Happy April! It's an exciting month, no fooling...

Sketch Fest

Sketch Fest turned 1 year old last month with our twelfth event! We've come a long way from our very humble beginnings. I could not have done it without your support and donations and participation!

Sketch Fest #11 awards:

Long Way Home by Nicole Cadet won in "Best Composition"!

Just the Bees Knees by Meg Baker won in "Cutest"!

Our artist prize-winners will be receiving a variety pack of blank ACEO cards in thanks and congratulations.

Best prompt: "I Found My Starfish" from Lindsay Nucera

Our prompt prize-winner will be receiving a coloring book of her choice.

And one special prize for "Rock Star of Year One" goes to Jenny Heidewald. Jenny has participated in every single Sketch Fest since we started, even when she had to connect at a campground. She has managed to do as many as 38 (was that your record, Jenny??) sketches for a single Sketch Fest, and left hundreds of comments for other artists. She's fast to jump in and help anyone who has problems with the site, and is quick to catch any coding errors. She has also donated the vast majority of her artwork, contributing more than half the total donations to get us the awesome features at the Sketch Fest site, as well as pushing Commission-Control funding over the finish line and helping to keep EMG-Zine going! Thank you so much for your energy and input Jenny! You're a Rock Star!!

Jenny will be receiving a complete custom-built webpage for her artwork and writing.

Congratulations to all our winners, and thank you to everyone for your participation and artistic energy!


Torn World

Some of the new artwork at Torn World:



Plus, 8 stories, 4 poems and 4 articles, including a complete re-write of the snow-unicorn. Olarali finds the perfect pair of shoes and meets the man she works for, Kunabei must face the village as their new priestess, Fala tells a story about the Ancients, inspired by an eclipse, and Rraneffa tries to tempt Esarrali from her studies of frogs...

Join us this month to find out more about Ressa's past, Jrilii's quest and learn more about some of the secrets of Torn World. Several of the pages throughout the site have had significant browsing improvements, including the character pages. If you are a new reader, jump in here. If you are thinking you might like to create artwork and stories in this world, find answers to common questions here!

We're looking ahead to a printed anthology and have declared that May will be Sea Monster Month!


Portrait Adoption

Selections of new work at Portrait Adoption:



A sampling of older available work:



And some adopted images!




EMG-Zine

Watch this space for more information about our fundraising campaign!


Commission Control

Programming is steaming forward! Artists can now register to test the gallery controls. If you have a lilypad login, you can jump in now!


Fantastic Portfolios

We introduced three fabulous new portfolios in March:



If you're looking to improve the quality of your work and you're not really sure where to go next, Fantastic Portfolio can help! We give thorough portfolio critique, with concrete suggestions and detailed advice. Submit yours today!


EMG Forums

If you'd like more informal peer review of a work in progress, bring your artwork by the EMG forum! Our 'artist group' membership is now available to everyone, without a contract, so you can post your work in a semi-private setting and get some hints about where to take it next. You are also welcome to ask questions about any aspect of EMG, art, business or life in general! The EMG forums.