I decided to host a contest for the novel series I'm in the process of writing. After much deliberation, I've decided to make the theme about 'character dynamics', because I think it gives people the chance to explore my characters and their personalities as well as their relationships with one another.

So people reading this journal may not know what my novel series is actually about, so here's a base summary:

THE NOVEL SERIES PLOT

This is a story that belongs to this world, set in 2025 in which technology is now much more advanced. During his summer vacation in America, Xavier Tosell suddenly winds up in a completely different world with 12 other people he's never met before. This new world, known as 'The Mystic', is a world made up of a wide archipelago with different races, cultures, creatures and so much more. The 13 teenagers/young adults (ages ranging from 16-23) find themselves with a major quest set before them, with the idea that if they fulfill this quest they will be able to return to their home world.

Of course, with a group who are strangers to one another with a diverse mixture of personalities, this is much easier said than done. There's members of the group who are willing to work, but others who won't. There's members who have useful skills to bring to the quest and those who don't. There's members who seek the position of leadership and are willing to fight over this with the others, and members who aren't stepping forward enough. And Xavier, usually introverted, finds that his practise of swordplay is what makes him valuable to this dysfunctional group. He always saw himself as ordinary, but maybe it's now time to try and become extraordinary.

However, this is far from being your typical fantasy adventure story. When one of the thirteen members of the group, Holly Faulkner, gets killed in battle, the rest of the group are upset and unsure. But Holly finds herself waking up in the real world and discovers the truth behind The Mystic:

The Mystic is not a real world. It is a virtual reality world that thirteen humans have been projected into and being broadcasted internationally as a reality tv show.

Holly finds herself dealing with her newly discovered fame and the media and suffers horrific criticisms from them. The remaining twelve have no idea that this world they're in is fake, and that the whole world is watching them. While Xavier and the others continue their epic journey, Holly's watching how the world reacts to it all.

LONG STORY SHORT: A group of young adults and teenagers are trapped in a fantasy world, but Holly, the first to die in the fantasy world, realises that the fantasy world isn't real and that everything done in the fantasy world gets broadcasted to the world as a reality show. While Holly deals with newfound fame and social media surrounding the Mystic Show, the characters trapped in the Mystic continue their journey under the belief that everything happening to them is completely 100% real.

WHO ARE THE CHARACTERS I CAN DRAW?

Any of these 15 characters! Because this is a contest about character dynamics, the picture must feature two or more of the cast.

THE CHARACTERS TRAPPED IN THE MYSTIC:

these twelve characters spend most of the story trapped in the Mystic. This means if you draw them, their background setting is fantasy based. Their surroundings are mostly nature based, so forests, mountains, rivers, beaches, whatever suits your fancy for the piece if you're going to draw in backgrounds!
Another important note is that this group travel a lot by ship, so think of those wooden ships from centuries ago, not the modern ships of today! So feel free to set your entry on the ship if not onshore!

THE CHARACTERS WHO ARE IN THE REAL WORLD:

Where these three are based is New York City, USA! So feel free to use that as part of your inspiration if you decide you want to draw one of the dynamics amongst these three!

SO WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE DYNAMICS?

If you click the images above, you can get the character profiles for each character, so you can grasp a basic idea of what they are like as individuals. And I wrote this up to explain the most significant character dynamics within the group!:

SIGNIFICANT DYNAMICSREFERENCE
= Romantic Love.
= Platonic Love/Friendship.
= Rivalry/Enmity. (Doesn't involve romantic or sexual attraction.)
= Platonic Love with hints of romantic attraction.
= Friendship with some rivalry/enmity.
= Rivalry/Enmity with hints of romantic/sexual attraction (Love-Hate)

QUINVIER / THE WEAPON NERDS / THE FLAME SWORDSMAN AND THE AQUATIC ARCHER: XAVIER - QUIN 
 - 
To summarise - Xavier and Quin share a best friends dynamic that could hint towards something more. They're very open with one another, which is rare for Xavier who is normally very introverted and closed off. Both share a common interest in weapons, though Xavier's speciality is swords and Quin's being archery - both are very well trained and skilled in their respective fields. Quin is a lot more outgoing and adventurous, and he is key in bringing Xavier out of his shell. Consider Quin as the extrovert who i
If you were wanting to explore a dynamic amongst the characters that I haven't written about here, then you are 100% welcome to ask me about it!

And you're free to interpret these dynamics in any way you like - whether you want to draw a scene-like fanart, or something symbolic, anything! Just so long as it fits! So try and get the characters as IC (in character) as much as possible, yeah?

WHAT ARE THE PRIZES UP FOR GRABS?

If you want to be a prize donator, please comment on this journal with what you can offer as prizes! These are the prizes so far:

1ST PLACE

2000  from melondramatics
FULL BODY [ONE CHARACTER] or HALF BODY [TWO CHARACTERS] from melondramatics
CHIBI [ONE CHARACTER] from melondramatics
FULL BODY [ONE CHARACTER] from Lucyarte
HEADSHOT [ONE CHARACTER] from Lucyarte
PIXEL PAGEDOLL [ONE CHARACTER] from Lucyarte
CHIBI [ONE CHARACTER] from Rodikaa
CHIBI [ONE CHARACTER] from Puffin-Kunzie
HEADSHOT [ONE CHARACTER] from NeeHima

2ND PLACE

1000  from melondramatics
HALF BODY [ONE CHARACTER] from melondramatics
CHIBI [ONE CHARACTER] from melondramatics
HEADSHOT [ONE CHARACTER] from Lucyarte
PIXEL PAGEDOLL [ONE CHARACTER] from Lucyarte
HALF BODY [ONE-TWO CHARACTERS] from ceefam
PIXEL PAGEDOLL [ONE CHARACTER] from Rodikaa
CHIBI [ONE CHARACTER] from Puffin-Kunzie

3RD PLACE

500  from melondramatics
CHIBI [ONE CHARACTER] from melondramatics
CHIBI [ONE CHARACTER] from Lucyarte
PIXEL PAGEDOLL [ONE CHARACTER] from Lucyarte
CHIBI [ONE CHARACTER] from Puffin-Kunzie

RUNNER-UPS (MAXIMUM OF THREE)

UNCOLOURED BUST SKETCH [ONE CHARACTER] from melondramatics

RULES OF ENTRY

• Fanart/Comics only!
• No fanfiction entries allowed
• Traditional and Digital are both accepted
• WIP entries do not count (you are allowed to submit WIPs, as long as you have the finished version up by the deadline!)
• You may submit as many entries as you like, but only one of them may get a placing when it comes to the judging
• Please advertise this journal! It would be preferable anyways.
• Only characters from my series can be in the entry (so pls don't try to insert your own characters, mmkay?)
• No tracing or using somebody's art
• no R18! especially since my novel series ain't about the smuts lol
• no submitting base entries (you can use bases for pose references, but not editing directly onto the base, yeah?)
• no using dress-up games!
• shounen-ai/shoujo-ai is allowed, considering some of the character dynamics - but nothing too extreme
• IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ASK!!
• Don't ask for an extension! I'm not granting them to specific people, but I may extend depending on amount of entries
• Link your entry to this journal in order to properly submit it!

AND THE DEADLINE IS 10th AUGUST 2015!