Video Game Character Short Animation Contest – 2019

You have continued to impress us over the last eleven animation contests with your skills and creativity! There are a few changes to the rules this time, so please read carefully to ensure you don’t get disqualified.

Your animation still needs to be at least ten seconds long, use at least ten seconds from any free Kevin MacLeod song, and follow the simple rules outlined below. Watch this contest video before reading the rules, and then enter the contest here. Free 3D animation rigs are available at the bottom of this page, but every style of animation is welcome.

We want to see what our creative community can come up with so the animation rules are simple:

  • Must be a new animation. Past animations may not be submitted.
  • Must include at least one video game character.
  • Must use at least ten seconds of audio from any free Kevin MacLeod song.
  • Must make your video about an existing video game, not an imaginary one. If you’re using an obscure video game for your animation, please list its name in the credits or video description.
  • You may use video or audio clips from games, but they don’t count towards your ten seconds of animation. You can also do your own voiceovers if you want.
  • Submissions must be uploaded to YouTube and submitted here
  • All animation styles are allowed! 2D, 3D, stop motion, Lego, Minecraft, etc., but nothing offensive or R rated. 
  • Winning criteria: cleverness, precision in matching the audio to the animation, entertainment value, evidence of animation skill, and including challenging animations. Animation quantity and video length are no longer part of our winning criteria.
  • Contest is available to artists from all countries! Winners paid only by check or through PayPal.
  • Copyrighted art (characters, rigs, props, music, etc.) are not allowed. Free rigs are listed below. 
  • Your video’s credits need to include the 3 lines of Creative Commons text from each Kevin MacLeod song you use. Without it in your credits, you’ll be disqualified.
  • If you use any free rigs or art assets, you must credit them at the end of your video. 
  • Animation Career Review claims no copyright to any of the audio or video in any of the contest videos, but by submitting your entry you give us the right to use your animation for promotional purposes in the future. All entries will be publicly displayed on our site. 
  • You can enter more than once! One video can only win one prize, but one person can win multiple prizes if their multiple entries win different awards. Winners will be notified by email. 
  • You may not use premade animations (some software comes with these). You are allowed to use premade characters and rigs, but they must be listed in the credits.
  • We reserve the right to disqualify videos that do not follow the rules.
  • All entries are reviewed by moderators before they're added to the contest gallery. This process may take a few days so don't worry if you don't see your submission displayed right away. 
  • Deadline for entry is 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time on February 1, 2019.

Prizes:

  • 1st Place: $500
  • 2nd Place: $250 
  • 3rd Place: $100 

We may award $50 to $100 for some (but not all) of these bonus categories: 4th Place, 5th Place, Most Humorous, Most Emotional, Most Artistic, Best Secondary Animations, Best Facial Animations, Best Concept, Best Story, Best Parody, Best Tribute, and Best Presentation.

Free Contest Music:

There are the 3 lines of Creative Commons text that you need to include in your video’s credits. If you want to use the song from the contest video, this is what it would look like:

            There It Is Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

            Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

            http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

You may also use other songs or art assets if they are public domain or free to use for commercial purposes, but they still need to be listed in your credits. We will not accept contest entries with insufficient credits. If something doesn’t say it can be used for commercial purposes, you probably can’t use it.

Free 3D Animation Rigs:

Below are two animation rigs that you are allowed to use for contest and portfolio purposes, but you must credit them if you use them in your contest video. Failure to do so is grounds for disqualification and having your video removed from our gallery.

Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for updates, and to share your progress with our online community.

View Past Contest Results:

Christmas 2014 Contest

Spring 2015 Contest

Summer 2015 Contest

Halloween 2015 Contest

Winter 2016 Contest

"Superhero" 2016 Contest

Celebrity 2016 Contest

Film Parody/Tribute 2017 Contest

"Make a Commercial" 2017 Contest

Christmas Holiday 2017 Contest

Zoo Animation 2018 Contest

Video Game Character 2019 Contest

Short Animation Contest Submission Form

Share with us any details about the process you used to make this short (software used, that sort of thing).
So we can contact you if you are selected as a contest winner.

Contest Gallery