Art [OBGT] Retribution vs. Kitty

[Dagger]

[CENTER][I][B]Round 5 [Final]: Retribution vs. Kitty

[/B][/I][/CENTER]
[B]Date Due:[/B] Wednesday, December 14

[B]Dimensions:[/B] 550 x 700

[B]Theme: [/B] Family

Once you have posted your submission (fulfilling the mentioned criteria), other members will vote on your work. We permit those who are participating in the tournament to vote as well. There will be no poll option ? you will be required to post a paragraph at least four sentences in length, explaining why you voted the way you did. If you fail to type a complete paragraph, your vote will not be counted, and you will receive a PM saying so. I will count & tally votes.

Thank you very much for participating (I can't believe we've come this far!). Good luck!

~Dagger~

[Retribution]

[size=1]I surprised myself by finding the time to create this piece. This week is midterm week for me, but I found a few hours to squeeze it in. I'm not going to have any time to work on it tomorrow, so I'm submitting it now.

I've really enjoyed the whole thing so far, and I look forward to more tournaments in the New Year. Good luck to you, Kitty.

[b]Nuclear Family/Society[/b]

[IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/nuclearfamily.jpg[/IMG][/size]

[Kitty]

[COLOR=#006aaf][SIZE=1]I don't have finals, but I'm still being loaded with other stuff. *sigh* But I had the time to get this finished this afternoon, but just never got around to hosting it. Anyway, here's my entry. (And I actually made the deadline this round! Amazing! >.<) Good luck to you Retri! I'm just glad I got this far anyway, lol.

[CENTER][b]Unconventional, Unconditional[/b][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[img]http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/5599/obgtentry51qx.png[/img][/center]

[Katana]

[size=1][color=royalblue]Ouch. This is really, really, really difficult for me. I've supported both of you throughout the rounds, and I really have to bite the bullet now.

I kick this off by saying I am a little disappointed. But, for you guys, it [i]is[/i] finals week (mine isn't 'til Janurary - -;; ) The images aren't quite up-to-ye-par, but whatever. You squeezed out what's possible.

And now, let's begin.

[b]Retri:[/b] Hu-zaa for Retri! Um...yeah. I like the very clean, simplicity to it, to an extent. I was getting quite bored with the image until the pink came up.
Pink? Where the hell did that come from? XD
It's interesting on how the text got crammed into the people. ^_^;; But the theme of your graphic is interresant (need to practice my German, you know), and shows the real view of people.
The downside? It's actually quite boring, save for the pink, and a little bland. But whatever, it works.

[b]Kitty:[/b] Hu-zaa for Kitty! Uh...yup. I have to say, I was surprised when I first came across your pic, because after all this time, I never expected Cowboy Bebop to pop up. XD It's uberly cute, because I am a huge Ed fan. ^___^
I'm torn. It wasn't fair, I kept screaming, because I love the characers but I'm not in love with the picture! The top is nice, and the sideways text on the bottom part is cool, but the pic on the bottom...IS GRAINY! NOO!!!
I dunno. It looks like cropping and color changing. :3 The layout is nice and sehr gut, but I'm not totally in love for the pic.

And so...as the first vote for the final round...I am torn between design and love.
But...because I have to do this...

[b]Retri[/b] gets mah vote. Sorry Kitty-chan, it's just how the statistics weighed out.

I still reprimand you guys, though. XD[/color][/size]

[John]

[b]Retri:[/b] Let's get the bad out of the way first: I think the picture, just as a whole, is a bit too plain-looking for my tastes. It's got nothing to do with its simplicity, which I appreciate, but I think it could've maybe used a very soft gradient or something for the background, or maybe have some of the "families" running outside the border. Something to give it a bit more interest. I also didn't like how the letters were arranged inside the pink family. Maybe slightly different sizes would've helped that some, but it's mostly because Times isn't very well suited to really small text. And finally, the families are all really pixelated. Not good.

I loved, however, the stuff at the bottom. The type spacing was great, and the pink to the left of the text was perfect. The whole piece was fairly well done, but the bottom part really made it for me. Good job.

[b]Kitty:[/b] I think the heart on the right of the picture is both kinda weird-shaped and pretty unnecessary. Also, like Katana said, the bottom picture is pretty grainy. I'm not sure whether I like the shadow on the bottom picture, either (did you do that, or was it part of the stock?). Also, on Faye's left arm in the top, you can see a good bit of eraser eating her away. :X

But really, that's the only problems I had with it. I hate Ed, but the piece is great lol. I especially liked the text positioning, which wouldn't have worked had the text not been [i]about[/i] unconventionality. As it was, it worked great.

Both pieces were better than I expected, and this round marks the first time I've actually liked the text in both (or pretty much any, heh) pieces. So w00t to both of ye for that. But, all things considered, I like [b]Kitty's[/b] submission more.

[r2vq]

Retribution - I'm not sure I understand the message. I know it's family, but the nuclear family is different from all the others, does that mean all the others are dysfunctional? Unlike Katana, I didn't find the system at all boring. I feel, though, that the browser isn't the best place to see it. Rather, I'd like to see it on the side of a bus shelter, or on a wall. I especially like the text at the bottom, very professional.

Kitty - I like how you decided to go with an unconventional family. The whole thing about mother, father, and 2.5 kids isn't in your picture at all. That's refreshing. I don't like the anime in it though. The cut outs at the top seem out of place. It also took me a while to realize that it said their names behind them. I like the way you designed the heart, did you make that yourself? I don't think it fits in with the picture though. I like the way you seperated the bottom (main) picture from the top (pink) pictures. Plus, the basic design is simple, and things are more beautiful when they aren't cluttered up everywhere.

My vote has to go to Retri because of the professionality and great usage of the principals of design. We have Balance because every family works in a symmetrical pattern. We have Rhythm because every family is evenly spaced, and evenly sized. We even have Dominance. The pink family -definately- stands out from the mundane black families.

[b]Retribution[/b] for the win!

-Arvi

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I haven't voted in the other rounds, so I might as well give my input now.

[B]Retribution:[/B] The first thing I did when I looked at your image was smile. That's a quality I like in images, their ability to make me smile the instant I look at them. But, like r2vq, I'm not exactly sure what the message is. Are all these families nuclear? Or just the pink one? I thought the nuclear family consists of a mother, father, son and daughter, which all these families seem to represent. So is the pink family just a special nuclear family? Also like r2vq said, I think this image would look better in print. Especially a magazine ad. I also like the text at the bottom with the pink rectangles. I think you image serves as a message more than a visual feast, so unfortunately it's not something I'd like to look at for a long time. All in all, good job!

[B]Kitty:[/B] I like the picture you chose for the bottom. I'm not sure whether you added the shadows on the person yourself or whether they were there in the original image. If you did add them yourself, that's quite impressive. The image looks too red for my taste. Not just the top part (cause I know you did that on purpose and it's a nice effect), the bottom part too is too reddish in tone. The whole image seems to be glowing and (sorry) it makes me want to turn away. Maybe if you used a different background than white it wouldn't "glow" so much. Also I think you would done the image better justice if you didn't use lines to seperate the images, or at least chose different colors between the lines. It would have been nice to see the edges of the top image fading, instead of having a line border.

[B]Retribution[/B] gets my vote.[/COLOR]

[Boo]

[size=1]I don?t like either. Both of you could?ve done a lot better, I think.

[b]Retribution:[/b] Nice idea, but that?s about it. The ?sign figures? have some sharp edges every now and then, while other parts look smoother. The pink family between them was a nice idea, but the text doesn?t look good. You might?ve wanted to put more words in them and just let some words go out of the figure.
Then there?s the text. A bit thin and small for the image and the pink blocks to the left are way too sharp for the rest of the image. And I think it could?ve best been placed on the right side.

[b]Kitty:[/b] To start off: there?s a hole in the woman?s arm. With that said, let?s continue. The top image is a lot other sharpness than the one below. The red used in it is never coming back anywhere in the image. Well, like said, the black lines are not an excellent choice, never quite liked that style anyway. Maybe it should?ve been used in the heart or the text as well, but now it looks awkward D:
The below picture is quite grainy. I like the text and the heart though _?

My vote goes to [b]Kitty[/b], I just wish both of you had more time on your hands to make something prettier. [/size]

[Delta]

[COLOR=#A28D57][b][u]Retribution[/u][/b]

◦● First up, I like the concept. The symbols you used are universal and familiar but you put 'em together in a really novel way ('tleast to me). Looks like much thought went into this piece. ◦● I dislike the choice of font and the spacing between characters in "NUCLEAR society". The serifs of them capitalized letters put jagged points between L and E and A that made that part of the word look dense with black. I suggest you use lowercase for "NUCLEAR", that way them letters look uniform and curvy and complement them sign figures well (just look at "society"). ◦● Your piece feels a tad too cold. Also, them pink boxes look a bit out of place. It's probably 'cause of the sharp corners (gratuitous contrast, they don't work with the curved corners of them sign people, yeah?). The pixelated edges 'round the figures aren't helping either. You could've spared a bit more time and vectorized 'em. The Devil's in the pixels, Chief.


[b][u]Kitty:[/u][/b]

◦● Yes, very quirky. I love your take on the theme in terms of concept. Whilst Retribution aimed for the generic, you took the chance on portraying the unconventional. Bravo! ◦● Extraction is good, though you could've given the positioning of the characters more thought. A page from an artbook would look something like your piece; it's selling the drawings, not the concept. ◦● You could've done something about the white background, just to fill the space up. You've managed to do this in your previous works; I wonder why you weren't able to do the same in this piece. ◦● The textblocks need work. One, they're pretty hard to read the way they're tilted and two, they look a tad uninteresting. A wilder font would've complemented the unconventionality of your piece, yeah?


[RIGHT]Chalk one up for [b][u]Retribution[/u][/b].
(Yes, I was a bit harsh but this is the finals, you know?)[/RIGHT][/COLOR]

[SunfallE]

[COLOR=DarkOliveGreen][B]Retribution:[/B] First of all I really like the simplicity of your piece. It?s like using graphic visuals to represent statistics. The black being what society sees and the pink saying don?t just see us as a number. I could easily see this image used by organizations that wants to promote the importance of families. With your image on the front and inside the brochure the same image with families of all colors and words in all of them. A ?we see you and your family? instead of numbers approach. What I don?t care for is that the picture is not completely clean, there?s some jaggedness to the edges of the families and the words in the pink one are a bit hard to read. Still it?s an excellent concept and I like it a lot.

[B]Kitty:[/B] The thing I like most about your picture is that it?s completely unconventional. It?s a great concept and really quite cute. The choice of pictures goes well together and the little heart looks great. I love the concept, as families are more than just people as pets are often a very important part of people?s life and those who have them often consider their dog or other pet as a family member. What I don?t care for is that part of Faye?s arm appears to be missing. I also do not care for the bottom picture, as it is grainy and pixilated. I still love the whole idea though.

In the end my vote goes to [B]Retribution.[/B][/COLOR]

[Aaryanna]

[COLOR=DarkOrange][B]Retribution:[/B] I like the way you did the families. It reminds me of the images I see when you visit the hospital as they use that very same family picture. It makes me think of how important families are. Other than looking a bit rough around the edges of the families and that the print in the pink ones are a little hard to read, I think it would look great printed on a poster or brochure that promotes families. Great job! ^_^

[B]Kitty:[/B] First of all I am so biased when looking at your piece. It?s so unconventional and really fits how I feel. Being a dog owner myself I consider my dog a member of my family and it?s so true how a pet?s love is unconditional. It?s absolutely adorable! It just makes me smile when I look at it. The problems I see are that part of Faye?s arm is missing and the bottom picture is grainy. >_< But still its just so cute.

Now for the hard part, choosing only one. This is almost annoying as each picture has things that I think are better than the other. Retribution?s piece is so professional where Kitty?s piece is so unconventional. Both reasons are good enough to say they outdo the other. In the end I like the warm fuzzy feeling Kitty?s piece portrays so my vote goes to Kitty. I know I?m biased since I?m a dog lover, but I really think it?s adorable, sorry Retribution, if I were voting from a professional standpoint you would win.

[B]Kitty[/B] gets my vote.
[/COLOR]

[Ryo the Tactician]

[SIZE=1]This is very, very difficult, so I'll split it up like others.

Retri: I like your style, you know that. However, I think the meaning wasn't clear enough - it was pretty vague. i liked the pink highlit family with the words inside, but it seemed like you were setting that family aside from all the rest, not using that to show what it was like for all the families. Also, at the end of your picture it said Nuclear Society - what? Nuclear Family might have been a little clearer if that's what you meant. Some parts of your picture were a bit difficult to understand.

Kitty: I like the message - unconventional family doesn't matter, it's all about the unconditional love. However, common to everyone else's critiques, I think the picture aspect could have been better represented. I can't really say what I think you could have done - maybe a smoother transition between the two parts of the picture.

Finally, what should we grade? The expression of family, or the coolness and simplicity of the picture? In the end, I'll have to go with [B]Retribution[/B], only because when it comes down to it, I like his picture more. I'm not big on the anime official art, I guess. I still think your picture was an excellent work, Kitty - best of luck to both of you.

~Ryo[/SIZE]

[Dagger]

[CENTER]Retribution - 6
Kitty - 3[/CENTER]

Merry Christmas, [B]Retribution[/B]! You're the official winner of the first annual OBGT. Anyway, I'm going to leave this thread open for discussion, congratulations, and so forth. Just remember that voting is closed, folks. :animeswea

~Dagger~

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]At least I lost to the winner :p

I think of the two pieces, that Kitty's was the most dangerous piece to attempt to make. Although she did a good job of it, it was the first use of anime in the entire competition, and not the best place to begin taking such risks, lol. There was always the chance that the change would kind of throw people a bit, so it was something of a risk.

Congratulations to both of you.[/size]

[Retribution]

[quote name='Baron Samedi][size=1']At least I lost to the winner :p[/size][/quote]
[size=1]Yeah, but I was pissing my pants as soon as I saw Kitty's submission.

I'd really like to congratulate all of the entrants to the First OtakuBoards Graphics Tournament. A big thank you to all of my opponents, and Dagger as well, who didn't bail on the idea, and sucked it up when things got annoying.

It's been great, everyone.[/size]

[r2vq]

[quote name='Baron Samedi][size=1']Although she did a good job of it, it was the first use of anime in the entire competition, and not the best place to begin taking such risks, lol. [/size][/quote]

Not true, a person used Anime in the Elimination Round. It wasn't Kitty though...
^^
Congrats to Kitty for making it this far.
Congrats to Retri on the valiant fight.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
(Just had to rhyme... heh)

-Arvi

[Stuart]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS]Hells yeah, congratulations for all the people who participated, and worked to the best of their abilities! Hopefully next years (assuming this it held again) will turn out even better. Dagger did a fine job makin' this happen, and keeping it going, on her own. So, props to you, Dagger. And props to all of you that keep the Art Studio a growing community on OtakuBoards! You all did great jobs. I look forward to spectating next years. :animesmil [/FONT]