Winter 2020 Arrives!

Winter's finally here! And what better way to celebrate it than with a new slew of seasonal backgrounds as voted for by you, plus a little something extra!

Arriving this year with a sense of relief perhaps greater than most, it is at last time to say hello to the wintry months (for some of the world) and get ready to enjoy a chain of highly coveted (and much needed) holidays back-to-back.

In celebration of this, the artists of the osu! community have been hard at work tackling the latest challenge of our Winter Sports fan art contest, and we're proud to say with absolute certainty that they've risen to the occasion.

Not only that, but nekodex (the original osu!musician) has decided to put the finishing touch on this year's winter tree with a brand new festive theme titled Little Drummer Girl, putting a bit of a Mocha twist on the old Christmas classic.

Check it out:

Now, without further ado, let us present the winners of the Winter Sports fan art contest, and this year's seasonal winter backgrounds:

Remember: clicking the banners for each winner will take you to a full size, high quality version of the background!

Taking to the slopes with a whopping 6763 votes, Tofumang's skiing triple-take on pippi, Chirou and Yuzu enjoying some time in the snow edged above the pack and straight into first place.

While pippi might need to work on her footwork, it is safe to say that Tofumang certainly doesn't need to work on his artwork, quickly becoming a fan-favourite with performance after performance in these fan art contests. A victory well earned, well done!

Bringing ice-skating to the next level, not slepp turned 6192 heads and took names with their incredible rendition of pippi and a catgirl Mocha taking to a frozen park lake in the dark of night.

Absolutely stunning use of colour and light in this piece, with some absurdly cute outfits thrown in for good measure. The voting was neck-to-neck for much of the contest, and one look at this piece reveals precisely why.

5583 voters loved Dem4eg-'s snowboarding pippi as she carved up some alpine slopes, showcasing that simple and clean (with a big measure of cute thrown in) is more than enough to earn many approving nods from the osu! community.

5171 could not handle the combined cute and coolness of Shuuzo's double-mascot piece, featuring pippi in skis and Mocha on a snowboard showcasing the osu!taiko spirit of all Inner Oni players. Seriously, look at her go!

Taking the notion of winter sports to the absolute limit, 4467 voters watched with bated breath as ShovelKun's evening Mocha showcased her parkour skills, vaulting over the rooftops of a skyscraper-filled metropolis.

Did not see this one coming even slightly. Bonus imaginary points for creative use of the theme!

4111 voters were stopped in their tracks by McFriedFries's rendition of pippi, Mocha and a tobogganing don (todonnaning?) enjoying some time in the wintry outdoors.

We also liked that low-key osu! snowboard design more than we'd care to admit.

3992 stars twinkled in Aoki chiaki's night sky figure skating marvel, showcasing Alisa, Mocha and pippi gracefully twirling about the inside of a glass-domed conservatory.

Hard to argue with pure elegance!

Speed skating was the name of the game with N0W0's INCREDIBLY detailed entry, winning over 3889 voters. Featuring not only absurdly cute takes on both pippi, Chirou and the Taikonator but also a slew of custom osu!-themed sponsor brands, unique outfit designs and an entire assemblage of national flags in the background, the effort that went into this piece was simply extraordinary.

3780 voters fell hook, line and sinker for PacifiedPaints' ice fishing Mocha. We love it when people get creative with the theme limitations, and this one is no exception.

Dreamxiety scored 3494 nods of approval for their most athletic Mocha enjoying some time on the slopes with a very eager don. Beautiful use of perspective really gives this piece the "big" feeling that you commonly find in these sorts of places in real life, which is a neat touch.

CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTER! 3323 got stuck at the selection screen thanks to HEKUSODASU's take on an all-out snowball war. Who needs Call of Duty when you've got Dean Herbert's Lazer Snowball Brawl?

3159 voters were wowed by Kwms024's wonderfully stylized piece, which we've affectionately titled as 'pippi in motion'.

Back at it again, 3100 spectators watched in awe as Sjao's tiara-toting Mocha twirled her way across a field of ice on skates. Exceptional use of colour, contract and lighting in general, as we've come to expect from Sjao after their recent performances in the fan art contests lately.

2269 voters copped a smug, sidelong glance from Hecatia's pippi in the process of being soundly beaten in a skiing races. The author of this newspost wishes to say only one extra thing: assets.

2210 voters got their Olympic show-skating fix this year from Kiragi Sakki's take on the official mascots flaunting their skill on skates. Mani and Yuzu are having a bit of a moment back there, just leave them to it, they'll be right.

Make sure to check out the Winter Sports 2020 Fanart Contest listing for a full picture of the entire voting, and thank you to everybody who took the time to vote! You can also download an archive of all the winning entries using this link.

Thank you to all the artists who participated in this year's fan art contests in general, and an extra double thanks for being so patient with us regarding the delays in getting the results out this time around. We ran a bit of an earlier schedule for the contests this year, which mucked up our routine a little.

We'll still be with you for the remainder of the year with twice-weekly Featured Artist releases running through Christmas and New Years, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for all that.

2020 has been a tough year for most of us, and here's to hoping that 2021 shines a little brighter.

Happy holidays from all of us here on the team, and remember — rhythm is just a click away!

—osu!team