CHALLENGE: CALENDAR

I apologize for not having a real, drawn prompt for you on this one, but we needed to move ahead with it, and I really, really didn't have the time to draw one. Plus: it gives all y'all who haven't been buying the calendars a tiny little sneak peak at how AWESOME and AMAZING the calendar covers you've been missing out are. THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR NOT BUYING A CALENDAR u.u

A-hem. Anyway... >__>

Fan Art Challenge: Calendar
Alright, stick with me, because this one's going to take a wee bit of explaining :d

This year, instead of *rainrach and myself going out and hunting down artists for the Evo Calender, and then having to play slave driver to get everything done on time, we're going to open the field up to EVERYONE. If you've ever wanted to be a part of the Evo Calendar project- NOW IS YOUR CHANCE. We want people who are excited and enthusiastic about the project AND Evo, and the best way to find those people is to open the flood gates, as it were ^_^

Now... Within the Calender projects, we have some rules and guidelines, which are as follows:

Any character can only appear ONCE in the entire calender (not including the cover). This INCLUDES background characters. Don't be a dick and put a bunch of canon characters in your background, because then no-one else can use them for the rest of the calender.
Characters cannot repeat months. This means that because Tabby is starring in this year's June, she can't be in June again. Don't worry, I'll give you a list of who's not available for all the months ^_~
This won't apply to a lot of you, but returning artists cannot draw a month they drew before. So because I had August two(??) years ago, I can't take August again.
Whichever month you chose, your image must be related to that month. as it occurs in the Northern hemisphere... Spicifically America. Not because we're imperialisitc self centered jerks (Well... we are that, but not ENTIRELY just that), but because the show takes place in America, and we'd like to stay true to that flavor.
Don't put comic-canon characters in calender. Really, this SHOULD be a no-brainer, but Evo characters ONLY. Don't think we don't see what you're doing there. EVO. ONLY.
Your image must be horizontal in layout. If you're not sure what this means, go look through all the past calenders. Your image should be wider than it is tall, or else I will have to crop the hell out of it. Trust me. You don't want that.

Ok, that's a lot to take in, I know, but let me heap just a little more on you before we get into some of the fun stuff.

THE FOLLOWING CHARACTER/MONTH COMBOS CANNOT BE USED.
JANUARY: Rogue, Jean, Mystique
FEBRUARY: Gambit, Nightcrawler, Rogue
MARCH: Pyro, Spyke, Forge
APRIL: Storm, Avalanche, Wolfsbane
MAY: Blob, Colossus, Shadowcat
JUNE: Jubilee, Shadowcat, Boom Boom
JULY: Avalanche, Cyclops, Toad
AUGUST: Scarlet Witch, Mystique, Storm
SEPTEMBER: Iceman, Toad, Nightcrawler
OCTOBER: Nightcrawler, Scarlet Witch, Wolverine
NOVEMBER: Boom Boom, Wolfsbane, Beast
DECEMBER: Cyclops, Rogue, Quicksilver


Ok, to sumarize: No repeat Character/Months, A character can't appear more than once in the calender, the image must have something to do with the month, and must be horizontal in format. That's really all you HAVE to know.

I will also add this: We only want an image from you. Don't put the month or calender actually IN your piece. I will be adding the month, character names, and calender parts once all the pictures are finalized. This is so the calender looks cohesive. Because we're not PLANNING on offering a print version this year, the image size shouldn't be an issue, but remember- bigger is better.


Now... that's all you really NEED to know, but I do strongly suggest you keep reading (I know, I know, wall of text -_-) if you want to have the best chance at success.

HELPFUL HINTS AND TIPS
You can combine ANY character/month you want, except for the ones mentioned above. For reals! But you may do well to remember how popular some characters are. Every third one of you will be doing an entry with Kurt as the main character. But in the end, we can only pick ONE Kurt entry. So you can have the most Awesome Kurt picture for January, but if the image for December ends up staring Kurt, your image is automatically out of the running. It may behoove you to try to walk the unbeaten path a bit. Play the odds ^_~
Backgrounds! Use one. Srsly, folks. You're not required to do a background, but this is something that people are going to look at for a MONTH. Backgrounds make things interesting to look at. Soooo try to include one.
CANON Oh yay! Canon! Please keep things as CANON as possible. Whatever actions they're doing should be within their character to do. Of course you can have a little fun with it, but please don't have Jean drowning babies in a pool of old-ladies' blood. Oh, and that brings me to my next tip...
KEEP IT CLEAN Do I really need to say this? This calendar should be for everyone. No massive amounts of blood or gore or sexual...stuff...at all. Keep it G-rated, PG at MOST. Can you have fighting? Sure. Can you have drama? Okay. Can you have love? WE'VE TALKED ABOUT THIS YOUNG LADY. -.O But keep it all rated G.
And on the topic of love... Try to avoid the various "OTPs." It's hard, I know. You ship two characters, and you LOVE drawing them together. And I'm not saying you can't, but unless it was in the show (such as Scott and Jean, or Kitty and Lance), anything other than the most subtle hints will be frowned upon. We're NOT saying you can't include you're OTP in your entry. Just that you can't have them all over each other, unless that's how they acted in the show. Which, let's be honest here, they didn't.. not in the way we wanted them to . For a really good example on how to do this, check out Peep orJC's entries from the 2009 Calender.
No words, plz. The Calender is not a comic. There can be words, say, on a billboard or a soda can or what have you, but no speech bubbles or things like that, please.


FHEEW. That was a lot. If you have ANY questions, please, don't hesitate to ask. I know I'm not the most clear person on the internet. If there's something you need clarified, I will HAPPILY clear it up for you.

Reminder
This is the Fan Art Challenge. It lasts about three months based on the idea that the art produced for it will be more challenging to create. Now- don't get nervous. I'm not going to turn anyone down for not having "good enough drawings." It's meant to be a personal challenge. To give you, as an artist, an opportunity to maybe stretch your abilities, while getting to do Evo art at the same time.

Contest Dates
June 15- October 31

Rules
1. Must Contain Evo characters! This is, after all, the Evo obsessed club!
2. Send a note to with your entries.
3. All entries must be submitted within the contest dates.
4. For this contest, questions may be directed to this post, and the .


A special THANKYOU to and for the use of their cover images in this promo