RenFest Contest Entries

I usually only do illustrations as a hobby for fun, but I thought it would be fun to show a few of my illustrations that I entered into the Adult Coloring Book competitions at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival through the years. 

The MN RenFest coloring book competition started in 2016. Their criteria induced drawing a family-friendly, Renaissance theme in black and white, sized 8.5X11. It could either be hand-drawn or drawn digitally. Drawings were judged on the overall quality of both the picture and the subject, and on how those two elements combined represent the spirit of the Renaissance Festival.

Renaissance Festival 2016: I entered the first RenFest contest with an illustration that I drew in Adobe Illustrator. I decided on an underwater mermaid theme, and thought it would be fun to include the Renaissance Festival in my drawing with a "mermaid application" to work at the festival that was delivered to the mermaid in a glass bottle. 

Renaissance Festival 2017: For the second RenFest coloring book competition, I went with a sunken ship and pirate treasure theme. The map in the corner shows that the treasure is on the same island as the Renaissance Festival, and that there is a sea monster in the ocean just off the island, which the sunken pirate ship clearly didn't listen to. 

Renaissance Festival 2019: This year, I decided to go with a wizard theme. I based the wizard's face on Jason Momoa. I came up with two different versions - one with an empty crystal ball so that artists could draw their own image in it, and one with a knight riding a horse with a RenFest flag in the ball. I couldn't decide which version I liked better, so I sent them both in and let the RenFest choose. They chose the empty crystal ball version, and my drawing won 2nd place. 

Renaissance Festival 2020: For the 2020 contest, I drew a tarot card themed coloring page. The Ace of Cups card is based on a mead seller at the fest. The King of Swords card is based on the MN RenFest's King Henry. The Chariot card is based on the chariot rides that you can pay for and ride through the RenFest. I started playing with having very thick and very thin lines to give my illustrations more dimension. Because the RenFest had to remain closed this year, the tickets that I received for this drawing were valid for 2021, so I did not submit a drawing for the 2021 competition. 

Renaissance Festival 2022: I went with a fairy and mushroom theme this year. I based the fairy on the MN RenFest's Twig the Fairy. I had a lot of fun drawing all of the designs in the mushrooms and in the butterfly wings. This illustration was unfortunately not chosen to be included in this year's coloring book, but I still really like how it turned out. 

Renaissance Festival 2023: This is one of my favorite submissions to the Ren Fest coloring book competitions. I love the thick and thin line mix in this drawing, and the layout of the flowers off to one side. I debated not adding the sparkles in the background of the drawing, but I think they work to show the magic of the unicorns. 

Renaissance Festival 2024: I unfortunately ran out of time when illustrating this drawing of a dragon on a sword. I am planning on re-drawing the border around the dragon in a Celtic design so that there is more to color on the outer edges. This illustration was not chosen to be included in the coloring book. 

Renaissance Festival 2025: I decided to try hand-drawing this submission to the Renaissance Festival. I love to read, so I wanted to include that in my illustration this year. I chose book titles that would be on a witch or wizard's shelf, and also added other elements to fill the shelves as well. I love adding animals into my drawings, so I decided to include a cat and a book on "Animal Familiars" on the shelf.