As it stands now every contest will run a full month, to let people take their time to plan out and finish their entries. This way there's not as much pressure placed on the artist to rush. However if a piece is not finished by that time it will not be judged. Hopefully this will give people more incentive to participate. So now on to the next contest.

Contest Week 80: Scene from a book/novel

This months contest is Scene from a book. It can be from any book/novel, any genre, any language. Just pick one particular scene, be it a favorite part of the book or a scene that would transfer graphically, and add the name of the book, and a description of the scene or even a passage from that scene to set the stage for everyone. If it's another language do your best to interpret the scene, and the language. The limit is your imagination. I'll be judging to see how well you transfer the printed word onto the screen. So, get out your favorite tome, pick a passage, and have at it. As always have fun and please do not copy other artists work.

The contest will run the full month of July. Only one entry per person.

Any comments, questions, please contact me (Sweetcell) through private memo or here on this thread.

CLICK HERE FOR WEEK 79 WINNERS

JUDGING CRITERIA:
Creativity: The amount of imagination, originality and expressiveness that was put into the entry.
Technique & Effort: The amount of style, skill and craft that was put into the entry.
Following the Theme: How well the entry followed the theme of the contest.


***SHOWCASE ANNOUNCEMENT!***

After every 10 contests, one contest winner from the 10 winning entries will be put in the Showcase Gallery.

I really don't give a shit about the contests themselves, but I just had to say something here.

It can be from any book/novel, any genre, any language.

So... what this actually means is draw anything ever known to man.
Any book, any novel, any language...that pretty much covers everything on earth.

Which would make for an interesting contest.

Oh thank goodness.

Damn straight. :}

Since I was the only one who entered the contest this time I guess there really can't be a judging ..so I don't mind if you just skip to the next contest theme .. unless this lack of participation means the end of the contests :( I hope not because I really enjoy them. But I do think easier themes would bring in more entries.

there's no incentive. I only entered the competitions for the t-shirts.

my recommendations: shorter contests (no more than a week---otherwise people will put off entering until later, then never enter), more strict/specific themes (ideally the instant you read the description, you have an idea of what to draw...you shouldn't have to think about what to draw---alternatively add challenges by restricting some stylistic approach that people wouldn't normally try: for example, draw with your opposite hand, draw an upside down face, draw using only a 10 pixel-sized brush). perhaps try non-judged contests? If you have restrictions on style that could allow for "cheating" it might make sense to have no actual "winner."

the primary purpose of the board, I believe, is to inspire people to draw who wouldn't otherwise draw in a friendly bout of competition.

I miss the old ones, where a bunch of people did it for fun and it was simple but lot would come from it.

I find them beyond my capabilities, that's why I suggested simple stuff

I like the "draw with your opposite hand" contest, since there is no way to prove one actually drew something with their opposite hand.

that would be another problem, people feeling that they're "beyond their capabilities." contests should be open to everyone.

Once again, draw your thumb. Any style, realistic, cartoon, abstract, whatever, just simply draw your thumb.

a month long really?
what a drag, this means that one contest that might be great for one but just awfully boring for another has to be dragged on for the one.

sorry, dont mean to kvetch really.

Curious, Kvetch does that mean Hurt?

more like to complain needlessly

well, the contests are intended to be for users, by users, so feel free to voice your opinion on whether you prefer longer or shorter contests...

How about 1 day contests? ...like once a week.
I guess it would be a more vivid experience than previous contests. Or at least do weekly contests since a month is clearly too long...it's not like no one ever has time, or that we create such time consuming masterpieces. We could extend it to a yearly contest and that wouldn't make it any better(only if the prices were mouth watering).

I also think that the contest board itself may need some updates to make it better to use. For example it sucks when old images suddenly pop up because someone forgot to set it to finished back when the original contest was running. Also also horrible to browse for older contests because it's so mixed up and spread on millions of pages. I would like to see the contest board organized similar to the forum, so that each contest has its own thread with all its submissions. That would make it much easier to browse through old contest. The current contest could be auto-expanded. Also something to get the winner some additional exposure(maybe on the front page) may spice up the appeal to participate.

so are the contests defunct?

Sure seems like it

just for now anyways. Consider it as us being a little burnt out from it all, but things will be going along again soon. Basically the main problem was that no matter what we tried, even trying the suggestions of various users, the participation in the contests was always shrinking. It picked up a bit when we had prizes, but it's been a long time since then. So we have to figure out what to do different (such as the suggestions posted here) before starting contests again. If you compare the numbers of entries from a couple years ago to the numbers one year ago, and then to the last few months, there was a bit of an up and down to them but in general the numbers were on a downhill slope.

plus I started a new job last month and I'm often so tired after work that I come home, sit in a chair, and fall asleep. I feel old. @_@