SOTM 2011 - April (Dress Code: Victorian Fashion) - Entry Thread

[Solace]

!!!Welcome to the SOTM!!!

---

~Congratulations to Moonie for winning the March Contest!~

The theme chosen for April is - Dress Code: Victorian Fashion.
What is that? See here for details.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

This Month's Entry Period::

This months entry period officially starts Monday, April 4th, 2011 and lasts until Friday, April 22nd, 2011. Entries will be gathered and put up for voting on Sunday, April 24th, 2011. 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

---

Good luck to all contestants, and most importantly, have fun!!!

[Marina]

Ahhh, Moonie, I love you for this theme! I may have to dust off my PS and give this a try

[ganbaru]

My firsts tried, using the same render:




It's been a year ago than I made for the last time a ''bungaku shoujo'' signature.

[vandakiara]

@ganbaru - I prefer the 2nd version although the text bugs me a little - try to change the font and make it more visible.. There's something else that bugs me but I don't really know what (specially since I fell in love with your entry) but maybe someone else will be able to spot it x)

[Suomi]

perhaps that the white on the right side is more visible than the left, and there seems to be more of it?
and I agree with Panda about the text, and about V2 being better.

[Dist]

Hm .. I personally prefer the first one. I think it's because the second one has background of ... I'm not sure exactly what. Given the theme, you'd think it would have a library or something. Also it looks she's like floating around so it looks weird .. maybe that's just me though. For the 2nd one I agree about the text. Also btw, bookworm is not in two separate words so you should put them together for Victorian Bookworm.

[Suomi]

would this render be Victorian enough?

Spoiler for image:

[Kana Futayo]

Originally Posted by Illusore

would this render be Victorian enough?

Spoiler for image:

Yes, it's good.

[Fujiwara]

this month theme is really interesting

for starters, mine would be this

Title: Victorian Parchment Painting - featuring desu!



C&C will be very much appreciated

[ganbaru]

@ Fijiwara, it's interesting but I am not sure if I lke it or not...

I reworked my second one, modifying the text and the white. C&C are welcome.

@ Dist, yes it's a library

[Squarecrow]

Been awhile since I made a sig.

[Kagayaki]

Here we go... C&C?



Edit: lol, lack of time. Final Entry for now.

[White Manju Bun]

Originally Posted by Kagayaki

Here we go... C&C?

This is just my opinion but Im not getting Victorian feeling from this. More demon gothic loli, its probably the wings. Thats just me, maybe Moonie will feel differently

btw I love this theme! I actually have TONS of stuff I can use for once

[Kana Futayo]

Originally Posted by Kagayaki

Here we go... C&C?

Remilia is pseudo-victorian, so it's an okay for me.

[Marcus H.]

I'm somewhat expecting that this month's gonna be filled with pictures of Victorique. :P

EDIT: My try for this month. I have quit SOTM for almost a year, lol.



It's supposed to be Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson from the movie. I was experimenting on the smoke I added and might use some tips on pulling it off nicely.

[ganbaru]

@ Lord Crow, it's nice but a bit too simple,you could add some efffect/ brushs
@ Kagayaki The only consern than I have is about the kanji's placement
@Marcus H. one thig than is bother ing me about the pipe's smoke is than it go from one side of the sig to the other; should it go from the pipe to one side of the sig ?

I tried something different but using the same material than my second try:


C&C would be appreciated.

[vandakiara]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

I tried something different but using the same material than my second try:


C&C would be appreciated.

Now I know what was bugging me - she was too faded - now that she's got more "attention" it seems a lot better really.. isn't she a bookworm though? :P
I can't remember anything else to change in the sig really..

[Squarecrow]

Before:


After:


Can't say I'm exactly pleased with the left or right side, I do like Victorique though.

[rikikai]

@Ganbaru: much better than the first version! love the charatcter
@lord crow: I prefer version one, on the second one her face is too ... maybe you should erase the effects on her face

My little try for this month

[Fujiwara]

After one week hiatus, finally I came up with few concepts to boot

1 : Victorian Parchment Painting (v2)

Basically a remake from the (horrible) one I made earlier, IMO it didn't get any better

2 : IT'S BEYATORRIIIIICHEEE!!

Yeah it is By the way I'm not too sure whether this one will pass verdict of Victorian Fashion, since the placement is kinda... meh. I plan to add border later.

3 : Untitled

This particular render of Victorique is kind of common. And yes this one surely will have border

4 : Untitled

It's Ciel and without Sebastian . For the first time in my life I realized how JPEG lossy compression kinda ruined the details of this signature.

I think that's all. C & C please, since I'm not sure which one I should go with.
Thank you very much.