AOTM #23: Joint Voting

[AOTM]

Theme: In the words of...
Defined: Choose your favorite quote, popular or less known, and create a piece that embodies what you love about it!
Theme suggested by: love that panda
Contest run by: Shon Harris, Lustre, and Contra Fates

Artist Notes:

1. "Do You feel like a man when you push her around" - The Red Jumpsuit Apparitus, Oil Pastel over Graphite, Large (Writing on Knife Readable)
2. "Shipwrecked Bones Carry My Seasick Heart Home", Photo Manipulation
3. "And in that moment, I swear, we were infinite" -The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Video Compilation
   

Rules for Voting:

• Vote on your favorite entry based on graphical skill.
• Please post explaining your vote and why.
• Please provide helpful feedback on the entries.
• Do NOT post anything insulting or offensive about entries.
• Do NOT vote for your own entry.
• Do NOT tell others which entry is your own.
• Poll End Date: April 6th

Comment Template:

• Areas of Achievement:
• Areas of Opportunity:
• Consensus:

This is NOT mandatory, but encouraged. This is to promote thoughtful critiques for the artists who took the time to submit their entries. This is just another way to show our appreciation for them.

It is not necessary to place the comments and critiques within a hider.

Other Notes:

AOTM Contest Managers are allowed to read, review, and submit their own entries - but are NOT permitted to cast a vote. This is because they know who each author of these entries are, and the entries are no longer anonymous to them. WOTM Contest Managers, however, are allowed to vote - as the entries have remained anonymous to them.

We greatly appreciate those of you who participated, and especially those of you who vote. Without either of you this contest would not exist.

Remember, it is YOU who decides the winner, so you all hold the power. Use it well. (:

Considering the low volume of entrees this month we will have one winner. May the best prevail!

[Kestrel]

This isn't really a contest. Painting vs. photoshop copy/paste vs. video copy/paste.

Entry #1 +1.

You might wanna practice some perspective though. Math is your friend and it'd help your background out especially. Oh and I have one of those knives. They're awesome for vegetable cutting. Speeds it up considerably.

Also,

Rules for Voting:

• Vote on your favorite entry based on graphical skill.

What?

Ignoring poor use of words ('graphical skill'? Come on...) why can't someone vote based on what one they like best? Even if it's because of a message a piece sends, rather than the technical skill involved in it's creation. Voting on skill is a shitty vote-mechanic because it assumes people can measure varying skill levels between different media (how much harder is digital painting vs. sewing vs. photography?) and says that technical skill is invariably more important than any concept. Wake up, people.

[Shon Harris]

This isn't really a contest. Painting vs. photoshop copy/paste vs. video copy/paste.

Artist of the Month is for image-makers of all mediums. The inclusion of so many varying types is wonderful, and I am very happy to see a traditional artist joining a contest which has historically seen more photo-manipulations than anything else. To think we even have a video-based piece this time is pleasantly surprising to me, and opens up all sorts of new possibilities. We will better advertise our willingness to accept moving-image works in the future. My point with all this is that the AOTM is made to respect all types of artwork. I will admit though, personally, Kestrel, I do have a soft spot for traditional mediums (and a strong respect for all others too).

Ignoring poor use of words ('graphical skill'? Come on...) why can't someone vote based on what one they like best? Even if it's because of a message a piece sends, rather than the technical skill involved in it's creation. Voting on skill is a shitty vote-mechanic because it assumes people can measure varying skill levels between different media (how much harder is digital painting vs. sewing vs. photography?) and says that technical skill is invariably more important than any concept. Wake up, people.

Bothers you? Bothers me too. I noticed this phrase used in past competitions and raised a brow for a good few moments. How I read 'Graphical Skill' is broader than skill, though. It's how an image-maker ties meaning to the image, whether that is formally sharp or not. The phrase is very open to interpretation, however, and negatively so. This will be looked at and rectified in order for a phrase which is truer to the AOTM Philosophy. You also have pointed out our lack of place for suggestions such as this, and trust me, that too will be changed. I appreciate your bringing this up, voting, and commenting on the work Kestrel.

Oh! As someone who works with all three examples you gave, I personally find sewing to be the hardest of the bunch ;].

[AOTM]

The AOTM would like to challenge those who have cast their votes to also fill out a comment about their perception of the work, and what tipped the scales for them. All of this is very useful to the artists and the AOTM Team as well.

Thank you everyone for participating so far! If you're still undecided, you have until April 6th!

[HaloAssault]

How I read 'Graphical Skill' is broader than skill, though. It's how an image-maker ties meaning to the image, whether that is formally sharp or not. The phrase is very open to interpretation, however

Taking this comment into account, I voted for "And in that moment, I swear, we were infinite", the video entry. Admittedly, I may be slightly biased - The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of my favourite movies, and considering I know some of the characters in the clips, the emotion may have been conveyed more to me through knowledge of the character's personal storylines at the time of the clip rather than solely through the artist's skill. On the other hand, I could argue that choosing clips that particularly portray a character's emotion in a way that reinforces the emotion in the song is skill on the artist's part.
I'd also like to say I'm not looking at this from the perspective of anybody who's done art. I dropped it at school as soon as I could, and never did much at home aside from fairly basic image manipulation. I did, however, take Media Studies, in which we learned to analyse advertisement images and what they convey to a viewer, so I'll be commenting using my knowledge from that school of thought.

Areas of Achievement:
#1: Personally, I think the perspective - the angle and position we, as the viewer, are looking upon the scene - is an excellent choice. It makes the knife-wielder anonymous, and places us below them in stance, both of which add to their threat. To similar effect, attention is drawn particularly to the knife (also achieved by the contrast of the stark red blood with the cooler greens and tans in much of the rest of the piece). Simultaneously, we're looking down onto the victim, which conveys a sense of powerlessness on their part. Emotion is effectively conveyed through all of these little nuances, and I have to say it was a very close contest between this piece and #3 for me.
#2: I very much like the abstract approach that's been taken, although that's a personal preference on my part, and I liked the contrast of the fairly, well, gothic/dark nature of the bones in comparison with the bright colour, vibrancy, and life of the flowers. Death vs. Life, in a sense, it conveys the whole idea of dead bones still loving, feeling, having a heart.
#3: While I can say certain clips were perhaps chosen particularly, incredibly well in terms of conveying a certain emotion, I'm not sure how I can really comment on the proficiency of that, on how it is proficient or especially good, other than to say the piece actually moved me and made me feel something to some degree. That's why I voted for this piece - to me, art is all about the expression and conveyance of emotion, and I think this piece did that most successfully, although #1 was a close runner-up.

Areas of Opportunity:
#1: In this, I'd agree with Kestrel - unless the slight distortion of the perspective is deliberate, perhaps, to convey a sense of unease, to make it unsettling.
#2: To me, the ship sailing feels a little out of place. In terms of idea, of course it belongs in the picture, but in the graphical sense it doesn't seem to meld into the picture as a component of the whole - it seems more like it's another image plastered on top of the one behind.
#3: As said above, it's difficult to comment on the proficiency of this piece, considering the medium in which it's presented. The only thing I can think of is that I feel a couple of the clips went on too long?

[Sherlock Holmes]

I voted for the video because I feel like it embodies its corresponding quote best and displays the best skill. The video cuts are relatively clean, it's decently timed to the music, and I can understand what the creator was trying to convey through their usage of the clips they chose.

Other comments --

Entry #1.) This was a close second for fitting the chosen quote. The scene is uncomfortable, which fits the tone of the quote they chose, so well done there. I feel like the colors they chose sort of contradict the ominous mood overall, though -- the yellow background, the brighter colors/lighting of the scene.. It all just feels sort of cheerful? I would have gone with doing the entire scene in black and white, aside from coloring the blood on the knife red to create your main focal point (which would add to the underlying threat the scene is trying to imply, as is the quote). Or I would have chosen a much cooler color scheme overall, rather than the happy yellows/greens. Still, the image does tell a story and that can be tricky to do well for most people. Good job there.

Entry #2.) A bit too much randomness thrown together for me for it to quite feel like it's working as a whole. I like the idea of the bottle with the skull on the top and the bones contained therein, with the ship off to the side.. But what's with the random bubbles floating out the top? They feel like an afterthought, tacked on there with no real purpose compositionally or as a storytelling element towards your chosen quote. Execution-wise, some of the quality is suffering from the quality of the 'shopping -- pay attention to detail and try to match the quality of the photos you choose to use: the skull on top is very pixelated and almost has a hand-drawn quality, but the ship below looks nothing like that. The bottle is a real bottle, the flowers are illustrations. Now, that probably wouldn't all be too bad (because you can combine different elements like that) if you took a bit more time to blend them so that they all had a similar visual weight -- For instance, add a slight shadow under the skull so that it looks like it's as tangible as the bottle it's supposed to be sitting on top of, rather than just pasted on top of the cork. Color adjust the ship so that it pulls the same tint of blue as the bottle, flowers, and skull behind it. (Which will help everything feel like it's all existing in the same space if the colors have the same basic tints.) It's doing the small tweaks like that which can really help sell a piece. Now, I say all that to say this isn't a bad entry, I just think I see a lot of potential here by the submitter and with a little tweaking to their work method, they could put out some really awesome/creative stuff.

[AOTM]

Congratulations to Blazed!

The AOTM would like to recognize all the contributors to this, our 23rd AOTM. When we speak about you, we mean all those who took the time to create work, offer their comments, and of course their votes. Without all of you RPG would be a far less beautiful place.

I would like to invite all participants to reveal themselves. We had some impressive entrees this month and some daring mediums that should be recognized!