Happy Halloween, once again it is time for me to part ways with my money. Why do I keep doing this to myself. Anyway, what was the contest about again?

 Make a Halloween scene in Stick Nodes and submit it via a new post in the linked group. At the end of the contest, the prestigious judge will rank the top three best pieces of art. Consideration will be given to custom stickfigures, general visual aesthetics, spookiness, and humor.

The Winners

All entries from the dedicated contest group were analyzed by yours truly, and these five were determined to be the best of the best. Good job to all (most) who entered, as all (most) entries were very well done and actually followed the rules!

• 1st place ($25) – Mei Yamazuki (@meiyamazuki)
  Pushing Stick Nodes to the limit with a perfect mix of Halloween creepiness and a unique idea.
  
• 2nd place ($15) – Collision (@beginninganimator)
  Nobody tell Coll that there are actual dedicated art programs out there, so he sticks here with us and Stick Nodes.
  
• 3rd place ($15) – Maxim Kusanagi (@maximkusanagi)
  Generally a very epic and demonic Halloween-esque vibe to this one.
  
• Bonus ($15) – B3TTØ SØUZ4 (@souzalberto)
  Very cool stickfigures and fun to just look at, only edged out because it was a tough competition.
  
• Bonus ($15) – SAIBROZ (@samted)
  Most unique style and perspective,a bit more detail on the spiral vortex would push this to top 3.
  

I decided to add two bonus slots and also just give all non-first-place winners $15.

Congrats to all! I will be contacting you shortly.

Merry Madness

Now that Halloween is almost out of the way, it’s time to put all attention on Christmas (what is Thanksgiving?). The Stick Nodes Christmas collab “Merry Madness” is already in the works, and you have a month left to finish and submit your entry. Watch the announcement video about it here!

So in typical Halloween fashion, the Stick Nodes community will have a spooky contest, but this time we’re trying something new.

 Make a Halloween scene in Stick Nodes and submit it via a new post in the linked group. At the end of the contest, the prestigious judge will rank the top three best pieces of art. Consideration will be given to custom stickfigures, general visual aesthetics, spookiness, and humor.

🎃 The Rules

Submit your entries here with a new post: https://sticknodes.com/groups/stick-nodes-halloween-2022-art-contest/

• Art must be 100% Stick Nodes. Art, filters, text – all of it. Point is to show off what Stick Nodes can do, art-wise.
• Export must be 4k PNG, use of anti-aliasing and “better blur” is up to you, it is suggested you try multiple export combinations and pick the one you think is best-looking.
• Generally the concept is just “Halloween”. This can be interpreted however you wish. Funny, horror, unsettling, action, etc.
• You may use any stickfigure(s) on the website. Obviously using “better” stickfigures will make your art look better. Due to this, your entry must contain a considerable amount of work on your end and not rely on just placing a couple of someone else’s very-well-made figures on the stage and calling it a day. This will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
• One entry per person, if you make a new entry, edit your old post and either remove it or make it clear that entry is void.
• Joints are fine, one prize is being awarded though, up to you to split it among yourselves.

👻 The Prizes

Hold onto your butts we’re breaking the bank with these prizes!

• 1st Prize: $25 and a shiny website badge
• 2nd Prize: $15 and a shiny website badge
• 3rd Prize: $5 and a shiny website badge

Prizes will be delivered via Paypal or gift card of your choice, if possible for me to do so.

(Look give me a break, the giant Christmas event will be starting soon and the economy is in shambles. This is more of an appetizer.)

(I’m also spread a bit thin right now so excuse the lack of art and Halloween decor this year.)

Shouts out to K-Zilla for making the banner artwork at the top of the website. I began working on something myself but just realized I have no time for this nosnense.

👺 The Deadline

October 30th, so the winners can be announced on Halloween day.

💀 Impromptu Q&A

Where is the sprite update?
I prefer Mountain Dew.

Where are the splash screen winners?
Where did you last see them?

Is Sean alive?
Unfortunately.

What are the three-time periods of the dinosaurs?
Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous.

Eight years ago Stick Nodes launched on the Google Play Store. I’d ask how old you were when this happened, but for some of you I’d imagine it’s actually a negative number. So to avoid the risk of feeling extremely antiquated, we’re gonna move on.

Eight Years of Nodes

So yeah, the story is I decided to make Stick Nodes one day because I wanted a “Pivot” but for mobile devices (but with tweening). Fast forward eight years and the nonstop requests for more features never ends – so I guess never will the updates. (Want to see the first mention referencing Stick Nodes ever?)

Stick Nodes has become my “job” but (and this is extremely cliche) I love it – and even though I feign indifference and being greedy for comedic purposes, I really want Stick Nodes to be something special for lmao I can’t even finish this sentence sike.

Happy Birthday!

Shouts out to PsychoM, who is the illustrator of my now infamous Jo-Ralph profile picture. He is also the artist behind the awesome “birthday celebration” photo for this year’s anniversary. One day a couple months ago I asked him for a quick job and in about thirty minutes he sent over this, so he’s a little slow but he does good work!

Here is the full resolution of the original art, and full resolution of the polaroid photo.

Sprite Update

Quick news on the upcoming 4.0.0 “The Sprite Update” update of Stick Nodes – it’s still in development! A lot of work left to do, but lots of progress being made. You should really keep an eye on my profile on the website, and also follow me on Twitter for the latest Stick Nodes news.

Or else you’re missing out on stuff like…Minecraft coming to Stick Nodes?

(Don’t forget to smash and subscribe to the like button or whatever. Bell icon.)

Accompanying this update will also be something many people have been requesting for years now…

The Splash Screen 2022 Contest

After many requests, bribes, and criminal-level threats – the time has come. If you want your OC on the splash screen of Stick Nodes – potentially exposing your art to thousands upon thousands of random users of the app on startup – now is your time to shine. For full rules and how to submit your entry, please see the group dedicated to this event.

As stated in the rules, you have until September 12th to get your entry in. Upon the launch of the next Stick Nodes update, the old OC’s that have graced us for the past couple years will be cleared away, and the new winning submissions will be featured.

Alright, see you in another year!