February FArt battle

After being taken through the flames of January, it's time to cool off for February and so for this month:

February's Theme is Ice

Rules


All types of visual art are acceptable for this month's theme. Screenshot manipulations, sketches, graphic design, etc. So long as they incorporate this month's theme into the work.

1. Use City of Heroes/Villains Characters- This is, afterall, a CoX Fan Art competition, so I expect you guys to keep that in mind. If there's nothing relating to City of Heroes/Villains in your entry, you will be disqualified.

2. Keep It PG-13- All entries this month must be postable to these boards without a 2 click.

3. Deadlines- All entries MUST be submitted by Friday, February 18th by Midnight Eastern US time. Anyone participating who DOES NOT have an active account on these boards may note me via dA at Bubbawheat. I will take Saturday, February 19th to screen all entries for adherence to the theme and rules. Voting will begin on Sunday, February 20th, held here on the CoH boards. The pieces that I put up for a vote have been personally verified by me, so if you disagree with their qualifications, please take it up with me rather than the artists.

4. We will be having open submissions through March. Anyone can join in this month as well as next month.

5. There will be no eliminations until June. Each month artists will accumulate points that will be used to help avoid elimination, or grant other benefits. There will be one chance for one artist to win their way in (or back) to the contest in August.

6. Points- Entry points: Artists gain 10 points each month where they submit a piece. Any artist not submitting a piece will be disqualified.
Early bird points: Artists gain an additional 2 points each month where they submit a "finished" piece before the 10th of the month. Finished pieces can still be improved, but any major additions after the 10th will negate the early bird points. Major additions include adding color, or adding an elaborate background.
Place points: After voting, each artist will gain points based on how they place in the final standings. 1st place gains 10 points (plus 2 bonus points for winning), 2nd gains 9, 3rd gains 8, etc. Ties each gain the amount of points for that place. Places after 10th gain 0 points.
The full uses of these points will be finalized by March's announcement thread.

7. Prizes- The artist with the most votes each month will receive 10 million inf sent to them through in game E-mail. The overall winner of the year will receive 50 million. Thanks to Draggynn for his donation to the prize fund.

Heh, got this finished early so i could try post first for the early bird points, but i see now any submitted before the 10th get the points. I think that's a lot fairer tbh, as timezones, work schedules, etc would all dictate when you get to log on the forum and submit, giving an unfair advantage. Equality ftw k, here's getting the ball rolling

'On Ice', featuring The Sub Zero Man and his arch nemisis, The Retro Racer.



hope you like.

**The TLDR "gist of it" is in yellow **

Cool (heh) piece Henri, I dig the Oakley engraving.
I had a piece ready to submit @ 11:38pm last night (I decided to
spend more time on it now and post later) in case Bubba hadn't changed the rules.

Not sure if he read my hidden text in the vote thread or figured it out for himself but
I'm glad he addressed it promptly either way as 5 points is just too much of an advantage for
someone who did not get the most votes. Who would want to try their best when instead you could
literally come in 5th place for the month and still beat out the first place guy just by posting first? (+10+6+5 beats +10+10)

After running the numbers a bit I suggest it be +2 points to anyone making the early deadline & +5 points to the winner of the most votes.
This would mean the winner is always going to be the winner and no one will overtake him that month but the 3rd place guy
could overtake the 2nd place guy or the 6th could overtake the 5th or the 2nd could be right on the heels of the
leader which would keep things interesting but not let someone near the bottom pass the leader by an
unrecoverable margin and over time (if he kept posting first) go on to crush the people putting
up the most voted on pieces each month. I don't think that should not be possible.

Also it would (correctly I think) incentivize people to post early but more importantly to really post your absolute best piece to try and go
for the win each month even if it takes you longer. Also over the long run EVERYONE will really be bringing their "A" game to try
and win at least one month and strategy can really come in to play. For example if you had a hard time with one months
theme you try and post fast to stay within striking range of the overall points leader but on a month where you
think the theme is right up your alley you go for the 5 and could conceivably leapfrog several places in the
rankings. i.e. over the course of 4 months someone biding their time and posting early each month until
they saw an opportunity to win and then going for it (+2 +2 +2 +5) could outscore someone who
went for the win each and every month and won twice (+5 +0 +0 +5) and they could both
get edged out by someone who's both fast and managed to win once (+2 +2 +7 +2).

Lots of viable strategies to win over time, emphasis would be on putting up the best
piece you can (rather than rushing to post the very first piece) and there would never be a dull vote.

Thoughts?

One --> Artz Giveaway <-- To Rule Them ALL!

I will settle this. ORANGE FTW! - Ex Libris

Cheers CR

I'm curious Henri, is that a cheers of...
"cheers CR I've read over your thoughts for the contest extensively and by jove I think you've hit upon a winner!
Jolly good show my man and God Save the Queen harrumpf!

or a cheers of...
"cheers CR I see we both had the same idea to post first and oh hey glad
someone noticed the brand name on the shades"

or is it just... cheers.


P.S. okay I admit it's been a several years since my most recent visit to England
but I'm pretty sure everyone still talks that way n' stuffz.

One --> Artz Giveaway <-- To Rule Them ALL!

I will settle this. ORANGE FTW! - Ex Libris

Haha. It was a pre-edit cheers, ie:

Cool (heh) piece Henri, I dig the Oakley engraving.

Cheers CR

altho... "cheers CR I've read over your thoughts for the contest extensively and by jove I think you've hit upon a winner!
Jolly good show my man and God Save the Queen harrumpf! is totally how one speaks in olde Englandia, wotto!

heh

Thanks for the input CR, I made a couple less drastic changes to the rules which I hope will take into account the points you were trying to make.

The Early Bird points are reduced to 3 points, and the winner of each month gains an additional 2 points, so it will go 12, 9, 8, 7, etc. This makes sure that the winner of each month gets the most points whether or not they were in early. The worst case scenario is that first was late, and second was early, then they both get a total of 22 points for the month.

And just as a sidenote to these extra rules and stuff this year. When I decided to take on this year's FArt battle, I wanted to do three things with it. I want to make it fair, fun, and interesting. I wanted to use the points system to help make it more interesting instead of just the usual eliminate the lowest vote each month. And by making these changes, I hope to keep things fair for everyone involved. And don't forget, this is for fun!

Personally I think that awarding any points for being first is stupid, period. If this is about an art competition and you're awarding points on something not based on art, you're doing it wrong, IMO. Also, forcing people to compete in order to rush and gain an advantage is going to be detrimental for the contest. Because you're denying *everyone* of the good art that may have been, in favor of the art that's been hastily scribbled out in order to guarantee points.

You're making all of this a lot more complicated than it needs to be. Do art, get votes, win.

ACK! .. someone got the starting points already.. *pout* .. they WILL be mine soon..

..oh, after the 10th??

..good idea, most artists need a kick in the *** to get started, it should help a LOT with
last minute entry's.

Garn! Beaten to the punch. Ah well, my next piece is lining up nicely, so I'll get you yet!

Really, this is mostly about giving myself stuff to draw and actually sticking to it, along with pushing outside my little niche comfort zone. And getting myself out a bit more in the City Of art groups So, where I end up score wise is second to having a good time and getting a bit of notice.

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.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I once again lowered the Early Bird bonus points to 2 points. My intention is not to create a rush to get those extra 2 points by the 10th, but to reward those who post earlier to keep seeing art throughout the month instead of a big rush at the last minute. That's also why I changed it to reward all early posters instead of just the first one. Also, I will be announcing the next month's theme during the voting period which gives an extra week or more for the artist to prepare. That gives at least 17 days to get the Early Bird bonus.

And just in case anyone else has misread - everyone that posts a complete entry by the 10th gets 2 extra points. And you can make adjustments to it as long as they're not major. An example would be Airhead's piece in January. It was complete when he posted it, but he added highlights and comic book text to finish it off, not a major change, but he still had time to improve the piece.

Also, I'd like to thank everyone for their patience and apologize for all of these rules tweakings. After this month, rules should be consistent and I will work out the points spending system as best as I can before posting them for all to see.

Also, I just had something pop into my head for a possible future month's theme and I wanted to get feedback from the artists: "Collaboration". As a viewer, this seems like it would be an interesting to see what artists can create when they work together. As an artist, it would be an interesting challenge to work with someone else. But I could totally see how some artists would prefer not to work with someone else, especially if they feel their partner is a weak artist. And partners would be chosen based on voting order. Just wanted to throw this idea out there to see how it's received, if anyone at all is against it, it won't be a theme. I already have March's theme in mind and it will be announced when this month goes to voting.

*le bump*
To make sure this doesn't dissapear off the front

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.

9 competitors is a problem at the moment, unless a 3+ collab happened.

Hohohoho~ You're really trying to open Pandora's Box, aren't you? :3

I don't think it's a good idea honestly.

Here's my version 1 for this month, as a distraction from the criteria discussions. I think my final picture will look similar. But with the painterly background, cell shaded toons and weird ice, there's a dissonance beyond "what the heck with the bunny ears?". I'll keep playing with my layers if I have time. [and I did]

The yellow and blue guy is Mr. Happy, he visited my dA page and somehow ended up being dragged into the picture. I understand he's a little like Morph or Mask, so I figured he'd be a far better sculptor than Airhead.

But I think I'm seeing the limits of my Paint.NET program, and I might try actual paints on real paper in future.

Arc: 379017: Outbroken See all your old friends in the Outbreak Tutorial sequel!
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I love Winterlords 'expression'

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.