Update 31 July 2013: It has come to my attention that some voters (or their friends) are seriously exploiting the poll and manipulating the Viewers Choice results :((( Having to sort through and delete over a thousand bogus votes made me very sad and disappointed that this is happening! I’m very sorry to announce that I’m cancelling the Viewers Choice Awards this year until I can find a better system next time.
For those of you who voted and commented, I’ll still be picking a random winner to thank you for your participation, comments and suggestions. Please share your thoughts on how we can improve this system.
I’ll announce the Top 3 winners of my own (and maybe a few special mentions) on Monday 12 Aug 2013 as previously planned. Hopefully the new prizes I ordered will have arrived by then, so that I can post their pics.
m(_ _)m Sorry to all who have voted genuinely.
Last update 22 July 2013: A big thanks to all artists who submitted your artworks! I’m pretty much swimming in my own nosebleed from all the saucy hotness of your bishies XD THANK YOU SO MUCH! *feeling lightheaded*
There are a total of 27 entries this year. Some artists submitted multiple entries and that’s perfectly welcomed :D Almost half of the entries are DRAMAtical Murder related. DMMd sure is popular!
Again, I have to apologise I took more time than I expected to sort them out and didn’t give you a response when you emailed them to me. m(_ _)m Please let me know if I missed out on yours (*A*)
Printer contact: Btw, if you have any trustworthy printers whom I can use to print 160 cm x 50 cm dakimakura covers, please kindly give me their contacts. I want to make sure that the winning artworks I give the printer for printing are not misused and reproduced for sale without permission. The few sites I found online that provide custom dakimakura printing service didn’t give me a good feeling since they all happen to sell bootleg items. Yeah, I’m paranoid :( Please send the info to contest [at] lalaparadise.com or write it in the comments. They need to be able to ship internationally. Thanks in advance!
For now, let’s open the poll for Viewers Choice Awards XD
How to vote?
- One vote per person please.
- Refer to the artwork number + artist name for each artwork.
- Vote for the corresponding option in the poll for your favourite artwork.
- Poll will be closed on end of Sunday 11 August 2013 (last time zone in the world in Anchorage, Alaska :D)
- This year I’m giving a random voter a little gift for your participation. So please leave a comment after you voted! Remember to fill in the email field so that I can contact you if you win. Please don’t reveal who you’ve voted for. :D Good luck all!
Entries below!
Artwork #1 by 13 (Dramatical Murder) Email: ill_with_love [at] hotmail.com
Artist comments: Dakimakura is hard to draw but I gave it a shot I was determined to draw Clear in an apron even though he was a pain XD.
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Artwork #2 by bee (K)
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Artwork #3 by Camicarlot (Dramatical Murder)
Artist comments: DMMd dakimakura! Yeah, I know, I’m kind of repetitive… >__> That’s why… Double entry! :D
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Artwork #4 by Camicarlot (Miracle Noton)
Artist comments: I know, I know, you haven’t played Miracle No-ton (at least last time I checked >__>) but since you talked about it in the Yura’s Pack post I thought, why not? It’s one of the first visual novels I ever played and I still really like it. Maybe this could be a little incentive, no? ;D No-ton deserves more love (and so does Chihiro Suzuki-san <3).
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Artwork #5 by JuJu (Togainu no Chi) (http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=7448739)
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Artwork #6 by King Rein (Lucky Dog 1)
Artist comments: As you can see, the character I drew is Gian from Lucky Dog 1. In Pose 1, he’s wearing his prison outfit. In Pose 2, he’s wearing Toma’s outfit from Amnesia. I wanted to draw Gian wearing Toma’s outfit since somehow to me, they both kind of look alike. I guess it’s probably the hair. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.
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Artwork #7 by Kirere (Dramatical Murder) (http://kirere.wordpress.com)
Artist comments: First time taking part in your contest. And first time drawing a fanart XD. It should be not R18.. super slight nudity(?) only (XP).
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Artwork #8 by Kukki (Dramatical Murder) (http://kukkikukki.tumblr.com/)
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Artwork #9 by Larissa_Kaori_Takara (Dramatical Murder) (http://mikitk.deviantart.com/)
Artist comments: It was really fun to draw dakimakuras *w*
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Artwork #10 by Larissa_Kaori_Takara (Kuroko no Basuke) (http://mikitk.deviantart.com/)
Artist comments: It was really fun to draw dakimakuras *w*
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Artwork #11 by Larissa_Kaori_Takara (Natsume Yuujin Chou) (http://mikitk.deviantart.com/)
Artist comments: It was really fun to draw dakimakuras *w*
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Artwork #12 by Larissa_Kaori_Takara (In These Words) (http://mikitk.deviantart.com/)
Artist comments: It was really fun to draw dakimakuras *w*
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Artwork #13 by Larissa_Kaori_Takara (Uta no Prince Sama) (http://mikitk.deviantart.com/)
Artist comments: It was really fun to draw dakimakuras *w*
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Artwork #14 by Larissa_Kaori_Takara (Magi) (http://mikitk.deviantart.com/)
Artist comments: It was really fun to draw dakimakuras *w*
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Artwork #15 by Limonesnake (Dramatical Murder) (http://shiritorii.deviantart.com/)
Artist comments: And here’s Noiz, in my own drawing style, which makes him look extremely uke-ish.
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Artwork #16 by MoritaTsubaki (Dramatical Murder) (http://moritatsubaki.deviantart.com/)
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Artwork #17 by Mokona (Dramatical Murder)
Artist comments: It’s the first time I draw a dakimakura, I felt a bit shy staring at some parts for so long while I was drawing xD And OMG, my pc almost died ’cause of the huge file xD
I changed my mind about the nakedness (part off xD), also added a “safe side” with Ren :3~~
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Artwork #18 by slyblueshark (Dramatical Murder) (http://slyblueshark.tumblr.com/)
Artists comments: I didn’t have time to do two different poses, so I did two outfits. I hope this is okay!
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Artwork #19 by sugarcakey & siedlce (Dramatical Murder)
Artist comments: It has a smexy front (even though Ren looks a bit off ;__; Can’t draw animals) and a more cute and “work- and flatmate-safe” back, so you would not get in trouble, as you could turn it around and nobody would suspect anything, haha!
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Artwork #20 by Sugino (Lucky Dog 1) Email: orange_star10 [at] hotmail.com
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Artwork #21 by Gradian (Dramatical Murder) (http://eccentricitymadness.tumblr.com/)
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Artwork #22 by Nevi (Magi) (http://wanderingstarspress.wordpress.com/ and http://happynakama.deviantart.com/)
Artist comments: It’s Judar and Sinbad from Magi.
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Artwork #23 by NinaPun (Dramatical Murder)
Artist comments: I really had a lot of fun !!!
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Artwork #24 by KuroKonoChan (Dramatical Murder) (http://KuroKonoChan.deviantart.com)
Artist comments: It’s the first time I drawed something like a dakimakura. ^^:
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Artwork #25 by Fukumachi (Sweet Pool)
Artist comments: The one with the blue sheet is meant to represent reason, while the one with the red sheet is meant to represent instinct :D I made him because I’ve only played Sweet Pool this year and I love it!
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Artwork #26 by dameningen (Togainu no Chi)
Artist comments: Akira and Shiki from Togainu no Chi
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Artwork #27 by dameningen (Starry Sky)
Artist comments: Mizushima Iku and Kanakubo Homare from Starry Sky
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Vote Now! (Closing Date: end of Sunday 11 August 2013)
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Sorry to see something like this happen Ponytale. :(
I hope things work out. *hug*
It’s sad that the viewers choice awards had to be cancelled because of something like manipulation… =(
Maybe it would be good to let random people vote or make some kind of jury – of course it has to be somehow neutral-
hope, that idea may be help somehow, but for now I have no other idea how the contest could be made more fair. :D
Well… I’ve voted for this contest last week and today I’m going to take a look any update from it but unfortunately this kind of incident happened (QAQ) Anyway, hopefully Miss Ponytale able to find any solution to solve this problem. I want to see this contest being handled in fair and square.
Really sad that such a thing happened and I really can`t understand it. I would want to win because of my work and not because of cheating.
I can understand that you stopped the poll.
Hope you find a better system. I love your contests even though I just participated once “^^.
I`m so curious about the final result. Hope you show pics of the final Dakimakura and a bigger picture than that one from the vote would be great too :D
I don’t get why people view this as cheating, it happens like every year. Votes isn’t just limited to
readers of this site, it’s normal that the contestants get their votes from friends/family/fans so the
best looking one isn’t always the winner. How would you know if a poll is being cheated or they are
just super popular?
perhaps next time try hiding the results then no one will know who’s winning until the
end?…anyways a dakimakura theme this year was really interesting, I hope next year will be a fun
one too ^.^
@JJ: when you see hundreds of votes that are placed continuously every other minute to one artist, coming from one source, regularly for the past few days, since the poll started, you’ll know they were placed by an automated program or script. And this pattern didn’t apply to just one artist.
Maybe these artists’ friends did it without their knowledge.
I’ll consider hiding results if I decide to do a re-vote. Thanks for your suggestion.
Hello, Ponytale. I was searching for trustworthy polls and I ran up to these websites. Are they any good? If not, I’ll keep searching for more trustworthy polls that can’t be cheated on!
Here are the links:
http://www.easypolls.net
http://pollcode.com
http://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/online-polls/
@King Rein: Thanks for your suggestions! I’ll keep them in mind if I still decide to use a poll for voting.
@ Ponytale
You’re welcome, Ponytale. I hope you’re doing well. You don’t seem too happy.
I have to say that I totally understand and support your decision to cancel the Viewer’s Choice. When I voted for my fav, I also felt that the vote distribution was not “natural”, but I thought it would sound weird if I, as a fellow contestant, would complain about it…
If I come across a poll system that cannot be manipulated easily, I will let you know :3
@Sug: I may reopen the voting in another manner since there is still a week to the winners announcement. It’s just so upsetting to see how blatantly these scripts were run to manipulate the polls :(
Why would people abuse the system? Sorry but I feel a bit upset but I’m glad you’re taking the contest into your own hands, Ponytale. It’s better that way. Again, good luck everyone! ( 0 u 0 )
helping a friend to vote.. but wow.. this place is interesting ^-^
I would seriously pay a lot of money for some of these (mainly because there are no Aoba dakimakuras out there) #16 and #21 are my favorites please let me know if these end up being available for purchase! Just think pony, you could start a business with the artists and make some money selling super awesome cuddling pillows! I’ve seen some on eBay that aren’t as good as some of these are.
@YumeKyun: I think its a great suggestion! I also love quite a few of them myself and would love to literally hold them in my arms lol~ (*q*) Some of the artists have deviantart accounts and they may be selling their works already. I’ll discuss with them later and see how it goes :D Our challenge is to find a printer who can print these yummy designs on dakimakura covers at a reasonable cost.
I been watching this contest and voted too, yet I have to say I feel the voting system is being abused as well. I’m glad someone else said this. I have been wanting to but I felt too shy to do so. I’m hoping the person running this contest sees this because it’s painfully obvious, and even if not this time but next time change how things are done.
@Adiana: Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I didn’t think it was so bad until I investigated it. I’m now thinking of an alternative to the voting system.
It is quite obvious that people are abusing the system to give their artwork higher scores….which is cheating, which is ruining the purpose of a contest…. I highly suggesst that the hosting person switches to a different poll provider and resets the voting scores… .
@potato: Thanks for raising alarm to the issue. I saw your comment and a few others then and I didn’t think very much into it at first because I understand that artists can rally their friends to vote for them. Partly also because I was very busy with work and didn’t have time to monitor it. However, when I finally did find the time, I realised that compared to last year’s poll, this year’s voting patterns are indeed very suspicious. I investigated it and concluded that the poll is really abused :( I may go for a re-vote since there is still a week left to the winners announcement. I’m still considering.
Submitted my vote, and checked out the results.
Polldaddy needs to change their codes, naughty children are not eating their cookies.
It’s obvious; so obvious that it’s actually rather painful…
@KireJaNai: Thanks for your comment! I was very busy with work and didn’t have time to monitor the poll. I figured that artists can rally their friends to vote for them, so sometimes results may not be obvious/expected. I finally did find the time yesterday to investigate and you were right that the poll has been abused :( I have cancelled the voting for now but I’m kinda reconsidering to re-open it if I can find a better way.
Ahh I love #16, it must become a reality!
Oh gosh that’s okay! XD Thank you for adding it though~~
Omg pony is so lucky!*_*
I love the imagination in all of them, Wish I could have participated but life and school keeps me forever away… ;_;
It was hard to vote as two of them are really cute!! Can’t wait to see them as Daikuramas.
Hope your doing well~<3
Voted. I really love one of them~ It’s like as though its original artwork from the company :P
had a hard time choosing ;v; some good ones there hnngh
adsghfsjdhgkfhlk I was torn between two of the entries for the longest time. Oh well. Now I want a dakimakura so badly…
omg my entry looks so bad next to all the others XD I wish I could have spent longer making it look better (and checking different monitors cos the colours are different on mine TAT) and showing more flesh lol. Good luck to everybody <:
Some really good entries again this year~ =D
So good to see a new post on your site, I’ve missed your updates. I was torn between 3 of them.
Seeing all the entries makes me wish I’d entered too :C I have motivation AFTER the contest has ended! x’D
Anyway, best of luck to everyone (especially the person I voted for!). Great work everyone! xx
It was hard to select x3 Such lovely artworks
Hmm my comment and tumblr link are missing on mine. <o<;; Oh well.
Quite a few really good entries, had to think about which one to vote for! Good luck everyone. <3
@slyblueshark: Oh dear, I’m so sorry! I’ve updated the post. Thanks for bringing it to my attention orz;;;
I voted as well! Quite difficult with so many great entries!
seriously, tissues are not enough for my nosebleed.
i wish i knew how to draw as well, i wanted to have a dakimakura for one of my games
i haven’t really looked at dramatical murder before but i’m definitely going to check it out if they look this delicious. XD
great job, everyone!
most importantly, happy birthday ponytale! XD
The art entries look so amazing. Good luck, everyone. ( ; u ; )
Uwaaaah, so many beautiful artworks !! :D
Otsukaresama deshita minna-san ! :D
These are all amazing! Great idea for a contest. Good luck to everyone!
I wish I can draw anatomy better to enter the contest >.<
Good luck to the participants XD
Hi pony, happy birthday…
I really want to participate…
I’ve made sketch, nekid uke with guitar cover him
But i couldn’t make in time huhu
The entry very high in quality.. superb…
I love neko-sensei most, he just simply cuteeee ♥♥♥
oh wow..Took me quite some time to choose who to vote XD May the best one wins!
OMG I just nosebleed seeing all the artworks ^q^
Again so much Dramatical Murder but series does not affect my choice^^
As said above may the best win.
It was sure difficult to work in this size. Great Job everyone!!!
I always wanted to design a Dakimakura.
Had no time (exams) but hope to be able to participate again next year.
May the best wins!! And all the lucks for the participants :D
May the best wins!! And all the lucks for the participants :D
Well, I hope my friend wins and shares the spoils.
Oooh~ I’m going to vote and love~
These entries are all wonderful! ^^ Sincerely wish I could’ve entered.
Great job, everyone! You’re so lucky ponytale heheh~