Bot Protection Art Contest

[backlands]

Hi everyone!

I have an exciting announcement to make! We are holding an art contest! You've likely seen the new bot protection page that shows when the websites load. We've had to implement this due to excess usage from scrapers and other users.

Now, why an art contest?! Well you probably saw the anime girl that shows when this page comes up and we want to replace that with amazing art from our own community. The prizes are as follows and requirements are further below.

Prizes

• 1st Place: $100 & 100,000 Award Points
• 2nd Place: 100,000 Award Points
• 3rd Place: 100,000 Award Points

Deadline

All submissions must be in by June 1st, 2025 at 00:00 UTC

Requirements

Between 1-3 images per submission, feel free to make multiple submissions

Cover the following expressions:

• happy / positive (signifies you are not a bot, which is good)
• unsure / quizzical (signifies the system is working to determine if you are a bot)
• unhappy / negative (signifies you are a bot, quite terrible)

Judging Criteria

• Images must be in PNG/WEBP/SVG format, ideally with transparent background
• Images must be resizable to roughly 512px x 512px or similar ratio
• Images must present well at 512px x 512px
• Images must be SFW (obviously)
• Images represent the context described above
• To increase your chance of winning make your art unique and relevant to Arelith! A Cordorian Guardsman, Hawk'in, and/or Hub Peacekeeper? Yes, please!

Entries / Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

By entering the contest you agree to give Arelith the non-exclusive rights, if you are a winner, to use the images as we see fit for use in this new bot prevention system, as Discord emotes, or other uses in the future. You are more than welcome to sell them again to others as it is non-exclusive we just want to be able to use your great artwork in the future!

Non-winning entries do not extend us these rights but we may reach out to find some agreement with you if we really like your work!

We may ask for source files to verify that the submission is not AI generated, along with other checks we intend to perform.

Examples

These are examples from what the service is:

Discussion

Keep this thread to submitting entries, another discussion post can be found here:

viewtopic.php?t=48206

[rosediode]

Galverson!

Cordor's most loyal and beloved canine... napper. Conversely, he is identical to Montmorency, Minmir's loyal guard. So both? But Galverson in my heart.

These files are 512x512 and formatted to look like stickers, but if other versions or designs without sticker backings exist too if they're needed!

[Beholder]

I love Galverson so much… Monty even more though! That’s so adorable.

Continuing with famous Arelith animals, I present His Majesty:

King Edward!

Adjustments can be done on these if desired.

[Cthuletta]

Arelith's Most Feared Creatures!!

The Terrifying Illithid!

The Tricksy Pixie!

The Dreaded Cordor Guard! Probably yelling 'Halt!'

[I wish that she]

It's ok, that one looks alive!

Wait?! Are you made of metal?

Yummy!

[lord dread himself]

Here are mine:

All three are below 256kb and in WEBP format already. That's why they look pretty compressed. I have .blend file and everything, too. So I can render new ones, still frames or tweak anything you want.

Was a pretty fun challenge. I had to redesign the helmet a little just to allow the eyes and redesign it somewhat similar to a bascinet visor. Sadly I couldn't think of an animation that would also show off his visor. Original idea was that the visor would just close by an accident and the guard would need to adjust it, but I couldn't fit that into below 256kb requirement. For the 'denied' one I originally intended for him to start pointing at the viewer with a realistic hand, but it ended up looking really bad and I scrapped it.

Here is a still model render that I ended up with:

Thank you for hosting the contest and good luck to everyone else!

(Fun fact: the scroll's texture is taken from a page of the NWN1: Hordes of the Underdark manual.)

[Choofed]

I present Thoramind - in all his glory.

Well there's only one person appropriate. Level 6, he tasks you to search and destroy a bunch of rogue automotons. My main man Thoramind was the only choice for detecting bots on the website.

I found it amusing to put him in suspenders and colour sampled most things off his in game image.

[Party in the forest at midnight]

I don't think I've got the time and energy to do a 3rd image in 24 hours, I spent all week working on these two.
I have permission from the authors of these characters to use them in the contest. It's Evelyn and her horse Trix, and Keela and Clarisse.

[Hyrland D~Kaya]

Aerdrick says, "Bot, thou shalt not pass!"

https://i.imgur.com/Os2TA4j.png

Evelyn says "You're not a bot? Welcome!"

[Beholder]

Last minute second submission... awesome stuff above!!!

Edit: These are 2048x2048, but I have the 512x512 versions ready to send as well. Any changes can get easily done if desired.

[backlands]

Thank you for all the great entries, we will review them and announce winners as soon as we can!