Hello creatives,
It is my absolute pleasure to wrap up the second run of the Sketch Quest contest for September. Thank you to everyone who participated; we had nine unique and incredibly thoughtful entries this round. Seeing the creativity you all put into turning simple surroundings into fantastic stories is truly inspiring.
The quality of work was phenomenal, making the judging process a real challenge but a fun one
The Top Three Entries
These sketches stood out for their unique concepts, compelling stories, and clear passion put into the execution.
Here are the winners of our latest contest, Sketch Quest.
1st Place: Window Trees | 
Creativity (40%): The use of color and line to create an atmosphere rather than a perfect image is so creative. The way the leaves, trunk, and ground are simplified into patterned shapes shows artistic concept.
Inspiration Story (30%): The caption provided a glimpse into the artist's thinking process. An explanation was provided about the intention behind the loose style, the choice of colors (late afternoon orange and teal pop), and how the doodle evolved from a simple observation into an exploration of style.
Effort (30%): The intentional use of thick black strokes for the foreground, finer hatches for the background and the appropriate use of limited, contrasting colors show significant artistic control and effort in developing a personal style.
2nd Place: The Happiest Man | 
Creativity (40%): Taking the happiest man on the internet as inspiration and translating the joy of that feeling into a personal and slightly cartoonish style is a unique approach. The contrast between the man's grin and the cat's soft disinterest is very clever.
Inspiration Story (30%): The caption is descriptive, explaining the aim to capture a "spark of sunshine" and detailing the artistic choices made to achieve a storybook vibe.
Effort (30%): The sketch shows solid effort in cartooning and composition, with intentional use of color and line to create a sense of light and joy.
3rd Place: Quiet Street Turns | 
Creativity (40%): The choice of flat colors to simplify the urban scene shows great control and a lovely, clean, graphic style.
Inspiration Story (30%): The artist explains the enjoyment of being in control, deliberately choosing what to keep and leave out from the reference, and successfully achieving a beautiful atmosphere through contrast.
Effort (30%): The decisive use of color and the effort to retain details on the right side while simplifying the left shows strong technical control and thoughtful composition.
Our Three Honorable Mentions
Honorable Mention 1: 
's Necromancer Sunflower
Creativity (40%): Highly imaginative and fun. The concept of creating a spooky necromancer from a dead sunflower is an unexpected twist.
Inspiration Story (30%): The caption is effective, clearly stating the fall festival observation and the imaginative leap to a plant-based necromancer with rotting apples and pumpkins as minions.
Effort (30%): The dark, atmospheric digital painting style perfectly captures the creepy/fun fall vibe described in the caption.
Honorable Mention 2: 
's Arnis Practice
Creativity (40%): The choice to capture traditional Filipino martial arts practice blended with modern remote learning is uniquely relevant. Presenting this moment in a pixel art style is a very creative medium that perfectly fits the concept.
Inspiration Story (30%): The caption is describing the fun and awkwardness of the practice and noting how it felt like a perfectly modern, inspiring moment to sketch.
Effort (30%): The clean construction of the figures in a pixelated style and the effective use of a limited color palette show focused effort in creating a stylized, depiction of the scene.
Honorable Mention 3: 
's Detective Roger Smith
Creativity (40%): The artist successfully created an atmospheric detective vibe based on an imaginary piece, which is a great use of the prompt.
Inspiration Story (30%): The caption successfully sets the scene by naming the piece, referencing action movies , and explaining the intention to create a realistic yet expressive sketch.
Effort (30%): The effort in using mixed media (charcoal pencil and crayon) to give the piece a rich, textured, and moody look is commendable.
Thanks to those who upvoted, reblogged, and supported this contest. You made the community and this contest a success. Shoutout to all the participants for sharing their incredible work and dedication to the arts.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
Sketchquest will be moving to a sister community the DTIYS community. I will be posting all sketchquest related content there to help revive and enliven the community. I hope you do the same and see you there soon. We are not saying goodbye to Draw A Day.
Here are the prizes:
The first place will receive 3 HIVE
The second place will receive 2 HIVE
The third place will receive 1 HIVE
We have a pledge of 3 HIVE donation from 
Thank you again for making this contest so great. Let's keep filling the community with art that tells a story.
Congratulations everyone you deserve all the best.
