Carte Blanche AC Artbook sumbission - ACCEPTED!!!
So, back in July, I had read on the UbiWorkshop site that they were going to release an artbook for Assassin's Creed.
I thought, 'Awesome.'
I read the same website about a week later, and seeing that they were making a call for contributions for the artbook for their 'Carte Blanche' section....
I thought, 'EFFIN' AWESOME!!! I'm so doing this!' (Even if I didn't get accepted, I had nothing to lose but a bit of free time).
The guidelines asked to make an assassin from a different period in any medium. I had so many cultures in mind at that time it was hard to choose, but since I had a month to complete it, I was totally okay with taking my time.
Some time later...shit hits the fan when I realize that I had 3 broken days (work in between all of them) until the deadline to create something for the Carte Blanche. I don't know how I could've forgotten about something so IMPORTANT!? (I blame the 50 hour weeks at work). I mean, Assassin's Creed is one of my FAVORITE GAME SERIES!! Why the hell was I doing NOT drawing!? And it was due at 8pm-ish...in ENGLAND! So that meant I had to finish it at 1pm-ish here in California (Pacific time).
Well, I drew feverishly for those three days. I had to go to one 4-hour shift the first day, a 7-hour shift the second, and had to go to a baptism at 2pm the third day. Since the submission was due right before I had to leave for the baptism on the third day, I thought I'd make the deadline.
Wrong.
The final day...I had 4 hours and was only halfway done digitally coloring the piece. I had overestimated the time.
I didn't think choosing a period/culture was so difficult. I had MesoAmerican, Native American, Samurai, and sleek Modern assassins in mind....but I figured those were going to be the popular ones, so I forcefully abandoned even getting near those types for fear that I would get over-looked for using an over-cliché theme.
I was at a loss for a few hours and mulled about it through my work shift. But, finally...FINALLY, I get inspiration from the form of a youtube video of a manga artist working on a drawing for her series. I noticed that her character wore the outfit of an Ottoman Turk, and how awesome they would look in white......
It was decided. I was going to draw an assassin from the Ottoman Turk empire.
But, ever the perfectionist, I took the first 2 days just doing the sketch and lineart. I obviously didn't pay enough attention to the youtube video in that Ottoman textiles were effing DETAILED little suckers. I was making squares and triangles that were millimeters small on an A4 paper. Then, I was irritated that I couldn't bring it to the job to work on it more, but since I was working in an area surrounded by water...well, water and paper are just not friends. I took way too long designing, which left me with 8 hours to color it. But once I scanned in the line art, I realized that I used the wrong kind of paper...it was SO so gritty when I looked at it on the screen that the lines were all jagged! I spent even MORE time blurring and cleaning up lineart as I colored.
My mom and dad were now furious at me. At first, they were rooting me on cause I had the air of confidence that I would finish in time. But once they noticed on the third day that I was still sleep-deprived, had been living off of Capri Suns and cereal bars, and still in my jammies, furiously making my hand fly over the tablet and keyboard, with only ONE hour until the baptism started, they started giving me crap.
"Why did you wait so long?"
"You canNOT miss this baptism!"
"Is this even going to help you find a job in the game industry?"
Flatly, it was irritating. Clearly, my parents and I didn't see things eye to eye in how much of an importance this was for me.
And, no matter how much I avoided looking at the corner of the screen, the clock was still winding down....1 hour...40 minutes....20 minutes....
Crap.
I chucked my wacom pen in frustration and went straight to the bathroom to start getting ready for the baptism.
Let me tell you, I'm not one to let my anger out physically. I usually just mull and mumble to myself and that will calm me down.
But this was different. I didn't make this a priority. I didn't put in the MOUNTAINS of time that I had to do this.
I think was frustrated me the most was that I COULD have finished it had I SOMEHOW reminded myself with something as simple as a damn STICKY NOTE on my computer. Of course, mom walks in and I'm practically tearing up since I was so pissed at myself.
She asked me why I didn't finish it, and I almost snapped at her for what she said before, but just told her the deadline had passed.
If I didn't have to go to the baptism, I would've stayed and tried to finish it and beg Ubisoft to accept it...but no, family comes first and I hadn't seen my niece for a couple of months. It was obligation at this point.
Well, 4 hours later I was sitting on a couch at my cousin's house. This baptism and the little get-together afterward was a blessing in disguise as I finally had loads of time to do some mulling over and deflate myself from all the tension from that morning. I decided that I was going to pull one more all-nighter and turn it in no later than 8am the following morning, even though it was late. Why not. Like I said earlier, I had nothing to lose and the worst they can tell me was, "no." But at least I would have another drawing to add to the portfolio.
We got back home at 8pm that night and I went straight back to work with a refreshing aura of serenity.
'Just get it done.'
At 5am, I was semi-satisfied with what I had. It was cleaned, colored, had to chuck the idea of a real background but added a gradient stripe to break the white...
I emailed my submission politely (?) begging Ubisoft to consider the piece, even though it was late. Click, send, commence thumb-twittling.
Now I played the waiting game.
4 days later, I get an email from Ubiworkshop. 'Oh, here's the rejection letter....' I thought
I open it, and got a shock! The email said that they had to extend the deadline a week more because their inbox exploded from the sheer amount of submissions. So, technically, my submission was not 'late.'
I quickly write back, asking if it was okay to resubmit my piece so that I can make some much needed changes. They answered back quickly (thank God) with the okay to do so.
And now I'm thrown back into the hellhole. I had 2-ish days to redo a LOT of work.
I did some MORE lineart cleaning, added textures, added some better shading. Then resubmitted it on time.
Waiting game, Part 2!
A little more than 3 weeks later, I get an email from Ubiworkshop.
Thinking they had finally come to let me know that they rejected it (I had no confidence in myself at this point, lol),
I got the biggest shock in my life. Two little sentences was all it took:
"[...] we are interested in the artwork you’ve submitted. We think it would be a great addition in the carte blanche section [...]"
Ho.
My.
EFFING.
GAWD!
I had to re-read it a couple of times to make sure I was making it out right. Nope, no rejection mentioned in the email (I was REALLY looking hard for something that screamed that it wasn't a definite YES. Like a phrase saying, 'we MIGHT use your art').
I jumped out of my chair, wooping and cussing in excitement at this point (I don't do that squealing thing...don't have the throat for it). I ran to my parents and made them read the email (also to check if I overlooked something as well). I had just graduated in March, but I let my instructors know, classmates, counselors...
I was MORE than ecstatic, I was practically drunk on adrenaline, as if I was on a runner's high. Assassin's Creed is my favorite game series, and Ubisoft is one of my favorite and inspirational companies. And now I'm going to have something printed under BOTH those signatures that was made by MY own hands! I've never won something like this! I've now got a GIANT niche in my art record to prove that I did something worthwhile.
I can't show the piece mentioned since it has to stay confidential until further notice,
(probably until the book is published)
but I'll keep up to date on what'll happen from here on out.
Note that Ubisoft opened a Forum topic showing the images of those that didn't get selected.
I'm in shock. A LOT of those pieces are so bad-ass...how did they NOT get in?
They are awesome pieces, so take the time to look at them.
Links:
• UbiWorkshop: Homepage
• UbiWorkshop Forum: Forum page of submissions that weren't selected, but amazing nonetheless!
I thought, 'Awesome.'
I read the same website about a week later, and seeing that they were making a call for contributions for the artbook for their 'Carte Blanche' section....
I thought, 'EFFIN' AWESOME!!! I'm so doing this!' (Even if I didn't get accepted, I had nothing to lose but a bit of free time).
The guidelines asked to make an assassin from a different period in any medium. I had so many cultures in mind at that time it was hard to choose, but since I had a month to complete it, I was totally okay with taking my time.
Some time later...shit hits the fan when I realize that I had 3 broken days (work in between all of them) until the deadline to create something for the Carte Blanche. I don't know how I could've forgotten about something so IMPORTANT!? (I blame the 50 hour weeks at work). I mean, Assassin's Creed is one of my FAVORITE GAME SERIES!! Why the hell was I doing NOT drawing!? And it was due at 8pm-ish...in ENGLAND! So that meant I had to finish it at 1pm-ish here in California (Pacific time).
Well, I drew feverishly for those three days. I had to go to one 4-hour shift the first day, a 7-hour shift the second, and had to go to a baptism at 2pm the third day. Since the submission was due right before I had to leave for the baptism on the third day, I thought I'd make the deadline.
Wrong.
The final day...I had 4 hours and was only halfway done digitally coloring the piece. I had overestimated the time.
I didn't think choosing a period/culture was so difficult. I had MesoAmerican, Native American, Samurai, and sleek Modern assassins in mind....but I figured those were going to be the popular ones, so I forcefully abandoned even getting near those types for fear that I would get over-looked for using an over-cliché theme.
I was at a loss for a few hours and mulled about it through my work shift. But, finally...FINALLY, I get inspiration from the form of a youtube video of a manga artist working on a drawing for her series. I noticed that her character wore the outfit of an Ottoman Turk, and how awesome they would look in white......
It was decided. I was going to draw an assassin from the Ottoman Turk empire.
But, ever the perfectionist, I took the first 2 days just doing the sketch and lineart. I obviously didn't pay enough attention to the youtube video in that Ottoman textiles were effing DETAILED little suckers. I was making squares and triangles that were millimeters small on an A4 paper. Then, I was irritated that I couldn't bring it to the job to work on it more, but since I was working in an area surrounded by water...well, water and paper are just not friends. I took way too long designing, which left me with 8 hours to color it. But once I scanned in the line art, I realized that I used the wrong kind of paper...it was SO so gritty when I looked at it on the screen that the lines were all jagged! I spent even MORE time blurring and cleaning up lineart as I colored.
My mom and dad were now furious at me. At first, they were rooting me on cause I had the air of confidence that I would finish in time. But once they noticed on the third day that I was still sleep-deprived, had been living off of Capri Suns and cereal bars, and still in my jammies, furiously making my hand fly over the tablet and keyboard, with only ONE hour until the baptism started, they started giving me crap.
"Why did you wait so long?"
"You canNOT miss this baptism!"
"Is this even going to help you find a job in the game industry?"
Flatly, it was irritating. Clearly, my parents and I didn't see things eye to eye in how much of an importance this was for me.
And, no matter how much I avoided looking at the corner of the screen, the clock was still winding down....1 hour...40 minutes....20 minutes....
Crap.
I chucked my wacom pen in frustration and went straight to the bathroom to start getting ready for the baptism.
Let me tell you, I'm not one to let my anger out physically. I usually just mull and mumble to myself and that will calm me down.
But this was different. I didn't make this a priority. I didn't put in the MOUNTAINS of time that I had to do this.
I think was frustrated me the most was that I COULD have finished it had I SOMEHOW reminded myself with something as simple as a damn STICKY NOTE on my computer. Of course, mom walks in and I'm practically tearing up since I was so pissed at myself.
She asked me why I didn't finish it, and I almost snapped at her for what she said before, but just told her the deadline had passed.
If I didn't have to go to the baptism, I would've stayed and tried to finish it and beg Ubisoft to accept it...but no, family comes first and I hadn't seen my niece for a couple of months. It was obligation at this point.
Well, 4 hours later I was sitting on a couch at my cousin's house. This baptism and the little get-together afterward was a blessing in disguise as I finally had loads of time to do some mulling over and deflate myself from all the tension from that morning. I decided that I was going to pull one more all-nighter and turn it in no later than 8am the following morning, even though it was late. Why not. Like I said earlier, I had nothing to lose and the worst they can tell me was, "no." But at least I would have another drawing to add to the portfolio.
We got back home at 8pm that night and I went straight back to work with a refreshing aura of serenity.
'Just get it done.'
At 5am, I was semi-satisfied with what I had. It was cleaned, colored, had to chuck the idea of a real background but added a gradient stripe to break the white...
I emailed my submission politely (?) begging Ubisoft to consider the piece, even though it was late. Click, send, commence thumb-twittling.
Now I played the waiting game.
4 days later, I get an email from Ubiworkshop. 'Oh, here's the rejection letter....' I thought
I open it, and got a shock! The email said that they had to extend the deadline a week more because their inbox exploded from the sheer amount of submissions. So, technically, my submission was not 'late.'
I quickly write back, asking if it was okay to resubmit my piece so that I can make some much needed changes. They answered back quickly (thank God) with the okay to do so.
And now I'm thrown back into the hellhole. I had 2-ish days to redo a LOT of work.
I did some MORE lineart cleaning, added textures, added some better shading. Then resubmitted it on time.
Waiting game, Part 2!
A little more than 3 weeks later, I get an email from Ubiworkshop.
Thinking they had finally come to let me know that they rejected it (I had no confidence in myself at this point, lol),
I got the biggest shock in my life. Two little sentences was all it took:
"[...] we are interested in the artwork you’ve submitted. We think it would be a great addition in the carte blanche section [...]"
Ho.
My.
EFFING.
GAWD!
I had to re-read it a couple of times to make sure I was making it out right. Nope, no rejection mentioned in the email (I was REALLY looking hard for something that screamed that it wasn't a definite YES. Like a phrase saying, 'we MIGHT use your art').
I jumped out of my chair, wooping and cussing in excitement at this point (I don't do that squealing thing...don't have the throat for it). I ran to my parents and made them read the email (also to check if I overlooked something as well). I had just graduated in March, but I let my instructors know, classmates, counselors...
I was MORE than ecstatic, I was practically drunk on adrenaline, as if I was on a runner's high. Assassin's Creed is my favorite game series, and Ubisoft is one of my favorite and inspirational companies. And now I'm going to have something printed under BOTH those signatures that was made by MY own hands! I've never won something like this! I've now got a GIANT niche in my art record to prove that I did something worthwhile.
I can't show the piece mentioned since it has to stay confidential until further notice,
(probably until the book is published)
but I'll keep up to date on what'll happen from here on out.
Note that Ubisoft opened a Forum topic showing the images of those that didn't get selected.
I'm in shock. A LOT of those pieces are so bad-ass...how did they NOT get in?
They are awesome pieces, so take the time to look at them.
Links:
• UbiWorkshop: Homepage
• UbiWorkshop Forum: Forum page of submissions that weren't selected, but amazing nonetheless!