Now that I had a few days of rest from the contest-related work, I would like to come back to it with some thoughts.

Like I said before, some contest ideas really corresponded with my own and reminded me of some drawings I had made for them over the course of a few years. I thought it's a good time to review them alongside with the contest entries I received from others. Go to the link to see their submissions. The following are my sketches.

Eliza and I had the same idea of a conjoined twin doll. Well, similar.

A few people (Els, Carmelo, Kelly S., Ana S., Yana, Signe (Jon), had similar ideas to my own, of captivity-themed dolls, particularly the chastity belt was popular.

Maura, Gretchen, Maria, and Clemintine, also thought about the hybrid tree-female. It's a captivating idea, that doesn't translate well into a ball-jointed doll. It's not impossible, but it would be difficult to make. Amarilli, Petya, Laura, Maria, Katrina have suggested a cage dress idea, and I dug up that these drawings in my sketchbook. Although I've been trying to work it out for a long time, I haven't really committed to this project yet. It has a lot of potential, I think. Little Red Riding Hood Enchanted Doll was suggested by Kate, Maria, Jessica, and Alessandra. This is my sketch from 2007. I should make it into a doll already. Invisigothgrrrl proposed a Minotaur doll, and I found this sketch in my traveling sketchbook dating back to Florence, Italy 2007.

Sara and Tatiana amongst some others have suggested a warrior doll, and I remembered when I dreamed about this armored doll and then waking up and drawing it down in the corner of my sketchbook. Christina and Petya proposed these head dresses, and here is my version of them, also from a while back. I haven't had time to develop them further. Adriatzin submitted a proposal for a miscarriage doll and I was blown away by how similar the representation was to my own. Except my wasn't pregnant and had a Gothic cathedral tattoo on the torso. But the blood swirl tattoos are remarkably similar. Only my concept for this doll was not a miscarriage, but an abortion in favor of reproductive choice. And now the cat is out of the bag. Too bad it won't be a surprise. Oh well.There are three other entries who've actually guessed the projects I'm currently working on right now. I think I will save them for the next post, sometime this week perhaps. I think you'll like them.I noticed there was a recurrent problem of noncompliance with the contest rules regarding the word limit.

Some participants have either ignored or misunderstood the limit, and sent me whole essays about their entries. The word limit was in place to 1) force people to be concise with their entries, and 2) because I'm just one person and can't spend weeks reading through entries. By not-complying with the rules of the contest, you, my dear contestants, may have accidentally sabotaged your own chances to win.

Please read the rules more carefully next year. They will be different.