AnimeSuki Banner Contest - July 2007 - "Sky"

[NightWish]

Welcome to another...
AnimeSuki Banner Contest
Finally...

Closing Date for Entries:
Friday, July 27^th 2007 at 23:00 (UTC)
~20 days at time of posting...

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Our banner contests always have a theme and in recent times we've given you the option of sticking to it or including our mascot in the entry. You will have the same options this time: as I have hinted before the theme for this contest will be "Sky". In other words, your banner must: convey "sky" to us, contain actual images or elements from anime/manga that relate to the sky in some way, or include depictions of Kairin our mascot.

In the first instance I'm going to ask that everyone submits (up to three) banners using the supplied "day time" gradient¹. In other words, one gradient for all, just as we have in past contests. Some of you may remember I was going to run the contest with different gradients for different times of the day. This idea has not been dropped completely and when you submit your banner(s) I would like you to clearly indicate whether or not you are interested in creating some "extra" banners for other times of the day².

As usual, banners may contain anime artwork from any source, including your own art. They must be anime related and appropriate for our forum though. Feel free to use your imagination, but I will invalidate anything that I think doesn't fit the theme, unless it contains an image of Kairin of course! Hopefully we'll see lots of original artwork of our lovely mascot. Lastly, as NoSanninWa has said in the other contests³:

Many people use fanarts in their banners and while we encourage you to ask the artist for permission many times this is just not possible even with the best googling skills. Consequently we wish all artists to know, if you see a banner that contains your fan-art and you haven’t given prior permission for its submission and would like its removal, please contact us.

If you want to know more about the previous contests, please look them up in the General Chat Thread Index.

Good Luck!

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What happens next?

• Submission Stage
  This will be the longest part of the contest. First, you will need to post your submissions in this thread, which is to be used for entries ONLY. When you do, please indicate if you would be interested in participating in an extended contest where you will need to create a set of banners that with change with the time of day, as described below².
  Note: Any nominations in this thread will be ignored. However, you can (and we suggest you do) discuss with each other which banners you like, what works and what doesn't. You can also discuss the how you might create sets of banners and show samples/ideas.
  
  
• Nomination Stage
  After this thread closes, a new thread will be created in which everyone will nominate their favourite banners. Nominations will run for exactly 7 more days, i.e. until August 3^rd, 2007 UTC at which time the nomination thread will be closed. If there is enough interest, I will open another thread for sets of banners to be posted.
  
  
• Vote Stage
  The 10 most popular banners will be selected from the Nomination Stage and put to a poll. Everyone who joined the forum before the contest started will be eligible to vote. The poll will close on August 10^th, after exactly 7 days of voting.
  Note: Each contestant will only be listed once regardless of how many banners entered. Also, be aware that polls close automatically, so please check the poll for information concerning when it will close in your time-zone.
  
  
• Announcement of the Winners
  The three most popular banners will be put in a priority rotation at the top of our forum. The over-all winner is the entry that received the greatest number of votes and shall, in recognition of the accomplishment, receive a gift worth $50, from me. As noted below, if the "set of banners" idea takes off, we may alter the way banners rotate. If we do, the winning banners from this part of the contest will still be given their due prominence, within the new scheme. The resulting rotation will just be a little slower!
  

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Terms and Conditions

1. All entries must have Kairin or a Sky theme.
2. Banners are 760x100 and a maximum of 60KB in size.
3. Banners must blend into the supplied "day time" gradient¹ as it will form the background of the whole top bar.
4. Entries must be static and in GIF, PNG or JPG format.
   No animations will be accepted in this contest.
5. Each member may submit a maximum of 3 banners.
   If you submit more than three, you must specify which banners are to be used or we shall select the last three posted. Don't confuse me!
6. Members will only have until July 27^th 2007 at 23:00 (UTC) to create banners in this stage.
   You can also check World Time Server or Time Zone Converter to help you work out what time this is near you.
7. We may disqualify any banner deemed to be offensive or inappropriate and as such reserve the right to veto any entry.
8. No staff member will be allowed to win the grand prize.
   If by some stroke of brilliant artistry one of us does win, the prize will go to the first non-staff runner up.
9. All banners submitted shall become property of AnimeSuki and may be used now or in future years without asking your permission.
   

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1 Template Gradient


2 Possible Contest Extension
Some background to this contest, and notes about how the "extra" banner contest will work...
Originally, because the sky has a habit of changing with time, I was going to ask everyone to use four different gradients for this contest: one for dawn, one for day time, one for dusk and one for night time. The idea was to allow us to rearrange how we show the banners. Right now they cycle every few seconds. If you've not noticed it already, refresh the page a few times and you'll see what I mean. Ideally I wanted to have each person submit four banners, all with a common theme or element that changed subtly with each gradient. A scene changing from morning, to day, to evening, and then to night. This would be synced with the local time of the person viewing the forum. However, not everyone will want or be able to create a consistent theme across each of the gradients. Some people have a hard time with just the one, (and creating a number of really good gradients has been hard for me!) To be as inclusive as possible, therefore, I thought about allowing people to post up to two banners for each gradient. Unfortunately, I have been made aware of just how complicated it will be trying to keep track of who votes for which banner and how skewed the entries would be if half the people entered for one gradient and the other half for another. It would simply break down quite quickly if I left the rules that loose... So... I needed to approach it in a different way...

So, I've gone for a simple contest like before with the option of expanding into an extra stage if enough people sign up to the idea. While some sample gradients are linked above, I think I will allow you to suggest your own, for the times of day. If the extended stage happens, only the daytime gradient will be mandated. If I get a good enough response (i.e. lots of people say "yes we want to submit more!"), I will open another thread (during the nomination stage of this contest) in which people can submit banners for at least three other time periods (for a total of four). You will need to submit all or none, either a full set of four+ banners OR don't participate. When the nominations/votes start for the sets, you will be nominating/voting for the whole set, not specific banners in a set. I'm thinking I will allow up to 12 banners with backgrounds of your own design (to let us show a different banner every couple of hours) but no less than 4. This should give a lot of scope for those who want to really show off The details are fuzzy at the moment and will be agreed and finalised if and when enough people (15 or more people) show an interest in such an endeavour... comments/suggestions are welcome.

3 Though, as wao's sig just reminded me, you might want to read Online Fanarts Protection if you're going to use fan art... just a thought

PS. I posted this in a bit of rush after spending some time re-working it from my original idea, so PM me if you notice any glaring errors

[NightWish]

I really don't want to double post, but I have some clarifications in reply to some questions I've already received...

When reading the following notes keep in mind that the rules for the extended part of the contest are more flexible, currently negotiable and thus subject to change. They will ONLY apply to the extension however, not the first part of the contest! You can ignore this post if you have no intention of participating in the extended contest. Also keep in mind that the extended contest will not be run if too few people are interested.

• For the first part of the contest you must use the "day time" gradient provided, this is non negotiable. We require this, as we did with the previous contests, in order to maintain consistency of look during banner-cycling. This prevents the top bar from flashing different colours in an unsightly fashion.
  
  
• You need to enter the first part of the contest in order to enter the extended part, but the reverse is NOT true. You do you do NOT need to participate in the extended contest in order to win the first part and you do not need to win the first part in order to win the second.
  
  
• The winners of the extended contest will be voted on independently of the first part of the contest. There will be three winners for each part of the contest, making six in total. A grand prize will be awarded to the one winner in each section ($50 for the first, probably $100 for the second, for a total prize fund of $150). The same person CANNOT win the grand prize in both contest. In the unlikely event that they do, the first part prize will be awarded to the SECOND place winner.
  
  
• In the event of a tie, the staff will have the deciding vote. If that is tied, GHDpro will have the deciding vote. In the very unlikely event that he can't choose, the prize fund will be doubled and given to both.
  
  
• The banner-cycling problem does not appear if you are only changing banners every few hours, so for the extended part of the contest, only one of the backgrounds/gradients is mandated, that being the "day time" (as per the first part of the contest). My current thinking is that this will enable us to show the winning banners, from the first part of the contest, during that period of the day. Currently I'm going to say that you are free to devise your own backgrounds for the other periods, provided they are in keeping with the look and feel and don't cause a colour flashing problem. Note that this might be a lot of work though... and we may veto a gradient/background choice if we think it will not look right on the forum, so you would do well to get it approved before doing too much work on it.
  
  
• The banner(s) you enter in the first part of the contest can, but need not be, the same banner that you submit in the "day time" slot of the extension. Due to the amount of work required I'm currently thinking only ONE set can be submitted per person in the extended contest.
  
  
• The amount of time given to the extension is currently under consideration (I've not decided yet...)
  

[Kiva128]

Alright a new banner contest! As always, I'm looking forward to seeing all the creative banners. I will try to do a couple of Kairin related banners...hopefully that works out this time haha...

In any case, I love the idea of a sky theme. I predict a lot of Sola entries in that regard...but you never know.

...

Vote Kairin!

[bigdave]

WHOA nice I never have been in one of these contests be4 ^^;;
Might be interesting U can count me in for both! xD

hmmm I don't really have anything kairin in terms of pics tho o_o

If i wanted to make one with her unless i wanted to make my own but thats not an option cuz I just don't want to do a drawing and I can't draw xD

[Daniel E.]

I haven't extracted an image in months. Hope I still have the touch to do it.

[Ice Climbers]

Looks really interesting, but just one quick question:

Is it possible to collaborate with other people??? I dont see this clarified in the rules

[bigdave]

Hmmm very nice question IC =)

but then wouldn't u have to split the prize if u won? like 25 dollars each xD

[KiNA]

So it begins .. Let those pretty banners out, everyone ...

I'm rusty as hell >.<

On a totally different note.. Monday is the start of my new semester =z

Good luck minna .. ^^

[JOJOS'STAR]

Yataaaaa!! ^____^ Y

God bless banner contests!

Good luck on your next semester Kina.

[KiNA]

Thanks Jojo ^^

I guess I'll start collecting possible render for the set ... I still dunnno if I can handle to tackle the sets.. It'll depends on the renders I have at disposal. That and I wanna see how others design first

Damn I was hoping for a beach theme

One thing for sure tho... there wont be any sola entry from me

+edit+
Test submission

Man >.< .. Rotting like hell here >.< ...

++edit2++
Ah yes.. no seam ^^ ...

You guys are welcome to use the template img

put it before and after your banner with [nobr] tag to check if your border fits the template ^^

*back to drawing board and my picture folder*

Balsa oh Balsa oneesama.. where are thou hiding *_*

[Deathkillz]

great example there kiNa yep guys when making your banners make sure that whatever you are adding isnt too close to the edges or it will disqualified O.O

[Sephi]

My final entries are here
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...&postcount=487

[KiNA]

^thats what happened when you didnt put the [nobr] tag .. the end pic dropped to the new line...

You've qouted my post =/ could have seen how I did my tags >.>

[Deathkillz]

heres my first one i guess



so let me get this straight ~ in order to enter the extended part you will first need to produce 3 banners with the defult gradient? then it is just a matter of making a 4 piece set with the other gradients right?

@ kiNa ~ you missed out a word

[KiNA]

Thanks Mr.Obvious

And I thought my test submission is bare ... I got a friend now

more question then...but 1st..
Just a clarification, if I want to enter both.. I do 3 banners for normal daytime gradient .. and 4 banners for 1 whole set = 7 banners in total?

Set = does it mean 1 render, 4 gradient BG? or 1 render set.. for example, I have 4 Suigintou pic.. one for each gradient.. would it be acceptable?

btw..

this is what it look like without the [nobr] tags for us 1024x768 oldies ^^

[NightWish]

And so NoSanninWa's predictions of confusion start to appear Lets see if I can field some of these questions...

Originally Posted by Ice Climbers

Is it possible to collaborate with other people

I'm going to say: not for the first part of the banner contests. The first part will run just like the previous contest. I don't think any of those had collaborations so this one won't either. I've not decided about the extended part of the contest yet, if anyone wants to try the extended contest in a group PM me. If enough people do I might allow it.

Originally Posted by Kira_Naruto

Monday is the start of my new semester...

Sorry about that I would have liked to run it sooner, but real life got in the way.

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

in order to enter the extended part you will first need to produce 3 banners with the defult gradient?

Not quite. You only need to submit 1 entry, but you can submit more. This is no different from previous contests. Three is just an upper limit so people don't try flooding the nomination stage with hundreds of entries.

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

then it is just a matter of making a 4 piece set with the other gradients right

I think you've got it You can re-use one of your entries from the first part, so you only have to spend time making three more banners, but you can make four completely new ones if you want.

Originally Posted by Kira_Naruto

if I want to enter both.. I do 3 banners for normal daytime gradient .. and 4 banners for 1 whole set = 7 banners in total?

Correct, but to confuse things that is only one possibility. If you want to submit as many banners as possible for the first part of the contest, you make 3 banners. In the extended contest you submit 1 set ONLY. This set must have at least 4 banners in it, but can have more. If you make 4 completely new banners for the set, you will indeed have made 7 in total.

Originally Posted by Kira_Naruto

Set = does it mean 1 render, 4 gradient BG? or 1 render set.. for example, I have 4 Suigintou pic.. one for each gradient.. would it be acceptable?

You can use the same image/character/render on each banner, but you don't have to. In other words, yes, you could use a different Suigintou picture on each banner. Arguably that is more interesting than having the same image! The trick will be to get the whole set to work together, using the same character (with different expressions/poses) is probably the easiest way to achieve this.

[KiNA]

Thanks.. understood. ^^

So I need to collect my pictures first and wait for other 13 more guys to agree for extended contest then.. because, dk planned to do a set as well ^^

[Daniel E.]

Meh! Me just testing as well. >_< !!



No longer to be used as an entry for this competition.

To see the final version of my banners click here

[Green²]

01:

Spoiler for Other sky gradient concept:

If we do the banners with the other sky gradients, will it be something like the concept above? Or would we be able to make use of any other random anime character for the different gradients? Say for example, Lucky Star for the Dusk gradient, and Claymore for the Night Time gradient...

[Ice Climbers]

Heh maybe I should start this earlier rather than later:

Here's a newcomer's attempt ><