SOTM 2009 - August (Scale/Perspective) - Entry Thread

[Solace]

!!!Welcome to the SOTM!!!

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~Congratulations to Solace for winning the July Contest!~

The theme chosen for August is - Scale/Perspective.
What is that? See here for details.

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About the SOTM:

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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About the SOTM Theme:

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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The Rules of the SOTM:

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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About the SOTM Entry Process:

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 Month's Entry Period::

This months entry period officially starts Friday August 7th, 2009 and lasts until Friday, August 21st, 2009. Entries will be gathered and put up for voting on Sunday, August 23rd, 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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Good luck to all contestants, and most importantly, have fun!!!

[Solace]

**reserved**

[Terrestrial Dream]

Perspective, interesting theme.

Spoiler:

So something like this, where the perspective of the sword makes it look bit bigger, would it be allowed?

Spoiler for for size:

[Frailty]

and so, the journey to search for a stock begins
oh boy

[Solace]

Both examples are the types of things I am looking for. I know this theme won't be popular, but the reason I chose it was because I wanted to try and push people out of the comforts of merely adding pretty backgrounds to an image that fits the theme.

I was inspired to use this theme by one of our fellow members, Radiantdreamer. His thread is full of wonderful creations that highlight how manipulating perspectives can create a unique and eye catching image.

[ganbaru]

If I understand well, we can do either a scenery sig or one with element looking bigger or smaller depending of where they are from the a choosen viewpoint , right ?

[vandakiara]

this seems too complicated x.x



so could something like this work? she's, uhm, small compared to the rest of the signature...

edit: or this?



not that I'm going to submit if it does, I was just playing around in photoshop.... ~

edit2: sugoi, the entry period ends just on my birthday (ok I'm going now jeez x.x)

[ganbaru]

@ vandakiara, I am not sure myself what is fine with the theme and what is not... so I can't be sure that those 2 would pass the test.

I would want to know before working with them, if any of those 2 renders would work with the theme

Spoiler for first one:

Spoiler for second one:

[Evil Rick]

@ganbaru:

I think that the second one fits perspective more than the first one.

Originally Posted by vandakiara

this seems too complicated x.x



so could something like this work? she's, uhm, small compared to the rest of the signature...

edit: or this?



not that I'm going to submit if it does, I was just playing around in photoshop.... ~

edit2: sugoi, the entry period ends just on my birthday (ok I'm going now jeez x.x)

I think that 1st feets the idea, 2nd doesn't. Although, 1st looks way too simple.

[Furuno]

Well, I just remembered some of my old stuffs that I made, is this fits the theme?



Dunno if I can participate tough... I have two projects for this month and it seems that my sig making skill has been degraded recently...

[Evil Rick]

Originally Posted by Furuno

Well, I just remembered some of my old stuffs that I made, is this fits the theme?



Dunno if I can participate tough... I have two projects for this month and it seems that my sig making skill has been degraded recently...

Hmmm... that looks more like a bird's eye view than perspective, but well, Solace has the last word

[Solace]

Originally Posted by vandakiara

this seems too complicated x.x



so could something like this work? she's, uhm, small compared to the rest of the signature...

edit: or this?



not that I'm going to submit if it does, I was just playing around in photoshop.... ~

edit2: sugoi, the entry period ends just on my birthday (ok I'm going now jeez x.x)

First one yes, second one no.

Originally Posted by ganbaru

@ vandakiara, I am not sure myself what is fine with the theme and what is not... so I can't be sure that those 2 would pass the test.

I would want to know before working with them, if any of those 2 renders would work with the theme

Spoiler for first one:

Spoiler for second one:

First one no, second one yes.

Originally Posted by Furuno

Well, I just remembered some of my old stuffs that I made, is this fits the theme?



Dunno if I can participate tough... I have two projects for this month and it seems that my sig making skill has been degraded recently...

Yes, it fits.

For those confused on what the theme is, the two images Evil Rick used are good guidelines, as well as my original 5cm example and my comments about Radiantdreamers photos. You can also get a few ideas of what is ok from what I've just approved.

As always, feel free to ask if you aren't sure. When I have some free time I'll gather up a few more examples if there's still confusion.

[LKK]

Originally Posted by vandakiara

edit: or this?

Originally Posted by Solace

second one no.

Solace, could you explain a little more why vandakiara's sig doesn't qualify?

[ganbaru]

My first attempt, C&C would be welcome.

[Evil Rick]

Originally Posted by LKK

Solace, could you explain a little more why vandakiara's sig doesn't qualify?

The theme is about perspective, in other words, a part of something that's going close or away from the viewer in comparation to the rest of the image, Vandakiara's sig just looks like a side-view.

Originally Posted by ganbaru

My first attempt, C&C would be welcome.

The pop-up style comes very usefull to catch the idea of perspective very well, but a bit of color wouldn't be bad.

[LKK]

Originally Posted by Evil Rick

The theme is about perspective, in other words, a part of something that's going close or away from the viewer in comparation to the rest of the image, Vandakiara's sig just looks like a side-view.

I think I understand a little better. Thanks.

Originally Posted by ganbaru

My first attempt, C&C would be welcome.

After Rick quoted your picture, I noticed that there's bleed over of white past the official borders of the sig and around & inside the text.

[vandakiara]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

My first attempt, C&C would be welcome.

^ I agree with Evil Rick - it looks good but it should be more colourful

[Solace]

Originally Posted by LKK

Solace, could you explain a little more why vandakiara's sig doesn't qualify?

Sure. The composition of the signature is mainly a side view (as Evil Rick has pointed out). Side views can work but the signature looks very flat. There's no sense of scale (again using the Perspective image that Evil Rick posted) and no sense of perspective (using his second image as an example).

Furono's signature counts because the birds eye view offers a wide perspective of the city below, in short there's a sense of scale when you look at it.

To help offer more inspiration, here's some ideas of what I'm looking for:

Spoiler for Images:

I do want to mention that I will likely deny any entry that is a direct crop. While I have nothing against using a nice source with perspective already in it, I do want to see more effort than just borders and text.

I'll probably gather up all these examples and put them in the second post of the thread later for easier access.

[White Manju Bun]

Originally Posted by Solace

To help offer more inspiration, here's some ideas of what I'm looking for:

Spoiler for Images:

We can use those right? Since Im having a hard time finding a source, obviously like you said as long as its more then a direct crop. I just need a back up plan incase I dont find anything on my own.

[Solace]

Sure. They're all previews from Anime-Paper, so if you want it might be easier to find the higher resolutions there so you have more to work with.