Art:Portrait Background Contest

Welcome to the Portrait Background Contest hub! Winning entries are added to the game as limited edition portrait backgrounds. This contest invites artists to create original scenes that can be used behind pirate portraits in-game. All artwork must be your own and should match the style and theme of Puzzle Pirates.

Contest Overview

This page shares a general overview of the contest, including prizes, judging, and past winners. If you're looking to participate, check the current contest page for deadlines, theme, submission steps, and detailed rules: 🎨 Portrait Background Contest June 2025 🎨

Entries are reviewed by Grey Havens arrrtists and developers. Winning backgrounds are usually added for a limited time, though some may return in future rotations or be selected for longer-term use.

Multiple entries and reworked versions of previous submissions are welcome, as long as they fit the current theme. If your design didn’t win before but matches a new contest, feel free to submit it again!

Winners receive a set of in-game prizes (see the current contest page for full details), including:

A clothing or furniture item of your choice
A special item such as an arrrtist Egg or Doll
The Dread Masterpiece trophy (if you don’t already have one)
Poe and doubloons to cover the cost of your portrait

DO NOT VANDALIZE OTHER ENTRIES OR MAKE CHANGES TO ENTRIES THAT ARE NOT YOURS. Any malicious changes to other people's entries will be rolled back and the vandal will be appropriately punished.

Entry Specs and Resources

Backgrounds should feel like they belong in-game. Use clean linework, consistent lighting, and pirate-friendly compositions. The best entries are polished, readable with pirates placed on them, and appealing to a wide range of players. In general avoid words - if you do use them, use them minimally, and only when they are not central to the understanding of the portrait.

Make it look like it came right out of the game. Get your line weights down, and compare with existing portraits to be sure. Keep your lighting consistent with the lighting on the pirate portrait art. Choose a scene that many in the game would like to use. Take your time and rework, going to others for advice and critique. Polish.

The file format must be .png.

Portrait backgrounds must follow the standard sizes below:

1-pirate: 348 x 650
2-pirate: 696 x 650
Large: 1600 x 1170
Expansive: 2000 x 1275

(Sizes listed are width x height.)

Each contest has a unique file naming format and image tag. For full instructions—including how to upload, update, or correct an entry—visit the current contest page.

Safe Zones and Cropping

When a portrait is painted in-game, the background is cropped. Keep this in mind as you design:

Single portraits crop 47 pixels from the bottom and 23 pixels from the top
Two-pirate backgrounds crop 50 pixels from the bottom
Large backgrounds may crop up to 207 pixels from the right (4 pirates) or 260 pixels (5 pirates, 2 rows)

To preview these safe zones, use the following image masks. Place them on top of your background to see what gets cut off:

Single-pirate-image mask. Click for full-sized image.
Two-pirate-image mask. Click for full-sized image.
Four-pirate-image mask. Click for full-sized image.
Five-pirate-image mask. Click for full-sized image.
Seven-pirate-image mask. Click for full-sized image.
Note the way some sizes get cropped. Click for full-sized image.

Pirate Cutouts

You can test out what your background looks like as an actual portrait by using pirate cutouts (before they are re-sized by the system). The masks will be cropped out and the final portrait will be scaled down a bit. Make sure not to include these masks in your final entry—they're just for testing.

Click on the thumbnails to go to a page where you can download the full-sized cutout.

Single Pirate Cutout
w/ Mask. (.png)
2 Pirate Cutout
w/ Mask. (.png)
2 Pirate Facing Cutout
w/ Mask. (.png)
(at Arrtists discretion)
2 Pirate Back to Back
w/ Mask. (.png)
(at Arrtists discretion)
4 Pirate Cutout
w/ Mask. (.png)
5 Pirate Cutout (2 rows)
w/ Mask. (.png)
5 Pirate Cutout (1 row)
w/ Mask. (.png)
7 Pirate Cutout
w/ Mask. (.png )

How to upload entries to YPPedia

See also Howto:Upload a file and Howto:Post an Image

Each contest has a specific file name and tagging format. Please follow these steps carefully:

File name must follow the format: "Monthly_yourname_title_the_way_you_want_to_appear_in_game.png"

Use .png format
Replace yourname with how you'd like your name to appear in-game
Replace title_the_way_you_want_to_appear_in_game with your suggested title (use underscores between words).
- Choose a name you'd like to appear in-game. If you're submitting alternate versions of the same design, give each one a distinct name instead of using "version 1", "version 2", etc.

Uploading your file:

Log in to YPPedia and click on "Upload file" in the menu bar on the left.
Select your background file. This will auto-fill the source and destination file name. Update the destination name if needed to match the format above.
In the Summary field, use the appropriate contest tag as listed on the current contest page.
Click on the "Upload file" button.

If an image file with the same name already exists, please rename yours (unless you're updating your entry).

To update an existing image: go to the image’s page and click "Upload a new version of this file." Then follow steps 2–4 above.
To fix an image tag: go to the image's page, click "edit," and update the tag text directly (not the edit summary field). Reuploading with a new summary will not update the tag.

If you have trouble uploading or updating your entry, ask for help on the help desk page or in the event's Discord channel.