Animesuki Banner Contest - General Discussion Thread

[brocko]

Picking a gradient to be used as a template is gonna be quite a doosey i reckon.

It'd be simple enough if the theme picked were really colour specific like a classical element for example but if something akin to "adventure" were to be chosen instead, how are we suppose to base and decide which gradient or colour would best suit it?

I'm honestly stumped for solutions atm =/

[KiNA]

Originally Posted by NightWish

I think Solace is suggesting the community contribute suggestions or examples.

Changing the gradient color wont be as hard after the theme is picked IMHO, so I think getting what theme first is much more important.

[felix]

Originally Posted by Solace

we do need some gradients to go with them. Between the two we can narrow something down.

Originally Posted by KiNA

So who's responsible to do the gradient ?

Do we have to have one gradient? is it so important!? Like brocko mentioned, for themes that are generic a universal gradient is useless and a pain. Some of the banners of the Sky contest would have probably blended better if the generic darkblue top lightblue bottom was not forced on everybody (people might have already had their night sky had this been the case).

[NightWish]

Originally Posted by Cats

Do we have to have one gradient? is it so important!?

Depends what you mean. The fact that there is only one of them? Mostly, yes. The fact that it is a gradient? Not so much. The point is consistency: between one page view and another, and between forum styles. Exactly how that is achieved is debatable (though maybe not in this thread), but thus far a single gradient, that we think fits with all the styles well enough, keeps that consistency. If it were replaced with something else, then provided that something met all those conditions, it need not be a gradient.

However, trying to blend with an imposed patterned background may be no easier than a gradient. The original choice was a product of historical style (the forum pre-contest design had a gradient), how we've displayed the banners in the past (limitations of the stock vBulletin styles; though this is not so relevant now), and how much effort we had to put in to running the contest (and explaining the requirements so people could actually enter). The gradient is as close to a blank canvas as you can get without being a completely dull blank canvas.

Originally Posted by Cats

Some of the banners of the Sky contest would have probably blended better if the generic darkblue top lightblue bottom was not forced on everybody (people might have already had their night sky had this been the case).

You could also say they would blend better if different pictures/"renders" were chosen. In contests you don't write the rules to fit the possible entries, the entries are entered to meet the rules. To do otherwise is unreasonable on all involved.

In any case, Solace has said gradients so far and unless he wants to go out on a limb and do differently (with in the consistency limits we impose of course) that is what it shall be.

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by NightWish

I think Solace is suggesting the community contribute suggestions or examples.

This samples are not to be taken too seriously.

[KholdStare]

For some reason I'm so used to a blue header that other shades of color look disturbingly disturbing. I think that a light gradient should be fine, as long as it's not some color like red.

[KiNA]

Not a single gradient match AS blue theme.

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by KiNA

Not a single gradient match AS blue theme.

Have to admit that the blue theme never crossed my head while making those.



Feels like a whole different forum.

[Solace]

I'm just going with how the contest has been run in the past. I didn't really have any intentions of changing how things are done, what we've done in the past has worked so it didn't make sense to mess with the "formula".

On the other hand, if someone has suggestions or ideas about how to change things up a little, I'm sure the proposals will be welcomed as long as they are posted with some detail and thought. Not a guarantee that they'll be implemented, but consideration is always given.

Keep in mind though, that while I'm organizing this contest, I'm not the sole decision maker behind it either. This goes for themes, gradients, rules, or anything else about this contest. I'm just one voice in the discussion. My role here is to organize and gather feedback, which is the point of this thread.

[Sephi]

I would like to see Hope being added to the list of potential themes. Though it's a bit vague and hard to express i guess...

[felix]

Not at all. I second "hope" as a theme.

[Daniel E.]

After a couple of days, I was expecting a lot more feedback from people here.

Could a sticky announcement back at Fan Creations help?

[Marina]

Originally Posted by Daniel E.

After a couple of days, I was expecting a lot more feedback from people here.

Could a sticky announcement back at Fan Creations help?

I agree, it seems like way more people would participate in the conversation if they were more aware about this thread (not that I think this thread is hard to find ). I wouldn't have noticed this thread if I hadn't seen a mention of it in a post by Solace in the nov sotm thread on the first page, and as we all know, a lot of people never read the first page of a thread ^_^

[KholdStare]

Hope is hard to express, and we will have a problem. Someone will post an banner of hope that may not be hope for others. We might get into all sorts of arguments and when we're done, someone who haven't read this thread before may not realize that all the final banners have the same theme of hope. I'm not being disagreeable on purpose but just pointing out possible problems.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Originally Posted by Daniel E.

Have to admit that the blue theme never crossed my head while making those.



Feels like a whole different forum.

Very true. I use the um... default color which is that browish color. Not that I don't like the blue one, but I just didn't care ^^

[brocko]

Tidied up all the nominations so far into one single alphabetic list

• Adventure / Travel / Journey
• Amaranthine
• Animals (could possibly fall under nature too if need be)
• Boxes
• Cityscape
• Chibi
• Change
• Classical elements: air, water, fire, earth (there are other variations) Shouldn't matter which one you use and should be interesting which elements win.
• Community (could possibly include friendship and networks if need be)
• Dance
• Darkness / Light
• Endurance
• Emotion
• Fantasy
• Forest (could probably fall under nature if need be)
• Food
• Friendship
• GAR / Passion / Fighting Spirit
• Gothic
• Group (could fall under community if need be)
• Hairstyle
• Holy
• Home / Comfort / Warmth
• Hope
• Idol
• Japan / Anime / Manga
• Jude
• Kairin
• Love
• Lyrics / Music
• Majin
• Magic
• Moe / Cute Girls / Cute Guys (can males be considered moe? lol)
• Moon
• Nature
• Night / Space
• Networks
• Okinawa
• Open space
• Pretty
• Quest
• Royalty
• Sanctuary
• School
• Sea / Ocean (could probably fall under nature if need be)
• Sleep / Rest / Exhausation / Dream
• Speed
• Sport
• Time
• Transformation
• Unquiet
• Uniform
• Valkyrie
• Villains / Heroes
• Verdant
• Wings
• Xiphoid
• Yokai
• Youth (could fall under time too if need be too i guess)
• Zori

Also decided to add a Chibi nomination up there too while i was at it, which i think could be quite fun

[Cierra]

Well, I saw Valkyrie written somewhere so what about Ancient Mythology?Gotta love Scandinavian Mythology!
Or another idea which i am not pretty sure about it. Was thinkin about each banner would have a theme of the 7 deadly sins or the complete opposite. Couldn't explain it better. It's just an idea tho

[felix]

Originally Posted by Nya Nya

Well, I saw Valkyrie written somewhere so what about Ancient Mythology?Gotta love Scandinavian Mythology!
Or another idea which i am not pretty sure about it. Was thinkin about each banner would have a theme of the 7 deadly sins or the complete opposite. Couldn't explain it better. It's just an idea tho

The 7 deady sins

1. Lust, we have plenty of...
2. Gluttony or in plain english "to be obsessed" aka otaku-syndrome
3. Greed, "we wantz tasty cookies :3"
4. Sloth (or despair), "that anime got licensed"/"that anime will never get licensed"
5. Wrath, "ITZ GONZO! RAWWWRRR!!!!!11ONE1!!!"
6. Envy, "(fangirl) the guys get so much yuri and there is so little yaoi"
7. Pride, "I'v watched XXX animez *sticks out tongue*"/"I've been watching anime since YYY"/"I've read the manga/novel/game, have every image/figure/poester/d0ll/magazine/staple/chitchensink related to them. <3"

There is a moral to be found: if you are a otaku yaoi girl watching a gonzo show you're going straight to hells. Also, the seven virtues and associated deamons as well as history for the seven sins can be found on wikipedia.

I love the idea, hopefully Solance does too. I like the ancient mythology ideas too, although it would be fun to stick with just the european ones since they are more fun with the family killing and orgies.

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by Nya Nya

Well, I saw Valkyrie written somewhere so what about Ancient Mythology?Gotta love Scandinavian Mythology!

Awesome!

More so if I could convince Klash to make a banner version of my sig as one of his entries.

[KiNA]

I'm guilty of (1) and (3)

We need some decision guys (and gals) things wont move if we keep going round and round. Discussion is good and all, but too much, it became pointless.