The European Comic Schools Contest 2018 took place this year between January 31st and May 10th and students from many different schools participated for the chance to win a Wacom Intuos Pro and a Celsys Clip Studio Paint Pro Licence.
There were some amazing entries and the choice was very difficult, but the winners were chosen for their interesting stories, varied composition and beautiful artwork. So, we would love to share these with you as we hope you can also be encouraged by what these students have created.
Assignment and judges
The students had to create either 1) a monochrome or colour comic, or 2) an illustration with the theme ‘Buddies’. There were over 250 entries, and the winners were chosen by a panel of event sponsors and the two comic artists Ken Niimura and Yoshiyasu Tamura after an initial public voting period.
COMICS
‘The Sketchbook’ by Sara Marino
The first of the winners for the Comics category was Sara Marino from Scuola Internazionale di Comics Napoli, Italy, with the comic ‘The Sketchbook’. ‘The Sketchbook’ had very little direct dialogue between the main characters, as Marino seemed to choose to express the characters’ complex relationships through a beautiful combination of monochrome with splashes of orange.
The author describes the story: ‘Terence is a painter who decided to bring his little memories in one of his exhibitions, to show people about his personal life, hoping they would get that someone’s existence is also made of details from the past and that the people who are connected to them contribute to make us who we are today.’
Read the full comic
‘The Sketchbook’ By Sara Marino
‘Cool Cops On The Case’ by ingaliburmester
The second of the winners for the Comics category was ingaliburmester from Kunsthochschule Kassel, Germany, with the comic Cool Cops On The Case. This story was filled with tension as the two main characters attempt to find out the identity of a murderer, with a very unexpected plot twist to finish the story.
Ken Niimura commented that ‘The story flows really well from beginning to end. I was won over by the characters, who are interestingly written, and very alive thanks to their expressiveness.’
Read the full comic
‘Cool Cops On The Case’ by ingaliburmester
‘Robotetlawebstar’ by Roquette
The second of the winners for the Comics category was Roquette from Human Academy Europe, France, with the comic ‘Robotetlawebstar’ (Robotandthewebstar). ‘Robotetlawebstar’ is set in a future world where humans have robot servants that help them in their daily life.
The author writes (English translation): ‘Paris, in the near future. An urban rumour: Some Golgos (humanoid robots) have disappeared after killing their owners. Léo Gloria, a rising webstar is in search of Page, his Golgo who has vanished…’. The story includes some great moments of foreshadowing and pace, and the relationship between the main characters is very well shown and enjoyable to read.
Read the full comic
‘Robotetlawebstar’ by Roquette
ILLUSTRATIONS
‘Goodbye, my friend’ by LenderShell
The first of the winners for the Illustrations category was LenderShell from Scuola del Fumetto Palermo, Italy, with the artwork titled Goodbye, my friend. The art is very beautiful and the artist managed to capture a very nostalgic and moving feeling. CELSYS commented ‘We were moved by this unexpected setting… The illustration as a whole has a lot of careful details that really make it feel like a Japanese grave.’
‘Goodbye, my friend’ by LenderShell
‘Halloween Tales’ by Miriápodo
The second of the winners for the Illustrations category was Miriápodo from O Garaxe Hermetico, Spain, with the artwork titled ‘Halloween Tales’. The artist used colours and composition with a lot of skill and the characters are varied and interesting. Yoshiyasu Tamura commented ‘The way the eye is led around the page is really excellent… It feels like you could create a story just from this illustration.’
‘Halloween Tales’ by Miriápodo
‘Anges Noirs’ by Koralia
The third of the winners for the Illustrations category was Koralia from Human Academy Europe, France, with the artwork titled ‘Anges Noirs’ (Black Angels). The author describes that characters’ relationship (English translation): Two young angels, cronies since forever, one rowdy and the other shy, sometimes helping humans (and sometimes not) but always helping each other.
CELSYS describes it: ‘The symmetrical composition is very pleasing to look at. There’s a good contrast not only with the colours but also with the different elements of the painting. They really captured the different essences of light and dark. We certainly want these two characters to become good friends.’
‘Anges Noirs’ by Koralia
