Iron Artist
Iron Artist is an annual artist competition held at Further Confusion, modeled after Iron Chef, a culinary show. Three artists are randomly selected out of those registered for the competition, and are called forth from the audience to throw a gauntlet to the incumbent Iron Artist in each of the following categories: comic, cute and spotty. (Each Iron Artist gets to choose their specialty title upon winning.)
Within 30 minutes, in front of the cheering audience, each of the three Iron Artists and each of the three challengers must produce a work of art in their respective category, to be judged by a set of judges (usually Guests of Honor or previous competitors). The hard part, however, is the medium, which artists are not aware of until the start of the show:
- 2001: sidewalk chalk
- 2002: cake icing
- 2003: Sharpie® marker tattoos
- 2004: balloon animals
- 2005: stained glass (paints)
- 2006: pasta/macaroni
- 2007: (a generic version of) Lite-Brite
Beginning with 2002, the format of Iron Artist more closely followed that of Iron Chef. A roving floor reporter was added, and commentary during the competition was provided by Nicodemus and a pair of color commentators. Battle Cake Icing also included a "medium video", featuring the tag-line "Like a breaking wave..."
The event was created by Higgins Dragon. It has been run by Nicodemus Rat since at least 2005.
The all-time champion of the competition is oCeLoT, who won her Iron Artist Spotty title in 2002 and held it until 2007, at which point she handed over to Iron Artist Control Point, Egypt Urnash. Rumor has it she can make a spotty cat out of absolutely anything.
Iron Artists and challengers by year, winners are in bold:
- 2001
- Iron Artist Violence: Jim Groat / Challenger: Ursula Husted
- Iron Artist Comic: Thomas K. Dye / Challenger: Vince Suzukawa
- Iron Artist Cute: Marci McAdam / Challenger: Kinky Turtle
- 2002
- Iron Artist Violence: Jim Groat / Challenger: Amara "oCe" Telgemeier
- Iron Artist Comic: Vince Suzukawa / Challenger: Thomas K. Dye
- Iron Artist Cute: Marci McAdam / Challenger: Baron Engel
- 2003
- Iron Artist Spotty: Amara "oCe" Telgemeier / Challenger: Dusty Rhodes
- Iron Artist Comic: Vince Suzukawa / Challenger: David Simpson
- Iron Artist Cute: John Nunnemacher (filling in for Marci) / Challenger: Valden
- 2004
- Iron Artist Spotty: Amara "oCe" Telgemeier / Challenger: Wolfgang
- Iron Artist Comic: Vince Suzukawa / Challenger: The Gneech
- Iron Artist Cute: Marci McAdam / Challenger: Immortal Pain
- 2005
- 2006
- Iron Artist Spotty: Amara "oCe" Telgemeier / Challenger: Babs Bunny
- Iron Artist Comic: The Gneech / Challenger: Kitsune Zero
- Iron Artist Cute: Marci McAdam / Challenger: Vermyfox
- 2007
D.C. Simpson was drawn as judge in the 2007 competition, but was not in the audience and so lost his place. Did you know? Almost 9000 Lite-Brite pegs were used in Iron Artist 2007.