LAST UPDATE: July 2, 2009.

What is this account?
We are a community of artists and animators who compose works of art to compete with one-another for fun. We hold year-round contests and tournaments open to newbies and professionals. Basically, we bring hardcore competition to dA artists who are looking for a challenge, tournament, or just to improve their skills. Truly successful users are typically active in the chatroom as well as the forum. If you still have any questions, Send a note or stop by the chatroom! [link]

What is this contest?
you need to throw down with other artists using an original character that you design for this contest or have already come up with. You will be given a certain amount of time to create a deviation showing your character defeating your opponent's character. If the judges declare you the winner, you will move onto the next round. If not, you either give up or have a chance at what we call Redemption. You, and all the losing people from that round battle it out in a separate round. Only 1-2 lucky winners will be allowed back into the competition. The Redemption option tends to end when finals draw near and less people are available.

How do I join the community?
Watching us and having your name on a list isn't what this is about. You do not even need to be an actual member to participate in any tournaments we have, but you should be a part of our community, participate in our contests, visit the chatroom every so often.

How do I join the contest and hand in my entries?
When a new contest opens up, please follow instructions. Generally, you must notify us of your entry through the NOTES SYSTEM. Note us with the Thumb and we will update you on the roster. It is your responsibility to make sure we have your information accounted for and correct. We cannot sort through all the comments just to find your entry.

When joining a tournament, you need a reference sheet. This is for your opponent to help him/her draw your character accurately. You may reuse refsheets from other contests for OCBC. You also don't need to place your character on an OCBC template.

You also need a character introduction. This is mainly to ensure your devotion to enter the contest (it is not an audition). It can either be a short animation or a comic with at least four panels (splash pages aren't permitted for this because your opponents will be able to use this to see your character in action).

Please link both your introduction and your ref sheet when joining before the deadline.

What kind of contest entry are you expecting?
For this contest, you do NOT need to show the victory of your character over another. Instead, we will judge your entry on the most appealing story. Killing your own character off early-on might cause you some consternation in later rounds, however, such things can be worked around.

There is also an often unwritten rule that you should treat your opponent with respect. In other words, don't focus entirely on your own character just to have the other one show up briefly and not count towards the plot. Some people also treat godmodding with disdain; "godmodding" is when you portray your own character as much more powerful and skilled than your opponent (when your opponent clearly isn't) and humiliating the opponent with a total defeat.

Stock textures and brushes, as long as they're available for public use, are allowed if you credit the source. Using reference images is highly encouraged - however, please use sources that are intended to be reference, such as the wonderful stock libraries on DA. Do not copy other artist's art. We will catch you and you will be disqualified.

For animations, you are allowed to use voice acting from other people, music as long as it conforms to DA copyright policies, and sound effects from online databases. PLEASE credit all your sources in your artist descriptions.

What kind of entries are allowed?

This is a visual art contest. We are open to comics, animations, and splash page entries. Entries of a written nature (including those with occasional illustrations) are not allowed. You must draw all your own material. Copy/pasting art from another artist, even with the artist's permission, is not allowed unless you request special permission from the judges and show them how you'll use it.

Should we just link the first page or all the pages in our entry submission notes?
Link us to the first page. You will be expected to place links to the other pages (either in a "previous/next" format or just linking all the pages on all of them) in your artist's description. If you have questions on how to do this, just ask us. The judges reserve the right to not read the rest of your entry if they're forced to dig through your gallery through it.

What are the roles of the judges?
The judges exist not only to chose who moves on, but also to help our competitors improve. Every round, the judges will post their reasoning behind decisions (though it is not always possible in some cases) and our advice to help you improve.

As artists, you will need to act professional, emotionally detach yourself from your work, and observe your work through a third person view. An artist must be able to listen to the opinions and advice of others in the art world, both professionally, and personally, and we uphold that belief here.

Please visit us in the chat if you have any questions. If you wish to contest a certain judgment, we will listen to any rational points, though insolence and disrespect will not be tolerated.

Once again we provide you with a means to contact us!
The chat: [link]
By note: [link]

Please use them!

What exactly will our entries be judged on?
Storytelling, originality, completeness, drawing ability (character drawing, background drawing, panel layout, text, and word bubbles all factor into this. A well drawn comic with a bad layout will suffer), effort, and adherence to the rules.

What kind of characters may I use?
Characters may be any race, any species, anything, as long as it is your own original creation. However, if a character is too outlandish (for example, a previously rejected character was a non-sentient rock), we may reject the character. If we can find and prove there is extensive evidence linking your character to any known popular established name, your character will be removed.

We also do not tolerate art theft or the stealing of ideas from other original characters.

May I enter more than one character?
You may only enter one character at a time. However, you can have support characters in your entries as well. The difference between an entrant and a support character is that your opponent is not obligated to include the support characters in his/her entries.

May I enter the contest twice on more than one account?
This is not allowed. If you are discovered pretending to be two people, both of your characters will be disqualified.

May I draw the entries for my friend's character?
No.

Can my friend write while I draw?
Collaborations are not allowed on the grounds that it is impossible to tell if the writer assisted in any part of the art or not.

Are there specific NPCs or settings we should use?
This is usually round specific, but on a whole, you do not need to use a specific setting. This allows the duels to take place in your character's own realms or any realms/time periods of your own choosing.

There are judge NPCs (avatars of the admin at OCBC) that are available for use if you wish, but it is not required to include them or even reference that your character is in a tournament in the first place. Remember, it's about story, not victory. You are not required to refer to OCBC at all.

Are the rules for all the rounds the same?
Usually, the first rounds are completely open. However, near the end, some certain rules may be added to specific rounds to make the competition more difficult.

FORFEITING.

What happens if I need to forfeit?
Notify your opponent and OCBC as soon as possible after you decide to forfeit and you will be removed from the competition. If you forfeit, you will not be allowed to reenter the competition if you change your mind unless you enter and win redemption.

What happens if my opponent forfeits?
In order to continue to the next round, you will still need to submit some form of entry. You do not need to finish your entry; submitting what you had up to the point to where your opponent forfeited is allowed. Unless you forfeit yourself, you will be guaranteed a spot in the next round.

What is Redemption?
Redemption is a small competition that takes place after the first couple rounds. It allows competitors that were eliminated from the previous rounds to compete against each other to gain a pass back into the main contest. Instead of assigning one opponent, participants in redemption must compete against everyone else in redemption. One or two of the artists with the best redemption entries (depending on the size of the main competition, forfeits, and possible odd numbers of entrants) will be added to the roster for the next round.