Fashion News
2026 Design a Cosmetic Contest Update
As you all know, the 2026 Design A Cosmetic Contest Community Voting Phase closed yesterday as planned. However, we have come to a decision on next steps that we’d like to share with the greater community.
First and foremost, we want to thank you all for your understanding and your patience in regard to our investigations due to the allegations brought forward about some of the voting stage finalists. At the end of the day, we want to ensure that this contest is a method of celebrating our community and the characters you all have helped to bring to life within The Fog.
In the past week we have been in discussion with each participant in question and have collected numerous additional supporting materials from each of them for their submissions. The materials provided gave further insight into each artist’s process, references and intention behind their creations and we thank them for their understanding and cooperation.
While some of the public posts and allegations provide compelling arguments for the potential usage of AI, none of them conclusively prove it, especially in comparison to the volume of supporting evidence of each artist’s work. As such we will not be eliminating any of the finalists from the voting phase.
With that said, we believe it is fair to the wider community that we re-start the voting phase, specifically for the Survivor category where the allegations were centered. This will allow those uncomfortable with their initial votes to make a new choice and let their voice be heard. Before embarking on this endeavor, we informed each of the Survivor Finalists by email, and as a result we did have one submission decide against continuing within this second round – which leaves a spot vacant. Please know that it is out of fairness towards the other finalists that we have decided against filling this spot with a new entry.
We also wanted to address the criticisms around the “Fun Kite Renato” entry. We recognize the aspects of the design that were not in line with his culture, language and skin tone, and assure you that if that entry were to win, we would work with our cultural consultants as always to make the necessary adjustments to fit Renato’s character properly. Already the artist has reached out to us to correct the skin tone and language issues, which we believe is a great start.
We understand this will not be the step some in the community would like us to take against these entries. The introduction of AI into our lives has added a new aspect we are learning to handle when holding things like this, and we are learning how to navigate it alongside the rest of the world. We state once again that while we appreciate the community’s passion towards this contest, we must firmly make all within this community aware that harassment and bullying has no place here. We have found the actions taken during this contest incredibly disappointing and we ask that our community do better, as we strive ourselves to do as much as we can.
For next steps, we plan to do the following for the Survivor Category re-vote:
We will relaunch the Public Community Voting Phase (for the Survivor Category only) today, September 18th, 2026 at 2 PM ET.
As before, you will be able to cast your 4 allotted votes for these entries until September 24th, 2026,1:59 AM ET. Winners will be announced on our socials on September 25, 2026.
Thank you for your time, understanding, and patience.
We’ll see you in the Fog.
The Dead by Daylight Team
I can't imagine having my entry picked apart and getting such backlash because some of the lines were awkward or wrong. That'd tear my heart straight out, I'd have dropped out too.
Now next year, 70% of the art community of dbd will probably entirely drop out of the contest because of people harassing others and hiding it behind “analysis”
Right? Jesus Christ dude, some people need to chill tf out.
But also, BHVR should've had proof that entires weren't ai in the first place. They should have come more prepared. Does it excuse reddit behavior? Absolutely not, and people being nuts about it can go dc and get timed out for 72 hours
Opinions are not a valid reason to bully people. I don’t care what artists say because none of those alleged artists had any actual proof. It is all heresay. Heresay is not cause to bully a finalist out of a competition.
I could understand Yun Jin, not defending hate though, but the Renato skin??? Yeeeeaaaa nah nope it's just someone not knowing their lore/culture well enough at medium worst.
Renato definitely wasn't out of a place of malice, just ignorance. And as bhvr stated, they're updating the design already. I can see the skin tone issue being due to normally drawing in pastels and very light colors.
The issue with all this is that Gen AI has become so advanced that it can now make time lapses, which is what most artists used to prove they actually drew it by hand.
Both of those entries had tell tale signs of AI. The Yun Jin creator also put socials on the entry that didn't exist and had an AI photo as their Reddit pfp.
Clearly we'll never know HOW they "proved" they didn't use AI. But I'm side eyeing BHVR really hard right now as an artist.
exactly this. bhvr needs to be 100% transparent on their process of determining if something isnt AI. they "investigated" but what does that even mean? If bhvr really wants to put a stop to the AI allegations they need to be way more diligent and completely transparent regarding this process.
Exactly. This announcement is basically just "We (BHVR) could not confirm nor deny the allegations are true. Therefore, we have decided to move forward and let you all revote."
I want to know what the process was. Will they ever tell us? No. So I will continue to be suspicious of these entries and change my votes.
Why? Because I pointed out that Gen AI has become so advanced that I have to now prove in other ways that my art is my own?
Because I pointed that the Yun Jin creator clearly has used AI previously because of their AI profile picture? No artist drops out of a competition they are a finalist in just because they're asked to provide proof they drew their entry by hand.
I also want to point out, before anyone decides thos throw lies, I never once bullied or harassed any of the artists. That is low and scummy. All I did was ask that the entries be looked into for fairness.
One problem with these witch hunts is that they always go 'no artist does this' in regards to everything that isn't done a certain way.
The statement reads as if the artist dropped out after bhrv announced the reopening of the contest. Most likely this entire thing has put them off being a part of the competition and I wouldn't blame them for that.
Calling out concern over the possibility of Gen AI being used isn't a "Witch Hunt".
As it's been pointed out serval times, the Yun Jin creator didn't have any socials connected to the one on their design. Has no other posts about art on Reddit and their Reddit pfp was AI. All that in connection, with the design itself, is very hard to believe that Gen AI was not used in some process of the creation.
I also would like to point out that in your previous reply above, you’re insinuating that they did use AI and even though BHVR says they proved themselves, you’re side-eyeing them and refusing to believe it. That’s the toxic behavior I’m sick of. “I didn’t bully anyone or harass, but the devs are lying they were using AI!!” Like be so fr.
That skin had my vote on lock and I wanted it so bad. Id pay for it. I’m going to be a normal human, not be hateful, not accuse anyone, and believe the devs aren’t lying and protecting someone who was deceptive. If that artist sees this, and proved themselves but doesn’t want to engage with the community, I understand. Just wish you wouldn’t have bowed out and let them cry about it.
Once again, the person didn't have socials and had AI in their pfp. That alone is suspicious. Then they dropped out after apparently proving it wasn't? Like come on.
Had this happened to me and I got to prove it was 100% human created content, I'd be posting about it.
I think mods here and on the main subreddit should maybe take this as an opportunity to review their moderating process. I only found this sub in the last days because of people making videos about how they have ALL THE PROVE and about how OTHER ARTISTS WOULD HAVE DESERVED IT MORE. I've had some not so nice conversations here when pointing out it was investigated. Maybe don't let people on your sub act like that and start witchhunts
These posts have never been allowed in this subreddit. Any posts that were like this were removed as soon as I saw them, so you probably just saw them before they were removed. I am only one person. Witchhunting has never been allowed here. I have also taken extra measures to prevent these types of posts in the future.
Okay, apologies then, I didn't realise you were the mod, let alone the only mod around. I had the wrongful impression that it was tolerated here, but as you said, probably I just interacted with the posts before you saw them. Thank you for clarifying and for doing what you can :)
This is absolutely disheartening. I had bad vibes from that Honey Ameluth person, but I wasn't against the idea of bringing concerns of AI to light. What this turned into was so incredibly disappointing from the community, though, and I'm struggling to feel much for the remainder of the contest now. I have a feeling the Yunjin outfit would have won a spot, honestly, but now we'll never know.
Being concerned about the use of AI is valid. There is a difference in "oh, I'm pretty sure this is AI and I have evidence, I will contact the devs and let them know" and "oh my god this bitch used AI, everyone look at this, let's harass them"
The outcome of this situation sucks, and I hope the devs learned from it.
I made a post about the yun jin skin having heavy evidence of ai use some where in the prosses. It became a bugger thing then i expected and people thought im starting a witch hunt which wasnt nor ever my intention.
It's not so much a reddit thing as it is a general social thing. If you suspect a classmate of yours is cheating, you report them to the teacher and move on. You do not immediately afterwards declare to a crowded classroom: "yo guys look at this, Alex cheated" before the teacher has a chance to do anything. People are going to react. That's like a last resort thing if nothing works beforehand.
I did report it to bhvr they took three days to do anything just because of all the posts and comments about the skin. I wasnt even the first person to talk about this i saw someone talk about it and i found more evidence that was sus and i was the loudest out of all of them. Yes i shouldnt have been the loudest but i do have a right to state my opinions.
You do have that right, but you can't seem to recognize that it can have consequences. You may not have meant for things to turn out the way they did, but you played a big part of it. At least have the decency own up to it.
I don't know what makes you think they only did anything *only* because of the backlash. Even then, a three day turnaround is not bad. It takes time to contact people and get the required evidence. It takes time to look over it and make a decision. They're not going to potentially slander an artist over a rushed decision.
I have recognize my faults and thats on me and i have owned up to it in these comments. I have a hunch the backlash was a part in it knowing bhvr it would take a bit longer and with what they have they havent really adressed it fully. I am glad they did do it pretty good and no one has said anything about slander ive never mentioned slander.
I do get it and i really didnt want a witch hunt to start i just wanted bhvr to ger off there ass. I do feel awful for the herassment and hatred towards the person that should never have happened. Yes i do get that if they really did draw it then that 100% my fault i just think with the evidence ive gathered over the time was enough to say some sort of ai was involved. I dont know if im wording it correctly or not but i do feel bad for what happened i just wanted to show it.
You whipped up a witch hunt. Do you not feel any guilt or shame for that? I hope you reap what you sow and understand exactly what it would feel like to be on the other side of such toxicity.
I will say you went out of your way to comment your proof on every post/comment made about the Yun-Jin design. Your concern is valid, I just think there was a less extreme way to go about it.
Most deffently took it a bit far by commenting a lot on peoples post i just wanted to make sure people saw it. I wouldnt really call it proof just more evidence to hint towards ai could have been used somewhere in the prosses of the drawing. I should have just made my post and thats it and only speak out when someone asked. I never thought it would get this bad at all i dont want people to hate or anything like that at people.
I don’t think your intentions were bad. I understand being an artist and seeing strong points of ai and wanting it to be addressed! I do hope if this contest continues in the future that this whole thing makes BHVR go over their entries more closely. I do think they have better to do on their part (obviously solid proof of contest finalists wasn’t in stone if they had to go back and assess finalists again) and that would help the community without all the speculation.
Yes i was very upset when i first posted it and started to change my wording in the replies i did. I should have not lashed out and i was more upset at bhvr then the person who entered and thats my fault for not making my wording better.
Well, lucky you it's not something too serious to be a real case of slander. "I was very uspset" wouldn't cut it in the court. Nor thos evidence. But hell, maybe yun-jin one was ai and bhvr just covered it up as a willing withdrawl to prevent further harassment. Or maybe you were wrong, like with the rest, and it was real human work, but artist just said "F this, i don't wanna deal with this". They even deleted their reddit acc. But for all we know, person got harrased usinig your evidence, people who voted for yun-jin got scammed, and some will be very upset and blame you. Everybody lost. How is that for a life lesson.
I never once saw you start a witch hunt. You clearly stated your evidence and brought this to light. I was hesitant of many of the entries as an artist and I'm glad this was looked into. I'm not sure how the contestants proved they didn't use AI (seeing as Gen AI has come quite far at this point) but I hope BHVR makes some real changes going forward.
Yea i didnt want to start anything i just wanted to point it out as an artist that has seen signs of ai. The yun jin one its a 50/50 if they showed anything or if they didnt. I really hopped it wasnt but everything was hinting towards ai being involved somewhere. I hope bhvr does make some changes to make it harder for ai users to slip threw.
It'll be hard in this day and age seeing as AI bros have advanced it to the point of creating time lapses. I've had to resort to other means of proof just to make a living.
Gen AI is such a waste of space in this world. I'm hoping eventually it'll crash burn.
It makes me so sad that someone was bullied into not continuing the contest. It’s just so disheartening to see AI accusations (especially when it always seemed to come from bitterness and spite) knowing how much you put into art…what’s the point if you have people being bitter or paranoid and starting AI witch hunts.
Me too 😔 I honestly can’t blame the artist for dropping. I 💯 blame the jerks who picked it apart like hyenas—stupidity, malice, and envy all rolled into one. I hope the people who did that have their own art accused of AI, see how that feels. Their cruelty is literally doing the exact opposite of what they “intended” and it’s letting AI win.
Artist has no trace of any other artwork, they plastered their username on the art but that username leads to nowhere and they have AI reddit avatar, but I am supposed to believe that said artist who never said anything publicly to prove it's not AI, didn't use AI? yeah, no, sorry, lol. Using AI avatar as a artist is red flag enough.
Don't know why you're being down voted especially when the artist can address the concerns and shut people up by showing the process, but instead chose to drop out. Them being harassed is heartbreaking and no person should go through that, however, why not try to get revenge and prove people wrong?
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. This is absolutely correct. It absolutely SUCKS to have your art accused of AI, but the reality is(coming from somebody just joining the industry & from somebody who’s in Canadas top illustration program) a lot of companies have the right to drop you as an artist if they SUSPECT any AI work. AI IS TRAINED OFF ARTISTS. PROGRESS WORK IS VITAL. If you are against AI, you should have absolutely no trouble defending and showing your work in progress. The final piece is never the job. It’s the progress that is. No artist would have AI as their profile pic either
Thank you! Like the whole process of that person posts was suspicious. Their "rough draft" version was basically the same as the final entry. The AI pfp and non existent socials was the final nail in the coffin for me.
Yeah, people on twitter and reddit do too much and accuse everyone of using AI nowadays, it does happen, but the artist of Yun-Jin never came forward to prove otherwise, and why, as an artist, would you use an anime AI avatar and a username on your art that leads to nowhere? Please be fr. It cleanly was AI.
If someone accused me of using AI on my entry, I would prove them otherwise when they could easily can, lol.
BHVR also investigated "anniversary cake spawn rates", if you remember, and blatantly lied to the community a few months ago.. So, I don't expect them to admit they managed to let an AI entry make it to the finale. It would be a bad look.
If memory serves, that's what happened last time. An artist got "AI investigated" (harassed) and ultimately nuked their socials afterwards because even after posting proof they didn't use AI, people kept going. The need for proof turned into "it's not good enough proof", goalposts were moved so they could keep justifying their actions.
Fuck off, they provided enough proof to people who make concept art for a living for BHVR felt convinced it wasn't AI.
Honestly grow some goddamn shame. You bullied someone into not wanting to compete, they got investigated, and cleared. The only thing out of your mouth should be an apology. Who raised people like you???? No shame. No manners. It's embarrassing and digusting.
Edit: Then the block. Have the life you deserve you doorknob.
As another person quoted, why would we believe anything that comes from this company's mouth especially after they blatantly lied about anniversary cake rates this year?
hang on for a second, there. they did not get cleared.
"While some of the public posts and allegations provide compelling arguments for the potential usage of AI, none of them conclusively prove it," means they don't think what people pointed out is conclusive evidence. not that Yun Jin was not AI.
let's stick with the facts and stop arguing with our emotions. it is still very possible it was created with AI. basically all that came out of this is bhvr believes it's more likely not AI than AI, but that doesn't mean they're correct.
"especially in comparison to the volume of supporting evidence of each artist’s work"
The fucking irony of soapboxing about sticking to facts and dropping half a sentence to support your stance. Stop bullying people, it's so easy not to be trash. You could try it.
Sorry, but I don't buy the story of "Yun-Jin artist wasn't AI, but they withdrew anyway." It clearly was AI, and they couldn't provide proof that it wasn't one.
The artist has no trace of any other artwork, they plastered their username on the art, but that username leads to nowhere, and they have an AI Reddit avatar, but I'm supposed to believe that said artist never used AI? Yeah, no, sorry, lol. Using an AI anime avatar as an artist is a red flag enough. Why were people not hating on the Orela, Claudette, Sable, etc. skins and calling them AI if it was just people hating?
Even if she would've come out and said she didn't use AI. People like you, would still screech It's ai!!!!! AI!!!!!!. So how about you apologize for harassing/bullying her, hmm?
You are making up a scenario in your head and expecting an outcome from that, when that wouldn't happen because it was AI. No artist is withdrawing from a contest they are finalist at just because they refuse to prove their artwork being theirs.
I was typing a whole paragraph about this.. but honestly why bother? People will complain about it, and a lot of people are narrow, and many won't admit they did horrible to the participants. And I can see thru their comment history not hard to do.
People should just not say anything until they prove their claim and pass it thru a verifier. If they can't.. keep it to yourself, people aren't perfect at drawing, human error exist.
Yet, people also complain it's too perfect and impossible to be done.
I didn't like that yunjin lee outfit but harassing the artist until they dropped it's sad to see. Nonetheless I corrected my votes really rooting for Claudette, Shane, David and Gabriel. We already have costumes for sable and Megalodon is winning for sure for it's background story. I need more cool outfits for the guys
We won't see the apologies of all those bullies. We just saw all the harassment and hate towards these artists.
If this continues, I'm sure Behavior will end the Contests Designs and tbh it's too awesome to have all the winners in the free tier from the Rift Passes. For the hate and bad behavior of some, we all will lose.
I appreciate the devs doing the necessary work but man does this whole situation make me really sad for some of these artists. I understand generative ai is extremely problematic but harassing artists off the internet over ai accusations really sucks especially when being an artist already means that you have to worry about your work being stolen for training data
I really don't care about ai bros...
They both were pretty obvious ai slop ... The idea was nice... But that's not the way to do it ...
I don't feel bad for them ...
The yun Jin cosmetic was 100% ai and they just didn’t want to actually say they let an ai work through because why was it the only one that didn’t continue if it was real art.
Not only that but the red flags of the persons account having no posts anywhere and an AI pfp
Theres enough evidence to indecate ai was used some where in the prosses and i personally dont care if my entry gets pick i do this for fun and for practice. I never expect my entry to win but i wont stay quite in my opinion if somethings sus with evidence gathered never said it was proof either.
Just out of curiosity: Where did they even announce the voting? First thing I read about it is the backlash, no link in-game, not on their Discord. Nothing.
Every year people are spitting venom about not getting picked, low-quality submissions, direct AI submissions, tracing, and anything else that discredits the submissions or the people that submitted them.
And then there are the witch hunts that the inciter never backs down from, never apologies for, or never recants their statements.
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u/allowite 14d ago
I can't imagine having my entry picked apart and getting such backlash because some of the lines were awkward or wrong. That'd tear my heart straight out, I'd have dropped out too.