TIBIAN ARTISTS: A HUMBLE RECOGNITION TO UNDERESTIMATED HEROES

Introduction: The quest for the challenge that cannot be “cheated”.

As Craban more or less used to say in one of his blogs, most gamers dream about becoming heroes, about reaching the unreachable, of doing something we cannot do in the modern and anonymous real life of the 21^st century.

Let’s face the truth, just a few between thousands will write their names in the sands of history, both in real life and in those fantasy worlds that videogames invite us to join.

Sadly, in Tibia, the idea of “heroes” met a sad fate, since “all achievements in Tibia have been cheated“, “cheaters have destroyed the dignity of Tibia and its P.V.P.…”. This is what Mirkaan once said in the official forums. His words echoed in my mind and it made me wonder, maybe the era of heroes and true leaders is over? Perhaps Tibia will not see the rising of new players who inspire the community with their passion and skills?…

It is true that the fact of finding a high-level player running through the streets of Thais or in a city on the Mainland no longer surprises us, seeing someone with high skills does not fascinate us either, the list of highscores became useless… wearing a certain outfit or taming a certain creature is not a great achievement now… and what can we say about P.V.P.? Yes… it is also broken… honest players have no chance to compete or have fun against an army of high-level botted characters that control the majority of Open-PvP servers. And I don’t want to talk about collectors or rare items, or the fansite issue. It is also true that when someone begins to “shine” in somehow, most of the time gets devoured by haters, bullies, stalkers, and trolls that abound in Tibia. As I see it, it’s very easy to destroy, but instead, it’s a real challenge to be creative and talented, and this situation says a lot about us, the community. So, the question is (a question for the community and for CipSoft as well)… what is left?… How can we recognize our heroes?… What kind of challenges should we pursue to have the experience, the fantasy, and the joy of becoming a hero? 

Maybe from the title of the article, you can guess where I’m going… but please, let me share my experience. 

I remember when a friend of my brother showed me Tibia in January of 2009. And there I was, in my noob character facing a huge and vast world… everything was unknown, many people in the streets and a great amount of information to process. I was truly fascinated. One day at Ab’Dendriel depot I asked Prince Nuada Silverlance about some tips. And he recommended that I should pay a visit to http://tibia.wikia.com. In the wiki founded by Erig, I read a lot about Tibia and its history. For the first time, I was able to get in touch with the spirit of the game, I understood the concept of RPG, I read about legendary players and many other things… and I fell in love. The concept of a game created by four friends who were later helped by the first community of players as volunteers was incredible… something created “by gamers for gamers”. Many legends from the “old days” were born from those experiences, maybe some of them were not wanted by the creators and they got out of hand, but in the end, they resulted in something great (the stories of the Magic Longsword and the Powered Demon Shield, the famous Knightmare and his mysteries that were born around that time too, and contributed to creating the spirit of Tibia. All of those are just examples that come to mind while I’m writing!).

Since then I wanted to be part of that magic. But how?.. things were already out of control. The Tibia was no longer an amateur project, Cipsoft had become a corporation with a professional profile, and there was no longer a place for volunteers who wanted to collaborate with the development process. So I asked myself, what could I do to complete my fantasies? The answer came when I visited http://www.pskonejott.com/, and saw a fanart made by Holy Mijeman, and later discovered that fansites had the opportunity to add player-created items to represent them.

This is how a journey full of adventures began. I experienced joy and frustration,  met many amazing and talented players with a passion for drawing, creating sprites, fakes, videos, entertaining us, and coming up with ideas for the game along all the way. I had finally encountered a challenge that could not be “cheated”… the challenge of being creative, crafty, and resourceful. We may not be great warriors in the game, but sometimes a brush, an idea or a concept can be sharper than a sword.  Illustrations and sprites may not penetrate a character’s armor, but they can on the mind and soul of a player and stay there forever.

This article is a humble tribute to those who were somehow underestimated, until now. Our Tibian artists and their creations. Of course, I am aware that there are many heroes that have not been recognized in Tibia yet, like some game masters, tutors, senators, fansite administrators, and staff members, oldschools, but more than anyone, the honest players. They are truly heroes for me in these times of darkness and corruption, since they are the only ones that give meaning to the experience of playing Tibia.

The Hall of Creativity: Some players who completed notable achievements in tibian art matters.

Li Dao

A very controversial player, loved by some and hated by others. But it does not matter if we like it or not, there is no doubt that it is one of the precursors of tibian art. Even in retirement, he is one of the players who has added more items to the game, including the famous “nightmare doll”, the only item chosen by Cipsoft after the era of the former volunteers without winning first place in the contest of the fansites (actually got second place in the TibiaFriends contest). Winner of many competitions, his dolls set a style that drove the entire community crazy and was imitated by many sprite creators until today. He also made designs for sites like FunTibia and Mmotter.

You can read information about him in the interview he gave to TibiaBR, and you can also see more of his art in his Tibiafanart profile and in his DevianArt.

Honourable Knight of Honera

Another great artist with whom I had the pleasure of competing, gave us a hand collaborating with some of his fanarts for TibiaRoyal.com. I started paying attention to his work in the Rookie.pl (there was a Rookie.pl fansite that was part of the official fansite program for a very short time. Due to a really heavy hack, the fansite left the progamme) fansite item contest, where he submitted the “Rat Trophy”, a very well done item, then astonished me and all the participants in various fansite contests. Winner of several contests, his style is unique as you can see. A talented sprite maker and cartoonist with a good sense of humor. One of his creations, the “Memory Box”, entered the Thais museum. He also created the “Goromaphone” for the fansite Radiogorma.com.br.

That’s not all. This artist has animation skills also. He created a very good and funny video, winner of the video competition called “TibiaML vs TibiaCity”, you can enjoy it here.

Dnacrons

A great Tibian artist, creator of the “Imortus”, Exhiti fansite item. He won the first TibiaBariloche wallpaper contest. Also is the forerunner of tibian 3d art, look how he made a quara constrictor!

Holy Mijeman

The creator of the “Golden Newspaper”. The fansite item of TibiaNews, one of the oldest fansites in Tibia. He is the one who created those incredible drawings that used to be seen on Pskonejott’s website. Fortunately, I was able to salvage some of his artworks from TibiaCity (I was lucky enough to compete with him on this fansite, designing items for an Easter contest), the once popular fansite for English speakers no longer exists. Most of those drawings were made for certain players… amazing manga/anime style!

Nixodin

I met this player at the TibiaEvents item fansite event, in my opinion he is one of the best sprite creators I have seen, you can check out his DevianART to see his amazing creations. He also won first place in the TibiaBariloche Wallpapers contest in 2012!

Combi

Some of his sprites. Check these monsters! They look awesome!

He also obtained second place in the TibiaHoF fansite item contest, with his “Almanac Of Fame”.

The Royal Painters!

Of course, we cannot forget those paintings in the castles of Carlin and Thais!, created by Tifazinha and Fenris Greyback! You can read the details of this great event made by Cipsoft here!

Miki the Sorcerer and others – “Stories from Silvera”

An excellent parody of Tibia, I laughed a lot with it. I will share the first episode! You can find the rest on YouTube.

Final words. 

So… Are you a Tibian artist? Did you meet any of those players in a contest or in your world? Do you know someone who should be here on this list? Let us know! What are you waiting to share your work with the community !?

I’m sure many of you are out there waiting to be discovered. If so, share your work with us! 

I hope you enjoyed the reading. And if you are interested in sprites, do not forget to visit the Thais museum every Sunday, to see the items created by the other players and were added to the game!

prepared by: Lupus Aurelius

This article was originally published on TibiaRoyal.com, where Lupus Aurelius was a graphic designer. Unfortunately, due to the cessation of the website’s activity, we decided to refresh its content and republish it here, so that the memory of the artists mentioned in it does not fade away.

Thank you, Lupus, for your invaluable help!

Visit Lupus Aurelius on his social media!