The results of the SH4 contest are in!

As promised -- the winners of the Silent Hill 4: The Room CD cover art contest.


First off, an Honorable Mention goes to Sam Hale:


There's just something awfully creepy about kids in general. No surprise this entry was used for "Room of Angel". How can innocence be so haunting?

I was feeling this one and had to give it props.

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And now, on to the two winners of the autographed Akira Yamaoka CD's!

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differedfrom produced this dandy, worthy of high merit:


A very nice throwback to the classic horror film noir genre. The mystery behind the black/white scheme contrasting with the colored elements (being the evil elements) really sets this off. Very fitting for the general theme of Silent Hill and the song itself.

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This gem, created by whitneyc, knocked the panel on their collective backsides:


The choice of imagery on the front/back cover really made this artwork stand out more than anything. Even before reading her explanation to the artwork, I was able to piece together the storyline and the soul of the song through the symbols used.

In fact, the artwork, in her words:
The lyrics in "Waiting For You" talks about waiting for a love and wondering where they are and when/if they will return. Even though the connection can be made between Walter and his mother I could not help but think of Eileen whenever I listened to the song. During the second half the game she is dependent on Henry to protect her from becoming Walter’s 20th victim. She can not travel between worlds like Henry and is often left alone waiting for Henry to come back to her while he travels to and from his apartment or after he leaves her (due to her injuries) to find an alternate route through a level. Besides being left alone a lot there are also hints that Henry and Eileen could have a romantic relationship. Since I connected that Eileen is "waiting for [Henry]" I used her character as the primary subject and basis of my cover design. I used a number of objects that tie to both Eileen and Henry (the shabby doll and deathtrap wheel) and made sure to keep Eileen in the foreground and Henry in the background to help symbolize her constant wait for his return. It has been said that a person’s eyes are the window into their soul or feelings. With this and the belief that the song was expressing Eileen’s feeling toward Henry and her situation I gave everything a green hue, the color of Eileen’s eyes.

Oh, and the art manipulation wasn't bad either. Not bad at all. </understatement>

Ed. Note:
Comment overheard while grading this entry: "It's OVER, like Vince Carter at a dunk contest!"


For the artists whose entries have been posted (including honorable mention), I've contacted you all via e-mail to send you swag. Congratulations!

Much thanks goes out to all who participated in the contest! If anyone has a server that would be willing to host larger images (the gallery of entries), post here or contact me - ddrspot AT gmail DAWT com. It'd be much appreciated. I had to put these entries on Photobucket since DDRspot.com is having issues right now with our DNS.

Maybe I'll set up another contest later... until then, rock on!