ForumsArt, Music, and WritingArt Skills Competition: Fire and Water (page 56)

565 233182
Cenere
offline
Cenere
13,658 posts
Jester

Welcome to the Art Skills Competition.

As always, there are a few rules that needs to be followed for proper judging, viewing and general fairness.

Competition Rules
- All major parts of the entry must be original material, unless otherwise stated. Heavy references, sources and other visible influences should be credited as per normal forum courtesy.
- Submissions must follow the current theme to be judged, and must be drawn for that theme specifically. You cannot submit something you drew prior to the theme being announced
- Please do not post entries larger than 670 pixels in width. If your art is larger, post a thumbnail and link to the larger version.
- Artists cannot win in subsequent rounds, but are allowed to enter said rounds.
- Entries can be drawn in any medium available.

  • 565 Replies
Salvidian
offline
Salvidian
4,170 posts
Farmer

I could judge, but I kind of want to do the next theme. :P
If killersup can't do it, and nobody wants Hectichermit's madness there are always a handful of other substitutes we can put in.

Hectichermit
offline
Hectichermit
1,828 posts
Bard

Madness? This is Stropaaaaa!


I got a theme but no ones gonna like it because I think it might be overused...Dragons, ya I said it dragons but I will be a mad dictator and require 3 things, wings, fire and reptilian. o.O reptilian simply means try to make it look like a reptile,each one not included shall be a mark of shame hahaha! Now whose up for the challenge of madness...bonus points to color, shading and of course crazeh(surprise me ).
Salvidian
offline
Salvidian
4,170 posts
Farmer

Pfft... Nature and scary themes are overused. Dragons sound pretty awesome though. Maybe suggest that to whoever will be judging next?

Strop
offline
Strop
10,817 posts
Bard

Wait, hang on, stop, this is getting way ahead of itself!

We shouldn't be talking about alternative themes or changing judges yet, that's a hijack and would make me frown. I merely expressed concerns over the current issues in the judging but in my recommendations stopped short of a declaration of no-confidence, because some of the issues in judging aren't due to the judge, but due to the nature of this contest. So a no-confidence motion would be a bit harsh.

At the same time, the longer one remains a judge, the harder it is to maintain. This is a well known phenomenon evidenced by the years that this contest has been running, so I would suggest that any judge should consider taking a sabbatical and handing over to someone else if they felt they couldn't keep up. But unless the situation becomes dire, the current judge should only be gently prompted, and the decision over whether they can continue or take a break should be left to them.

This said, now does seem like a good time to do just that. There are no submissions in this round yet, and the topic has already been broached. Also, to be perfectly frank, the contest right now isn't exactly going like hotcakes, averaging like 3 submissions a round anyway, so it's not like we're going to be taking a lot of dishes with the tablecloth so to speak.

Either way, ball should be in Killersup's court. What do you think? The way I see it, you can either write a response with your review of judging criteria and then it can be discussed, or if it's getting really tiresome and that'd be too much trouble, you could take a break.

killersup10
offline
killersup10
2,739 posts
Blacksmith

or if it's getting really tiresome and that'd be too much trouble, you could take a break.



Killersup would much appreciate a break from judging.
Strop
offline
Strop
10,817 posts
Bard

Would you prefer to take a break effective immediately, or wait for this theme to finish?

killersup10
offline
killersup10
2,739 posts
Blacksmith

Would you prefer to take a break effective immediately, or wait for this theme to finish?


Immediately if possible. This theme is better suited for someone who has been here longer to judge.
Strop
offline
Strop
10,817 posts
Bard

Okay very good. Take a break, you deserve it.

As far as I can tell the theme is still currently AG's Greatest, which is fine. I'm in the middle of a night shift at the moment so it's not the best time, but Hermit's and Sal's registration of interest have been noted. Lemme think about what the best approach is, and I'll get back to you guys shortly.

Bronze
offline
Bronze
2,417 posts
Shepherd

I missed a lot, woah. Sorry for my lack of participation. I haven't had wifi for a week. My suggestion for judging, let's just get a list of who wants to judge and then rotate the judging responsibilities.

Strop
offline
Strop
10,817 posts
Bard

Okay I think I have a solution. Bronze is right, we should at least start with registrations of interest, including Hermit's and Sal's. A rotating roster also sounds good, but the logistics will only become clearer once we figure out how many people are interested.

But in the interests of not delaying the contest too much, while we're waiting for that to come together, I'll judge this round (and hopefully only this round).

With that said, the contest is still open. I will restate the rules, taken from the OP:

Competition Rules
- All major parts of the entry must be original material, unless otherwise stated. Heavy references, sources and other visible influences should be credited as per normal forum courtesy.
- Submissions must follow the current theme to be judged, and must be drawn for that theme specifically. You cannot submit something you drew prior to the theme being announced
- Please do not post entries larger than 670 pixels in width. If your art is larger, post a thumbnail and link to the larger version.
- Artists cannot win in subsequent rounds, but are allowed to enter said rounds.
- Entries can be drawn in any medium available.

I'll also do something I think future judges should do, which is to post a brief guideline of how they plan to judge:

AG's greatest is a broad theme, because it doesn't specify what about AG one is referring to. Therefore I won't pay as much attention to the specific references made except to ensure that they are in fact wholly relevant to AG. What I will pay attention to, however, is how the use of those references articulates "greatness". This means I will be paying some attention to execution, but given the variety of skill levels and experience here, I'm looking for technique and visual device much more than polish, finesse and production. What does "greatness" look like to you?

Deadline: end of 25th January AG time
Judging: 26th-27th January

I may provide interim feedback during the contest open period.

Okay, go!

Cenere
offline
Cenere
13,658 posts
Jester

I guess I might as well reply to a bit of this...
Disregard as per usual.

Cenere. Letâs be real here. This looks rushed compared to the normal work that you enter

The work on the picture alone, not including thumbnailing and detail-work, probably came down to three hours. Whether this is rushed to you, I don't know, but if you are judging compared to what I normally put up in my thread, it's about two hours, forty-five minutes of work put into it more than most of what I normally do.

It was impossible to make out the right hand even from three inches away from the screen, while the other arm did not match well with the forearm.

The hand is not important to the picture. The forearm is looking like that due to the arm rest and the loose clothing.

The sketch marks on the window makes it look very unprofessional.

I am not a professional.

Everything âinsideâ of the window looks a lot better. The bird looks alright, and it goes well with the blossoming flowers.

Thanks. Note here, this is the only compliment. I will come back to that later.

Not quite sure of the reason for not coloring in the whole window.

For the same reason everything below her shoulders are sketchy.

The man being left white was a smart move; it really emphasizes the bars that forever hold him to that wheelchair.

Her. It's a woman. And honestly, the wheelchair is her only mean of transportation at this point.

Maybe next time Cenere.

Perhaps not.

If I may talk about the picture for a moment. While there are stray lines, pretty much everything was left like that deliberately. While there is no real imprisonment in the drawing, it's full of symbols. The outside is bright and colourful, but she doesn't see it, because often, when you have lost everything besides your life, there isn't much colour to the world. She is bedridden, more or less, but while her body isn't working (hence sketchy and vague), her mind is still as strong as it was when she was young. Her body is however dying with her through some deadly disease and the methods and means the doctors have used to save her life. She is caught, not only in a white world of a hospital or hospice, but also in her own body. Her own weaknesses has stripped her of all the things she once had, pride, beauty and freedom, and she will never get to go outside again. The next time she leaves will be in a casket.
As such, with all of that wearing down, her world is getting less and less important, and she curls up into herself, mentally, while trying to stay strong, or at least try to look like she is staying strong for her children, grandchildren or husband, but she knows whenever she sees them, it might be the last time, and after so many waken hours thinking of it, she had grown numb to it all, just like the world has grown vague and colourless to her sight.

Killersup has viewed some of Cenere's art under the radar, and just felt like Cenere had not given a full attempt. The reason for noting that is simply for the reason that it might strive Cenere to strive to make his next picture better.

I don't have much to strive for. The compliments are limited and the constructive critiques even more so.
Especially when I am putting in a lot, and get told I didn't put in all.

Noteworthy, I actually have none of my usual tools. Borrowed pencils never work well.

Wouldn't it be a better idea to judge the art alone and not the artist who made it? As a judge, you're expected to look at each submission and compare them, not the artist's skill. Frankly, when you judge you shouldn't consider the artist at all.

I don't mind the artist being considered, as long as this does not make some artists stand out for better or worse. Judgings that go by "you usually do this, but you didn't, so you are making mistakes" are destructive.
Otherwise agreeing.

If Killersup would have known that there was such a movie series he would have watched it. This weekend sounds great. Was not shrugging it off as if you were the problem, simply explaining.

Age tends to be a bad excuse for now knowing stuff. You can't expect us to draw art relevant for the last eight years. Using age as an excuse, we would not even be able to draw the World Trade Center collapse for a relevant theme.
You have the means to research something by being on the internet, and your judgings should at least reflect a superficial understanding of what you are looking at, otherwise you will be basing the judging on wrong reasons.

@Strop's post, since it is relevant:
The nature entry was a rush job. I actually stated it would be so before posting it, since I would be leaving shortly after, and would not have time to do a proper entry. So, it is fine that it did not win. The base for the judging, however, was not.
There was no issue in not issuing a winner, however, as Sal's image might not have been judged equally to a drawn entry, and I believe Kega was the winner of the nature theme, and would have been unable to win this round.
I honestly do find your judging, Killersup, to be superficial and literal, and that you have a strong bias towards realism. I don't know if that is true, as Strop mentions, you seem to focus more on execution rather than what the content is or what concept lies behind. This can be tiresome, but probably good for those so inclined.

@Sal's entry: While it does not say anything about not submitting photographs, you would probably have received a marginal judging from me. It's hard to judge fairly when comparing to drawn/created art, just like how an animation would pose different qualities than a still image would have.
However, your picture does rely a lot on text to explain the situation, and that would probably have been your bane, should I have been judging this round.
Also, it's kinda hard to draw a photo for a round.

Anyway, good luck everyone. Good luck to whoever will be judging this, it's a hard job, and you are a mighty warrior for trying this out.
I guess that was it.
Salvidian
offline
Salvidian
4,170 posts
Farmer

@Strop
Noted. Nothing to argue/talk about there, except for the fact that we could use some and any more substitutes for a roster.

Ok, I lied. There was one little issue. When this was attempted for the haiku contest (the roster thing), the contest ended up in smoke, with Murasaki and Emp left to pick up the pieces. Basically, every roster judge ended up vanishing or quitting, and there wasn't a back up plan to fall back on. We cannot have the same problem, so if we are going to trek on a journey involving a roster of any sort, we'll need to employ the help of a permanent judge (or 10) that will be sure to help around in case anything blows up. I'm fairly consistent around here, but my WiFi tends to act up every once in a while. I know you and Cen have schooling and all, so I understand you won't always be there. Bronze has his art classes, and killersup is in school too.

@Cen
Noted. About the photo, I couldn't resist the opportunity. I thought it was pretty funny.

Reton8
offline
Reton8
3,173 posts
King

To go along with all that is being said, to me, The Art Skills Competition is only as strong as the skills of the judge. In other words, if the judge can't say something insightful about a piece why enter? Half of the fun is having your piece critiqued, seeing how your piece was interpreted and if you were able to convey the message you wanted. Seeing what was done right and what was done wrong and how to fix it. However, it is difficult to parse out, and critique, the different aspects of a piece if you don't have any formal training/ lots of experience with art.

I've taken one humanities course (which covers how to examine art) and I feel like judging a piece of art should similar to how art is examined within the humanities discipline. (Here's another useful link to art terms.)

A set of criteria for judging, to me, would cover something like this:

- What was the genre/style of the piece? (abstract, semi-abstract, realism, hyper realism, photorealism, trompe l'oeil, [cubism?])

- What is the space? How was the space filled / use of positive and negative space / balance of the piece? (Symmetrically or asymetrically)

- How was the use of line employed in the art? (Link 2)? (implied line)

- What types of "brush strokes" (link 2) were used and what do they convey about the piece (if applicable)?

- How was color, value, tone, texture, utilized in the piece? Did they contribute or take away from the piece? ( warm and cool colors, chiarascuro/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiarascuro]chiarascuro[/url],tint and shade, etc.

- What is the subject of the piece, the theme, and message being conveyed? Does the piece portray the message it is trying to convey?

Okay you get the idea. It was easy for me to throw these terms up here(I may have placed some ideas/terms in the wrong categories), but you get the idea, the judging should follow the "industry standard" of the art world (that might be an oxymoron). You wouldn't have to use all the criteria per se,but at least some sort of common set of terms/ideas linked to art should be used.

Judging is hard work. I'll say that it is probably easier for me to throw this criteria up here than to actually use it in judging. I would have a much more difficult time actually employing this.

But look at the difference between this:

"I like the ways the colors look and the piece looks scary"

compared to

"The warm colors of the sky really contrast the cool colors used in the ocean. The sky adds a sense of activity to the piece that contrasts the calmness of the &quotrestorm" ocean. The heavy use of chiaroscuro adds to the suspenseful tone of the piece. This effect is complimented by the asymmetrical aspects of the piece."

It's easier to write the first, but the latter has more depth.
You get what I'm saying right? Ehh, I'm just blathering.

gaboloth
offline
gaboloth
1,613 posts
Peasant

I could argue that if judging can be done following such descriptive and strict guidelines, one could do just it himself with no difference. Maybe judging is more meaningful if you get to hear someone's feelings and opinions rather than just an objective analysis of the piece? Of course this would make judgings more subjective, and one could not care about random people's opinions, but as long as the artist has a good opinion of the judge's artistic knowledge, I think it's much preferable.
(in case you were wondering, I'm pretty much blathering as well.)

Reton8
offline
Reton8
3,173 posts
King

I could argue that if judging can be done following such descriptive and strict guidelines, one could do just it himself with no difference.


I get what your saying, I think. Something like, art isn't just an algorithm or set of criteria. If it were a computer program could just be set up to do the judging, which is very "un-art-like".

I guess I just liked the way I learned how to break down a piece of art in my course. It's not the only way, but It was a solid way to make one's thoughts (on a piece of art) tangible.

I don't know if humanities is a standard and I doubt that even &quotrofessional artists" break down their own pieces as much as some critiques. (Do artists really say to themselves before starting a work, "I want to use a lot of chiaroscuro in this piece to add weight and a sombre tone."? I don't know.)


if you get to hear someone's feelings and opinions rather than just an objective analysis of the piece?


I was also trying to get at each piece is individual. Judging should be flexible to each piece. That's why defining a genre/style is important. A semi-abstract work might not be a very good photo-realistic work, but that wasn't the goal of the artist when they decided to make a semi-abstract piece. So it'd be inappropriate to say,"the people in your piece didn't have faces and they didn't look real. There was no shading at all." When the piece was done like that on purpose, with reason.

Looking at the subject and theme is very important too, but difficult. The judge can't be in the artists head. Doesn't good art usual have a purpose, theme, subject, some sort of reasoning behind it (or no reasoning behind it for the sake of having no reason which might be a reason in and of itself? Like a commentary on art? I'm blathering like Doofenshmirtz again.)

What if the theme for the week's contest is trains and a contestant enters a drawing of a turtle. I feel a good judge would research/ask the contestant why. If the contestant has a solid reason to relate turtles to trains, the piece may end up having greater depth or have a powerful message behind or at least be unique, but if the contestant just says "I like turtles."
then the contestant has failed to find a subject or theme and convey it.

I guess I care about this because I cringe when I see judging that only looks at the surface or tries to force all art into one genre and if it doesn't fit that genre it's not good. And I've seen it happen a lot on the forums and I feel bad for contestants who work hard on a piece only to be told it was bad because it should have been colored blue and done in photoshop instead of ink. But judging is difficult too, and time consuming. So although I do cringe, I still appreciate any judge who has spent time doing so. Blathering again.

Well, TLDR. but, my thoughts on the subject.
Showing 406-420 of 565