MAC 9 Poll

[wickdaggler]

After a few bumps and a lot of procrastinating here it is.
...yay

Here are the individual scores by judges, with comments and stuff:

Alchemator, who was perfect <3

Nastyjungle
Artistic Skill: 10
Theme Execution: 8
Plus Points: 10
Comment: This is excellent, and you've grabbed some extra plus points for putting it in a circle. While this may not sound like much, it accentuates the curves and asserts the focus as the sunset. The B/W is a nice touch too. You have, however, dropped maybe a couple of points due to the muted colour scheme, but really I love your style so don't change that! Kinda contradictory but, eh...

suntt123
Artistic Skill: 7
Theme Execution: 9
Plus Points: 5
Comment: Another excellent piece, though there a few things that could be improved. First, the size is an issue - the two combatants are supposed to be the focus of the piece, but take up very little of the actual pic. They're also kind of off-centre. In a similar vein, I'd prefer the background to be more muted so as not to distract from the fight. However, I do really like this piece, especially the Samurott. The line art is clear, and the shading is nicely done.

Energy Storm
Artistic Skill: 6
Theme Execution: 10
Plus Points: 10

icepick
Artistic Skill: 10
Theme Execution: 10
Plus Points: 8

TEA_DEMON
Artistic Skill: 6
Theme Execution: 8
Plus Points: 6

wickdaggler
Artistic Skill: 9
Theme Execution: 9
Plus Points: 9

Precipice
Artistic Skill: 9
Theme Execution: 8
Plus Points: 9

TheMutant
Artistic Skill: 10
Theme Execution: 7
Plus Points: 9

Orugos
Artistic Skill: 10
Theme Execution: 8
Plus Points: 9

aragornbird
Artistic Skill: 10
Theme Execution: 9
Plus Points: 10

Shinxe who didn't do comments on who she was supposed to >:|

Nastyjungle
Artistic Skill: 10
Theme Execution: 8
Plus Points: 10
Comment: This is striking both in an illustrative and graphic design sense.

Suntt123
Artistic Skill: 6
Theme Execution: 6
Plus Points:4

Energy Storm
Artistic Skill: 8
Theme Execution: 4
Plus Points: 4

Icepick
Artistic Skill: 8
Theme Execution: 6
Plus Points: 8
Comment: The fact that this is an entire *scene* is particularly appealing about this piece. The parting of the waters and the introduction of yellow makes the piece more interesting and prevents the color from becoming simplistic and boring. Nice point of view; I can tell he considered foreground and background.

Tea_Demon
Artistic Skill: 4
Theme Execution: 4
Plus Points: 2
Comment: It's not relying on the 'two different types' method of showing contrast and it's cute! Unfortunately I don't actually even know what the 'Fusion Dance' is, but nonetheless I enjoy that you considered what they're doing than having the flat-out contrast.

wickdaggler
Artistic Skill: 4
Theme Execution: 4
Plus Points: 4
Comment: Clever use of shadow; I think this concept could have been pushed farther. The drawing is cute, though rough, much like Tea_Demon's. Again, though, I'm liking that you didn't go with the easy solution for fire vs water or something similar, not to mention you did good to leave out the 'split down the middle' composition.

Precipice
Artistic Skill: 4
Theme Execution: 4
Plus Points: 4


The_Mutant
Artistic Skill: 6
Theme Execution: 10
Plus Points: 8
Comment: Great narrative interpretation of the theme, with a nice composition which doesn't rely on a literal 'split'. This is very clever thinking and it stands apart from the other submissions in this aspect.

Orugos
Artistic Skill: 10
Theme Execution: 6
Plus Points: 8

Aragornbird
Artistic Skill: 8
Theme Execution: 8
Plus Points: 6

Dj Gopher
Artistic Skill: 3
Theme Execution: 1
Plus Points: 1

DjGopher, who only sent in the scores for the people he commented on

Aragornbird
Artistic Skill: 9
Theme Execution: 10
Plus Points: 9
This piece was one of my favorites this month. The hard work that went into it is quickly made apparent when viewing the pieces, which are very high in detail. The background is quite pretty as well, but one thing that seemed to somewhat throw me off was the lining on reshiram and Zekrom. In some parts of their body they seem very smooth and the shading is very precise. Turning away from their faces, most notably in their lower half of their bodies, the over all style seems to become more jagged, giving those areas a sort of rushed feel. Aside from that, color choice was very nice, and the theme does really shine through, being one of the only pieces that I could guess the theme from.

Orugos
Artistic Skill: 9.5
Theme Execution: 6.5
Plus Points (for creativity in concept): 8.5
This piece was definitely among the top tiers for the month. The artistic style and pose for both Tropius and Lapras are very unique and the water effect on the sky was very pretty. One thing that I kept drawing to was Lapras's eye, which seemed a little out of place and stylistically different from the rest of the piece. Despite it's beautiful coloring and poses, it didn't really seem to prove its theme as well as others did.

bombrion didn't send in his scores, which is almost entirely my fault for not reminding him about it
but he says he doesn't have time for judging so he's fired

Here are the score totals:

Hide

Nastyjungle
28.6

Suntt123
15.6

Energy Storm
22

Icepick
26.3

wickdaggler
33

Precipice
32

Orugos
24.6

Aragornbird
26. 3
-5 = 21.3

Dj Gopher
10

TEA_DEMON
11.3

TheMutant
31

The top 7 pieces are going to make it into voting so here's what you can vote for:

Hide

Nastyjungle

Energy Storm

Icepick

wickdaggler

Precipice

Orugos

Aragornbird

TheMutant

Next month will have the original composition for the voting thread, proper judging, and a more balanced voting method next month, I promise. Sorry for all the shortcomings or whatever.

 

[Chou Toshio]

OH GOD!!!!

Aragorn or Icepick... what do I do???

 

[Tortferngatr]

Aragornbird

Probably the most creative interpretation of the entire bunch. The version exclusive pieces were a fairly awesome touch.

Not that Icepick, Mutant, and NastyJungle didn't turn out awesome entires either.

 

[Nastyjungle]

I forget, are we allowed to vote for ourselves in this?
if not
Icepick

just kidding I'll vote for him anyways

 

[Fatecrashers]

orugos's piece makes me feel so at peace, and the contrast between lapras and tropius is a real interesting one which i don't think has been explored before

 

[Mentlegen]

Nastyjungle had a really interesting style. I feel like I'm looking at a Fresco from the 1200s when I look at it. Very well done.

 

[Oglemi]

Orugos = so beautiful

 

[Alchemator]

This is a tad later than usually, but please bear with us! This month has been very much a pilot in terms of deadlines, trying to get in sync with the Smog (which isn't particularly reliable haha).

It'll get better in future.

 

[bombiron]

youre

fired

 

[Tolan]

Orugos's and TheMutant's were both amazing.

 

[Chou Toshio]

While I had to vote for Aragorn, I do have to say that the TheMutant definitely stepped it up this round. At least in terms of his own growth/improvement, I think he should be very proud of this entry.

If we're only looking at individual performance-- I definitely know Icepick can polish his work a lot more than he did. :P Even if this feels "unfinished" to me in some ways, he definitely has a terrific and dramatic concept, and the piece makes a huge impression.

Nasty always has incredible technical ability-- and this is what makes him an amazing artist contributor and cartoon/comic artist. To compete in the MAC though, where what matters is not only technical execution, but also visual impact and creativity-- I think he may have to step outside of his comfort zone to make pieces with more dramatic visual impact.

For Orugos too, I think this piece only reflects the most basic level of his skills. Yes, it is well drawn and technically flawless, but more creativity, and a more dramatic impression (a step outside the comfort zone) is needed. Frankly, this submission would have a hard time competing as an artistic piece with many of the works already in Orugos' thread-- which is why I say this is only the most basic level of his abilities.

Aragornbird is the only artist I really feel "pushed the limits" of what he could do with the concept.

 

[The Superdevil]

icepick

 

[bombiron]

my girl nastyjungle

 

[az]

orugos' piece is by far and away the most interesting

 

[DjGopher]

I sent you all other scores last night :P
Anywho, was between Icepick and Nasty for me.
Went with icepick because of the more free form stroke pattern, which I envy :3

 

[Shinxe]

Nasty and Mutant's are the most fascinating to me. Nasty's style is so unique and iconic and yet somehow still dynamic (how the fuck do you do that) and Mutant's take on the theme is unique and has a very tender approach in the painting too.

Voted for Nastyyy

 

[Orugos]

I voted nasty who is by far the most technically flawless and also because that entry gives me many boners

Mutant was a close second for me though for being a bit outside the box and also beautiful, but really a ton of the entries were really really great ;a;
Aragorn's is an incredible concept, but nature of chess match is that it's a bit boring- I don't really know how it could have been made more interesting, either. Dramatic perspective perhaps?

 

[Shinxe]

all of the boners

 

[LeviLamprey]

I want to vote for everybody: I'm a huge Nasty fan and I LOOOVED everyone's, especially TheMutant's, Orugos', icepick's and EnergyStorm's, but in the end I decided on aragornbird. The amount of incredible detail on that chess board is spectacular: once you look closely the whole picture just opens up and swallows you! I LOOOOVE YOOUUU Nasty, EnergyStorm, icepick, everyone else, but I can only make one vote! Really sorry. T_T

 

[keys2tkingdom]

I voted for Aragorn because he took a black and white theme and ran with it.

the following (though they don't count) are how second, third, and fourth favorite fall for me:

2. TheMutant - It was a sweet scene and very well executed. The colors selected for the piece where expertly picked and used. And to be frank the picture reminded me of Hans Christan Anderson's The Little Match Girl - in a very sweet way.
3. Orugos - See Icepick's reason
4. Icepick - I like both Icepick's and Orugos' pieces very much equally but since I could only had to choose one for third and fourth places; it came down to which I like to hang in my house (i.e. personal taste). Since I prefer pieces with more hard, defined edges rather than the impressionistic style that Icepick's entry is done in, so I picked Orugos' entry.

 

[TheMutant]

COMMENTS :V in no particular order

aragonbird: Beating a dead Ponyta, of course, but stunningly gorgeous art, as anyone would expect of you by now. However, I'm not as much of a fan of your take on the theme as others- when the theme is 'contrast', my instinct is that 'black vs white' is one hell of a low hanging fruit as far as interpretations go. Still, you illustrate it beautifully enough that I can't really fault a minor lack of originality.

icepick: I don't really mind the messy, free style you used here- I'm rather envious, actually. You really feel the energy in this picture. Like aragonbird, though, you're not getting tons of metaphorical points for originality in my book- Groudon vs Kyogre is another very obvious, even safe choice for this theme. Still. Gorgeous. totally not drooling over here. nope.

Precipice: Lovely concept you picked here- duality in personality rather than in typing or colors- but I feel the execution might have been better chosen. Some interplay of strong light/strong shadow in the environment, maybe, or any other number of things. Still, it makes me smile. (Like the happy Gengar, mind you.)

Nastyjungle: Great piece, and the one that eventually garnered my vote after much pondering. The circular layout, along with your distinctive style, really makes it stand out. I would have liked a slightly stronger color profile- but it all meshes so well I can't really complain, and I don't have to stare at it forever to get the 'contrast' effect, either.

Energy Storm: Really interesting pick of Pokemon/setting, and one I would love to see developed further. As it is, I think it's in need of something to... I dunno the right word, 'unify' the picture maybe? Contrast is all very well, but when you can pretty much draw a line between them and have two different pictures, I think of it more as two different pictures rather than one picture with a strong contrast element.

Orugos: arrrgh so pretty why is everyone better than me >:I Anyways. A gorgeous piece, but I'm not getting the contrast vibe that I do from most of the other pieces- when I look at it, I go 'ooh, pretty, a nice tropical setting with pokemons :3'- any indication of contrast typically doesn't come until after a few moments when I actually think about the choices of Tropius and Lapras. Basically what I'm saying is that for this month's theme, I would have appreciated a stronger or more immediate visual feeling of contrast- maybe it could have been at a different angle, so one saw a shot of the Tropius in the sky, instead of having them both in/over the water. The green and blue just work so smoothly together as it is that it's hard for me to really get the visual element, rather than having to think it out later on.

wickdaggler: Excellent and unique pick for executing the theme, though I think it needed a stronger grasp on light/shadow/reflections to really drive it home. Probably the most original take on the theme in the whole bunch, though!


(And thank you for the very encouraging comments, guys. X) I didn't do well at all this time, it seems, but I'll definitely continue to participate!)