Wood Carving Design Contest [Closed - Claim Rewards]

[Lamont]

We're doing something a little different this year. Instead of carving a pumpkin we'll be carving wood! Totems and effigies are just as festive so this year we're going to pay homage to little Pumpkaboo's spooky cousin: Phantump.

Your task will be to Design a wood carving for a face that is fit for the finest of Phantump. It can be scary, cute, festive, funny, or just a cool pattern to look at. Whatever you like, but the theme is Autumn. After the deadline, staff will decide on the Top 3 most fitting Autumn designs.

Contest Deadline
Noonish of November 1st (Western time)

Guidelines:

◓ Here is a template that you can choose to use or not. You can print it off & pencil/color it then scan it in for submission, or not use it at all and instead draw digitally or sprite. You could make something out of leaves, bead art, paint, noodles, or carve actual wood if you like too. So long as you present a visual of your design it doesn't matter what medium you use.


◓ The idea behind the Design is the key & what will be mainly judged, with presentation secondary. This means you needn't worry about being the best artist. All skill levels are welcomed. We're here to have fun. Just keep the design clean & simple since it's for a Phantump's face stump.


◓ Art theft is an automatic disqualification, and content must be PG13. Any Official Pokémon Material is okay to reference, such as pokémon sprites.


◓ Post your entry here (1 per member). Do not make more than 1 post; edit as needed. Any edits after the assigned Deadline may be disqualified.

If you have any questions feel free to PM staff or catch us in chat. An FAQ may be added here for others' benefit if questions pop up. Good luck all!

*We reserve the right to adjust the guidelines should we feel it necessary

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Prizes:

Place	Rewards
1st	Heart Sweet - Pick 1 from any other 'pick' options And Pick 1 Below: Rare Candy EXP Candy, Medium
2nd	EXP Candy, Medium Pick 1: Dusk Ball Shalour Sable
3rd	EXP Candy, Medium Pick 1: Shalour Sable x3 Gems: Ghost or Grass
Participation	EXP Candy, Small +3 Harvest Shop Points Pick 2: Festive Cake Old Gateau Rage Candy Bar Sprinkle Cookie

[wildpidgey]

A cute little stump appears — not richly ornamented, but its carved wood boughs are good for ramming! Small ghostly leaves flicker over the "branches." It gives the unsettling impression of a grand tree petrified by some mysterious force...

[Goni]

alright, I took my shot at this, it's a digital collage... my idea was corn.  It's a little bit of a mess but yeah lmao 

I love corn mazes and so corn makes me think of fall!

[Pixel]

[Vay]

It has long since been said that Phantump are created when a child that has gotten lost in the woods passes on to the other side, leaving its spirit behind to inhabit a nearby tree stump. The Pokedex often exaggerates of course, and its likely this may just be a folktale that has been written a little too literally over time, but stories like these do always come from somewhere. It is believed that this particular tale originates from Ballonlea, a small city in the North West of Galar, surrounded by the Glimwood Tangle. which is known to have been full of Phantump for as long as anyone can remember.

If you were to visit Ballonlea in the month of October, you'd notice a large number of carved sculptures made from various gourds and bits of wood decorating the local neighbourhood, all depicting the same simple face. Two sad eyes, a sad mouth, and a single tear drop. Hundreds of these carvings can be found around the city, and at the end of the month, they are taken into the Glimwood Tangle, and people and Pokemon alike gather together around them. Why, you may ask? Well anyone from Ballonlea will be happy to tell you the tale in its entirety, each family sharing slightly different details so that no story is entirely the same, but the basic premise always remains.

Long ago, a child was drawn from the then small village of Ballonlea into the Glimwood Tangle by the lure of the dazzling lights there. All of the local children were warned not to fall prey to such temptations, and families were constantly reminded to keep a close watch on their young ones, but still this young child strayed from the safety of the village and wandered deep into the Tangle. Glowing Shiinotic lured them deeper while mischievous Morgrem covered their tracks, so that as the night began to set in and fear finally reached the innocent child, they could no longer find their way back home. For hours they wandered, shouting out into the thick foliage that swallowed their cries entirely, until exhaustion eventually took over them and they dropped down to rest beside an old rotten tree stump, the cold chill of the night air pressing through their skin as they slept and dreamed of home...

By the time the rescue party found them the next day, it was too late. The people mourned, and the Pokemon of the Tangle now milling around them seemed confused. They had not heard these strange human wails before and did not understand the meaning of them. Eventually, a local villager pulled out a pocket knife and scratched a crude shape into the stump that the child had rested against: a simple sad face with a single tear against it. The Pokemon examined this, and recognised the tear. They cried too when they lost loved ones, and suddenly they understood. The Spritzees in the trees offered consoling songs, the Sinistea in the bushes offered warming drinks, and the people and Pokemon came together to share the communal emotion of grief together as one.

Now, every year, the locals of the city carve that same simple face into whatever they can find, and take their offerings into the Glimwood Tangle as the month draws to an end. People and Pokemon alike mourn those that they have lost throughout the year together, allowing themselves to feel the sadness that they may not have had the time or space to experience at other times. People support Pokemon, Pokemon support people, and the tradition lives on through these simple carvings and an evening of shared emotion. On the following morning, the people and Pokemon return home with a weight lifted from their shoulders, never forgetting the ones that they have lost but being able to walk a little lighter having been able to allow their emotion out in a safe and therapeutic manner among a network of supportive friends and of ancient understanding.

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TL;DR Autumn here is often about death and endings (leaves falling from trees, flowers dying, etc.). We mourn the end of the summer and the year coming towards a close, but in doing so we look back at the year that's passed and we prepare for the new one that's coming. I wanted to represent this celebration of death, where it's good to mourn losses that have had a big impact on your life but to then be able to move on from them, and I wanted to use the mythology of Phantump's origin to make a folktale out of that. The carvings and designs and decorations that always mean the most to me are the ones routed in real traditions and there's a lot of that tied to autumn around here. They're also often very simple, easily replicable designs that kids can do themselves the first time they hear the story, hence the simplistic carving itself. Overall then, the idea is rooted in spooky stories and folktales tied to traditional autumn festivals and holidays (which at least for me is what I always think of for autumn), and the general concept of death and endings that ties into autumn as a whole.

[Calamity Ashe]

TABBY CAT

[Caramell 🍬]

Spooky Night: House of Fright Edition

[Tarlar]

Not sure how Autumn themed this is, but it was the only idea I got and I think it turned out better than I had expected. A little phantump dressing up for halloween as the all famous "linen-over-head-ghost" XD

[dharakjoo]

Jack-o-Phantump!

[Vaygen]

[Lamont]

Submissions Closed
Thank you all for participating!

There are a lot of fantastic ideas in this bundle of stumps. But now, it's time to decide which ones are going to win the contest!

Majority of this will be decided using specific criteria by our judges (staff), BUT! You all still have a say for deciding the popular vote which will be used for any tie breakers. Using similar rules to MotM voting:
    ◓ Voting will be open until ~2pm CBox time on Nov 6th
    ◓ Pick your top 2 favorite designs
    ◓ Rank them as #1 and #2
    ◓ PM your choices to all active Staff
    ◓ You cannot vote for yourself


What are you judging?

• The idea is key; try not to be biased by how visually pleasing the post is
  
• Remember the theme: autumn. This could mean spooks and ghosts, candy, particular foods, leaves, etc. Whatever 'fall/autumn' means to you or has you excited for.
  

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Additionally, everyone who made a submission will now receive their participation prizes!
Updating everyone's points now, as well as the EXP Candy to anyone with 1 character.

Please post below your choices from that bracket detailed in the 1st post.

[Vay]

Festival Cake and Rage Candy Bar for Eden please <3

Taking care of this as we speak!
~ Caramell

Rage Candy Bar: 0 > 1
Festival Cake: 0 > 1

[Caramell 🍬]

I'll take a Rage Candy Bar (0 > 1) and an Old Gateau (1 > 2) and Self-Update to Caribes.

[Pixel]

Festive Cake and a Rage Candy bar. Updating everything to Silas, including the exp candy.

[Tarlar]

updating a Festive Cake (now 3) and an Old Gateau (now 2), and the exp candy (now 1) to Lei