As you can see, my parent’s neighbor has some truly impressive parking skillz. He parks like that all the time and apparently without any trouble according to my mother. As a rather mediocre driver this is almost incomprehensible to me.

Click on the thumbnails to see the a large version of each photo.

It’s time for our yearly Sandra and Woo and Gaia fanart contest! Click here to see the winners of the fanart contest 2011 and the fanart contest 2012. Unsurprisingly, you have to include at least one regular character of Sandra and Woo or Gaia in your drawing. Other types of artwork are permitted as well.

Unlike most other such contests, ours comes with some nice prize money for the five winners whom I will pick from all contestants. Since we received several great entries of equal quality in the last two years, I made sure that the difference in prize money between the 1st place and the other places isn’t too large.

• 1st place: $150
• 2nd place: $100
• 3rd place: $75
• 4th place: $50
• 5th place: $25

Please send your entry in an e-mail with the subject “Fanart Contest 2013” to novil@gmx.de. You can attach the file to the e-mail or link to it in the e-mail text body. You must submit your entry before Monday, 22 July 2013. If you have a website, you should put a link to it into your e-mail.

Additional information about the contest:

• You can submit several drawings or other types of art, but you can’t win multiple prizes, only the prize for the best entry.
• You are allowed, even encouraged, to post your artwork on other websites.
• After showing all entries in a blog post, they will be put into the fanart section of our Artwork page.
• You can sign your work as you see fit, but a large, ugly watermark will reduce your chance of winning.
• If you drew the image digitally, you should send it in its original size in a lossless format, for example as a PNG file with full color depth. If you drew the image on paper and then scanned it, you should send me a cleaned and large version in a lossless format. However, don’t send me any files larger than 20 MByte.

Thank you for your input. Here’s the new blurb on the comic’s About page:

In recent years, tensions have begun to grow between Midgard, the leading nation since the two devastating wars at the end of the First Age, and Cania, the home country of Ilias Oter and his friends. Ilias, though, finds politics to be not nearly as interesting as his classmate Lilith Caillean, a beautiful and amazingly talented young wizard. There is just something magical about her… As the students of the “Academy for Arcane Studies and Material Arts” face the first serious test in their life, the final exams, they suddenly find themselves wrapped up in a web of intrigue and magic that could break their world’s already-fragile core. Now it’s up to Ilias and his friends to save what is most precious to them before time runs out. But is giving your “best” even enough when you have to deal with forces that seem to be able to move kings like pawns on a chess board?

Gaia, a story about the nature of reality, and the answer to Lilith’s simple, meek, world-shattering question: “Will you come along?”

I’m not particularly happy with the summary of the comic’s content on the About page, which is also used on other websites. While the text shouldn’t be too touting, it could do a better job of arousing interest in new readers. It also lays too much emphasis on the first chapter in its current state:

Gaia is a fantasy comic about the odyssey of Ilias Oter and his friends in the self-created world of Gaia. Ilias is a student at the “Academy for Arcane Studies and Material Arts” which is located close to the capital city of Cania. In recent years, tension has grown between Cania and Midgard, the leading nation since the two big wars at the end of the First Age. Ilias, though, is much more interested in his classmate, the beautiful and talented wizard Lilith Caillean, than in politics. There is just something magical about her… At the beginning of the story, Ilias and the other students face the first serious test in their life, the final exams of the Academy.

I tried to rewrite it, but without much success. I’m just not good at writing blurbs. Maybe some of you could make a few suggestions for a better one.

You should not miss to watch the following eight amazing animated shorts by the artist Cerberus (Tirrel) on YouTube. Four of them even features raccoons.

“Deep in the jungles of… Hyde Park London, the squirrels discover the sinister truth behind their poor harvest. Vyle Bakeries Ltd have devised a cost-cutting scheme to obtain ingredients for their Cookie range and are stealing nuts right from the rodent’s own stash piles. Faced with the prospect of either starving or having to pay extortionate prices for Starbucks cookies, the squirrels join forces and tackle the problem at the source… in an inexplicable and highly implausible way.”	Rescuing Ghosts is without a doubt one of the most beautiful shorts I’ve ever seen. The evocation is accompanied by the song “Talking with Ghosts” by Fox Amoore.
“This is the story of Katan, a little aztec critter who works as a stonemason on huge pyramid projects. He’s an eager, talented employee who beleives strongly in what the project stands for, putting in endless overtime to get things done. When a less committed, self-serving employee hatches a plan to steal the soul jewel of the temple, the mysterious crystal skull, Katan finds himself under blame and attack from the very monument he helped to create.” Katan won the award “Best movie of 2010” on Newgrounds!	Raccoons doing what they do best ;-).
The first music video of the rock band Rockoons, featuring the song “Fever” by Aerosmith.	The second music video of the rock band Rockoons, featuring the song “Separate Ways” by Journey. There are a couple of really cool scenes you just have to see several times.
The third music video of the rock band Rockoons, featuring the song “Let Your Love Flow” by The Bellamy Brothers. The Looney Tunes would be proud of the amount of cartoon violence.	[ You’re the One that I Want ] And another violent music video in the tradition of Looney Tunes.