When you willingly enter yourself into the Last Man Standing thunderdome, above all else realize that the odds that you will emerge the sole victor are stacked heavily against you. After all, there have only been 2 artists to emerge from the slaughter out of the hundreds of competitors that have entered the previous Last Man Standing thunderdomes. Jason Chan proved that he could take on whatever was thrown at him as Last Man Standing's first victor, and now Shelly Wan reigns as Last Man's First Lady after her victory in Last Man Standing 2.

The first LMS kicked off with a bracketed, randomly matched tournament featuring 144 of Conceptart.org's best and brightest going head to head over 6 rounds, illustrating a new topic each round. LMS2 significantly increased this artistic organized chaos by cutting off the entries at 271 entrants, then randomly pairing three, four and even five entrants together over 4 rounds of grueling battle. We've had some of the most talented artists any online community has to offer participate in past events and top industry professionals lending a hand judging, and participant's entries have been featured in the pages of Spectrum, Imagine FX, Fantasy Art Magazine, and Expose.

Polish up that hefty set of brass balls, ladies and gentlemen, because they're about to be plucked out of your pink little hands by the freshest crop of entrants. Out of pure masochistic pleasure and a loathing for spending my free time wisely, Last Man Standing lives on through year 3 in what promises to be its most massive cycle yet.

360 contenders over 4 rounds. 456 new pieces of artwork. 1 winner. And not one 1-on-1 battle. Shit is going to get intense.

Accompanying the launch of Last Man Standing 3 comes the introduction of this site, a comprehensive collection of interviews, tutorials, and a veritable douching of Last Man information that will leave you wondering if you've ever heard the verb douching to describe data flow before this moment.

This competition is evolving into something big, and if you haven't had the chance to experience the pure rewarding madness that is the thunderdome, now is the time. Throw yourself into the fray, push yourself to put only your best work up against the thronging masses, and who knows... you just might emerge the Last Man Standing.

Cody Tilson Last Man Standing Ringleader Bio: Chicago-based Designer/Illustrator with an obsessive penchant for organizing massive online art tournaments. Also does a decent Christopher Walken impression if he does say so himself, which he just did so in third person (as Walken). Contact: cody@lastmanart.com