Hey all! I've ventured out from my hole in the suggestions forum to bring you all a January art contest to start off the New Year!

Last year, I not-so-subtly used our Spiral Knights Discord Server to surprise our own Ian McConville (also know an Cherub, and best known for being the lead artist for Spiral Knights during Three Rings' ownership of the game) who helped shape the game that we all know and love. A little birdie tipped me off last year that his birthday was in late January, so we brought a party to him.

Now it's a full year later and I'm feelin' the itch to see what else the community can come up with. While this may not be quite the same sort of surprise, I wanted to honor what he's brought to the community with a bit of an art design contest. As such, I want to see what you all can come up with for your own armor set!

Ian created a lot of phenomenal art for Spiral Knights, and all of it followed a set of rules. In this art contest, I urge you to follow the guidelines as best as possible.

HOW TO ENTER

1. Design a new and original armor set for this event - if you only want to design a helmet or armor, that is fine as well
2. Turn that design into a reality! Be it through digital art, physical drawing, or sewing wizardry, create a visual for the rest of us
3. Create a unique description for your new armor piece. I heard if you can slip a pun in there, Impostoclaus will grant you three winter wishes
4. If you're up for it, write down its stats. If you want to make up a new buff, feel free to do so!
5. Post your art online using an image hosting website, such as Imgur or Deviantart
6. Submit your entry in this thread, using the following format:

Knight Name:
Discord Name: (Optional)
Twitter Name: (Optional)
Link to entry:
Helmet Description: (Where applicable)
Armor Description: (Where applicable)
Stats/Buffs/Debuffs: (Optional)

RULES AND GUIDELINES

• All entries must be new and created for this event. Old designs can be re-imagined if so desired
• When possible, follow the style guide posted by Ian on his twitter page as found by clicking here.
• If you want to make a full armor line, you can follow Ian's general idea when designing the gunner update sets, which can be found by clicking here.
• When crafting an item's stats, you don't have to give exact numbers, just what it defends against, what status weakness/resistances it has, and what special abilities it may have. If you give it a new ability, try to have it be self explanatory, such as "Shield Recovery Reduction: Medium".

The cut off time for this event is January 21st, with voting on the entries happening on January 22nd on the unofficial Spiral Knights Discord Server, which can be joined via this link: http://discord.me/spiralknights

All players who enter into the contest will additionally be entered into a prize raffle. The first, second, and third highest voted entries will receive 7,500 Energy, however everyone who enters will have a chance at raffle prizes, such as a Ship Wheel (Swiftstrike buckler reskin), a Book of Dark Rituals, a Diamond Stranger Robe, and more!

If you'd like to donate any items to the raffle, feel free to mail me in-game at the knight "Fangel", or contact me on the Spiral Knights Discord Server (I should be fairly easy to spot on there).

I can't wait to see what you all come up with - let's start 2019 off with a clang!