I hope everyone is having a great time at our first-ever goSupermodel Summer Camp. I must say, I'm truly amazed by the creativity you've all shown in our first two days of camp. As a result, we decided to organize a very-special designer competition where you will have the chance to create an item for goSupermodel as an one-time Guest Designer.

For this competition, you create an animal that lives somewhere in the forest. You are free to use your imagination - as the animal doesn't have to be based on an actual or existing animal. You could choose to create a fox, a bird, a raccoon, a cute red panda, or something entirely unique. The choice is yours to make! Let your imagination run wild, but make sure it can be finished in less than a week. 

The competition will start today and will end on Friday, June 30 at 15:00 CET. We'll pick at least five winners that will get their designed animal featured in the game. For the creation of your animal of choice, we won't be using the goSupermodel designer tool but you can draw in whichever tool and whichever app you prefer as long as the items are in the right size and resolution. The size is 140x300 pixels and the animal needs to be saved with a transparent background. Please use this modelbase to make sure your animal is correctly placed. 

Have more than one idea? You are able to send in more than one animal within your submission - but only one of the animals will be featured in the game when you win the competition. 

The winners of this competition will have the honor of having their item featured on goSupermodel, with their name attached to it. The items the winners created will be used on goSupermodel as either a goCode, a shop item or a locked competition prize. The winners will receive their own design for the work they have done, and in addition will be rewarded with a one-month VIP package. 

We want to see all lovely designs in the exact quality that they have been made by the designer, and therefore decided to take the submission process off the website. You can submit your design through this Google Form. If you more than one design, please make sure that the links are below each other.

Do you remember the mischievous squirrel that sneaked into my tent on the second day? The goCode was created by the incredibly talented JD'er Serotonin. We asked her for some tips and tricks to get you started on your own. Remember that other methods are valid ways to get to the same result. 

Tips from Serotonin: 
Decide on what animal you want to design and look up reference images – designing a convincing animal is all about getting the proportions of the limbs of the animal correct and the textures of different parts of the animal.

• 1. Sketch on a reference image of the model - is the animal interacting with the model or just standing in front of/behind the model? If you are unsure sketch multiple ideas and go with the one you like the most - remember a sketch doesn't need to be neat, it only has to convey the basic idea.
• 2. Color block the basic, fat colors of the animal - only look at the major basic colors, make a solid base to build upon in the future. Make sure the proportions look right and fix minor mistakes from the sketch. 
• 3. Make sure to pay special attention to the face of the animal - faces tend to attract the most attention from the viewer, so tweak the face until you are happy with the result. Remember to zoom out to 100% zoom to see it on the scale you would view it on goSupermodel.
• 4. Animals still need shading - I like to take account for that by blocking in the highest highlights and the deepest shadows of the animal. For animals with smooth textures, like the fur of a horse, or here the face of a monkey, make sure to the shading properly like you would do with any piece of clothing.
• 5. I like to make fur look fluffly by blending out the edges with a semi-transparent brush. Overlaying small strokes of pixel brushes like this can create the illusion of fur. Adding a few transparent pixels going over the solid base helps sell the illusion that the animal is soft and fluffy. If the animal has patches of fur in different colors, this step is also used well to blend the colors in, using these small strokes. 

And most importantly: remember to have fun! Designing is a process, and we all learn by trial and error. 

We can't wait to see all your designs!

If you have questions about the competition or looking for a place to share your creative progress, please use this topic. 

Love,

The camp counselors & the goSupermodel team