Happy Behind a Pencil
After consultation with Stefan Sagmeister we now have four winners of signed copies of his book “Made You Look” from the Happy Challenge.
Before naming names, I want to say what a pleasing project this is. I know it was difficult for many to fit things to the template but the overall result was that we got a wonderful look behind the pencil, paintbrush, camera. Stefan commented on how remarkable the entries were and the overall impact was startling. For me it was a simple delight to see how so many of you see yourselves. And I thank you for your courage.
I wish we had more books to give away. But all the entries will be heading to New York where Stefan will be animating them for inclusion in his Happy film. Now … any of you who have anything to do with movies know that filmmaking can be a lengthy process. We will let you know when it is done but unless you have VERY, VERY, VERY big lungs do not hold your breath.
The following entries get a book.
Paul McClintock’s 3.14159
‘
Natalie Perkins’ five
Naf4d’s 5
and Karin Taylor’s affirmation 
There really are too many other remarkable images to try and pick out any for specific mention.
But please feel free to post your favourite (maybe even yours with a comment) in the thread below.
Shanina Conway
Congratulations to all the winners, it was a fantastic challenge and the entries were amazing;)
Vanessa Barklay
Fantastic work, lovely to see one of Karin’s beautiful artworks there, deserved indeed of worldwide recognition! Congrats all :O)
Agnes McGuinness
Congratulations to the winners and to all the entrants. Great art! Agnes xx
Pilgrim
And I am going to confess that I love this work (and as I got to write the journal entry it got a none too subtle plug!)
jemimalovesbigted
All wonderful artists and totally deserved of such a spectacular win!! Congrats everyone
RebeccaWeston
Congratulations to the fabulous winners !! XX
Becca
coppertrees
Congratulations to all great picks.
Jane Keats
Nice work all!
joan warburton
Congratulations everyone!
Ginny Schmidt
Congrats to the winners; I’m sure I voted for at least two of them. I was not stingy with my voting, clicking on all the ones that I felt best adhered to the rules, i.e., trying to fit the template and stating the happiness level in the title; I admit to being very surprised at how many entries deviated so far from the template, and I could not vote for those, even if they were otherwise very nice portraits. I know I should not take these kinds of things so seriously, but I was actually quite insulted on behalf of the majority of the other entrants, who obviously read, understood, and at least tried to follow the rules.
RedBubble replied
Yes, it did seem very difficult for a lot of people to comply with the template. I removed a huge number of works which made no effort and I know that Stefan will not be able to use a few of the works which are still in (even if they are close). It is a shame as many of these were/are good works.
Pip Gerard
from what I’ve seen…the book looks absolutely sensational. I bet they’ll all find it very inspiring. Fabulous choices… all wonderful entries. Was a lot of fun and great to see such a big community involvement. Thank you for creating the opportunity. And huge thank you to Sagmeister for getting involved. Would definitely be a huge RB highlight for 2009.
Paul McClintock
Yeah, Chris Wahl’s entry was definitely one of my favourites.
Damien Mason
Chris, Natalie, and of course Paul.. very happy to see them in the top ten, and congrats to the book winners too. You are all awesome :)
Pilgrim
And this one by kudra makes me breath easier and look on the world more lovingly
F.A. Moore
So fantastic!!! I absolutely LOVE Karin Taylor’s beautiful:
Affirmation by Karin Taylor
... that made the book and the top 10. And I also love Sam Dantone’s top 10 winner:
Five… Flat by Sam Dantone
...and Daniel Barrie’s top 10 winner:
3.5/10 by Daniel Barrie
and also applaud the very fun Robpixaday entry:
Mezza Mezza by Robpixaday
Congrats to all!
Nick Ford
Happytimes! Yep Paul’s is a cracker! ... all of them are! Great mix of styles.
F.A. Moore
And Paul McClintock, I don’t know you, but fabulous art. Congratulations. Looks like a great experience!
Chris Wahl
Congrats to the four winners!! Well deserved.
Pilgrim- Thanks for the plug.
Karin Taylor
Thank you!! ... this is the absolute creative highlight of my year!!!
thank you Brettus and THANK YOU to all my beautiful friends and people who voted me into the Top Ten. I voted for many entries, and each one because you showed me who you were, and that is the best thing in the world…..when we feel that we can be who we are and trust we are accepted for that, no matter what… x
Thank you Red Bubble and thank you Stefan Sagmeister for this great opportunity for self expression, with it came a lot of reflection and growth. I would to especially mention Brettus who really had the community spirit all wrapped up in the way that he encouraged others and took this so seriously…and afterward journalling about his favourite top ten
Karin Taylor
also, i want to publicly thank Paul McClintock, who without knowing it, was the catalyst for me ‘having a go’...thanx mate… you deserved to win, your entry was incredibly good.
Paul McClintock
Awww, thanks Karin. That’s sweet. Congrats!
brettus
Well done everyone!! Well deserved winners, for sure!!
And an especially big thanks to Karin! : )
DeviousLili
Congratulations!! :D
Natalie Perkins
I’m so chuffed, Mr Sagmeister is one of my heroes. :D
Anna Larson
Awesome Awesome job everyone… :)
sunshinesal
Congratulations to all the entrants,may your works be noticed world wide!!!!!!!!!!!
Extra special congratulations to the wonderful Top Ten and congratulations + to the Top Four!
!!
PapasGirl
way to go everyone..
Tordo
First of all congratulation to the winners. d-(_)-b
Damn! I never get the image linking right, so you’ll get 5 by Chelsgus and Seven by Damien Mason as text links.
I would add mine too, it was hard to make my own portrait and keep it honest, but it’s aesthetically boring for most people standards. (v_v)
RedBubble replied
Your OK with the image linking (problem is Chelsgus has clear gif over their image) but seven is OK
AngelArtiste
Congratulations! I’;m glad that Karin Taylor won
Cathie Tranent
Congratulations to everyone!!
I was unable to produce anything I was happy with …. maybe there’s a subliminal message there!!
RedBubble replied
You and me both (that is in my Pilgrim disguise!)
Tama Blough
Congrats to all winners and book recipients! And all of us who participated!
Brenda Parsons
Congrats to all the winners!!!!
Helen McLean
Congrats to al, fantastic selections, well done!!
Pilgrim
And this by hwiddy was also in the top 10 but is just so lovely
Pilgrim
OK, I have another that I love but its got a clear gif over it so I can’t post. Its by Soxy Fleming and is Down to 4
Rosalie Scanlon
Congrats to the winners, they were all excellent, and so were all the entries.
Mel Brackstone
wots this? You could vote for more than one? I voted for Sam’s entry…..but there were so many that were outstanding!
Mel Brackstone
For Pilgrim – Soxy’s “Down to 4”
shadyuk
Cngratulatons to the winners, these images open a different world for me, an old lady :)
Tom Godfrey
Congrats guys. Of course I’m disappointed for me, but happy for you :)
elwyn crawford
A fun opportunity and a great way to be introduced to the many challenges on redbubble. Good to run thru all the entries and see how people handled the requirements of the challenge. Well done to all the winners and will look forward to sooooooooooooooometime in the future to seeing/hearing about the film part
Esther's Art a...
Congratulations to the winners and all those other images they sure are fantastic !!
Matt Penfold
@ Mel Ha! I voted for yours and soxy’s and plenty of others and my favorite was funky’s

RedBubble replied
Yes, I agree this is gorgeous.
sillyfilly
Congrats to all the winners.
Colleen Milburn
Huge congrats to everyone – it’s just so bloody exciting!! I just want to know if I can unpublish my entry (because it’s a shocker), or do I need to keep it published in case Mr Sagmeister decides to use it? Just asking :))
RedBubble replied
Colleen
If you really don’t like it feel free to unpublish as I have yet to send him to final files. But it really is as much about the projec than individual works. And when animated you may be suprised.
Susie Peek-Swint
Many congrats to the winners ~ terrific work .. sooo creative! susie
Rina Botha
Congrats to all.
Naf4d
I’m well pleased to be one of the winners as there were some fantastic entries in this challenge. So many different styles and takes on the brief – all good stuff!
Can’t wait to get my book, I assure you all that it will be used for inspiration in my design and that it’s going to a good home – it will be well looked after. ;-)
Keith Richardson
Congrats to not only all winners, but also to all entrants! Fantastic!!!
ZOMBIE RUST
That’s the stuff!

Well done all!
RedBubble replied
Agree these are all great – they have a sense of humour which I like
Kartoon
congratulations to the winners and to all participants who entered remarkable portraits! i loved each one i saw! so much fun! hehe…
and, sure, congrats to Stephan for his amazing project!
will be looking forward (but not holding my breath) to seeing the film.
Naf4d
...really sorry, I forgot to say; congratulations to the other winners… and to everyone else who entered.
hwiddy
well done everyone there were some really great entries. One that i thought should have got a mention was
it was a top effort and hit right on the mark with the controlled balance of black & white representing a five. (plus i know how much you would have wanted a book, or bragging rights. damn.)
RedBubble replied
Yes, it is a slightly haunting image – executed with great skill
robpixaday
Yeeeeeeehah!!!!!!!!!!! Hearty CONGRATULATIONS to everyone!!!!!!

Lynsye Medalia
Fantastic! Congrats to the winners!
carlotta peacock
A BIG CONGRATS TO ALL XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
swaby
My Congrats also! To everyone!
CateTownsend
Such an inspiring challenge. I wasn’t at a great place when I entered so I didn’t put the effort in I should have. It is so challenging to do a self portrait and really look at yourself. I think that the work entered was exceptional and inspirational in this challenge. A huge congratulations to everyone on there efforts and especially the top ten. Karin Taylor is and has always been such a huge inspiration. I am so pleased to see her get this recognition. Karin didn’t stop at one self portrait, and kept on going until it felt right. It is this determination to keep striving that I so admire.
ivana cutura
Congrats to all the winners :)
najeroux
I was going to rant about Paul and Ayarti’s but they’ve been accounted for. It was pretty sweet to see such a strong effort. I doubt theres been a challenge before with such a high participation level. Good to see some action.
najeroux
Georgette
Congratulations.
Colleen Milburn
Ok,I’ll keep it published. If Mr S decides to use it that’s cool – I just wasn’t sure about keeping it published in my gallery. Have a great day, M – it’s sunny at the moment in Bendigo but just wait 10 minutes…lol.
JANET SUMMERS
Congratulations to all the winners and those who made the effort are winners also! I was happy, it got me to do something different..that I would never have attempted! It was my 1st. self portrait, as the last thing I think of painting is myself!!
wu-wei
Interesting that only one of the four looks Happy…
Adriana Glackin
Congrats to the winners, and thanks for the opportunity to participate in such a great challenge. :D
Victoria Antoine
Congratulations to all that won! What a great opportunity knowing that Stephan Sagmeister looked at our work!
funkyfacestudio
Congratulations everyone !!!!! they are all beautiful and it really was difficult to vote, I thought we could only vote for one ;(
thanks Matt
plummermaddi
I love these pics you are really talented and amazing
write back to plummermaddi and drakevick
piacere
Congratulations, you guys!!!!!
nhungmanga
Congratulations to you and everyone