The winds of fate are once again unraveling what’s beyond the horizon….

Get ready for this year’s 2021 Loading Screen Art Contest! We have great loot prepared for winners in addition to the special honor of having your art become a part of Blade & Soul.

Before you get your pencils and brushes ready, be sure to first review the full Contest Rules.

Design Guidelines

The only limitations are your imagination! We’re looking for artwork of all kinds or even screenshots edited into art! The submission must be digital, follow the theme of Blade & Soul, not be based around any holiday, and must be your own original work – any designs that violate a copyright or someone else’s intellectual property will be disqualified.

To help kick off the creative process, we have included the 2020 winners below.

Prepare your Art

To prepare your art for the loading screen, you must follow these guidelines:

All art must be .jpg or .png format, 2048x1200 and 72ppi resolution.
No text on the image; this includes signatures and watermarks.
- We will be crediting the winners with an appropriate layer to match the image.
All entries must be appropriate for your region’s rating.

There will be a black fade layer over the loading screen art, at the bottom of the image approximately 300px tall, so please make sure there are no important parts of your art in this area. There is no need to include this fade in your image; it will be applied on the loading screen as an overlay. You can download the overlay here to see how it will look on your art.

Art Submission

Make sure to follow our Submission guidelines when you submit your artwork:

All designs must be hand-drawn or digitally created and be related to Blade & Soul.
One entry per NCSOFT Account.
Entries must be submitted between March 31 and April 30, 2021.
Submissions will close April 30, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. PST / 22:00 CEST.
There is a dedicated section on the forums to submit your loading screen to. You can find the link here.
Include the following information in the post:
- Topic title: “Loading Screen Contest 2021 – art title”
- Character Name
- Server
- Short description of your art
Entries that do not meet these requirements will be disqualified.
Winners will be revealed on May 10.

Win amazing prizes!

Ten winners will be selected and each will receive the following rewards:

8,000 Hongmoon Coins
One Costume Outfit of your choice (restrictions apply)
Winning artwork will be added to the random loading screens in-game

We will also pick 5 additional runners-up from all qualified submissions who will each receive 2,000 Hongmoon Coins.

Judging

The Blade & Soul team will select 10 winners to receive the prizes and have their art included in the game. Judging will be focused on creativity, overall aesthetic of the artwork, and ability to follow the Blade & Soul theme and style.

Be sure to read the official Contest Rules before entering.

We are excited and are looking forward to seeing your loading screen submissions. Good luck and have lots of fun!