Background Blitz - Here be dragons (WINNERS!1!!!)

[WRK]

@GreenBeams: I'll set deadline at 26.04 (next Sunday, till midnight),
but if you need day or twojust let me know and I'll wait. I think
people are more interested in artworks/backgrounds then actual
results of voting, so it shouldn't be a problem.

@Ykni/Cassiebsg/Misj: Damn, I hate those rule-puzzles.
I think it's ok to include these entries just because I would feel bad
leaving them behind. I think they're great, on the topic and maybe
they will inspire others to make something. So Art > Rules.
For me time frame is the least interesting criteria.
But... if that's still an issue for someone, just take that issue
for consideration while voting.

And while I'm still at my typewriter, I would like to thank you all
for participating. So far it's all great stuff.

[Ykni]

Thank you for bending the rules a bit WRK. I'm very new to the forum so I wasn't sure what the rules are. I never stopped to think about the blitz part

[SinSin]

"Arr"  said the dishevelled captain
"I know the beast ye be speakin of...! "

The captain aimed his pegleg across the shoreline at a rocky outcrop on a nearby island.

"Some say he lies in wait for weak minded fools searchin for treasure, killing them for sport!!"
"I says he's just a demonic sea beast with an appetite as big as the Kraken's..!"
"Over 30 men have gone missing in the last year... and all of them were around that accursed island!!

[Monsieur OUXX]

I personally have no problem including OUXX's piece.

Wait what. No no no no mine was a joke, it cannot be re-used, I already submitted it for another blitz last month.

@Sinsin your bg can receive an extremely simple quality boost : 1) remove the dark grey almost-horizontal line that you used for the upper edge of the stone block above the door. 2) just make the upper side of the stone block lighter. (or make the lower part darker). BOOM.

If you want to remove some bluriness, then select the parts that have almost the same color (e.g. the grey parts, or the brown parts), and then for each use the "posterize tool" --> slightly reduce the number of colors. That usually does the trick. You can choose to do it only for the blurry parts.
You've done it.

[Misj']

Wait what. No no no no mine was a joke, it cannot be re-used, ...

Proof that by submitting a new piece

[selmiak]

After a thousand fights on a long and tiresome travel the adventurers finally reached the wall they were told to reach.
Little did they know that the wall is not the final destination but merely a transition between the world they know and don't want to lose, and whatever awaits behind that small and innocent door.

[imgzoom]http://orig05.deviantart.net/8d01/f/2015/113/1/9/the_door_by_selmiak-d8qr25y.png[/imgzoom]

[Mandle]

With all due respect to the contest host I would just like to say a few things about pre-made pieces becoming acceptable entries into these AGS forums contests:

I always felt that the reason for these contests existing in the first place was to give artists a motivation to keep working on stuff even when they weren't working on stuff. To keep their skills honed instead of allowing them to grow rusty and regretably lose interest in creating game-viable material even when they were between actual game dev projects.

I thought that the contests existed with their time-limits to challenge artists to give it their all during a strict time-frame while at the same time forcing them to call their work "done" when the time-limit arrived. A lot of artists are insane perfectionists and will tweak and "perfect" a single project to the point where they just lose interest eventually. I feel that the time-limit is the essential ingredient which forces these artists to just get their stuff out the door and published, breaking the infinite loop most indie game devs battle with of:

Inspiration--->Passionate Development--->Project Becomes Hard Work--->Losing Interest--->New Inspiration--->Repeat

I feel that if pre-made entries become the norm in these contests then they will slide down the slippery slope to becoming a dusty old art museum of artists' past works instead of a vibrant tool to inspire artists to create new content constantly.

Just my two cents...Nothing personal intended...I hope this does not offend anybody...

[Mouth for war]

I agree with you mandle!

[Ykni]

Well I wouldn't want that to happen. So I guess I'll withdraw my entry.

[Mandle]

Well I wouldn't want that to happen. So I guess I'll withdraw my entry.

Like I said: It was only my two cents, and I meant no offense to anybody. By the way: Your background absolutely rocks and I'm sure you have the talent to compete on an equal standing in this or any other artistic contest.

I really hope to see more of your work!

[Ykni]

Oh, I'm not offended in anyway Mandle. Like I said earlier I'm very new to this forum. So when I saw this comp I wasn't sure what the rules where, which is why I added that my background wasn't created for this competition in my original post. I'll admit that I was pleased that WRK would accept my entry but you raised a good point. So that's why I withdrew my entry, even though it makes me a bit sad. But like you said, there will be other future comps to enter with original work.

Thank you for the compliment on my background I'm really glad to hear that you like it.

By the way if there are people that like background competitions as much as I do. I can recommend the Puzzle Pirates background competitionpuzzle pirates background competition. It has a bit more rules regarding style but if you win it will be used in the game.

[GreenBeams]

@selmiak - always with the cerebral Very pretty clours!
@Sinsin - it's strange that i can see the cave and the obvious signs of a struggle, but what sings out to me most about this is the small, less obvious choices. The two poppies growing wild and adding a different tone/texture to the image. Nice work!
@Mad - i love the cartoony feel to this =)

Thanks very much for the link, Ykni =) - i hope you enter the next blitz as i wan to see what else you can do.

Just adding my 2pence and my experience from this competition in to the mix - i spent a week vaguely buggering about with an idea which changed and refined and then went back to the start. The time limit forced me to decide and push a design until i was happy with it. I can personally see these competitions as the best thing since sliced bread as they push me to say, no more whining, just pick! I think if i viewed this as a compeition with the other members of AGS then i wouldn't really feel that growth but it seems to be more about competing with myself and my own artistic whinge/moan/dribble/complain flavoured pie by producing something new each time. That's why i feel it quintessential to a painter's learning path that we make new work in the timefame allowed.

Anyway, the finished linework is done and i did an ambient occlusion paintover last night. I've got lighting to deicide and then on to colouring so it's go go go! 

[loominous]

-

On using old stuff, I agree that it becomes a "rank my work" contest, rather than a creative activity.

[GreenBeams]

@Loominous - That's exquisite work!

OK, so here's my entry. I have to apologise as i stumbled around the colouring and couldn't get anything that i was happy about so i'm handing it as a cop-out noir game feel. Thanks to everyone who tried to help in the crit section and please know that i'm continuing on with it until it's done.

[SinSin]

Talk about leaving it until the last second...
@Loominous that's fantastic!
@Greenbeams lovely ye olde village look
Should be an interesting voting session for this one!

[Monsieur OUXX]

haha you two guys always popping up in the last minute!
Great entries.

[GreenBeams]

I actually finished this but a day late - here's a link to the crits forum where it now resides =)

[Misj']

I actually finished this but a day late - here's a link to the crits forum where it now resides =)

My opinion is always - and others may disagree - that as long as the voting hasn't started, the competition is still open (also, WRK already stated that if you needed an extra day that he would wait).


ps. plus a non-colour background was kinda my thing this Blitz

[Mandle]

I actually finished this but a day late - here's a link to the crits forum where it now resides =)

Just in case GreenBeams doesn't get back in time to enter his final work (assuming that the one day extention was retro-actively approved and that GreenBeams wants to use it of course that is)...

Here is his final work as it appeared in the last configuration he posted:

[imgzoom]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/107389340/AGS/BG_Blitz/Dragons/day_8_value_and_colour.jpg[/imgzoom]

(I kinda helped a very little on the project with some minor advice so I kind of got a bit emotionally invested in the outcome...Sorry if my posting this here is inappropriate in any way...)

[Mouth for war]

I think we should stop bending the rules with extra days and stuff too. What is the point with having a timed competition if it's always gonna be "can we extend this a few days"?