Yes, it's finally time for me to hold my very first contest here on deviantArt!
And the theme will be Darkness!

For this contest, I want you to draw one of my characters listed below, and with a touch of darkness, whether in a good or bad way! Whether it is the peaceful darkness of the night or the darkest of mind, all pictures should somehow display this theme. There will be 5 categories, with one winner for each category, and one over-all winner. For every category, you will be given 3 characters (except from category number 4, since it's a writing and photography category, oh and the 5th category...). You may enter as many times as you want to, but only one of your entries can win. I will NOT finish this contest with less than 10 entries, so please, PLEASE spread the word about it, the more entries, the more prizes there'll be! If less than 10 people enter, every contestant will get one lineart of their choice from me as a token of my gratitude.
Here are the categories:

1 - Nah'Akh:
The first theme is, obviously, my fantasy world Nah'akh, and the characters in this category should all be drawn in a fantasy styled drawing, aka no modern stuff like cars, computers or jeans! You may choose between these 3 characters:

Lotus [link] [link] [link]
Lotus, my courtesan boy from Ceninma. He is about 15-16 years old (but looks slightly older), with pale skin and white hair with black tops. His right eye is pale blue, the left one is green. As a person, he's cold, sarcastic and rather nasty, but also very hurt and sad.

Selene [link] [link] [link]
Selene is the wild and strongwilled daughter of the God of Darkness; Sicarius, and the Goddess Ookamina. Selene has pale skin, golden eyes and very long, straight, black hair. She's mischievous and rebellious, but can also be very sweet and kind. She loves the wilderness, and the darkness, and you can usually see her in the dark forests with the Caids (wolves big as horses). She falls in love with her father's brother, Caeles.

Shian [link] [link]
Shian, the wannabe-ninja guy. Shian is a warrior of the secret order Ch'tara until he leaves with a man named Tsuru, who's his life-time lover: [link]
He was abused and molested/raped as a child, which leaves him with traumas and nightmares for the rest of his life. In the end, he becomes the first emperor of the Fireclan (much like ancient Japan).


2 - The Outcast:
The second category is about my Swedish rpg, The Outcast, that's taking place in modern Sweden, with a touch of fantasy. There are angels, demons, magicians, vampires, werewolves and all other kinds of magical creatures!
Here are the characters:

Nicolai Delacroix [link] [link] [link]
Nicolai is my french vampire, born 1713 in Paris. He's a rather sad and lonely person, and always tries to do good, even though it often fails. He's not emo, nor all angsty because of the fact that he's a vampire, just a bit bitter about it, ok?
Nicolai has pale skin, intensive green eyes and black, curly hair.

Alex [link] [link] [link]
Full name is Alexander Lindqvist. Gay teenage boy with a very big heart and who wants everyone to feel happy. He's been bullied and beaten most of his life, but is still a very loving and social person, always with a smile on his mouth. He's not always that smart, and is easily bored in school. Alex has an alter ego, the soul of what should have been his twin brother, just that they were born in the same body. His alter ego looks like him, but is blonde instead of black haired, and he has black eyes instead of blue.
Alex is rather short and very thin, he's anorectic but loves candy, and have black hair that's almost always messy. He have very intensive blue eyes. He's together with a guy named Alan: [link]

Daemon [link] [link] [link]
For those of you who wants something more bad-ass, here's the evil demon Daemon. Daemon is working under the fallen angel Samael, and is often found in Daemons illegal nightclub. He's always followed by his partner in crime, the wicked demon Lazarus (The one with the green hair in the first picture). Daemon is over 2 metres tall, have long white hair with a single red lock of hair, purple eyes with slitted pupils and a rather muscular body. He usually wear a long black coat and sunglasses, and always carry a gun.

3 - Animal characters:
For the animal artists, here are some of my animal characters!:

Din [link] [link] [link]
Din, the reaper/spirit wolf. Din lives on souls, and his blue mane is made from these souls. He is blind, but has another kind of vision, plus he can turn himself into shadows. He is dark grey, with a black pattern (see ref), his eyes are pale blue, with a blue pupil, and he has a mane of blue flames/souls. His claws are also blue.

Nyx/Nox (Pictures coming soon)
The star horse. Nox, or Nyx is a Friesian horse, black with a pattern of stars, clouds and nebulas on his body and in his mane/tail. He is the ruler of the night sky and is quite an ethereal creature.

Cike (Pictures coming soon)
Cike is my new fursona, and her name is stolen from the fairy in my mother and her friend's book Pan's flute. She is a black cat, with a small white pattern that looks like a moon in her forehead. This moon changes along with the different phases of the moon. She has intensive eyes that shifts from blue into shades of green or purple depending on mood. She is silent, and stays in the dark of the night. She's paradoxal, rather anti-social and both cruel and kind, ethereal and still playful, much like me in other words!

4 - Litterature/photography
So, for those that doesn't feel comfortable with drawn art, I'm having a category for writers and photographers! The theme is still darkness, and I'd like to see as dark and eerie things as possible!

5 - Extra category!:
I added this one just for fun. The character I want her is:
Circe/Angelica Cross from the DoL Project! [link] (Drawing of her normal self will come)
Angelica is a born leader, carismatic and strongwilled. She is rather beautiful, with pale skin, straight black hair and sharp, dark eyes, but she has quite a nasty attitude. She's very fascinated by witchcraft and is murdered by her lover, returning as a ghost to haunt him for the rest of his life. As a ghost, she wears the skull of a wolf as a mask, but underneath is her eyes are dimmed and there's constantly insects crawling from her mouth and eyes. She have trees growing from her back and she wears a torn and filthy weddingdress, stained with blood.

Judging:
Judging will be done by me, with some help from some friends. I will NOT base my judgement different for my friends and people I know.
Judging will be based mostly on creativity, originality, emotion and effort. This means, I will NOT only judge from skill!

Prizes:
So, the interesting part!

Over-all winner:
- One highdetailed digital drawing or an A4 watercolour and ink drawing of their choice made by me! Examples: Digital: [link] [link] [link] Traditional: [link] [link] [link]
- One Headshot of your own character made by me. Digital or Traditional. Examples: [link] [link] [link]
- One digitally shaded sketch of your choice made by me. Example: [link]

Winner of each one of the categories: 1 Simple digital drawing or an A5 watercolour and ink drawing of their choice made by me! Examples: Digital: [link] [link] Traditional: [link] [link] [link]
- One digitally shaded sketch of your choice made by me. Example: [link]

If anyone wants to donate more prizes, contact me!

Deadline!:
The deadline is set on September 4th (my birthday!) which gives you exactly 2 months!
Note me your entry with the title "Contest entry" or "Contest".

Good luck!