It's time to get festive! The end of the year is almost here and with it, twenty new wintery backgrounds to welcome it in, plus a brand new Christmas carol inspired track from the original osu!musician himself, nekodex!
Whether it's cold or hot (or on fire if you're Australian) where you are, the festive season is the perfect way to tie off the year with a bit of wintery charm.
Our beloved community artists missed the memo on the 'little bit' part of all this and just went absolutely ham in their pieces, producing an incredible array of entries that we all spent ages agonizing over.
To refresh everyone on the particulars, the top three finalists out of the twenty listed below will receive a super shiny profile badge to pin on their profile forever more, and what could possibly be shinier than the work they've managed to win with? The top three will also receive 4, 3 and 2 months of osu!supporter respectively, with all other finalists nabbing 2 months to tide them over into 2020 as well.
But before we get started digging into the entries, nekodex has been hard at work over the past few weeks creating a neat little twist on an osu!-infused Christmas carol, aptly titled as carol of the circles. This'll be making its way to the main menu along with the winning entries, but in case you just can't wait, check it out:
Now, onwards to the finalists:
Click the teaser banner for each entry to be taken to a full-size, high quality version, or download all of the 20 finalist entries from this link.
Set in a snowlit shot of Mocha sitting in the park with her new-found festive presents, 157's fantastic piece scored 3405 votes to claim victory in the voting overall.
Beyond being just overall enchanting and adorable to boot, look at that fancy scarf she's rocking. Merch ideas, anyone?
The winter chill could not dissuade 2914 voters from declaring their approval of Xeno Senpai's take on a snowy vista overlook with pippi at their side.
This entry wins extra imaginary points for being both the coldest and most warm rendition of winter we've seen in one of these contests yet. Brr. Positively frigid.
Fan favorite TofuMang is at it again with his take of a demurely winter-attired pippi and Mocha enjoying the setting sun in a boreal forest, nabbing 2894 votes.
On another note, Don earmuffs. How has nobody made these yet?
Choosing gifts during the winter season can be hard, but 2716 voters chose to grant their vote to Laridae's piece featuring pippi and Mocha ogling the latest festive don from behind a shopfront window, all for the low, low price of $999.
That's a steal for sure, but the true present here is Mocha with osu! pom-pom earmuffs and long sweater sleeves.
Aiko and pippi take centre stage in KrisyYy's entry, scoring 2589 votes. Farmers and five-digits everywhere sympathized with the hearts in Aiko's eyes as she opens her festive gift bearing forth the most precious gift of all: pp.
I wonder what a festive version of Harumachi Clover sounds like. Hmm.
Turning heads and taking votes, AnimeAttics's depiction of pippi and Mocha in a winter wonderland scored 2235 nods of approval.
Mocha's all like, "let's decorate the tree!", whilst pippi is gently insinuating that the real star here is you.
Rolling through the snowdrifts, Andrew12312's take on pippi building a snowman gathered up 2145 votes to get ahead of the pack.
Get it? Because she's making a snowman head? If only I could make jokes as well as pippi makes snowmen...
Evaine returns to the fanart contest fore with their enchanting take on an eerily beautiful digital pippi sprawled among the boughs of a snowclad tree.
Always a pleasure to see the continued evolution in the artstyles of our previous fan artists. I mean, look at this stuff. Wow.
Chirou contemplates what hands are for the 1881th time in Saaki Haruno's piece featuring aforementioned community mascot, plus Mocha and pippi, the latter of whom appears to be enjoying some me time in the snow. Classy.
1741 voters adored ln_094's take on a whole new meaning of starry, sporting a most cute winter-dressed pippi enjoying the scenery of a nearly astral field of white petals and stars.
This one really opens up the longer you look at it. Spectacular skies, outfit and setting to boot. Beautiful stuff!
1629 voters were knocked aside by Arind's take on Mocha and pippi sprinting away from a sled sporting a variety of mascots drawing near.
Hecatia's take on a beautifully stylized pippi enjoying some winter boba in the comfort of a cafe warmed up the hearts of 1569 voters, and for good reason.
So pleasantly textured and with detail literally everywhere, from pippi's hair to the eaves of the window, the snow fluttering outside, the grain of the table and more. One might think this was hand painted if they weren't looking at it through a web browser!
1481 little voter-orbs lit up in the strand of festive lights twined about honeymoon_3's rendition of Mocha and pippi enjoying the wintery cityscape in floral Japanese traditional attire.
Almost makes you wonder what flowers would go with each mascot.
1373 voters approved of nathandsjrdns street-savvy pippi walking up a snowy street in a particularly strikingly striped outfit, with Yuzu and the others waiting up ahead, and a snowman off in the alley beside
In a complete tie, 1373 voters also approved of halice's take on Aiko and pippi levitating above a winter cityscape, complete with gifts and adorable festive outfits.
But wait, that's not all! Instead of the typical fifteen entries we've used for the past slew of fan art contests, we've decided to fold in five more this year, with all the prizes and accolade to boot! Woohoo!
Check them out:
1367 voters could not say no to the majesty that is kuroshi-n's take on a very bishi Yuzu. Too handsome! He even has a tie. A TIE!
keuma's rendition of a very toasty Mocha and a very sleepy Maria before a roaring fireplace warmed the hearts of 1261 voters.
I didn't know that I needed a Mocha with an oversized beanie in my life, but now, I am glad that I do.
1233 voters uncontrollably screamed PADORU at their monitors the moment they saw BotBear1000's entry, complete with similarly adorable santa-Mocha and her assistant don flying throughout the night sky.
1229 voters donned their Chad buckets and cast their vote for ikaNyai's meme-infused masterpiece. Someone take the phone away from Mocha, ikaNyai is clearly a bad influence.
1187 snowflakes settled on SanatSever's gorgeously stylized rendition of Mocha and pippi making snowmen in the park. Simply stunning.
Check out the rest of the entries and their scores over at the Winter 2019 Fanart contest listing!
And with that, we're settling down into a bit of a slower pace for the rest of the year.
Just kidding! We've got a brand new Featured Artist coming tomorrow and every week thereafter, and we'll even be starting off 2020 with another new artist on the very day it dawns.
Beyond that, we've got a bit of overdue gratitude on the horizon in the form of some much-needed acknowledgement for the people who really make osu! tick, among other things.
From all of us here at the osu! team, we wish you a most excellent festive season, and we'll catch you soon at the end of the year!
And thank you again to all the amazing artists who entered, you're the reason these contests keep happening and being as great as they've become!
—Ephemeral
Congrats!! All the entries were so good it was hard to vote ///
(Thank you those who voted for mine ///)
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