art for the AAtR6 tarot prompt

card version below

So! Made some tarot cards for the Round 5 Spectator Prompt for AATR! And I actually made some borderless editions- It's absolutely insane of like I keep the art for the artist within the borders but the other two I just went full out and have them stretch past it lol

My entry for a Spectator Contest for the Artists at the Ready 6 OCT: coming up with "drink names and designs for our busy Inky kitchen staff who have cooked up some strange delights for us all."

We're all artists here, and artists need to keep their creative juices flowing, so sidle up to the Deadline Bar for a refreshing nonalcoholic boost that will do just that! Boasting six bold flavor combinations, Creative Juice™ will give your writing or other artistic endeavors that extra kick of inspiration you need! Drink a whole can of your chosen genre to overcome a tough scene, or mix and match to get that balanced story you've dreamed of!

(DISCLAIMER: Please drink responsibly, overindulging in any one flavor can have negative side effects, Creative Juice™ Co. bears no responsibility for unbalanced narratives, lost touch with reality, frustration from creativity outpacing one's max output speed, or visceral reactions to the Horror flavor.)

Hey tumblr. I'm here to spread some late stage love for something a group of us has put together. Or, well, continued together. I'm going to start with the absolute basics, since some folks might be new to it, so here we go.

ARTISTS AT THE READY 6 is open and taking auditions!

What is Artists at the Ready (AatR)? It's an OCT! What is an OCT? An Original Character Tournament! But what does that mean? It means a bunch of artists/writers get together and have a bit of friendly competition involving characters they made up! AatR particularly focuses on telling these stories as comics and uses a bracket tournament system (like... uh, sports ball?) where two contestants are pitted against each other and the judges pick a winner based on certain criteria. It's about using competition to practice your storytelling.

So then! AatR is currently looking to being a SIXTH tournament. The first happened in 2009, back during the OCT boom on deviantArt. Many of the old entries have been deleted, but there are still some up there if you want to take a gander. (We are still posting a little on there as well, for posterity.) The second was in 2011, which had so many entries there was an off-shoot tournament called Ready or Not. The third, fourth and fifth took place in 2013, 2015, and 2018 respectively. I personally participated in 3 previous ones.

What makes AatR different from other OCTs is the premise. Most OCT have you create/use characters and place them in a specific world or scenario with a specific theme and a handful of side characters provided by the judges/people running the tournament. AatR differs in that one of the characters you bring to the story is YOU! You, the artist! The premise is that you are invited to a mysterious world known as The Real and you, the artist, end up there... ready or not. There, you will meet other artists, and possibly the people running the tournament, the Judges. BUT. What made it fun was that you got to summon your own characters to have them join you on your journey! Everyone has a "tool" that brings out a set number of OCs. (It was originally 3, but now only 2 get summoned.) So you get to hang out with your creations and... well, probably fight for your life because story thrives on conflict but there never was a rule you had to actually "fight" your opponent, just interact with them and their characters. It's about who tells the better and more compelling story, really.

(It's a little like pokemon. You are the trainer and you have two pokemon to summon. They could fight for you, or maybe help you get around or go completely out of control and try to eat reality. The world is your oyster! Except instead of pokemon, it is your favorite homemade blorbos!) Every previous season has had a few provided locations, a few judges with characters, and messengers. Messengers are creatures/things that bring you your invitation. After that, they can be used in any way to help you tell your story. Or don't use them at all. Things are very open-ended and what we provide is totally optional. The previous stories from past seasons ARE VERY MUCH OPTIONAL. Use what you like, throw the rest away. This go around, the only location we have is the Deadline Bar. It has no specific place in time or space, and no specific layout/theme/interior. Make it what you will. Our messengers are equally undefined, inky animals of your choice.

Round 3 for AATR6

Roy belongs to riverfox237( @theriu ) and Actaeon belongs to pepsiann