Forums → Art, Music, and Writing → Art Skills Contest
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...and just before the stroke of midnight, there was a knock on Zophia's door.
Yes, revenge is sweet indeed.
And here is THE JUDGEMENT!
Oooooooh...oh yeah, Halloween is over already, shut up strop...
So! Some of you may still be wondering exactly how I judge this competition, but whether you do or not isn't really going to stop me from making these big long spiels of preamble so suffeeerrrrrrrr! At any rate, what I'm trying to do now is be consistent, although this is very difficult at an early stage of the competition, where I'm trying to juggle a broader range of aspects that aren't really commensurable (don't know what that means? Look it up!!!)
For example, I understand that some people put a lot of time into a work and may wonder what the point is when I pick something that took all of 40 seconds to do as the winner. There is no way to make everybody happy and one might even doubt the integrity of a contest, or maybe think that I'm just trying to keep everybody happy. In a way I am, because I love the participation and enthusiasm so abundant in this place, and I want to foster that. So there's a balance to be struck.
Ultimately, I feel a little bit like Deebu from Yakitate!! Japan. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just read Deebu's introduction, as well as this, in particular this page.
Hahaha...anyway. At this point my reaction is not judged by how many phon I generate when I yell, but something close. Last week I explained that I wanted something punchy, akin to the punch that you feel when eating really spicy food (or drinking triple distilled vodka straight). Which is why if I look at an entry and fall out of my chair, chances are you did well. I don't mean to say that an immediate reaction is better than a longstanding or accumulative reaction, though, since I decided ultimately that Cenere's entry was the winner last week, and that was a decision based on a feeling that persisted and only increased for a long time.
So without further ado, I shall present the Grand Winner, one of two entries that literally made me fall out of my chair in an un-ninja-like fashion...sorry Klaushouse, but it goes to Zophia- Why Strop Should Never Run Out of Candy on Halloween
Somehow I find myself being the center of many a parody and teasing, which is fine by me. But this one is risky and not to mention risque, and yet it is still a direct interpretation of the theme. In this case I would say direct is a perfectly appropriate approach. Furthermore Zophia put an insane amount of effort into this piece right down to the spooky touches, which greatly aided her cause.
But the ultimate clincher for me would have been the fact (Is it wrong of me to say this?) she made Strop look kinda good in a pink negligee, and furthermore nails the "cute Strop" look down to a tee.
In fact I found Zophia's entry so awesome that I was inspired to strike back:
Congratulations Zophia, you've won the merit on offer for this week! Just message me saying so and I will take care of the rest.
And now for a Second Place also made of win, Klaushouse- trickrolled
Time for a story!
Klaushouse and I are currently too busy with out respective educations to communicate but we have been working on a project together. Klaushouse wanted to send me a video link as reference and directed me to this one.
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LOL U GOT RICKROLL'D
Needless to say I was all "grrrr!" and waited for the opportune time to get him back. And I did! About a week later, he had conveniently forgotten all about the rickrolling so I sent him the same link back and HE FELL FOR IT. I felt so proud of myself, until he asked me to test a bit of code he had written and embedded into his site. It was supposed to be to test the function of a button, but unbeknownst to me he had replaced the code with a redirect to...you guessed it. I GOT RICKROLL'D AGAIN D:
Months passed and we never mentioned it again. And now Klaushouse comes up with this. I feel like a rickroll virgin all over again!
...I hope that wasn't overly inappropriate a remark. Either way, you now know why this entry is made of win.
Third Place: Shermzx
Some of you may be surprised at this because it was entered so early on in the piece and therefore tends to be forgotten. But I am ninja and do not forget these kind of things!!! (actually I just go back over all the entries to make sure I don't leave anybody out...) The things that worked in shermzx's favor was that it was a) in keeping with the theme (loosely) b) entirely hand-drawn (by mouse), c) actually genuinely disturbing d) the style and the presentation was coherent. All in all, despite the difficulties, I would say that this is an all around excellent entry with plenty of effectiveness, and I would further add that I think this is your best entry yet, shermzx! Well done!
This is yet another round where I contemplated giving out not three but five or even more places, but I keep stopping myself on the grounds of just what it might mean, and would there be a point where such a method backfires, for it implies that there are four, five, even six entries that I liked better than seventh place!? So for now I shall stick to three although I am going to say that each round is always getting better than the last, so it is no less difficult a decision to make!
And now we come to the...Honorable Mentions, yay!
People seem to have so much fun with this section that they deliberately shoot for a niche, which makes for very amusing results. I believe that certain contestants have in fact forged out their very own honorable (or dishonorable) mention niche, which I shall explore below.
There were a number of trends, as well as a number of entries that stood out for their uniqueness. This time, in alphabetical order:
Honorable mentions for Cleverness
Cenere:
Actually...I think this one is plain racy to be honest. But for the sake of keeping things PG-13, I will try my best to refrain from pulling any forbidden reactions. As Zophia said earlier, I do think the lack of time was the challenging factor as it was difficult to pick the source of the joke. The rest of my commentary, though, I am going to keep to myself...though if you want a hint I've already made various comments previously in the thread ;P
Cenere also posted a very creepy and very cool portrait earlier in the thread, but I am assuming that it is not an official entry.
Cholokid:
I'm using this one because I'm not sure which of your entries was the official one, and despite not commenting I actually did find it very effective. Those of you who have seen Ring should appreciate just how utterly terrifying the implications are, and therefore just how perfectly it fits with the theme. Unfortunately for you, I'm generally not affected by horror films, but this doesn't make it any less effective :P
Pedspog: Boo!
The visual trickery I found to be delightful as it was subtle and only there if you looked for it, which takes guts to pull off. Also I think this is the first entry of its kind in the history of AG!
Honorable Mentions of Cuteness
Once again go to LonLonRanch for his morbid meal:
But LonLon...remember last week's Dishonorable Mention? Your forfeit was to do your entry in monochrome, meaning you're only allowed to use one hue, or even no hues at all!
That's okay though, we'll just make you do that next round :3
Newcomer Entry
Raigeki:
I'm not entirely sure how this articulates the theme at hand. Also, I couldn't tell just how legitimate this entry was because the contest requires that the majority of any entry must be original content, meaning drawn as opposed to arranged and I couldn't tell which of what was what. Either way, we will be tweaking the rules to make them clearer in future, so welcome aboard!
The Things That Made Me Say Whut?
Crimsonblade55:
At first I was a little "..." until I realised that the filename was "border patrol" which made me lol. Illegal alien, geddit?
Gantic:
That's right, Gantic. You've done it. Apart from the German, I was left wondering whether the ninja's pose was in the shape of a typographical character, but since I can't tell, I can only scratch my head and say "whut?" Also how is this relevant to Halloween :P
Thoadthetoad:
Like, uh, crazy dude. Crazy. I am reminded of a number of movies ranging from Monster House to Donnie Darko but I simply can't quite put my finger on it! Hence... "whut?"
And then here we come to the tail end of the entries...so I enter speech mode!
Over the past few weeks, Kingryan has refused to settle peacefully and continuously makes aspersions upon the character of Victorians. Therefore I have decided instead of giving him the Dishonorable Mention every week (because that would get old) I have decided to create a kind of Dishonorable Mention just for him. I shall call it...The Bogan Award
Kingryan:
You booooooogan!
And of course, the Dishonorable Mention
Fst6:
Yes, fst6, I do have a problem with that xD Hahaha, I kid. But you still get the DM. So your forfeit...what shall it be...your next entry must have no text in it!
Okay guys, that's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed this round as much as I did! I shall post the new round and deadline shortly.
I could have sworn I made a post about the new theme. Didn't I? After all I had to correct an error I made:
Lonlon's entry
Oh well maybe my internet died when I posted.
Theme: Wildlife
Deadline: Friday 6th November
HAVE AT IT!
And Kingryan, maybe you should work on something that is not bogan :P