My first contest is over. Drawing a winner was the easiest thing in the world. One question remains: whom will I ship a brand new Zildjian A Custom 16″ Crash to?
Luck Verse Outstanding Creativity
About one month ago I reached out to the drummer community. I roughly told you that a I had one cymbal to many at my house and that you could have it – for free, a 300 Euro worth Zildjian cymbal. There was only a small obstacle, these three conditions: post a picture on a certain topic, be creative and fill in a form. I am amazed of how many drummers participated in my contest. On Facebook more than 18.000 people found out about my give-away, on Instagram it’s been over 7.000. Consequently one could assume it was pure luck to win this cymbal. But as so often, luck was not a part of the game at all.
Very Few Desperate Drummers
Now I am getting to the part where I tell you why drawing a winner was the easiest thing in the world. “In desperate need of a lovely Zildjian cymbal“ was the topic for the pictures. It seems like not many drummers out there are in need of an extra cymbal. That’s cool. But 7, yes, S-E-V-E-N, drummers are and I wanna thank you for posting a photo with the proper tags somewhere online. Thanks a lot to Nils, Kornél, Erick, Pierre, Raphael, Isobel and Dario. ✌ If you do the math, your chances of winning were really high.
But I can’t throw 300 Euros out the window just like that, can I?! I love to listen and watch creative drummers who still serve the song. Therefore, some creative effort was due to win the cymbal. Drummers who sent in a picture of themselves just sitting behind a drumset had no chance of winning really. A picture of a broken cymbal alone wouldn’t do the trick either. More creativity was shown by drummers who added one and one: their broken cymbal plus their meaningful facial expression. However, the creator of the winning picture did something totally different.
How To Win A Zildjian Cymbal
She (now the six guys know they didn’t win) put in some thought, came up with an original story, got creative and visualized it. The winning picture could be the next Zildjian ad campaign really, it really should. Hence, tomorrow I’ll ship a box with you know what to London, where the winner of my first contest ever lives: Isobel P.
This is her story behind the picture: “I have been on an epic quest, travelling through perilous lands to find the dragon who guards his hoard of Zildjian cymbals, hoping to slay him and claim them for my own.” Well, this is the end of your epic quest, I assume. Congratulations!
The Future Of The Cymbal
Of course I was curious about Isobel’s background. Along with the prize notification I therfore sent some questions. Here are the answers:
- I’m very new to playing the drums, I only started at the beginning of this year. I always wanted to learn but didn’t have the money when I was still in school, then later I thought I was too old to start. This year I just thought better late than never and started taking lessons. I love drumming and even if I never get anywhere with it, I’m very glad I picked it up as it brings me a lot of joy 🙂
- Mainly I was interested in this cymbal because of its popularity in metal (my favourite music genre). I became more familiar with Zildjian thanks to Frost, from Satyricon and 1349, who is IMO one of the all time metal drumming greats.
- I’m a big sci-fi and fantasy fan and I’ve been re-reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so unsurprisingly this idea popped into my head. I created the image in two stages, firstly by going out to my local wood and shooting lots of photos. Then I went a bit crazy in Photoshop 🙂 I used a stock image of a dragon and edited it using custom brushes and overlays, added the cymbals, and then added shadows, highlights and textures to make it all blend in.
- I have a degree in illustration but I now work as a paralegal in Actions Against the Police, and I’m working towards qualifying as a solicitor. I still paint and take photographs in my spare time though.
Enjoy playing the drums, too – wherever you are, however old your are and on what equipment soever.
Stay on or by(e)
Yours Cat
