FArt Champion of 2009 - VOTE!!!!!

So we come to the final vote for the year 2009. It's been an up and down year but overall some great competition and it spawned several awesome pieces from the local talent here. I hope you all enjoyed each months theme as much as i did in thinking em up.

For the final theme i wanted to open it up and see what the final 2 artists could do with a full on 'epic' piece with several characters and multiple layers, full background. Save the world/Destroy the world scenario and the top 2 artists delivered just that. So with that please check out the final entries and choose the ONE that you think best completed that theme and the best overall art. Try to remember as always that you are voting on the piece of art and not on the artists themselves.

Toxic Shia




The-Foo








So make sure and get everyone ya know that posts or has a COH account to vote for this final contest. The winner will be declared the 2009 FArt Champion!! Because i totally sucked at getting this vote thread up in time, Voting will be closed on December 6th - midnight PST.


Best of luck to Foo and Shia!!

-FArt Admin

I like the amount of characters that each artist put into their pieces and the themes that they brought to the table with the various threats and past wars that the canon story has available to CoX. Each artist put a lot of effort into their pieces and definitely deserve their spots here at the end.

My vote though has to go with Shia here.

His use of three point perspective (almost four point) has an epic feel and the well oriented layout draws my eye through the picture very effectively. The scale of the battle is grander due to the way he framed his shot, this definitely feels like the entire city is under siege.

They are both great pics, rich in detail, both artists really did an epic job and stood up to the plate.

In the end, I am going to have to vote shia also, the 3 point perspective the detail and though I might be mistaken, it looks like the cities in the background are in a similar shape to the iconic city of heroes logo itself http://reilly2040.co.uk/blog/wp-cont...4/coh_logo.jpg whether intentional or not I think its a nice touch really caps it off.

I love how grand they both are, but as others have mentioned, the perspective Shia used sets his apart.

Vote: Toxic Shia.

Instead of voting based upon merit I decided instead to vote based upon who offers me the best incentive to do so... I'll get back to you in a week





Argh, ok, ok... no selling of my vote. (errr, I do have a second board acount though that nobody knows about... Feel free to PM me!) I'll vote based solely on my likes and dislikes... Though that makes it much, much harder.

This is really tough. In one sense, kind of intellectually, I want to vote Shia. Their piece just looks (specially at first glance) like the huger battle, the more massive body count. Every part of the picture has violence happening or about to happen (except the two girls sharing popcorn, which I love!) right down to the little white dog leaping into battle (another touch I loved!)

But emotionally Foo's piece resonates with me more. I'm not sure if it's because there is a visible body count... Or perhaps I am far less familiar with the Rulawhatevers but fight Rikti every day... And while I wish it wasn't so overdone in black so I could see more detail I think that works for the piece emotionally...

Of course Shia didn't complain when I errr... modified Amerikatt into his pic, that gets them a plus. But then again they have Atlas not only using a couple American flags as a diaper but also wearing them upside down - minus there...

Then again Foo did include a lot of forumites. Plus. But he didn't include me. Minus!

Shia's converys a sense of Epic-ness whereas Foo's could just be a single battle... Yet sometimes a single battle can be the deciding factor...


Ack. Tired of me waffling yet?

Hmmm, wafles. It is breakfast time.....

Alright, alright. I think at the very end I have to just shoot from the gut... Art should be more emotional than intellectual I guess... And going purely but the gut I have to give it to Foo in a very, very, very tight race.

Both are good, but I would vote for Shia.

How come I never learn of these contests until they are nearly over? I'm going to need to stalk the art boards more...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Definitely a difficult choice and I'd love to go in depth with each piece about what strengths and weaknesses each holds, so without further ado:

((edited due to long-windedness, contradictions, and getting off on a train of thought about bacon and tap-dancing penguins))

So in the end, after much personal debate, I'm choosing Foo due to the dark tragic emotions conveyed through the scene, the appearance of the seldom seen Rularuu and his minions, and perhaps even the 'smaller' scale of the people involved have all affected my final decision. I've always like the idea of there only being a handful of heroes (rather than going Marvel and having everyone multiply like rabbits [granted Marvel is my favorite universe ((aside from CoH))]) <------Epic fail for triple parentheses...

See why I shouldn't go in depth? I'll end up talking about the proper way to make the lattice-top of a pie...

Though I should definitely give Shia the praise he deserves for delivering a complex, perspective-efficient final piece to make this final round a truly difficult decision for anyone voting.

Thank you, Foo and Shia (and in fact, all the participants), for sharing your talents with the forums and delivering fantastic art to the forums to pick-and-choose. I'm sure it wasn't easy, and definitely was probably a job to be juggled with your real life. There are a lot of art appreciators in the forums, but the foundation the fan art community wouldn't even exist without the artists who contribute their talents here. Also I applaud TA for hosting this community contest and keeping everything as neutral and open as possible; for understanding what rules were too binding and could bend, and which one would cause issues if they were ignored. I've enjoyed observing this event since I first arrived.

Thank you

i vote FOO!!!

Voting Foo. I like the really somber feel of it.

While I can see why Shia's is better technically with the perspective pointed out earlier.

I still like Foo's better.

My vote is Foo.

Hard choice. I mean, I like the Ritki theme better, but, Foo's looks more like an actual epic struggle where Shias looks like everyone's posing for a picture....with lazers..



I have to vote for Foo.

Drunkfu !

Great job to both artists, I enjoyed both pieces very much!

Shia has added alot of elements that breathe life into the picture. The foreground clearly represent a line drawn in the sand while a heated battle rages in the background. I like how different elements of the picture kind of pop out at you each time you look at it. Is that Krypto the SuperDog? Well done Shia!

Ultimately I was drawn more to Foo's work, it has a much grittier feel to it with the fallen heroes strewn about. The Watchers/Overseers also drew me into the picture by giving me the feeling that I was their the next target. Lastly the lightening of the sky in the background suggest that the shadow hanging over the battle is not natural. It almost appears as if Ruluaruu himself is soaking up all the light to give his army cover. It made me think of the line from 300, "Then we will fight in the shade."

Vote=Foo


>

I gotta go with Foo.

shias piece certainly inspires the epic battle, but it's not all quite meshing together, a battle is raging but they are still pointing fingers and calling names at the line. I liked that there is still levity, like the forumites watching another type of show under, i presume that is atlas, and the super pup flying through the line.

foo's piece is more of an invasion piece, The ralaruu are swarming into the city and it's clear they don't mean to make peace and love. I would have liked to see more of a resistance. contrasting to shias piece there is no levity it's very much end of days for paragon, at least so far as the viewer is entering this battle, which i like. Appeals to the themes present in the game, "this is what you are up against. Go do something."

with all that said i feel i should give my vote to SHIA both pieces are wonderful, i'm just more drawn to shia's piece.

im voting for foo.. but only after I lighted the pic up some so I could see all the details in it

Shia.

His piece has a great sense of scale and depth, but you can also see the expressions on the characters close up. I think he also has more outright destruction with the spaceships crashing and the big hole in the skyscraper.

Both amazing pics, as have been all of the pieces from these two artists up until this point. My vote has to go to the one that really conveyed the theme of "epic": Toxic Shia. The thing that clinched it for me was the mise en scene because I can't think of a simpler term for it. Foo's is really great, I love the color scheme, but it just feels too claustrophobic and closed in. Shia's feels wide open and hence, more epic. And to make it a little easier for TA:

My vote's for Shia

I really want to vote for Shia, because it's a really awesome piece, well done in a technical sense, and is very grand in scale. However, as the epitome of "save the world/destroy the world", it is not. They're in the process of beginning to do one or the other, but there's no winning or losing doing yet. They're standing in lines with disco lasers melting through the buildings behind them.

Therefore, I vote for Foo, because there is a definite turning of the tides, and the desperation of villains teaming up with heroes.. down to the last wire.. only a few people still standing and the enemies are still there in large numbers... That is an epic depiction of the last stand, futile though it may be, before the destruction of the world. Also, I will admit bias toward using a lesser-used enemy group and a pretty-much-never-used enemy in Rularuu himself.

Well done, the both of you. I am seriously impressed with both of your works. Congratulations on getting this far, and congratulations to everyone else who has been in the contest as well. And congratulations to a large number of forum-goers who got free arts (hmm, the most common depiction was TA.... *ponder* )

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

Voting Shia

My vote is for Foo.

To me it seems more 'you're there', less 'cover piece'. It's perspective is more like it was snapped on a cell phone camera from someone fleeing the mayhem.

Shia, because I said so.