[Disgustedorite]

Welcome to the Create a Species Contest!

The contest is over, and the winners have been chosen; click here to see the winners!

A lot of the contests on this board are something like "draw my character", "draw my species", "design my character with these set features", or "design my species but it can only be these things". Contests like this don't encourage creativity, because entrants are limited to a specific thing or group of things. So I thought, why not make a contest that's all about going beyond the boundaries?

What's the Contest?
The contest is simple: Create a unique species, draw it, and include some information on its diet, habitat, social structure, genetic relation to real-life species, etc. Whether it's a whole new animal unlike any other, a majorly mutated form of a real animal, or the result of genetic manipulation, as long as it's creative and you can tell me all about it, it's qualified for this contest.

EDIT: Just to be clear, you get to keep whatever you create. If I wanted to make an adoptable species, I'd design it myself.

What are the rules?
Aside from the rules already in place here on CS, I only have four rules for this contest: The species cannot be something you already made before finding out about this contest; any special powers it has must have a scientific explanation, even if you just make it up as you go along; it can't be any kind of cat, dog, fox, horse, or dragon*; and you may only enter once.

*I do not consider hyenas, tanukis, or thylacines to be dogs or foxes, and I also do not consider all reptiles to be dragons. If you want to base your species off of a hyena, tanuki, or thylacine, or if you want to have it be some sort of reptile, go for it.

What are the PRIZES?
Here is the link to the prize pool. Prizes subject to change. Feedback on the prize pool is very much appreciated.

How Will the Prizes be Distributed?
There will be 3 winners. 1st place gets to pick 5 pets from the prize pool, 2nd place gets to pick 5 of what's left, and 3rd place gets what's left over.

How will the winners be chosen?
After the contest ends, I will go through the entries and narrow them down based not on the art, but on the species itself. Things I'll consider when choosing include base animal (if any), how good the explanation for its powers are (if applicable), how in-depth its description is, believability (whether or not one could convince me this creature exists), and just general uniqueness. Once again, the quality of the art is not a factor. I'd like for you to do your best anyway, though.

When does the Contest End?
It ends on March 31st. I've extended it due to a large number of entries coming last minute. I want to give slow artists time to finish.

Whether your art is good or bad, whether your idea is creative or cliché, whether you think you can even hope to win or not, at least consider entering! After all, this is a contest of creativity, not of art skill!

A note to mods: A background is provided. I am following the rules.[/center]

[Disgustedorite]

Sorry for the delay, didn't want to announce them right on April Fool's day or on Easter and I ended up taking an awkwardly long time.

1st place winner is...

Soulsplosion's Froth-Tree Moth!

This entry stuck out among the others for many reasons. When reading the description, I could actually picture this creature standing in front of me (which is a very frightening image!). The description is complete and didn't leave out anything, and even provided some information that I never would've thought to ask about. While this species is an alien species (and I see a lot of those), it's from another dimension rather than another planet, and it even has a history with humans, with it being mistaken for demons and summoned like such--most of the time, "demon" species I see around are (figuratively) real demons that look like some random animal with extra parts and black/red markings, so this was a unique and pleasant surprise. The creature itself looks very different from any species I've seen on CS, being its own thing that kinda looks like a moth rather than being a normal animal with horns/wings/weird colors/special powers/etc. A truly unique creature.

Soulsplosion has received her prizes.

2nd place winner is...

tikki-tak's Dusa!

I rarely see meat-eating versions of animals that aren't just the original animal with fangs. I can see that a lot of thought was put into how the Dusa is different from the duikers that it's related to. The descriptions of different species and subspecies was a great addition, something I didn't see in any other qualified entries. The description of this species is extremely convincing, though I have to admit I had a bit of trouble picturing it doing some of the things for reasons that have nothing to do with the entry. The only thing I dislike is the fact that it's similar to a species that I created that's a meat-eating goat, and now I can't share it in fear of being accused of going against what I said in the first post about the winners getting to keep their species. Regardless of that one issue, I can see the effort and creativity that went into this, and since I doubt Tikki-tak read my mind I can't let the fact that I made a similar species in the past affect how I judge this. Great entry, deserves its place as a winner!

Tikki-tak has received their prizes.

3rd place winner is...

username by me's unnamed species!

I had some feelings about this entry that almost caused me to go against my no-bias statement just to spite someone, but that was a horrible thing for me to do and I'm glad I went over my selections again before posting the winners. This entry is the most unique, and while the description is somewhat short, it's complete and it describes this creature very well. There were some things that were a little hard to believe, though, as pressure for the species to become smaller would clearly make hunting difficult in later generations--which could cause it to go extinct--and I can't imagine there could be any venom that can actually kill something instantly without harming this creature as well. Regardless, though, it's a unique entry that stands out and deserves its place.

Username by me has been given their prizes.

Honorable Mentions


Miss. Scei's unnamed stoat-jerboa species!
Best hybrid entry, I think it's adorable


Cailynmae's Nyhlian!
Great concept and plenty of info provided, but didn't make it because gem-like body parts are very common


Cowslip's Hotarrettes!
I absolutely love this one, and the concept and explanation for the symbionite is great. Didn't win because tailmouths are extremely overused, though it has the best explanation for it I've ever seen.


Little Fang's crested lynx civet!
This entry is excellent, even if the description is a little short. I spent a lot of time considering the winners and this one just barely missed the winning 3. I kinda want one as a pet.

Congrats to all of the winners!

[Reiji]

Mark!

[Disgustedorite]

bump

[Goreamir]

Mark to make once I am allowed to buy a bamboo tablet c: I might do it on my laptop.

[Disgustedorite]

bump

[Reiji]

Ah, one question. Can we do it traditionally and digital it later? My com and laptop broke. I will pm you the picture and take the screen shot with my phone

[Disgustedorite]

Ah, one question. Can we do it traditionally and digital it later? My com and laptop broke. I will pm you the picture and take the screen shot with my phone

Any media is fine, do it however you want. I'll make a folder in my messages for contest entries right now! Though, if you have access to a scanner, that would be better than just a phone picture.

[username by me]

I might enter… I doubt I'll have any time whatsoever to enter but oh well.

[Disgustedorite]

bump