The RPS Summer Games: Fan Art-stravaganza!

Not a happy little cloud in sight

Feature by Philippa Warr Former Staff Writer

Published on Aug. 19, 2016

The grand finale of the RPS Summer Games is the Fan Art-stravaganza! This is also the part where you get to weigh in and cast a vote for your favourite RPS artist. In an ideal world you'd be voting for the best artwork inspired by a videogame so try not to fall victim to any emotional blackmail or lobbying for the pity vote!

Rules:

No cosplay [N.B. This isn't actually a rule, but an attempt to stop Alice just submitting a selfie and pretending to be cosplaying someone from the cyberpunk future when she was actually going down the shops. I figured just putting the rule in might avoid the inevitable argument about "but what even is a costume, Pip?". It didn't AND she submitted the picture anyway. INTENT MATTERS TO ART, ALICE.]

You must clear up any and all craft supplies when your project is finished. If I come in and find PVA glue and pasta shapes all over the chatroom again I'll ground you all.

Results:

Adam

[DID NOT COMPETE. He's off at Gamescom and apparently forgot to take his watercolours and easel, the big silly! If you still want to vote for him anyway, just treat his silence as an artistic statement.]

Alec

Alec says: I briefly considered attempting a watercolour of an Sectoid-infested X-COM cornfield, but the lure of the Cacodemon was simply too great. Honestly, I did not conscript my three-year- old daughter – and noted Cacodemon fan – to assist me. Any childish aspects to this grand design are, I assure you, 100% artisanal Alec inflections.

Obstacles to this creation, my own trembling hands aside, included the discovery that young Connie had recently raided the Playdough tin and mushed almost all of it into a phlegmy green-brown – as of course is the ultimate fate of all Playdough. It took quite some time to carefully prune away small blobs of distinct colours and then reconsolidate them into meaningful quantities, but sadly streaks and blemishes were unavoidable. Let’s just call them ‘battlescars’, eh? Additionally, the pink Playdough was long gone, having been pressed into service as lumpy, flaky ballgowns for charity shop Disney Princess dolls, so I was forced to carefully colour a white strip by hand in order to form Ian Cacodemon’s muzzle.

I am oddly proud of my pet demon. I’m happy with his green eye and monobrow and exactly correct number of horns, though I confess that the teeth are not what they should be. Let’s all agree that, in addition to sporting war wounds, this particular Caco has missed several years’ worth of dentist appointments.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned three year old spied my loving creation upon her return from nursery. The cry went up: "I really love smashing things!", and there were the terrible sounds of ripping and tearing. I was too far away to intervene in time, and my heart was broken. My singular creation was lost. My Cacodemon is dead. Knowing my pain as you do, I trust that I can depend on your vote.

Alice

Alice says: Pip's barbaric anti-fan art rules are a sad reflection of the modern corporate RPS Summer Games. The ancient RPS Summer Games had a full spread of arts, respecting such proud disciplines as modding, trolling, excuses for why it wasn't really you trolling that server so REALLY you should be unbanned, and cosplay. I'm sorry if it doesn't fit your sanitised Mountain Dew view of the RPS Summer Games, Pip, but I am taking a stand: I am cosplaying. As myself, obvs. Look, given that I'm pretty sure one Deus Ex: Human Revolution dev slipped in oblique references to some bants I once japed, I am in the game and therefore this old cyberselfie was definitely intended to be some sort of Deus Ex cosplay. If I am video games then what even is a costume, Pip?

Brendy

Brendy says: I call this 'Sonic On Lined Paper'. The two mouths symbolise Sonic’s dual nature, violence and sarcasm. The lips extending to the left, smoking an unbranded cigarette, are pursed, perhaps prepared for some glib remark or wry observation. The gaping maw of bristling fangs is open and awaiting its next meal. Sonic’s strong right arm clasps a can, maybe beer, maybe a caffeinated soft drink, while his famously weak left arm idles at his side, forever limp. His Eye of Eyes is composed of many animals - an owl’s, a goat’s, a cat’s, a spider’s, a snake’s, a human’s, a mantis shrimp's, a frog’s - stitched on with precision by a surgeon of unknown origin. The bone protruding from his neck represents decay.

Graham

(The gif may take a few seconds to load in, but you can also view it here.)

Graham says: Everyone loves funnily-crap MS Paint drawings, but I reckon the one that wins this is clearly going to be some sort of clever, crafty use of minimal materials. Unfortunately I'm not that clever. I did recently buy a cheap, off-brand GoPro-style action camera though, which I can just about hold in my mouth. Maybe I could do something with that?

And so a GIF was born. I thought about setting fire to my hedge but splashing Irn Bru on my floor was as far as I was willing to go for my art.

(The game is Firewatch, if my non-beefy wimpy bone hands cause confusion)

John

John says: I do worry that everyone else will do No Man's Sky too, but I hope the wise, beautiful reader will recognise that this multi-media extravaganza is deserving of recognition in a potentially crowded field. The canvas is a paving/concrete mix, with my work delivered in chalk, vegetation and human flesh. And if you don't vote for this one, my tiny one year old boy will be emotionally destroyed.

Pip

Pip says: I, Pip, decided that since we didn't have long an oil painting was out of the question. In the end I went with fast-drying egg tempera - a medium in which I am surprisingly proficient - and painted a tribute to Aphrodite from the MOBA Smite.

And so, it falls to you, dear readers, to cast the deciding votes! Pick a favourite (or pick a least-worst artist) and we'll announce the winners in a little medal ceremony on Monday! 12 points are up for grabs so you can see from the current standings that the gold medal is anyone's for the taking...

[votePIP]