Dec 03, 2009, 06:19 AM // 06:19

Indeed, I think the wig only has a place if you can't match the hairstyle - you don't 'want' it to look like w wig after all.

That is excellent work, and certainly one of the best costumes I have ever seen. I have to agree with the others in that I don't know why it didn't place at all. :/

I'm also wondering why I missed this topic until now.

Verene · Dec 03, 2009, 06:20 AM // 06:20

I'm also going to disagree on "wigs always make it look better". That's the case only if you can find a high quality one that looks realistic. Which, unless you're planning on shelling out a decent chunk of change or ordering from ebay (and hoping you get lucky), isn't likely to be the case.

I use a wig about half the time with my cosplays, and that's only if the character I'm cosplaying as has hair that is drastically different from how mine looks (and even with that, I prefer to style my wigs myself). The other half of the time, I'm able to simply style my hair to match what I need it to look like.

Chyminy Riquet · Dec 11, 2009, 04:44 PM // 16:44

The costume is very nice and you should be proud of your work. Technically, it looks very strong. Here are my crits though:
1)If you compare it to Tzu's entry the character isn't as universally recognizable as Jora so it may not have resonated with the judges in the same way
2) It took me a few minutes to recognize her as a ritualist. Perhaps a few props might have helped, like the hallmark headmask, an urn with ashes, or perhaps a spirit photoshoped into the background (if you do something like this again, let me know. I can probably composite one in for you). 3) The setting is nice but not very Canthan like. It reminds me more of pre-searing Ascalon.

I think if you focus on the things that trigger in people's minds "oh! that's a ritualist!" you will have much greater success.