You can't really tell you used the contest source, since a simple black and white square made with the rectangular marquee would accomplish the same thing...

Now, if you made the chess pieces better resemble the male and female figures, THAT would be creative, but this really is too CBR to be of much relationship to the contest source...

@MossyB, Thank you for your input. I agree on the square thingy, but I guess that's what SBSes are for, eh? Plus the source had the texture for the "marble-y" feel.
My first thought was the male & female figures only, but I lack the skills to make them look 3D from their current appearances.
The entire thing is the source pic after liquifying, warping & blending.

The perspective of the play figures is not the same as the board, they should be leaning back a lil more

Will try to fix it ASAP. Thanks.

I tend to agree with MossyB's comment, the source wasn't really needed to create this. I'm also curious about your response, you say you lack the skills to make the male/female source figures look 3D yet you say you created the chess pieces yourself with liquify and warp. The figures are a very simple form and much easier to add dimension to them than to create the complex shapes of chessmen from scratch. You don't show any source for the chessmen but they're all in correct perspective with complex details. Wonder how this is possible?

@spaceranger Thank you for your comment. What I meant wast I considered it'd be easier to create figures from scratch rather than warp the original figures. I can create simple constructions with warp & liquify, but am not as fluent with it as many other talented members.
As for the image, if you're suggesting I outsourced it, I'm kinda offended. The placing was more of a hit & trial (hence the sloppy perspective) & details were very generic.

SBS step 4 shows multiple layer above each other hence the lines.
SBS step 5 shows the strokes I made with pen tool. These ain't complex IMO.

There's nothing wrong with using reference as a guide which is all I suggested, it is difficult to draw those chess pieces from memory and they are most certainly more complex than the male/female icons. It was your statement that you lacked the skills that prompted me to ask.Your SBS doesn't show any steps in the liquify/warp creation of the pieces,step 4 just shows a silhouette with elliptical ridges and step 5 the lines added for detail. If you did create them without reference I'd say you do have the skills to have made the figures work contrary to your statement. Creating the pieces with liquify and warp without a base drawing seems a lot more difficult than drawing them digitally which is a more logical approach to me.

The pieces are standard pieces & their elliptical bases made it possible for me to make them look 3D. The original shapes were too plane. I couldn't get them to stand believably on the board. Now that I think of it, I could've used bases & snipped their legs, but that's for another time I guess. I agree with the logical approach but I tried, couldn't, hence changed the idea.
As for the reference, I first drew the silhouette using Pen tool, filled it, then warped the pieces accordingly.

What a sweet puppy! Interesting filter effect.

Author, it isn't your common not posting sbs...

Seems too pretty to be a crash scene. (None of the windows broke?) It might be more evident that a mate is missing if only a very tiny bit of the front balloon were visible in the upper left corner and the other balloons appeared to all be on the same level as that front balloon as they follow the curve of the river giving a clearer impression of a break in formation [rather than swooping down from up in the air with the front balloon looking like it's off course on its way to join its mate in the water]. Also, the joint where the mirrored images meet to form the balloons is awkward in hi-res (and the warpy bottom area of the front balloon is discernable even here).

Dan... Huh?... it sank.. it didn't crash.. he just died and sank..(I'm not into high drama imagery, explosions and smoke and flames aren't my cup of tea..and don't even started me on blood.. UGH) I use them from time to time but I prefer to take a real picture of these types of things when they are happening) but thanks for all the thought you put into it.. (but it's not an actual building.. it's a floating creature.. and your suggestion to put them in an orderly fashion seems quite odd.. and his best mate is not leaving the formation.. he just happen to be there first and has moved to the side so the others can gather.. they are not following the river because they are descending from outer space.. and the mirror seem was done on purpose.. .. I even went back in to bloat and liquefy it on purpose.. and if it seems TOO Pretty.. that's the greatest compliment!!!

Interesting idea! Took me a while to get just what was going on. I like what you did with the colors. Very nice, as if it were in the rays of a sunset.

EDIT: Lol I never expected it to be you! Somehow different from most of your other work.

excellent entry.... and an extra ordinary author....!!!

very good

Had a feeling I knew the author on this! , crisp, clean, weird and wonderful, I love this and love your work!

wow going to have to vote quick for curiosity sakes
Well done cool chop Author

Good work...best of luck

nice!☺

poor mate
another great work author

great work!

Nice start

Great job. Everything fits perfectly.

Best of luck on this creative entry!!

problem is lotus doesn't grow on the sea, you can use a coral, maybe better. I like your idea. GL!

This is so cute...maybe make him hold seaweed in his mouth :P lol

awwww that is so cute

yeah. so the seagull built a replica of himself in the sand and the sea lion is bringing him flowers because of it? i don't quite get it

Didnt get the overall concept of you imagination but its a nice work....

I'm a sucker for seals. This is cute!

Ididn't get it either.

very nice