Here is my submission for the art portion of the Artakha contest. Before all known records of his island were destroyed, before he was attacked by Makuta Kojol, before he isolated himself from the affairs of the world, Artakha led the Matoran of his island as a guiding light, a kind but firm hand to assist the people - with his kind heart to repair and create whatever his people wished, he created a paradise where all Matoran could work in comfort. It is this side of him, a benevolent shepherd to those who needed him who used to power of creation to serve the the common folk that I chose to portray. While such a scenario as shown is hypothetically possible in some Olmak universe, it can just as well be seen as an elaborate centrepiece decoration of some Matoran fresco dedicated to him.
Now, now, hold your horses! “They’re trying to cause trouble by having other characters in their artwork! And they’re using movie designs with set accurate masks! Isn’t this a cannon contest, and aren’t you only canonizing Artakha?” - I can hear you say. Never fear - I have a version of the picture without any Matoran that can be used if the judges judge the version with the Matoran to be too troublesome to deal with.
It certainly has a different feel. You can see more of that stone carving behind him and he looks a bit more solitary here - less like a hero’s champion and more like one recluse about to come out of hiding after a millennia about to scold some ignorant stone apes.
Don’t like the rays of heavenly light pouring down because it obscures detail? I have a version without them if that’s to your preference, although in the event that this wins, I’d prefer the version with the rays to receive preferential treatment with the other versions serving as perhaps alternate/bonus images on wikis and whatnot.
Now, let’s briefly discus the process and the glyphs. I put everything I had into this piece - 30 hours in total, pouring over detail after detail. I don’t claim to be that good at art, but every trick in the book I know, I used it here. I was trying to imitate the style of the G2 Artbook. I hope my humble work is received well by the rest of the community. As for the runes/glyphs on his collarbone armour, his body plate, and his cape, I had much deliberation about their content. At first, I wanted to transcribe an entire novel about the history of the Matoran People written from the perspective of the Great Beings that I would write myself - however, I scrapped that idea after using my favourite Bionicle novel, Time Trap as sample text and realized each glyph would be less than a single pixel long. Needless to say, I have gone with a more shortened set of text in the final product. Because this is a celebration of the undying Bionicle community, I found a BS01 article (I believe it was about history) and used a couple paragraphs about very early history of the MU as the glyphs that the text describes as detailing the history of the people. I found the text used to be quite unbiased in nature and the passages I chose generally not containing any information that Artakha wouldn’t already be aware of. There are those of you who may laugh that Artakha’s wearing a BS01 article on his chest. This is understandable - although given that the context of the text fits, I say, “Why not? Let us celebrate this crucial part of our community.” As for the runes on his collarbone armour, they are the prophecies from the MNOG telescope - when I first got into Bionicle as a kid, I found a webarchive of this game and spent hours just looking at the prophecies and bathing in the atmosphere. I am sure many fans have similar experiences, so I wanted to reference this sort of “first bit” of Bionicle - BS01, a modern invention, and MNOG, which has been there from the start. You may ask me, “Why do you wish to reference the fans so much? Doesn’t this make the artwork far too meta to be cannon?” Perhaps you have a point, but not only do these references fit in context, but they also nod to the real creators. Just as Artakha’s mask of creation lets him see what he wants to build, so too do we read lego instructions and pour out parts from the canister before getting to work. We, the fans, who have carried out Artakha’s job long after Bionicle’s cancelation, making fan games, fan art, Mocs, fan fiction, and more - we embody Artakha… or perhaps he embodies us.
Final note on design, I tried to stick very closely to the MOC for I saw how one wonderful artist was disqualified for straying too far from it - not that I would want to, @Connor_Hoffman’s design was near perfect to begin with. That being said, I tried not to draw axles, technic holes and pins if I could help it, but sometimes I did to fill space - a callback to how the Glatorian in TLR have spinning pins, too. Given Artakha was made by the Great Beings, it would make sense he would be based on their own image. For the most part, though, I tried to keep it smooth. I also tried to reference the Miramax films by including some fleshy bits - you can see muscles hidden under vents. Additionally, I gave him that codpiece thingy you see on almost all of the models in the Miamax trilogy. Also, notice his heart light - or 3 heart lights, shaped like the UDD symbol! Finally, I know his shoulder pads and knees are actually faces, and even though I found it ingenious, I decided to downplay as much as I could how much of a face it seemed to be so as not to distract the eye.
As for the mask:
Nothing much of note here, actually. I was going to design my own mask, but KhingK’s mask is pretty much perfect in almost every aspect. However, I did draw a schematic because the rules said so - you’ll notice I tried to elongate the face a bit and generally make it more angular. I also wanted to emphasize a motif of “Five” - 2 sets of 5-notable long protrusions are what I chose to place extra emphasis on in my depiction. (5 horns and 4 lower protrusions + the prominent nose bridge.) Why is this so? What else has 2 sets of 5 protrusions? Correct, the hand - the instrument we use to build lego, draw pictures, write chronicles, the instrument of Creation, like the Mask of Creation. You may also notice that the support beams at the back of the mask resemble a tree. Mask of Life has a being on it, Mask of Time has… holes? Maybe they’re round like the faces of a clock? And the Mask of Creation has the motif of a hand and a tree. Aside from this, face elongations were taken from a process where I basically overlaid a ton of Bionicle head pieces onto one another on photoshop - a Matoran, a Makuta, a Skakdi, and so many more. This is because the text says his mask is a representation of all the cultures in the Matoran universe. (I like to imagine that as culture grows and changes he periodically alters his mask but that’s just me 
) Using this shape, I then tried to mesh it with KhingK’s design but only slightly, choosing which parts I wanted to accentuate. Turns out the shape I got was similar to the original 3D model anyway, so if I didn’t point out this process of how I tried to create a mask that represented all cultures, you probably wouldn’t notice it and just think it’s a copy of KhingK’s mask - which it really is. Try as I did to change it, it’s not enough to be considered my own thing, I just highlighted some bits that I thought were thematically relevant. That mask, I tell you, it’s perfect. As for the schematic itself, I’ve chosen to try to imitate the 2001 comic style with its scratches and whatnot. That being said, here’s a link to KhingK’s excellent design: The Legendary Mask of Creation by KhingK - Thingiverse
As for the image itself:
Also, here’s the draft exercise. Fair warning, bit of a cursed image.
That about does it. Sorry for the long post. Been a big fan of Bionicle and TTV a while now and I just wish to give back to the fandom and franchise that shaped me in so many ways in any way I can. I know I’m not the best at art but I hope my submission is well liked and considered for canonization! I just hope I did the original MOC justice!
