Winners! The 10 pumpkin-carvers who win Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles

Im still pissed that the Jack Thompson pumpkin wasnt a finalist.

I did the comparison, as you suggested, and it looks legit. The actual image's sleeves are larger, and his head isn't tilted forward as much. I had to stretch it out taller just to get it to fit in the first place. I'll agree they're close, but it actually looks like a real carving, for once. [Comparison: http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=comparisonsz2.jpg ]

Kevlar, I stand corrected. I'll have to say it's legit. (like I said, it still got one of my votes)

I have to say that the Wind Waker themed pumpkins (that are "carved" in a similar fashion to this Ganon one), as well as the winning Ganon, look pretty fake. I was fiddling around with them in Photoshop and the actual "carving" designs don't really match up well with the actual pumpkin in terms of hue, contrast, levels, etc. :\ But maybe the image quality is just really bad. Either way, they look sketchy from my perspective. If they did carve, what kind of tools/technique did they use, I wonder?

Anyway, congratulations to all who won. :) Carving pumpkins is hard work, and these look awesome!

Disqualified for using a template.

Ohhh fine print! whoops :-)

Thanks

Tho a 3d pumpkin may be a bit harder to carve a 2d pumpkin has to take a lot more in from a design perspective to make it work.

i feel for you, i definitely wished the contest rules were clearer and enforced consistently. if the contest is an annual thing, i'm sure this will serve as a learning experience. i hope. and i'm sure that the people organizing it struggled more than we can imagine, considering how they had to make aesthetic decisions across all these pumpkins (impossible!) and balancing legal issues while trying to make it as entertaining / accessible as possible.

i had the same mental fit when they said "no templates", but i dismissed it, out of common sense, because no artist spontaneously spews out masterpieces. hell, pumpkins are seasonal and cost too much to even practice on. although i went 3d this time, i agree that templates are still a necessity for most complex designs and take a lot of skill. however, when commercially available and mass-produced designs are used in a competition that touts "creativity and originality" as grading criteria, it undermines a lot of creative license and effort that others put into their original templates.

I'm very glad your Colossus pumpkin won! And congrats on the double nominations. They were both excellent designs.