Quote:
Originally Posted by BattleWraith
In a way, I think this hits the nail on the head in terms of how I feel about this contest.
I think the voting in general tends to be capricious. There is always an element of popularity contest going into it, but even worse is the tendency to vote for things out of...I don't know..novelty?
Because they're fun or lighthearted?
Often in spite of how the thing was actually executed. In some ways I think a polished execution has actually been a detriment to succeeding.
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Ok, here I think we may have a legitimate difference of opinion. I think the art, no matter how well executed, needs to be targeted at the audience in order to have that certain appeal that garners attention and votes. Yes, sometimes it will be T&A, others a sense of whimsey, others just a recognizable anchor to the source material - the game. I personally don't care how amazing art submitted to this contest is, if it doesn't also have another appeal it's probably not getting my vote...
So yeah, I totally think a piece less technically correct, even far less so, should win over a marvelous art piece which doesn't immediately scream CoH or such. Because I don't think this is an "Art Contest" but rather a "Fan Art Contest". As such, my view is that the "Fan" part is pretty important.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BattleWraith
You said you voted purely on the art and didn't read the trailers.
Why? That was part of the competition. I lost by one point.
If you had read the trailers and voted on them as well maybe I woul'dve picked up a point or two.
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Couple reasons. 1) I am lazy. 2) I've only been half paying attention to the contest anyway and never saw that we were technically supposed to use the written portion until after I cast my vote. If I had noticed I may have obstained, or argued or something as I don't think a written portion is exactly fair since there is no rule that all competitors need be native English speakers and thus forcing a part of the contest to be in what may not be someones native tongue seems unjust... Specially since written entries are barred from competition the rest of the time.
Once I did see that pointed out, I made it clear that I ignored that part so that my vote could be voided if deemed invalid.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BattleWraith
Regardless, I spent a lot of time and thought on my trailer. I actually wrote the trailer first in the hopes that I could refer to it while I was working on the painting so that they would share the same sort of vibe.
I spent a day just writing the trailer. How would you feel if you were in a cooking competition and the judge came up and scraped some of your food into the garbage without even tasting it?
I'm not blaming you for the loss, but it's indicative of the frustration I've felt watching these entries fail.
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I get your point... Kind of (but not quite) like last year when they decided written entries didn't qualify the month after I submitted one and thus barred that avenue from me.
Anyway, it's the problem with the whole "whoever wanders by judges" system. Nobody feels very compelled to uphold any kind of judging standard or the like, nobody is worried about the integrity of the contest... They just vote on what appeals to them based on whatever criteria they decide. There's no way to stop that with the current judging system...
But that, I think, becomes part of the contest. I think part of the art is not just the technical, the talent, but the mental... In getting a feel for the audience and what appeals to them, on what they are looking for.
And unless someone is looking to be a broke, starving artist with their integrity 100% in tact, I don't want to hear that n artist shouldn't have to cater... Of course they should. Specially if they are trying to make a buck or win a contest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BattleWraith
Go back and look at February's winners. Lousy's entry was the overwhelming winner. That's a joke. Lousy is a good artist and I don't doubt that he could win a contest like this, but it shouldn't be for something like that.
I talked to him in Siren's Call shortly before that deadline. He hadn't started his entry and wasn't even sure he was going to continue. He threw that sketch together at the last minute to stay in the running.
But I think people looked at it and thought "Wow how cool would it be to have snow in the game!" and voted it the win.
Despite the fact that it was clearly a sketch and had virtually no detail in it whatsoever.
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Sorry, too lazy to go back and find the thread but I get your point anyway... Again, I do not think it's all about the art, I really think a contest like this is hugely about the Fan portion, the subject matter portion... And I think if an artist is unwilling to concede to that to some extent then they probably don't have much chance of winning.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BattleWraith
I think Dee Dee did a good job on her entry, but since it beat mine by the whole early bird mechanic I think it deserves comment.
First of all, it's a photomanipulation. You can see the figure ref here: http://www.wallpaperweb.org/wallpape...90719_0028.jpg
I don't know if Dee simply used it as ref or did some sort of paint-over directly on the source image.
The background looks "raw". Like the sky and the burnt-out buildings were directly taken from another source. I also used some stock reference in my picture, which is linked to the stock provider on my page, but everything is painted.
There is no direct manipulation of other people's images.
She was well within her rights to do so, as Bubba's rules allow for photomanipulation.
But my problem with the voting is that I don't think people are taking that into consideration.
I think a lot of people are viewing this image as if she had sat down and sketched it out herself.
And in terms of the whole early bird thing--yeah it's a lot easier to get work done quickly when you're dealing with pre-existing imagery.
Again I'm not trying to disparage her or her entry, but it beat mine by a game mechanic that favors things being done quickly.
I started on mine as soon as I found out the theme for the month, it simply took that long for me to research and settle on a poster design and then paint it. |
I'm not a fan of the early bird points but then again I'm not competing so *shrug*. The rule was in place and known before this month so by competing, in my opinion, one agreed to the rule and as such doesn't have much a leg to stand on complaining after the fact. Them's the breaks.
I say similiarly about the photomanip, if it was such. Personally I think if the written word doesn't qualify as art for the contest, neither should screenshots or (maybe, I am on the fence about) photomanips - specially if its the majority of the piece. But again, they've been allowed from the start so *shrug*
Not to say I disregard your thoughts here entirely though. I totally get where you are coming from but, as I think I stated last year during a similair row, the point kind of loses a lot of it's strength when it's not brought up before the results...
Quote:
Originally Posted by BattleWraith
Thanks, but I think there's been strong indication that I'm barking up the wrong tree here. Part of it is also I'm tired. I spent a solid week on the entry this month and had eyestrain at the end of it.
At that point I pretty much decided that if it didn't win, I couldn't keep sustaining that level of effort and keep rolling the dice on the voting.
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And I am truly sorry to see you leave the contest. Personally I had you as one of two likeliest to win the whole shebang.
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Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
Now I feel awful. If it weren't for the additional factor of the 'trailer description' borking things up, the voting might have gone very differently. I'm really, really sorry if that caused problems for the artists - I just offered to contribute something in the hopes that more people would take notice of the work you guys do. 
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite |
You have nothing to feel awful about... It's not a FArt contest until there is a big bruhaha over one controversy or another so *shrug*
Besides, your offer was supremely generous and was not the cause of the controversy... Really it's more about early bird points, how individuals decide to judge, and why individuals compete than it is about trailers....
By the way, since I fear I forgot to state this earlier, and since it really should be the point now and not this extraneous stuff....
CONGRATULATIONS
DARTHDELICIOUS!!!
