Once in a while, I enter a contest. No, I do not degrade and depreciate my profession by entering book cover contests in hopes of getting paid a fraction of standard rates for the project just so an author or publisher can pay next to nothing for a skill that's taken me years of schooling and dedication. However, I occasionally enter art contests with my personal work, my original work. Mainly, I do it to improve my own skills. A themed contest gives me the freedom to experiment without the risk of destroying my client's primary marketing tool -- their book cover. It also gives me a chance to work on something that's all my own vision. Most of my book cover commissions are a hybrid of my interpretation of a story and the author's, which is awesome, but once in a while one that's all me keeps me ... congenial. As an added bonus, many of these contests do include a cash prize, gift certificate, or free products. For the first time, earlier this month, I entered Daz's May 2014 Render Contest: Lyrics to Pictures. Lady of Shalott, by Loreena McKennitt, has been one of my favorite songs since my college days. It was also my introduction to Lord Tennyson's writings, which Loreena adapted to song. This is how the contest was introduced: Have you ever actually pictured the lyrics to your favorite song? Here is your chance to create a vision inspired by music. Choose a line or two from a song or use the title and create a picture that represents those words. This was my entry ... Lady of Shalott took first place. It's one thing for non-artists to appreciate my work. It's something different when the judges are also artists, so I'm really honored. I know the competition was worthy, too. *** As a side note ... The 'vision' in the mirror is actually a cropped adaptation of an illustration created for Harry Gilleland's book trailer for his novel, A Wandering Warrior. See the original image here: http://willowraven.weebly.com/lady-of-shalott.html. I thought he was the perfect vision of a knight from Camelot. Let me know what you think of my latest work. :D If you'd like to read the lyrics or hear the song that inspired the image, check out the page dedicated to it on my website: Lady of Shalott {http://willowraven.weebly.com/lady-of-shalott.html} Previous upload: **About the credits, I used jamminwolf's character first, then modified it further to get the look I wanted. So although I wanted to give vendor credit, I don't want to confuse people as to why my character does not look like the product promos. *Vendors, I LOVE doing artistic renders & bragging up your hard work. Contact me :D* If you find time, check out my website: WillowRaven And if you like VidFolios, why not subscribe to my YouTube channel, too. I'll subscribe back. :D