Our imaginary ISML Seitokai would like to hold an simplified art contest this year. You will be asked to make a poster for one of three characters below, and you can submit up to three entries, one per character. Anyone can participate regardless of experience. Like many forum art contests, you can post your drafts for other people to comment on. (Civil and constructive comments only! No flaming or thrash others' work.) Be sure to put Final Version next to your final submissions, or I will just take the latest one.
Izumi Konata
Misaki Mei
Template_Aqua.psd- (4.43 MiB) Downloaded 156 times
- stylized_logo.png (46.21 KiB) Viewed 3276 times
I no longer have GIMP on this computer, so unfortunately I won't have a template for it. The latest version of GIMP does not work with the Layers Effect plugin, which is very much needed if you are to use the current poster format. Therefore I will only be able to provide a template in PSD format for those with Photoshop. However, you are encouraged to make your own poster design. If your design looks really good, then maybe next year we will incorporate it into the official posters. That means if you have GIMP, then go ahead and make a poster with your own personal touches. Here are the criteria for each poster.
1) The poster must be 480 x 648 in dimension, preferably with a white border.
2) The name of the character must be displayed clearly.
3) The words "Aquamarine Period" must be displayed clearly.
4) The ISML 2012 logo must be displayed in period color. (use Hue/Saturation)
5) The character you choose must be the primary focus.
6) Do not use the same render as a previous poster.
7) Do not try to copy someone's work.
So you do not need the glyph or the word "exhibition" anywhere. Unless there is a very good reason, do not include other characters into the poster. Finally, don't be shy and submit your work! Use this opportunity to practice and you'll get better in no time. If we don't have enough participation, then we may not have another contest...
Scoring:
1) There won't be any complicated rubric this time. Each judge will give each poster a score of 1-10, to one decimal place.
2) The posters featuring [ the character who has the least posters ] will receive a small scoring bonus.
A few tips:
1) Try to match the background with the theme of the period whenever possible.
2) Try not to cover anything with the logo, but don't resize it to be smaller either. Be smart with your layer placements.
3) If your text is not too visible, try a soft Outer Glow or Stroke to make it more readable.
4) If the image looks too bland, apply some adjustments. Under Select -> Adjustments, useful beginner tools are Auto Levels, Auto Contrast, Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, Replace Color, Selective Color, Variations.
5) Don't use the Magic Wand, Quick Selection, or Lasso tools to extract your character. Enter Quick Mask Mode, zoom in, and use the brush tool to select more accurately. Exit Quick Mask Mode to get your selection. You may want to feather your selection for a smoother extraction.
If you find two good renders for a character, you may want to post one of them so someone can claim it (since you can only make one poster).
