Round One - Challenge One - Results
Everyone did a wonderful job this week! ♥
OVERALL WINNER: lufiamanaelf
A lovely balance of compositional and coloring elements that produce a delicate image to fit the main figure.
GUNSHOU's CHOICE: twisted_fruitie
Excellent and creative use of textures and a coloring of which I'm jealous.
RUSALKATRIX' CHOICE: becbet
A badass image with cool but simple coloring.
PEOPLE'S CHOICE: anniereckless
The people have spoken!
COMMENTARY:
lufiamanaelf
GUNSHOU SAYS: This is a gorgeous icon, except I have no idea what it's supposed to be. I'm guessing it's hair that obscures the face there, but it makes it really hard for me to find a focus in the image. However, if you'd flipped it, you wouldn't have gotten the pretty effect of the scarf fluttering down. The texture work is wonderful, and the whole thing is colored like a vintage print. The font makes it look Medieval, and blends perfectly. The disappearing border helps offset the figure and adds to the idea that this is an illustration in a tome preserved from the Middle Ages.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: I think this icon is really lovely. Without the text, I would have trouble knowing what I was looking at--but "Maiden" makes it clear. (Especially since it's level with her chest.) The coloring is soft, subtle, and beautiful--and I agree that it looks like a Medieval illustrated text. Really great use of texture. Um . . . I have no suggestions, unfortunately. So pretty!
margyydoodle
GUNSHOU SAYS: I heart "One More Time" and the accompanying video, so I'm a fan of the subject matter. The darkness of the textures is a nice foreshadowing of Stella's fate...if you know the story. Otherwise, it just seems far too dark for the bright image of a girl picking wildflowers. The flowers themselves are overbrightened/sharpened, so that they turn into a formless swath of bright pixels. The text is a little awkward, trailing off the edge there. But the blues in the background are brilliant and came out lovely.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: You've done a great job of capturing emotion in this icon. I'm not familiar with the source matter, but I think that the dark colors lend to the introspective feel. (They seem a bit too dark, however, on the right side of the icon; it might benefit from some brightening.) I'll admit that I didn't know those were flowers in the picture. So maybe tone *down* the brightness there.
incubloss
GUNSHOU SAYS: I'm kind of creeped out by the image, but the colors are spectacular and the crop is well-positioned. I feel like more could have been done to boost the colors of the masks and make them stand out more. Maybe an overlay or judicious use of curves. The text has a stroke to make it stand out, but it's distracting and actually helps it to blend better because of the light texture. I think a outside glow may have been a better option there. I like the text, though, having done a bit of theater way back in the day. ^.^
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: Ooh, very interesting and creepy. I like the coloring--it makes the hat portion of the masks look like the snakes in Medusa's hair, which just adds to the theatricality. The main adjustment I would make is to eliminate the stroke around the text. The font itself is kind of thin, so the stroke almost overtakes it; I find myself focusing on that & being distracted from the words.
becbet
GUNSHOU SAYS: I love this style of coloring manga, and I wish I were better at it myself. The crop is edgy, and the splash of orange on the right pulls the focus across and balances the bright blues on the left. The text blends into the shadows, making it more of a structural element than a decorative one (as well as being that bit too small for my poor old eyes to read ^.^). I'm not sure about the blank bar at the top. It seems to just hang there (the edge of the frame, I'm guessing). Coloring it the same as the shadows or adding a patterned texture might make it less awkward. Or cutting it out altogether - icons don't have to be square.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: Great crop and I love the colors. They're simple, and you only use a few of them, but they pack a lot of visual punch. I like the look of the text (although the top line looks a little wiggly), & I don't mind the blank bar at the top--I think it balances the icon, since there's a lot of black in it already. Still, it might be worth trying a black bar, just to see how it turns out. The added darkness might look really good, since you've already got some dark text going on.
snm_queen
GUNSHOU SAYS: I have absolutely no idea what is going on in this image, sort of like that funky one you had that I thought was a chicken on a cornucopia. ^.~ I like the simple black frame to balance the bright colors, and the light texture over it to soften the edges, but I really have to work to see the girl on her side, and that's only because I know it's an Amano image and so I can distinguish his particular style in the art. I think maybe the light textures obscure the image a little too much, because I normally don't have so much trouble with rotated images!
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: The bright colors against the black frame are really striking, and I think that they're a great combination. But the brightness and the light texture(s) obscure the detail a bit. I can see the girl on her side just fine, but I still feel like I'm missing something. There's a lot going on in the original image, and I'd love to be able to see it more clearly. Toning down the light textures or the saturation would help with that, I think.
anniereckless
GUNSHOU SAYS: I have a difficult time with scenery, because it's hard to improve on Mother Nature's coloring. This icon seems oversaturated and a bit unnatural to me (although it could really be a monitor issue). The mountains in the back are so sharp, they immediately catch my eye, instead of the lovely colors of the grasses in the foreground. The black bar on the side adds a nice contrast and border to the image, slightly blurred so it's not a distraction. The tiny text adds texture to match the grasses, which is a nice detail for the eye.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: Really pretty, rich coloring, and a great image choice. It doesn't strike me as oversaturated, but I think the mountains are a bit too sharp--they have a slightly jagged look to them. I like that the black bar on the side isn't straight up and down--it's a nice contrast to the rest of the image.
helgarr
GUNSHOU SAYS: I really like this image (as apparently you do too, judging by your layout ^.^). The roses are bright and lovely, but Valerie seems sort of lost in shadow. A soft color texture on her side may help brighten her up without taking focus off the roses. It's so hard to get nice coloring on real people without making them look like aliens, but this one is subtle and pretty.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: I like this crop and the soft coloring, especially the roses. I'd love to see the woman's face brought out more--maybe with a soft light layer or some brightness/contrast? Not a lot--I'd just like to be able to see her better.
twisted_fruitie
GUNSHOU SAYS: Double the Cid is double the fun! I love the use of textures in the background and for accents - the sky blue is perfect for my favorite airship pilot. And I really wish I could achieve that matte coloring, which looks so retro. The "time to get high" text is great, but I'm not sure about the "Cid" on top of it. I thought it was just scribble at first, and I couldn't read the other text beneath. Maybe the "Cid" should be a lighter color, or faded a bit more, to keep the focus on the readable text.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: I love the wordplay and the drug humor in this icon. ^^ The bright blue flower texture and the dual-image of Cid add to the trippy atmosphere, and his expression is kind of stern and funny at the same time. My one suggestion involves the text: "Cid" overlaps & obscures the main caption, which is what we really want to see. I think moving "Cid" up a little would eliminate that problem. Fading it a bit or using a lighter color would also help to keep the focus on "time to get high."
OVERALL WINNER: tartankilts
Pretty, muted coloring to complement the plaids and golds, with an interesting twist to the framed-picture technique.
PEOPLE'S CHOICE: irisxchan
The people have spoken!
No individual MCs so as not to leave anyone out in the cold.
COMMENTARY:
irisxchan
GUNSHOU SAYS: I like this style as being simple, but interesting to look at. The offset is balanced by the decorative brushwork (although the scroll is a little too blurry for the sharpness of the tiny text). The coloring is off though: the red of her hair in the left image is quite different from in the right. It disjoints the images and pulls the focus toward the brighter one - which is the one more cut off - which makes my gaze bounce back and forth trying to figure out the color balance. I think desaturating the left image might provide a better contrast and give the eye a single focal point.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: The image on the left is both pretty & expressive, and I like the use of the light texture to soften it. I think you did a nice job incorporating black space into your icon, which can sometimes be difficult to work with. I definitely prefer the coloring on the left, though--the pic of Ariel on the right looks oversaturated in comparison. It doesn't suit her expression as well.
dagas_isa
GUNSHOU SAYS: This looks like a neat picture. I love the text in relation to the image: the dreaming person on a couch in the sea, which is itself a dream. But the image is far too bright, which wipes out the person's face altogether, and loses a lot of the gorgeous blue in the water. Maybe soft light texture would have worked better than overall brightening to highlight the image without losing so much detail. A warm pinkish gradient set on soft light may also add a dreamy quality.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: The caption and the image are a perfect match, and it's definitely interesting to look at--but the white space framing the image, combined with the bright white flare in the corner, makes the icon look a bit stark. Lowering the brightness/contrast or adding some color might get you closer to a dreamy atmosphere.
crazykeira
GUNSHOU SAYS: I like the cute pose, and the red background is nice and sensuous. There are a few coloring tricks you could have used to brighten Fergie up a bit (and she could stand a pass with the Unsharp Mask filter). Perhaps some careful coloring boosts to brighten her lips and hair; try setting a copy of the image to soft light or overlay and play with the opacity to see how the colors get brought out. The text "Tease" is fine, but the "Fergie" behind it is distracting and draws the eye away from the image.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: Mmm, great image! She looks sexy here--the caption "Tease" definitely suits her, and I love the red background. But I definitely think that brightening her up & maybe sharpening her a bit (*just* a little bit) would improve things. Also, the text that says "Fergie" is unnecessary, IMO. "Tease" packs all the impact you need. ^^
tartankilts
GUNSHOU SAYS: This icon has a neat vintage look, and I like the muted coloring. The plaid and gold frame is excellent to contain and highlight the image, and the texture in the background adds color without clashing with the bright plaids. The tiny text is a nice way to add a decorative touch to some empty space, but I think if it were flipped so the flat edge aligned with the border and it trailed off over their heads, it wouldn't look quite so distracting.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: Fine art icons can be tricky, but you've done a lovely job with this one. The frame and the plaid scarf (?) accent the painting perfectly, and the coloring really suits the image. The tiny text is a tad distracting, though--I think because it's so close to the woman's head. I think moving it up slightly (or maybe decreasing the opacity) would help with that.
seraphic_muse
GUNSHOU SAYS: I love the crop for this. The focus is on the smooth line of Lulu's neck, and I even like the blue Blob of Doom highlighting her breast - it draws the eye and gives the crop some definition. I find the coloring to be too stark, although it fits the sentiment expressed by the text. Her hair disappears, leaving three random dots (her hairpins?), which would confuse the image for someone who doesn't recognize the screencap. The text itself is cut off on the right, which is distracting; a smaller font would have worked better.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: I really love the crop and the blue light texture--it has a cool, soft look that nicely accents all of that bare flesh. ^.~ I do think it could be improved if there was a bit more definition between the main image and the background. Not a lot--just a slight color difference to make her hair stand out more. And making the font smaller would better integrate the text with the image, IMO. The word choice is very appropriate for the image.
Note: This week was non-elimination, but three people did not submit. They also did not contact the mods ahead of time, so they have been eliminated from the competition. tamswitter and jameva, you are welcome to sign up for Round 2! (Um, whenever we post the next signup, that is. ^^) We hope you'll stick around! stolentruths, apparently you never joined the comm. I apologize for the oversight, but that's an automatic DQ.
The next challenge will be posted soon. Please be on the lookout for it, as the rules will be slightly different this week!
OVERALL WINNER: lufiamanaelf
A lovely balance of compositional and coloring elements that produce a delicate image to fit the main figure.
GUNSHOU's CHOICE: twisted_fruitie
Excellent and creative use of textures and a coloring of which I'm jealous.
RUSALKATRIX' CHOICE: becbet
A badass image with cool but simple coloring.
PEOPLE'S CHOICE: anniereckless
The people have spoken!
COMMENTARY:
lufiamanaelf
GUNSHOU SAYS: This is a gorgeous icon, except I have no idea what it's supposed to be. I'm guessing it's hair that obscures the face there, but it makes it really hard for me to find a focus in the image. However, if you'd flipped it, you wouldn't have gotten the pretty effect of the scarf fluttering down. The texture work is wonderful, and the whole thing is colored like a vintage print. The font makes it look Medieval, and blends perfectly. The disappearing border helps offset the figure and adds to the idea that this is an illustration in a tome preserved from the Middle Ages.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: I think this icon is really lovely. Without the text, I would have trouble knowing what I was looking at--but "Maiden" makes it clear. (Especially since it's level with her chest.) The coloring is soft, subtle, and beautiful--and I agree that it looks like a Medieval illustrated text. Really great use of texture. Um . . . I have no suggestions, unfortunately. So pretty!
margyydoodle
GUNSHOU SAYS: I heart "One More Time" and the accompanying video, so I'm a fan of the subject matter. The darkness of the textures is a nice foreshadowing of Stella's fate...if you know the story. Otherwise, it just seems far too dark for the bright image of a girl picking wildflowers. The flowers themselves are overbrightened/sharpened, so that they turn into a formless swath of bright pixels. The text is a little awkward, trailing off the edge there. But the blues in the background are brilliant and came out lovely.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: You've done a great job of capturing emotion in this icon. I'm not familiar with the source matter, but I think that the dark colors lend to the introspective feel. (They seem a bit too dark, however, on the right side of the icon; it might benefit from some brightening.) I'll admit that I didn't know those were flowers in the picture. So maybe tone *down* the brightness there.
incubloss
GUNSHOU SAYS: I'm kind of creeped out by the image, but the colors are spectacular and the crop is well-positioned. I feel like more could have been done to boost the colors of the masks and make them stand out more. Maybe an overlay or judicious use of curves. The text has a stroke to make it stand out, but it's distracting and actually helps it to blend better because of the light texture. I think a outside glow may have been a better option there. I like the text, though, having done a bit of theater way back in the day. ^.^
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: Ooh, very interesting and creepy. I like the coloring--it makes the hat portion of the masks look like the snakes in Medusa's hair, which just adds to the theatricality. The main adjustment I would make is to eliminate the stroke around the text. The font itself is kind of thin, so the stroke almost overtakes it; I find myself focusing on that & being distracted from the words.
becbet
GUNSHOU SAYS: I love this style of coloring manga, and I wish I were better at it myself. The crop is edgy, and the splash of orange on the right pulls the focus across and balances the bright blues on the left. The text blends into the shadows, making it more of a structural element than a decorative one (as well as being that bit too small for my poor old eyes to read ^.^). I'm not sure about the blank bar at the top. It seems to just hang there (the edge of the frame, I'm guessing). Coloring it the same as the shadows or adding a patterned texture might make it less awkward. Or cutting it out altogether - icons don't have to be square.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: Great crop and I love the colors. They're simple, and you only use a few of them, but they pack a lot of visual punch. I like the look of the text (although the top line looks a little wiggly), & I don't mind the blank bar at the top--I think it balances the icon, since there's a lot of black in it already. Still, it might be worth trying a black bar, just to see how it turns out. The added darkness might look really good, since you've already got some dark text going on.
snm_queen
GUNSHOU SAYS: I have absolutely no idea what is going on in this image, sort of like that funky one you had that I thought was a chicken on a cornucopia. ^.~ I like the simple black frame to balance the bright colors, and the light texture over it to soften the edges, but I really have to work to see the girl on her side, and that's only because I know it's an Amano image and so I can distinguish his particular style in the art. I think maybe the light textures obscure the image a little too much, because I normally don't have so much trouble with rotated images!
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: The bright colors against the black frame are really striking, and I think that they're a great combination. But the brightness and the light texture(s) obscure the detail a bit. I can see the girl on her side just fine, but I still feel like I'm missing something. There's a lot going on in the original image, and I'd love to be able to see it more clearly. Toning down the light textures or the saturation would help with that, I think.
anniereckless
GUNSHOU SAYS: I have a difficult time with scenery, because it's hard to improve on Mother Nature's coloring. This icon seems oversaturated and a bit unnatural to me (although it could really be a monitor issue). The mountains in the back are so sharp, they immediately catch my eye, instead of the lovely colors of the grasses in the foreground. The black bar on the side adds a nice contrast and border to the image, slightly blurred so it's not a distraction. The tiny text adds texture to match the grasses, which is a nice detail for the eye.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: Really pretty, rich coloring, and a great image choice. It doesn't strike me as oversaturated, but I think the mountains are a bit too sharp--they have a slightly jagged look to them. I like that the black bar on the side isn't straight up and down--it's a nice contrast to the rest of the image.
helgarr
GUNSHOU SAYS: I really like this image (as apparently you do too, judging by your layout ^.^). The roses are bright and lovely, but Valerie seems sort of lost in shadow. A soft color texture on her side may help brighten her up without taking focus off the roses. It's so hard to get nice coloring on real people without making them look like aliens, but this one is subtle and pretty.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: I like this crop and the soft coloring, especially the roses. I'd love to see the woman's face brought out more--maybe with a soft light layer or some brightness/contrast? Not a lot--I'd just like to be able to see her better.
twisted_fruitie
GUNSHOU SAYS: Double the Cid is double the fun! I love the use of textures in the background and for accents - the sky blue is perfect for my favorite airship pilot. And I really wish I could achieve that matte coloring, which looks so retro. The "time to get high" text is great, but I'm not sure about the "Cid" on top of it. I thought it was just scribble at first, and I couldn't read the other text beneath. Maybe the "Cid" should be a lighter color, or faded a bit more, to keep the focus on the readable text.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: I love the wordplay and the drug humor in this icon. ^^ The bright blue flower texture and the dual-image of Cid add to the trippy atmosphere, and his expression is kind of stern and funny at the same time. My one suggestion involves the text: "Cid" overlaps & obscures the main caption, which is what we really want to see. I think moving "Cid" up a little would eliminate that problem. Fading it a bit or using a lighter color would also help to keep the focus on "time to get high."
OVERALL WINNER: tartankilts
Pretty, muted coloring to complement the plaids and golds, with an interesting twist to the framed-picture technique.
PEOPLE'S CHOICE: irisxchan
The people have spoken!
No individual MCs so as not to leave anyone out in the cold.
COMMENTARY:
irisxchan
GUNSHOU SAYS: I like this style as being simple, but interesting to look at. The offset is balanced by the decorative brushwork (although the scroll is a little too blurry for the sharpness of the tiny text). The coloring is off though: the red of her hair in the left image is quite different from in the right. It disjoints the images and pulls the focus toward the brighter one - which is the one more cut off - which makes my gaze bounce back and forth trying to figure out the color balance. I think desaturating the left image might provide a better contrast and give the eye a single focal point.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: The image on the left is both pretty & expressive, and I like the use of the light texture to soften it. I think you did a nice job incorporating black space into your icon, which can sometimes be difficult to work with. I definitely prefer the coloring on the left, though--the pic of Ariel on the right looks oversaturated in comparison. It doesn't suit her expression as well.
dagas_isa
GUNSHOU SAYS: This looks like a neat picture. I love the text in relation to the image: the dreaming person on a couch in the sea, which is itself a dream. But the image is far too bright, which wipes out the person's face altogether, and loses a lot of the gorgeous blue in the water. Maybe soft light texture would have worked better than overall brightening to highlight the image without losing so much detail. A warm pinkish gradient set on soft light may also add a dreamy quality.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: The caption and the image are a perfect match, and it's definitely interesting to look at--but the white space framing the image, combined with the bright white flare in the corner, makes the icon look a bit stark. Lowering the brightness/contrast or adding some color might get you closer to a dreamy atmosphere.
crazykeira
GUNSHOU SAYS: I like the cute pose, and the red background is nice and sensuous. There are a few coloring tricks you could have used to brighten Fergie up a bit (and she could stand a pass with the Unsharp Mask filter). Perhaps some careful coloring boosts to brighten her lips and hair; try setting a copy of the image to soft light or overlay and play with the opacity to see how the colors get brought out. The text "Tease" is fine, but the "Fergie" behind it is distracting and draws the eye away from the image.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: Mmm, great image! She looks sexy here--the caption "Tease" definitely suits her, and I love the red background. But I definitely think that brightening her up & maybe sharpening her a bit (*just* a little bit) would improve things. Also, the text that says "Fergie" is unnecessary, IMO. "Tease" packs all the impact you need. ^^
tartankilts
GUNSHOU SAYS: This icon has a neat vintage look, and I like the muted coloring. The plaid and gold frame is excellent to contain and highlight the image, and the texture in the background adds color without clashing with the bright plaids. The tiny text is a nice way to add a decorative touch to some empty space, but I think if it were flipped so the flat edge aligned with the border and it trailed off over their heads, it wouldn't look quite so distracting.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: Fine art icons can be tricky, but you've done a lovely job with this one. The frame and the plaid scarf (?) accent the painting perfectly, and the coloring really suits the image. The tiny text is a tad distracting, though--I think because it's so close to the woman's head. I think moving it up slightly (or maybe decreasing the opacity) would help with that.
seraphic_muse
GUNSHOU SAYS: I love the crop for this. The focus is on the smooth line of Lulu's neck, and I even like the blue Blob of Doom highlighting her breast - it draws the eye and gives the crop some definition. I find the coloring to be too stark, although it fits the sentiment expressed by the text. Her hair disappears, leaving three random dots (her hairpins?), which would confuse the image for someone who doesn't recognize the screencap. The text itself is cut off on the right, which is distracting; a smaller font would have worked better.
RUSALKATRIX SAYS: I really love the crop and the blue light texture--it has a cool, soft look that nicely accents all of that bare flesh. ^.~ I do think it could be improved if there was a bit more definition between the main image and the background. Not a lot--just a slight color difference to make her hair stand out more. And making the font smaller would better integrate the text with the image, IMO. The word choice is very appropriate for the image.
Note: This week was non-elimination, but three people did not submit. They also did not contact the mods ahead of time, so they have been eliminated from the competition. tamswitter and jameva, you are welcome to sign up for Round 2! (Um, whenever we post the next signup, that is. ^^) We hope you'll stick around! stolentruths, apparently you never joined the comm. I apologize for the oversight, but that's an automatic DQ.
The next challenge will be posted soon. Please be on the lookout for it, as the rules will be slightly different this week!