Let's see if I can go a few paragraphs without using a line from Episode III...

1. Round Four Results. This round was super-close, and we have our first case of a previous round placer making another trip to the top three. Congratulations to First Place winner Lynntendo. Second Place this round is awarded to two artists--Runic1 and previous third-place finisher, Lauren Nicolo. Since Lauren is already advancing to the finals, we needed someone for the third spot this round, so Third Place is awarded to DivingSiren. Lynntendo, Runic1, and DivingSiren join Lauren and eight other artists who have secured spots in the finals of OmniArt 2005. With just two qualifying rounds left, the battle is really starting to heat up as dozens of artists compete for those six remaining guaranteed spots and the three wildcards.


2. Judging. Everyone join me in thanking our permanent judges, Derek "Roku" Cavin, Jeff "CainEJW" Walker, and Cortney "Alethea" Stone, along with this round's guest staff judges, Janelle "Tiptail" Berscheid and everyone's favorite question answerer, Googleshng, for helping pick the winners in this incredibly close match-up.


3. Otakon Panelists Wanted! I'll be hosting a panel at this year's Otakon on techniques for successfully marketing your fan art. If you're planning to attend Otakon in Baltimore, Maryland, you're a fan artist with experience selling your work, and you'd like to share your experience and ideas with other aspiring fan artists, please get in touch with me right away! There are still two open spots on the panel, but I need to fill those spots as soon as possible. This will be a great opportunity for a couple of RPGamer's fan artists to speak at the biggest anime convention in the United States, so send me an e-mail by Thursday, June 2nd if you're interested and I'll give you some more information. You can use either the regular fan art address or mine at the bottom of my biography page and include [PANEL] in the subject line. If you're not a fan artist, but you'd like to meet me or some of our artists at Otakon, check back soon for more information on the time and date of the panel.


4. What's Next? Fan art awesomeness continues next week with more great submissions from RPGamer's cavalry of artists. Round Five of OmniArt 2005 debuts the week after that. Of course, the challenge for Round Five is still a secret, but I'll say that it's the round I've been looking forward to the most since the contest began.