SOTM 2009 - February (Dancing) - Entry Thread
 

The Signature Of The Month contest is open to all members of the Animesuki Forums. The goal of the contest is to provide a fun and competitive way of showing off and improving the signatures and personal skills of contestants. The winner of each months contest is given the privilege of choosing the theme for the next month.

The contest begins on the first of each month and consists of roughly two weeks of entry creation/submission, one week of voting, and one week off. The entry and voting periods may be extended or shortened slightly as needed.

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Each month prospective contestants are given a theme to base their entries on. This theme is decided by the winner of the previous contest. The theme can be anything, as long as it does not break forum rules regarding inappropriate material. At the end of the month, voters choose which entries they liked best out of all submitted entries and a new winner is decided. Themes cannot be used twice in a row.

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1. Contestants are allowed to create, work on, and submit their entry from the start of the contest until two weeks from the start date. This period of time is specified by the organizer every month. Once the entry period expires, all submitted entries are gathered up and sent to the Voting Thread.

2. Contestants must submit original works. This means you cannot simply cut a picture out, slap your name on it, and call it your own. Claiming someone else's work as your own is also not allowed. Anyone caught doing this will have their entries removed from the contest.

To further expand on this rule:

2A. Unless proven otherwise, all entries made by contestants are derivatives of works made by someone else. Thus, no claim of "ownership" shall be made in reference to the image(s) used in the signature entry.

2B. Misrepresenting someone else's signature work for your own is prohibited and will result in an immediate expulsion of the entry and disqualify the contestant from the current month's contest.

2C. In the spirit of originality, "crop" sigs are frowned upon, but not discouraged; however, the contest organizer can call upon all contestants to show the source of their entry(ies) at any time.

2D. Also in the spirit of originality, new signatures are encouraged. However, if you feel one of your older signatures is perfect for the theme and wish to enter it, you may. Just remember that the signature still has to follow the rules stated above.

3. Contestants are allowed to create as many entries as they wish, but are only allowed to enter one. To submit an entry officially, the contestant must mark the post in the Offical Entry Thread containing that entry with the words "Final Entry", or they can submit the signature to the contest organizer using the private message function.

4. Contestants who wish to keep their entries private until after the submission period can private message the contest organizer with their entry. The entry will not be displayed until submissions are closed, unless the contestant displays that entry publicly.

5. Entries must comply with Animesuki rules regarding signature size. This means each entry can be no larger than 500 x 160, and must be less than 50,000 bytes. They must also comply with forum decency rules. If you think your entry will be offensive or reported to the moderators, don't post it, even as a joke.

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Every month, a new entry thread is created. Each month's entry thread is a central spot meant to give contestants a chance to create and improve their entries as well as their skills, in addition to providing them a place to post their official submissions.

The thread is solely about helping contestants with entries, and as such these things will not be tolerated:

1. Nonconstructive and negative criticism (if you truly dislike something about an entry, be polite and helpful)

2. Comments, questions, or complaints about General SOTM affairs

3. Flaming, trolling, and other uncivil behavior that breaks Forum Rules

Anyone disrupting the thread will be asked to take it privately, to the SOTM Generic Discussion Thread, or if the offense is severe enough - reported to the moderators.

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This months entry period officially starts Sunday, February 1st, 2009 and lasts until Friday, February 20th, 2009. Entries will be gathered and put up for voting on Sunday, February 22nd, 2009. Voting will end on the following Sunday.

The due date ends at 11:59 (midnight basically) UTC/GMT. The polling will be up one day later after 11:59 (again, midnight). I will try to be as lenient as I can with last minute submissions but only slightly.

It is up to you as a contestant to know what your time zone is in relation to UTC/GMT. I cannot do this for you.

Here is a site that can help you figure that out: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/convert_time_in_UTC.aspx

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**Reserved**

Using this sig as a stand-in until I'm able to find time to go render hunting ^^
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/3...xjulietoc9.jpg
May also use the same render, just redo the sig~

Looks like an interesting and fairly easy theme imo Ill try to get some free time to see what i can come up with.

I will be very busy this month.. I can spare some times for my collecting duty, but I probably wont be around playing in this thread much :(

Dancing? Why not a Valentine theme since its february??

Good theme though.

On a random note... why the banner still says SOTM 2008? O_o...

Understood. I'm also finding myself short of free time lately. :(

Dunno. So far no one has picked a Holiday theme when the appropriate month came around. I won't object to you making a Valentines signature, just so long as it includes dancing. ^^

It says that because I keep forgetting about the banner until someone reminds me that it's 2009 already. I'll get around to updating it sometime. :heh:

kind of a stand-in probably

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/3...cingsigjh6.jpg

ddr does count right? <<

an experiment sig
http://i41.tinypic.com/15mb4g3.jpg

C&C please

:heh:.... :uhoh:

Well, the sig is really cute and catchs perfectly the theme, but the text is a bit hard to read :?

Hmmmm.... maybe if we remove the lens flare....

Doesn't look much like dancing... still I could be wrong.
Mayabe if you focus more body of the dancers it would catch more the theme ;)

well, this was the stock I usedhttp://i41.tinypic.com/23r4net.jpg
the hands were cut but I've watched this already and they were dancing :heh:
thought it was noticeable that they were dancing, I was wrong
maybe I'll find another stock :heh:

Anoo .. I'm confuse about border again :meh: .. which better ???

http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/r...aitodance1.png

http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/r...mikudance2.png

http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/r...omikudance.png

C&C ???

I think it looks like dancing. There are many types of dances with that kind of pose while dancing!

at first i didnt see your stock.. maybe you should make the dancer stand out more

I think that the 3rd one's border looks really cool :)

Looks really funny :heh:

Argh, a Ranka sig. You know, even though it's her I'll give you words of praise. Nice idea doing Nyna Nyan Dance :D For one thing, it looks a bit empty though I understand it's a work in progress

Come on tentacles, strangle that wanko!

not sure if this is my final entry yet..
http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/146...stentryia3.jpg

First draft

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/6066/bailecopyls5.jpg

C & C would be apreciated :)

I have a bit of catching up to do, since I've been slacking of for quite some while, so here goes. :D

Seems a bit blurred. I guess you wanted it to have a soft feel to it but maybe a bit too much as it is.

I quite like it. Very energetic.

I quite like it. Lose the text or make it clearer though. Border might help a bit as well. And as for fitting the theme. Dancing was the first thing that came to my mind looking at that so I'd say it's all good in that department.

This one has the best border. Though it's very busy overall. I'd take it a bit easier with the brushes.

Quite like it. Though I prefer your first submission.
(wonders whether entering Sheryl sig would secure KiNA's vote or make him through a tantrum for stealing his waifu) :heh:

Composition doesn't really work. Bottom is cut very awkwardly. It'd be much better if it showed more of the the character in the lower part.

I like it quite a bit. Though the white text is a bit in your face. Tone it down a little and it would work better. Now a bit of an unnecessary eye catcher. Inner border is also a bit on a bright side. And one more minor moan. The brush line going between the ribbons of the girls dress looks somehow silly as it's in the exact same angle. Looks like it cut it in half.

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I have no idea what so ever what to make myself. If I'll go with the idea I have it will probably end up being ambitious but rubbish. :heh:

I understand. I have trouble finding something decent as well. :(

@ escimo .. Vote more likely .. But, my criteria in voting a piece never changed .. The work must be in theme -> beautifully done in my eyes -> static/ animated -> biased point for render used.

Thats why last month I didnt vote, because most peoples fails the 1st criteria IMHO and the leftovers signatures was already obvious distants away from the others .. There's no need for me to strengthen the gap.

Dannboruu have dancing tag.

Thanks for the coments escimo :)

New drafts

Version1.

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/1554/baile1uz2.jpg

Version 2.
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7704/baile2tc6.jpg

C & C as always will be thankfull :*

TBH .. I see 2 lovers about to hug each other more then a pair dancing.. but that just me :D

Tentative WIP ..

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/3...kersotmeg4.gif
Apart from the timing that definitely need tweaking.. anything else? Text bumped the filesize too much... so its out of the question.

Hehe, Jackson. I knew you're gonna make something like that. :p

Ha! Even though the theme is really hard this time, I have (finally) found a picture fully suited for this month's contest! Behold!

:joke:

And I thought space theme was hard. How greatly was I mistaken. Not a single imageboard helps...even things I didn't watch but had dancing included failed. What to do...

Hmm, or should I seriously use the picture above? :heh:

I actually wanted to use this as animated BG .. but died at 500Kb filesize

http://danbooru.donmai.us/data/3258b...6cf80cd49c.jpg

x_x

Oh no, they're dancing, I found the pic on Danbooru under the tag "Dancing"



I'm not a fan of Michael Jackson but the sig is cool :heh:

ergh....

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/2856/...copypd2.th.jpg

Ok kinda happy with the bg (I ventured into using brushes) but I need a way to blend the render better, its just a screen shot that I took the bg out off. Ive been using blur but I still think it looks bad :heh:

Ideas?

Ok, maybe it's time for me to return to sig making xD After all, my exams are over...:p

Yeah its a thumbnail :heh:

Soft brushes, ok I can try that :) The bg is actually a gradient which I layered brushes over it, Ive never used flow though (Im assuming Adobe has it) I might need to look into that. Thanks for the advice.

Flow is a concept. It simply means how well everything attaches from one side of the signature to the other.

For instance (not graphically) a fish swims better when it follows the flow of the river. It's not part of the river, but it blends into the flow of the river. (How's that for metaphorically speaking XD).

If I was were to try to make a light and maybe peaceful sig, I would want alot of smooth flow, but If I was trying to make a more energetic sig I should try to still have flow but break it up a bit to express exageration...

For instance, the direction the two top most layered light brushes you used are going from bottom left to top right. If you were to lightly brush around the render, you could make strokes in the same direction to show a sort of gliding feeling.

EDIT: here is an example of why and how I used a gradient map on my current sig

Im pretty certain Gimp has this sort of thing too, just maybe named differently.

It's amazingly hard to find a good render for this theme, way harder than I expected.

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/3...tmfeb09gh0.jpg

Not completely happy with this one. . .C&C? Also, the text IS still a WIP. Just threw it in for the hell of it.

Yes, its obvious on the original picture see.. but when you transfer it to signature, its kinda lost its dancing effect at first glance.. I dont know if you ever played FF8, but there's one scene very similar to this pose... Which probably influences me, because I love that scene :D

@ Ehko, there's a white border on it (1px tho)

It's kinda... simple, maybe with some light effects, trying to focus the dancers (Try filter, render, lighting effects) Or some brushes to adornate it :)

Hmmm... I don't see tha dance at all, although the efects and border are cool, the render doesn't look like a dancing one.

Try to shrink a bit more the render, to focus it a bit more ;)

I think I understeand your point, maybe I should try to reduce the render, to focus more the "dancing" idea. Thanks for the coments :)

Lol this is turning out to be an interesting sotm theme XD

It blends nicely and gives a good warm feeling :D
but unfortunately you cropped out any part of the render that emphasizes "dancing". Makes nicely for a peaceful sleep or something as it is though :o

Text looks like it could work, just don't make the outer stroke so hard >< it's the only part of the text I see that isn't blending.

:o I couldn't see it on the light post backgrounds, why not make it an inner border so it's more visible? Also, thicker, contrasting borders are eye catching if you wanna try that :D


edit: erm, which sig do you think I should work on, guize? D:

The DDR one or the Ranka one?
The ddr one won't continue as "anime" but it has potential for an energetic feeling. Ranka is also wip but it'll look somewhat generic amongst the rest of the entries im betting ._. I'm too tired to think atm and honestly idk which of the two I should pick to continue for now.
... meh ill just sleep instead for now -_-