The annual Costume Design Contest has returned, but this year we’re adding another category to the mix—weapon illusions—and to honor these dangerous new items, are changing the contest to the Cosmetic Design Contest.

The Blade & Soul community is filled with talented artists and we’re looking forward to what wonderful creations you have in store for us this year. Take a look below to see the contest winners of previous years and read the full terms and conditions of the Cosmetic Design Contest if you’re interested in participating.

2015 Winners | 2016 Winners | 2017 Winners

Costume Design

The costume design submission must contain a front and back view of the costume, must be gender-specific, and showcased on a male and female Jin. The Jin’s designs will then be applied to the other races and their appropriate genders during the developmental process.

You can create a design for Summoner Familiars or head and face adornments to accompany your costume, but just be aware that they may not end up as a part of the final in-game design.

Weapon Illusion Design

The weapon illusion design submission must include all weapon types: Sword/Lynblade, Gauntlets/Bracer, Bangle, Axe, Dagger/Razor, Staff, and Pistols. Since this category is to highlight weapon designs, only the weapons can be showcased, and no characters should be included within the image. If it helps to better display your design, especially for weapons like the gauntlets/bracer, a hand and/or arm may be included at your own discretion.

You may choose to enter both a costume and a weapon illusion design into the contest, but they will need to be submitted as two separate images following the above guidelines. Entries submitted together in a single image will need to be resubmitted.

Your artwork can be hand drawn or digital. We’ve provided a male and female Jin template if you’d like to use that to assist you in creating your costume design—the use of it won’t impact judging because we’re choosing finalists based on design ideas and not art quality. However, it must be your own original work; any designs that violate copyright or someone else’s intellectual property will be disqualified. Any design notes and inspirations are optional, but we’d love to see the thought process behind your design.

Prizes

One Costume Grand Prize Winner and one Weapon Illusion Grand Prize Winner will receive:

1 Costume Grand Prize Winner 1 Weapon Illusion Grand Prize Winner Their design made into an in-game costume with a personalized tooltip and signature. Their design made into an in-game weapon illusion with a personalized tooltip and signature. Their costume once development is completed. Their weapon illusion once development is completed. $150 USD worth of Hongmoon Coin (12,000 Hongmoon Coin) $150 USD worth of Hongmoon Coin (12,000 Hongmoon Coin) Exclusive Community Events Costume: Kindred Soul Exclusive Community Events Costume: Kindred Soul

10 Costume Finalists and 10 Weapon Illusion Finalists will receive:

10 Costume Finalists 10 Weapon Illusion Finalists $50 USD worth of Hongmoon Coin (4,000 Hongmoon Coin) $50 USD worth of Hongmoon Coin (4,000 Hongmoon Coin) Exclusive Community Events Costume: Kindred Soul Exclusive Community Events Costume: Kindred Soul

Judging

The Blade & Soul team will select 11 finalists for each category—costume and weapon illusion—with the players voting for the Grand Prize Winners on August 6 through August 13 via the forums. The Grand Prize Winner and Finalists will be announced the same day voting closes, August 13.

Judging will be focused on creativity and coherence of the design, as well as it fitting the theme and style of the Blade & Soul aesthetic.

Entry Period

You may enter the contest from July 2 at 9:00am PDT / 18:00 CEST until July 30 at 9:00am PDT / 18:00 CEST.

Submissions

All entries are to be submitted to BNSCommunityTeam@ncsoft.com and include the following information:

Email subject: 2018 Cosmetic Design Contest – Costume 2018 Cosmetic Design Contest – Weapon Illusion

Real name

Chosen display name

Region (NA or EU)

NC Account Email (or email that will be used to create a Blade & Soul account)

Attached image of your design

The following statement within the body of the email: I hereby confirm this is my original artwork to be submitted as an entry in the Blade & Soul Cosmetic Design Contest.



Please follow the following guidelines when submitting your email:

Maximum 1 image per design category.

A short description of the design in 150 words or less.

Image file formats must be in .jpg or .png format.

Please keep file sizes under 10mb.

Entries that don’t meet these requirements may need to be disqualified.

All entries will be subject to NCSOFT & Team Bloodlust modifications where necessary. Final outcome of the designs may vary. Grand Prize winners will be contacted and requested to provide a tooltip description and signature files for the in-game item.

Please read the full terms and conditions of the contest before entering.