The new improved LIMS

Lads and Ladies ,

welcome to the new/old LIMS! For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, here's a short summary.

LIMS = Last Icon Maker Standing
LIMS is an icon making competition where each week an icon maker gets eliminated until one is standing.

The rules are pretty straight forward this time so that we can finish it fast.

RULES



GENERAL

You must sign up to participate.
There will be max 15 places this time. First comes, first serves.
If you're eliminated you have to wait for the next LIMS to start. There will be no "Welcome Back" challenges
Entries must be kept anonymous till voting is over.


SUBMISSION

Each week you have to send in one entry. Should you fail to do so then you'll be eliminated (unless you use your skip)
Icons only. There will be no sigs, banners etc.
Size: min 100 x 100, max 125 x 125 pixels
You will be granted one skip. You can use it should you not be able to hand in an entry.
No skipping allowed during the last 3 challenges


VOTING

Vote for the three (3) icons with the least quality
Provide constructive criticism. No personal opinion. Don't write "Bah this icon sucks". "It's not my fav character, I don't like it" etc. Give proper critic.
Voting happens via owls and will be anonymous. Comments will be posted afterwards.
Do NOT vote for your own entry
Do NOT get others to vote for you (I mean why would you?) and/or to vote against other entries
You're not allowed to share your entry until voting is over
I will vote as well, BUT for the IMO best entry.


ELIMINATION

Each week the two icons with the most votes will be eliminated until 5 are left, after that it will be 1 per week.
Like said above, they will be eliminated for good.
Should you fail to submit an entry and you have no skip left then you'll be eliminated as well.


SCHEDULE

tba






Please feel free to ask questions, post suggestions etc.

LIMS WEEK I - Challenge

FLOWER POWER



Create an icon featuring one or more flowers
The following texture must be used in a visible way
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/th_abernathi1.png (http://s540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/?action=view&current=abernathi1.png) (clicky thumbnail)
No people in the graphic allowed
Texture can be altered in any way (resized, rotated, recoloured...)
NO animation
Send your entries in via owls to me
Size: min. 100x100 pixels, max 125x125 pixels

Deadline: Sunday, 9 pm CET


Participants who have to turn in an entry:



boushh
ccollinsmith
Jedi_Girl
leah49
Lonnie
Lord Godric
lupislune
Rell
SadiraSnape
storyteller
Tenshi
Wickedwickedboy

1. Tenshi
2. Rell

1. Tenshi
2. Rell
3. Wickedwickedboy

Oh exciting!

What is "Ippchen Dippchen Silber Nippchen, Ippchen Dippchen Dapp"?

1. Tenshi
2. Rell
3. Wickedwickedboy
4. sugar_quill

I swear, this has become addictive...

1. Tenshi
2. Rell
3. Wickedwickedboy
4. sugar_quill
5. SadiraSnape

1. Tenshi
2. Rell
3. Wickedwickedboy
4. sugar_quill
5. SadiraSnape
6. storyteller

Question: Do we send you our votes to keep them annonymous?

What is "Ippchen Dippchen Silber Nippchen, Ippchen Dippchen Dapp"?
It's like "Eeny Meeny Miney Moo". A German counting rhyme.

Question: Do we send you our votes to keep them annonymous?
Yes, voting via owl only.

1. Tenshi
2. Rell
3. Wickedwickedboy
4. sugar_quill
5. SadiraSnape
6. storyteller
7. Jedi_Girl

1. Tenshi
2. Rell
3. Wickedwickedboy
4. sugar_quill
5. SadiraSnape
6. storyteller
7. Jedi_Girl
8. leah49

I can't wait! :) (Please don't sign me up. I just like to watch.)

Eh, what the heck. I'll sign up. Hopefully I'll have to time to give the challenges all the attention they deserve.

1. Tenshi
2. Rell
3. Wickedwickedboy
4. sugar_quill
5. SadiraSnape
6. storyteller
7. Jedi_Girl
8. leah49
9. Lord Godric

1. Tenshi
2. Rell
3. Wickedwickedboy
4. sugar_quill
5. SadiraSnape
6. storyteller
7. Jedi_Girl
8. leah49
9. Lord Godric
10. ccollinsmith

Do I dare?

1. Tenshi
2. Rell
3. Wickedwickedboy
4. sugar_quill
5. SadiraSnape
6. storyteller
7. Jedi_Girl
8. leah49
9. Lord Godric
10. ccollinsmith
11. lupislune

Yes, I dare :yuhup:

Superb, thank you for joining. Only 4 spots left.

Signing up will end on Sunday evening at the latest or when the 15th person signs up. Whichever comes first.

If you have any suggestions for challenges please drop me an owl!

1. Tenshi
2. Rell
3. Wickedwickedboy
4. sugar_quill
5. SadiraSnape
6. storyteller
7. Jedi_Girl
8. leah49
9. Lord Godric
10. ccollinsmith
11. lupislune
12. Lonnie

Are there themes to these?
How exactly is this to work?

How exactly is this to work?Hi Lonnie, :welcome: to Cos.
Every week, Tenshi will give us a challenge, and we'll all make icons with the specifications that she gives us. Then we'll vote on which icon(s) should be voted out and the last person will win. There are more detailed rules in the opening post.

Hi Lonnie, :welcome: to Cos.
Tenshi will give us a challenge, and we'll all make icons with the specifications that she gives us.

This is the part I wanted to know. Thanks.

1. Tenshi
2. Rell
3. Wickedwickedboy
4. sugar_quill
5. SadiraSnape
6. storyteller
7. Jedi_Girl
8. leah49
9. Lord Godric
10. ccollinsmith
11. lupislune
12. Lonnie
13. boushh

12 hours and 2 more seats left.

Are you all able to use layers with your programme?

I can use layers.

Absolutely. Layers and layers of layers.

Incidentally, for those who are using Paint or something because you can't afford Photoshop, I encourage you to get GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/). It's free, it's very similar to Photoshop, it's very powerful, and best of all it's FREE.

Did I mention it's FREE?? And it will handle layers.

I'd just like to second Sadira on GIMP. If you take the time to experiment with GIMP and to read tutorials, it can be an extremely powerful program with a lot of similar features to expensive programs like photoshop.

I'm able to use layers.

I can use layers, I still need to figure out how to use paths in GIMP though. I don't know if there will be any animation, but this Free Animation Program (http://www.r2d2.com.br/download/uga3f.exe) is a lot easier to use than GIMP animation.You don't have to open each individual layer to adjust the timing. There are some transitions, but I have hardly ever used them.

Will close signing up now. So welcome the once who made it. Lets start with the first challenge

LIMS WEEK I - Challenge

FLOWER POWER



Create an icon featuring one or more flowers
The following texture must be used in a visible way
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/th_abernathi1.png (http://s540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/?action=view&current=abernathi1.png) (clicky thumbnail)
No people in the graphic allowed
Texture can be altered in any way (resized, rotated, recoloured...)
NO animation
Send your entries in via owls to me
Size: min. 100x100 pixels, max 125x125 pixels

Deadline: Sunday, 9 pm CET


Participants who have to turn in an entry:



boushh
ccollinsmith
Jedi_Girl
leah49
Lonnie
Lord Godric
lupislune
Rell
SadiraSnape
storyteller
sugar_quill
Tenshi
Wickedwickedboy

In the WIMS contest, I noticed that some people had good images and layouts, but struggled to improve the picture quality when making their graphics. Tenshi gave me permission to post an introduction to this. I’m basing this on the programs that I’m familiar with (GIMP, photoshop elements (PSE), the online program ), but it should be transferable to most programs.

Choosing a picture
The single most important thing is to choose a picture that is already good quality. A picture that is grainy, too dark, too small or otherwise not clear is rarely ever going to work in a graphic. If you’re not sure if an image is good, try some of the suggestions that I give below. If none of them make the image look good, then try another picture. Here are some images you would not want to work with:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/rell_02/tut1.jpg http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/rell_02/tut2.jpg
The first picture is too blurry, and the second one is too grainy.


Here’s a good picture to use:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/rell_02/tut3orig-2.png
It’s clear, not blurry, fairly good lighting. It’s a little washed out, but that’s more than easily fixed.
And here it is resized to avatar size
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/rell_02/tutavatarorig.png
Sharpening and Unsharp Mask
These tools are useful in moderation. Too much reliance on sharpening and unsharp masks probably means that the picture isn’t the best one to be working with. Most good quality images won’t need any sharpening at all and probably just a slight unsharp mask.

However, if you are using a very large image and you are going to resize it to be very small, sharpening the image before resizing can be very helpful to keep the quality when it’s smaller.

How to find sharpen and unsharp mask


Most graphics programs allow you to sharpen the whole layer, or a small portion with the sharpen tool (usually looks like a blue triangle).
In the online program, it’s under filters.
In GIMP, it’s under filters – enhance
In PSE, it’s under enhance


After I used an unsharp mask on this picture, it looks like this:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/rell_02/tutavatarorig-1.png
The shadows are more defined and the image looks clearer.

Levels
Levels are the best thing ever. They are always the first thing I do no matter what.
How to find levels:


Online program – under adjustment
GIMP – under colors
PSE – under layer – new adjustment layer

*A note about the difference between PSE and the other programs. In PSE, levels are done in a layer that can be manipulated later if you decide that you don’t like how it turned out. In the other programs, you do levels directly to the image, and they can’t be undone later, so make sure you’re happy with the results before moving on.

Once you click on layers, you’ll see a box that looks sort of like this:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/rell_02/levels.jpg
Move the triangles that the red arrows are pointing at slightly towards the middle. Stop when it looks good. Where it says channel: RGB, you can select different color channels to manipulate as well. Making the red lighter and blue darker can have awesome effects on some images, but you can play around with all three channels to see what looks best.
Here’s what the image looks like after I played around with levels:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/rell_02/tutavatar.png

Brightness/Contrast
Pretty self-explanatory. It should be located in the same place as levels

Just with brightness/contrast: http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/rell_02/tutavatar-1.png
Brightness contrast and levels: http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/rell_02/tutavatar-2.png

Notice how much clearer the image is without any sharpening or unsharp mask!

Hue/Saturation
Located in the same place as levels and brightness/contrast. Used to change the lightness and saturation. You can also manipulate six different color channels individually. (For instance, if you want to make the sky brighter, you might just manipulate the cyan or blues)

Just with hue/saturation: http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/rell_02/tutavatar-3.png
With hue/saturation, levels and brightness/contrast: http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/rell_02/tutavatarorig-2.png



Curves
PSE doesn’t have curves :(, but the other two programs do. I don’t know much about them, but I usued curves when I used GIMP more regularly, and they had similar effects to layers – play around with it!

In General


save in .png - it's better quality than .jpg
You can play around with this in a million different ways, so if you're using a program where you can't do layers etc in a layer, you might want to save the image in different files as you go along so that you can go back to an earlier version if you decide you like that better.
In PSE, adjustment layers are created with a layer mask. If you draw on for instance, the hue/saturation layer with the paintbrush set to black, you can erase part of the layer.

There's a lot more you can do with coloring once the image quality has been fixed, but I don't have time to go into that now. Maybe some other time.

Man, it's been a long time since I've seriously made any graphics. Hopefully I don't get voted out on the first round. :scared:

Man, it's been a long time since I've seriously made any graphics. Hopefully I don't get voted out on the first round. :scared:

I feel the same way. :scared:

Looking at the other contestants, I have a feeling that some pretty nice icons are going to be voted off the first week simply because they will all be great but some will be brilliant.

Are we allowed to use text for this challenge?

Yes, text is allowed.

Interesting texture to use. I'm nervous since I could be voted out.

I figure when I'm voted out (notice I didn't say "if" -- I'm a realist), I'll still keep doing the challenges, just for my own edification. So I'm not really worried about being voted out.

(I do prefer no one being voted out, though, like we did in Vita's LIMS... it let everyone keep getting feedback on their work... just sayin'...) :whistle:

But I am sure LIMS is a lot less work. Each week there are less and less participants and the tables get smaller.
I was going to continue to do the challenges as well. On other LIMS contests that I have not participated in, I have done the challenges along with the participants, but this is the fist time I will actually have a chance of being voted off.

I've created five icons already and hate them all :lol: Hopefully sleeping on it will change my mind about at least one of them.

*grabs popcorn* This is going to get intresting!

I've been working on one since Sunday night, and now I'm not sure I like it at all...

I hate flowers anyway. Bah.

The longer I work on a graphic, the less I'm able to judge if it's actually good or not.

Yeah, I've tried different iterations, I think I'm going to let it go for now and try something new later today.

You should get someone who isn't planning on voting to give you a critique before you submit it. That always helps me.

People who are worried about going out: Somebody could start another WIMS so that people who are voted out can still make graphics and get feedback.

Or you can do the challenges and post your icons in the thread to get feedback after you got voted out. That gives people something to do while they wait for the table.

Man, it's been a long time since I've seriously made any graphics. Hopefully I don't get voted out on the first round. :scared:

That would probably be me. :) I didn't even realize the first challenge had been posted until just now. :lol:

I was lucky and got an idea right away. I made it and liked it but tried another to see what it looked like and went back to the first. Remember you don't have to use the whole texture and look for flowers that are colors that will ook good with the texture. Remember, don't overcomplicate things, the way I always do. The only requirements are avatar size, have the texture and be flower(s).

You should get someone who isn't planning on voting to give you a critique before you submit it. That always helps me.

Hah!! I asked my husband and son to critique my entries for the previous LIMS -- those are the times I got the lowest scores!!

I do not live with people who have any sort of aesthetic taste. I think my cat could critique better than they could... :rotfl:

Or you can do the challenges and post your icons in the thread to get feedback after you got voted out. That gives people something to do while they wait for the table.

OOOooooh, excellent idea!! I'll do that!! Thanks, Tenshi!

People who are worried about going out: Somebody could start another WIMS so that people who are voted out can still make graphics and get feedback.

This :tu:

Hah!! I asked my husband and son to critique my entries for the previous LIMS -- those are the times I got the lowest scores!!

I do not live with people who have any sort of aesthetic taste. I think my cat could critique better than they could... :rotfl:


My problem as well. The people that I do know are busy, so they can't really help me either. All my ggraphics friends are from CoS, but I don't know who is voting. I just heard from Cybobbie again, so I think I may start asking her.

9pm CET...so just about 4.5 hours left to submit for the first challenge, I believe. I like this schedule. :D

I have to change deadline to tomorrow evening. We have guests here at the moment and they will not leave till 9 pm. Socializing, who needs that. Baaah So...

Deadline changed to Sunday 9 pm CET.

Good Luck everyone!

VOTING WEEK I


Voting will be different from the other Contest so read carefully!



VOTING

Vote for the three (3) icons with the least quality
Provide constructive criticism for at least those 3 icons. No personal opinion. Don't write "Bah this icon sucks". "It's not my fav character, I don't like it" etc. Give proper critic.
All entries are approved, so no voting off based on wether or not you can see the texture.
Good: "The texture wasn't blended in well IMO"
Bad: "I can't see that you used the texture"
Send an owl with your votes to me.
Do NOT vote for your own entry
Do NOT get others to vote for you (I mean why would you?) and/or to vote against other entries
You're not allowed to share your entry until voting is over






http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_e1.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_e2.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_e5.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_e9.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_e12.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_e8.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_e7.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_e6.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_e11.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_e4.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_E3.png



VOTING ENDS TUESDAY 9 am CET.

Umm, where are the entries?

EDIT: Sorry, now I see them.

So to be clear - we don't need to give con-crit for all the icons? Just the three we feel are of the least quality?

So to be clear - we don't need to give con-crit for all the icons? Just the three we feel are of the least quality?Tenshi told me earlier that you need to comment on the icons you vote on, and comments on the other icons are options.

I don't want to vote anyone out. These icons are too good.

I had a difficult time picking three icons.

It was so hard to pick, and I felt I was being nit-picky about it. That said, I completely hate mine, and won't be surprised at all if I'm voted out immediately. No hard feelings either, it's atrocious compared to everyone else's.

What was I thinking.... :clutches head in frustration:

It was extremely hard to pick three. I think in the end it is going to really come down to personal prefrence and which icons you can find anything to comment on.

I must be blind to fushia or I just wasn't paying attention. Voting ends Tuesday at 9. I was worried I would miss it.

It was so hard to pick, and I felt I was being nit-picky about it. That said, I completely hate mine, and won't be surprised at all if I'm voted out immediately. No hard feelings either, it's atrocious compared to everyone else's.

What was I thinking.... :clutches head in frustration:

That's exactly how I feel... about voting and about my own entry. :shrug:

Yeah, I felt like I was being nitpicky too. I think voting is going to be really tough every week. :(

Voting's closed now. Thank you for taking your time to vote.


ELIMINATED

sugar_quill dropped out from the competition so it's only one who gets eliminated this week.
The first to leave us is...

Entry #11

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_E3.png

Votes: 9

This means we're saying Bye Bye to SadiraSnape.

Votes and Comments



NoneNone
+ A very unique layout, and excellent work on the image itself. It's beautiful.
- I like the layout of the icon and how you used the texture. Something that could be improved is the contrast - it's in very dull gray-ish tones and adding brightness would have helped this icon a lot. Also, the text is uncomfortable to read because there isn't enough contrast between the text and the background.
- I thought the graphic overall looked good, but there didn't seem to be enough contrast between the text and the background.
- The background color tends to mute the colors in the flower and text which gives the graphic a one dimensional feel. The wording is nice and the quality of the flower itself is good.
- Nice crop, but the text doesn't do anything for the image -- too overpowering. I can see the texture, but feel it could have been used in a more interesting way, perhaps reverse, colors inverted, or even along one side of the image.
+ My favorite this week. Nice idea using the notebook in the background.

- I would have brightened up the picture. It looks almost too dark!
+ Such pretty colors! I like how the texture was used.

- I understand that you were trying to do a effect where the purple stands out uniquely from the white background, but that just didn't work. Maybe zooming up on the flowers a bit more would help.
- An okay graphic, I think, but the coloring seems flat or matte like finish. There isn't any punch, per se. Perhaps if the flowers had a bit more vivid coloring...
- The large number of flowers in the vase makes the image seem too busy. There's not really any specific focus. Also, due to the small size of each individual flower (and hence the lack of detail for individual flowers), the white edges of some of the flowers are distracting - and look more like errors than like part of the flower.
- I don't get any feeling of depth from this icon, it seems flat. The texture I think is too muted and washed out, which I think adds to the flat quality of the image overall.
- It is a really nice "picture" but it doesn't have that extra intrest that makes it an "icon". Maybe some text would be good.

None
+ Nice detail, good job blending the flower into the background. I think it's good you didn't use text.

- It looks too sharp.
- I like the concept and the colors, but the edges of the flower are not clearly defined - probably from cutting out of the original background.
- The coloring of the flower against the background is a bit harsh and the flower itself is a tad bit noisy.
- while it is an interesting take on the challenge, too much emphasis is given to the car as opposed to the flowers. Also the texture, while clearly visible, was poorly used, IMO.
- I didn't really want to vote for this one, but we need to vote for three . Anyway, the image quality is very good, the layout is very interesting. However, IMO, the texture isn't blended very well into the car and it makes the whole thing look awkward.
- I like the concept of the icon – however the flowers are hard to sort out with the car being the main focus of the image.
- Clever use of the texture, but it seems the car is more the focus than the flowers. They're almost lost. Perhaps if you'd zoomed in on just the tire and the flowers, and made the texture a reflection in the hubcap...
- It seems to be more about the car than the flowers. It's a nice icon, but I feel for the task it should be more about the flowers.
- It is a great car icon, but the flowers look like they are just there.
- I kind of like this icon, but only because of the car and the idea of it running over something. However, if I hadn’t known that the stuff the car was running over was supposed to be flowers I wouldn’t have been able to figure it out. So the flowers just weren’t prominent enough for me. I can see where the texture was used, which is neat.
+ It looks very Georgia O'keefe. Nice effect.

- The background color is very nice, but the flower is a bit overexposed and needs a bit more contrast. Any contour the flower might have had is washed out by the brightness. The overall idea was good though.
- The contrast between the flower and the background is too much for me. I feel like the white of the flower is blown out and I’m not sure I would have known what it was if I didn’t know the challenge. If there was more texture to it or something then I think it would have been fine.
- The flower is very bright and hard to look at. I would have brightened that up.
- The flower is just too bright, especially in comparison to the background. Much of the texture of the flower is lost in the brightness.
- The flower is too faded. It's hard to focus on.
- Pretty flower and it almost looks like the flower is being viewed through an eye. With the blurr the way it is the flower doesn't really stand out from the background.
- This seems to have an animation feel which I like a lot. I also like the use of the texture about the flower. However, I feel that the graphic itself is a bit too blurry overall and could use a bit more contrast so that some of the details on the flower were more evident.
- I thought that there wasn't enough contrast between the background and foreground. I had difficulty differentiating between the background and the flower.
- The flower seems blurry and not clearly defined against the background. The image just doesn't seem coherent.
- while it seems to be your intent to give the image a soft glow, it is hard to make out the image.
- I like the ethereal idea of this avatar, but the flower is a bit too soft and wispy looking to me. It could almost be a cloud. If it was a bit more defined looking I think it would have been good.
- The use of the texture makes the flower very washed out.
- It's nice and bright, but brightness usually works so well because there's darkness around it. This is all shiny and blended together in a way that makes it hard to tell what's going on.

***********

Here comes the new Challenge...

LIMS WEEK I - Challenge

Monochrome



Create an icon featuring a metal object
It must be an object that is made of metal, well at least the majority of it.
Use monochrome effect
A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colours and hues.
NO Black&White, grayscale or sepia.
NO animation
Send your entries in via owls to me
Size: min. 100x100 pixels, max 125x125 pixels

Monochrome expamples:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQHXu2tOalPh9zOBnTzp62ln6kujLom_ Fh4ywlXruGBCFEpNkRn3Q
Deadline: Sunday, 9 pm CET


Participants who have to turn in an entry:



boushh
ccollinsmith
Jedi_Girl
leah49
Lonnie (S)

Lord Godric
lupislune
Rell
storyteller
Tenshi
Wickedwickedboy

(S) = Skip was used, that means you have to send me an entry otherwise you'll be eliminated

wow the votes were all over the place...

Just to clarify, this is Non-HP? In most of the challenges I have been in one week would be HP and non-HP the next.

I knew it, I knew it.... gah. If anyone cares, I used Georgia O'Keefe's "White Trumpet Flower"

http://www.sdmart.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/must_see_300w/197112jpg.jpg.crop_display_0.jpg

Cropped it, made a background of the texture, faded that, put the flower on top and reduced opacity so it brought some of the toning of the background, then cropped all that again.

Selected the flower with the ellipse tool, feathered 20 pixels, and put that on top of the texture, which was flipped vertically and horizontally.

Obviously it was not my best effort. Bah. I probably should have put it on a black background, but then I was worried that the texture wouldn't be apparent.

And this is why I don't like flowers. I just don't know what to do with them. I don't even have flower in my garden -- I have hostas and ferns!!

Y'all have fun -- I'll still do the challenges, but maybe I'll make another thread for all us folks eliminated to show off what we did.

Just to clarify, this is Non-HP? In most of the challenges I have been in one week would be HP and non-HP the next.
Yup, this is a Non-HP one. I'll throw in HP challenges in from time to time, but not every second week.

I knew it, I knew it.... gah. If anyone cares, I used Georgia O'Keefe's "White Trumpet Flower"

http://www.sdmart.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/must_see_300w/197112jpg.jpg.crop_display_0.jpg

Cropped it, made a background of the texture, faded that, put the flower on top and reduced opacity so it brought some of the toning of the background, then cropped all that again.

Selected the flower with the ellipse tool, feathered 20 pixels, and put that on top of the texture, which was flipped vertically and horizontally.

Obviously it was not my best effort. Bah. I probably should have put it on a black background, but then I was worried that the texture wouldn't be apparent.

And this is why I don't like flowers. I just don't know what to do with them. I don't even have flower in my garden -- I have hostas and ferns!!

Y'all have fun -- I'll still do the challenges, but maybe I'll make another thread for all us folks eliminated to show off what we did.

:huggles: I think you accomplished what you were going for and it was nice, just not as nice as some of the others.
Make sure you post that link so we all know where it is. Tenshi might even be willing to let us use the old wIMS thread.

I was #10. Before I scaled my image down to avatar size this is what it looked like. It reminded me of paintings my aunt did that hang in my grandmother's house (all I did was take the original image and blend the background on top if it).

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/blue4t/LIMS/test55yyy.png

The big version looks great, Leah.

For this week, the base itself doesn't have to be monochrome, what matters is that the finished product is monochrome. You can turn pretty much any image into a monochrome one using layers and some settings.

I finally found some images that should work, but my problem was finding something where the metalic object was apparent even if you didn't know it was supposed to be there.

Woo! No votes for my icon this week!

Next week's challenge is...interesting.

ETA: Forget interesting. I hate monochrome already :lol:

Leah, I think that would work very well as a sig :)

The one I did is in my avatar.

Woo! No votes for my icon this week!

Next week's challenge is...interesting.

ETA: Forget interesting. I hate monochrome already :lol:
Yeah I often hate myself for coming up with such challenges.

Is text allowed and does the monocrome have to extend to the metalic object?

Here's the new thread for the Eliminated from this LIMS:

LIMS walking wounded -- The Eliminated (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=129940)

So come join in as you leave the front lines, post your Waterloo challenge, and post your efforts in the succeeding challenges. Even though they aren't in the running, they're still worth looking at and getting constructive criticism on.

Here's the new thread for the Eliminated from this LIMS:

LIMS walking wounded -- The Eliminated (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=129940)

So come join in as you leave the front lines, post your Waterloo challenge, and post your efforts in the succeeding challenges. Even though they aren't in the running, they're still worth looking at and getting constructive criticism on.

Thanks for doing that, Sadira. With all the talent in here, I know I'll be joining that thread sooner or later. :shrug:

:huggles:

Are we meant to use the photography/artwork of others for this?
I'm guessing so, but I'm thinking of using my own picture because I am simply too much of a control freak.

I've just finished my (first attempt at this) entry, but I'm terrified that I'll wake up in the morning and hate it.

At least I've finished it on time. Maybe I'll make another before deciding to submit.

The first contest was announced without my knowledge, so I missed out entirely. I'm pretty disappointed.

EDIT:
Also, I am hating the monochrome, too. While I can occasionally pull it off, it's much more difficult trying to incorporate my "metalic" object into.
On that note, does it have to be metal or just metalic?
If it must be metal, does it have to be chrome-y-shine-y or simply be made of metal?

Is text allowed and does the monocrome have to extend to the metalic object?
The whole icon has to be monochrome, the object included.

Here's the new thread for the Eliminated from this LIMS:

LIMS walking wounded -- The Eliminated (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=129940)


Great!

Are we meant to use the photography/artwork of others for this?
I'm guessing so, but I'm thinking of using my own picture because I am simply too much of a control freak.
You can your own pics.

EDIT:
Also, I am hating the monochrome, too. While I can occasionally pull it off, it's much more difficult trying to incorporate my "metalic" object into.
On that note, does it have to be metal or just metalic?
If it must be metal, does it have to be chrome-y-shine-y or simply be made of metal?It must be an object that is made of metal, well at least the majority of it.

I didn't know there's a difference between metalic object and metal object. -_-'

I didn't know there's a difference between metalic object and metal object. -_-'

Dusts off grammarian glasses...

In grammatical terms, "metallic" is an adjective so it could be interpreted to mean "metal-like" or "related to metal" (though I think it's most often used the way you used it).

Anyway, I just thought that a non-native speaker might be interested in a little English nuance. :D

Thanks for doing that, Sadira. With all the talent in here, I know I'll be joining that thread sooner or later. :shrug:

:huggles:

Great title. I might squeak by this week, but I know my weeks are numbered by how good lasst weeks icons were.

Well, the difference between paint and metallic paint is that the latter has a metallic sheen to it even though it's not made of metal. And. Stuff. Yeah.

Metallic stuff is shiny and reminescent of metal.

Thanks, Tenshi and Rell.


Lonnie, you can use your own pictures. We use whatever we can find.

Well, the question was more meant like 'Are people allowed to use whatever they want?'

I mean, is there no limit? Do people use stock or anything even if it's not in the creative commons?

Lonnie, pretty much, yeah. We're practicing making graphics, not selling them or trying to profit off them. About the only thing I steer away from is anything on DeviantArt, since most of those folks are starving artists.

When I'm looking for an image to use, I generally do a Google image search for what I'm trying to find.

And even with Deviant Art, if you really want to use an image, try and contact them and ask if you can use it.

Some (well, a lot) of the people on DA do allow you to use their stock, brushes, textures, etc. as long as you credit them.

Okay, I have what would have been my entry for week 2 ready to post on the Walking Wounded thread (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=129940), as soon as Tenshi puts the table up here...

You can always go ahead an post it, Sadira :). It will give us all something to look at while we wait.

VOTING WEEK II


Voting will be different from the other Contest so read carefully!



VOTING

Vote for the three (3) icons with the least quality
Provide constructive criticism for at least those 3 icons. No personal opinion. Don't write "Bah this icon sucks". "It's not my fav character, I don't like it" etc. Give proper critic.
Send an owl with your votes to me.
Do NOT vote for your own entry
Do NOT get others to vote for you (I mean why would you?) and/or to vote against other entries
You're not allowed to share your entry until voting is over






http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E11.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E10.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E12.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E9.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E7-1.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E2.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E3.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E4.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E1.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E8.png



VOTING ENDS TUESDAY 9 am CET.



[/quote]

Looking at this weeks Icons next week is going to be murder to vote for. There were a few that really blew me away. The only way to really eliminate three is by composition rather than technique.

Can I vote? Or are the walking wounded disallowed? Oh, and my "entry" is up on the Walking Wounded (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=5857615) thread...

Can I vote? Or are the walking wounded disallowed? Oh, and my "entry" is up on the Walking Wounded (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=5857615) thread...

Everyone can vote. If the eliminated could not vote, there would be a pretty small voting pool towards the end.

Do we have to vote for three to eliminate?

I'm not gonna be able to vote this week because, due to Hurricane Irene I without power and am expected to be without power for a few days longer. Right now I'm on my cellphone and voting would be nearly impossible.

But best of luck to everyone.

Do we have to vote for three to eliminate?
Yes, please.

Voting's closed now. Results and new challenges will be up shortly.

(see T's post below)

Hes... :nc:

ELIMINATED

This week the following two contestants got the most votes and have to leave us.

Entry #4
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E9.png
Votes: 8

and Entry #9
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E1.png
Votes: 7

That would be Leah and storyteller this time.
Sorry to see you go.
Please don't forget to check out LIMS walking wounded -- The Eliminated (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=129940)

Votes and Comments


+ I like this one a lot. I think it would have been better with no text, or with the text included, but the car farther toward the bottom. In any case, I think you did a great job with the colors and image quality.
+ I really like this -- the chrome is nicely emphasized. I think I'd have brightened up the body of the car some, though -- it's so dark it doesn't really come out of the background much, and then really burned the chrome. I like the gradient you used for the sky -- it glows like metal itself.

+ This is actually very eye catching - I like the crop, the subtle monochrome , the defocused backgroud, the shadow and the vibrant shine of metal - it all comes together perfectly. But what is it? :lol:
- I'm not sure what the item in the image is. It also seems blurry. I know the background is supposed to be blurry and I like that, but the image is hard to focus on.
- Good job with the monochromatic, but yiu really can't tell what it is.
- This looks like it's just black and white (shades of grey), and not monochrome. I think that's a piece of iron pyrite, but the metallic nature isn't emphasized. I believe it the background had been faded to near invisible, the levels adjusted to intensify the contrast, and maybe a gold hue used, this would have been more intense. Some brushwork with the lightest value of gold, or white, to pick out the shiny bits would have brought out the metallic quality.
- I had difficulty telling what was the subject of the icon. Is it gold or silver? I'm still not sure exactly sure. Perhaps a more defined object would have been better?
+ I think the icon is overall good, but I thought the metal was a bit too dark, perhaps a bit less dark, and a bit more contrast on the metal itself.
+ I'm assuming the candelabra is made of metal, but the metallic sheen isn't emphasized enough. This could have been really interesting if the darker values had been lightened up so that the lightest values almost burn, then use your greyish-blue hue.
- The photo is just a little bit fuzzy, if maybe you cleaned it up or even picked a different picture altogether, it might of been better.
- The whole thing is blurry. It isn't a good image to look at.
- There's almost too much going on in this image, and the light from the window and from the door compete with the sheen on the robot. I'd have done some editing on that background, removed some elements, and burned the light values of the robot.
- I thought the icon was a bit too blurry and the robot seem to need a bit more contrast from the background.
- I like the coloring of this icon, but it’s blurry almost. Not sure if it’s the source image, but it would have worked better if it was clearer.
- Good job on the monochrome coloring. However, the quality of the picture is a bit blurry. Also, the metal robot seems to blend in the scene, detracting from his serving as the focus of the picture.
- There seems to be a lot going on in here, but it's too blurry to tell what's happening.
- There's no real focus point to the image. It's pretty busy, and you have to look to see the robot. The humans are a bit blurry. I think a crop closer to the robot would have worked better.
+ I know the Statue of Liberty is made of metal, but it doesn't have that metallic sheen going on. Adjusting the values so that the light values burn may have given you that. I do like the use of the verdigris shade of green for your hue.
+ This is fantastic. I like everything about it.
- The layout is actually very good, and I like the color. I think it's too faded to work well as an icon.
- I think a tighter focus that gives a sense of metallic light and shadow would work better here. This looks like many long shots of the Statue of Liberty, and the statue itself is already green, so it's not really working for me.
- I like the coloring of this icon and the choice of subject. However, I don’t much like the crop and I think it would have looked much more effective had it been a tighter crop.
- I think that you maybe could have made the statue a little bit bigger to take up some of the negative space. It just doesn't work
+ this is perfect!! The background is interesting but not overwhelming, the snail is cute, and the feel of the metallic body is beautifully done. The blue hue works great.
+ Nice image! The blue works very well with it.
+ I really enjoyed this icon, but I thought that the contrast of the snail itself could have been slightly more, and a slight bit brighter.
+ this is almost there -- the gradient is nice, the hue is well hosen, the subject is great. I'd have probably blended the surface of the teapot a bit, and touched up the lighter areas to make them stand out more as sheen.
+ This one is very pretty. I think it might have been better with a slightly stronger color, but it still looks nice and elegant.
- making everything silver makes the teapot blend in rather than stand out.
- The monochrome effect is nicely achieved. However, I feel like the color chosen desaturates the little bit of shadow associated with the picture - and the teapot itself ends up looking a somewhat somber.
- It's so bright, it's kind of hard to see. I would have brightened that up a little bit.
+ One of my favorites this week.
+ nice composition, and the hue is great. The background is de-emphasized well. It's interesting, but it's just lacking a certain something -- maybe because there's not really a single point of interest. I think it would be better if it was just the keys or the keyplate, but not both.
- The image is nice, but it does nothing to grab me. Maybe a tighter focus - zoomed in and cropped around one spoon - would work better. The light glinting off the spoons is great, so I think the tighter focus could turn this into a really great icon.
- The monochrome idea is well done. I like the way the inner bevel or ladel portion of the spoon shows a cool reflection. However, the edging on the spoons is a bit too overexposed for the smooth background chosen, interrupting the overall blend.
- I think the background is a bit too dark and the reflections on the spoons don't look quite right.
- I like the colors, but there's not much happening here. A better layout or more interesting image would have worked better.
- I thought that the spoons were a bit overexposed here, but I think it is still a relatively good icon. Perhaps it could have had a different background.
- This icon sort of works, but something about it just didn’t come together. The spoons almost look flat. I wish the background wasn’t a plain solid color and that it had a gradient or a texture or something.
- it appears to me there are two hues going on here -- a greenish one on the left spoon and the blue of the background and the right spoon. Other than that, the metallic quality is well done. The only reason I'm voting against it is the use of two hues instead of the one as specified in the challenge.
+ I like this a lot. Great choice of monochrome coloring and very nicely rendered.
+ this is another perfect one!! You turned the usual on its head, by emphasizing your darkest values and leaving the lightest ones to speak for themselves on the ring, which made its metallic nature leap off the screen. Great work.
- I think it's too dark.


***********

New Challenge...

LIMS WEEK I! - Challenge

Global Cities



Create an icon featuring one of the following cities:
- New York City
- Tokyo
- London
- Paris
- Hongkong
(Top 5 of the Global Cities Index)
Choose a famous landmark.
Text is a must.
NO animation
Send your entries in via owls to me
Size: min. 100x100 pixels, max 125x125 pixels

Deadline: Sunday, 9 pm CET


Participants who have to turn in an entry:



boushh
ccollinsmith
Jedi_Girl
Lonnie

Lord Godric
lupislune
Rell
Tenshi
Wickedwickedboy

+Like I said, I am out this week. I did other images but Tenshi could not tell what the first one was and then you couldn't really see the metal object and finally I just chose this picture which I did not notice was blurry until too late and just did something really quick and forgot to shapen.

If your intrested I will postthe other pictures on the wounded thread.

Dang, well, I did my best. Monochrome isn't my thing, I know. Well, I'll still vote cause I love looking at the icons.

Sorry to see Sadira, Leah, and storyteller go. :( I really thought I was in trouble this week. Mine was the snail...

The snail is cute. I didn't think about voting for yours at all, boush.

Boushh, I loved your snail! It just looked so cute, and the metallic aspect was perfect.

For this week. It should be clear even without text what city it is. So having a famous landmark in it is a good idea.

For this week. It should be clear even without text what city it is. So having a famous landmark in it is a good idea.

Tenshi, I don't want to assume which landmarks are famous or that anyone would recognize a particular city based on Google's point of view, lol. Is it possible for you to list those that would meet your criteria of a famous landmark in each of the cities? Thanks.

Uhmmm you know stuff like Big Ben, Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building etc...Even taking a double decker bus for London is suitable or a pic or a taxi at times square.

Images where people will know right away what city it is.

These are the first places I think of, but you don't neccessarily need to know what the place is to recognize the architecture of a city.
New York City Statue of liberty, Empite state building, rockafeller center, Radio City Music Hall
-- London, Big Ben, the London eye, Tower of London, The Gem Theater,
- Paris-Arch de Truinph, Eiffel tower,
- Hongkong and Tokyo most things will be recognizable by the architeture, especially the Budda.

Thanks Tenshi and Storyteller. :tu:

And don't forget, "Text is a must". So you can always just slap the name of the city on there.

Thanks for the nice words about my avatar last week, Sadira and storyteller. :)

I am moving (yes, yet again) tomorrow morning and I don't know if I will have inet access the next days. Hes will probably post the next table on Sunday, if I'm not around.

Remember to send me (not Hes) the entries till Sunday.

Wait, so if we send the entry today, we send it to you, and Hes if we send it in tomorrow? *confused*

Everything goes to me regardless of when you send it.

Yet again, a picture I took myself because I just don't feel like taking stuff off google XD

That's it. Entries will be up any minute. Stay tuned.

VOTING WEEK III






VOTING

Vote for the three (3) icons with the least quality
Provide constructive criticism for at least those 3 icons. No personal opinion. Don't write "Bah this icon sucks". "It's not my fav character, I don't like it" etc. Give proper critic.
For this week no voting off because you don't know what the icon is showing. That landmark thing was only for me so that I know that you actually did one of those cities. <_<
Send an owl with your votes to me.
Do NOT vote for your own entry
Do NOT get others to vote for you (I mean why would you?) and/or to vote against other entries
You're not allowed to share your entry until voting is over







http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w3e4.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w3e2.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w3e7.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w3e6.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w3e1.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w3e5.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w3e3.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/Week3-2.jpg



VOTING ENDS MONDAY 9 pm CET.

While we wait for voting results, my week 3 effort (http://www.cosforums.com/showpost.php?p=5865788&postcount=14) is up on the Walking Wounded thread...

I just want to say I love number 1. What a touching tribute as 9/11's 10th anniversary approches.
All the others are really good too.

I FORGOT ONE ENTRY. ADDED IT NOW. IT'S #8
Please check the table again and change your votes accordingly.
I apologize and thank you.

It is hard to pick the three and then find something to say about them.

ELIMINATED

The following two contestants have to leave us this time

Entry #5
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w3e1.png
Votes: 6

and Entry #3
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w3e7.png
Votes: 5

This week it's Lonnie and Wickedwickedboy.
Bye bye you two.
Please don't forget to check out LIMS walking wounded -- The Eliminated (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=129940)

Votes and Comments


+I like the overall purple cast of the image, perhaps a blur could have been applied to the Twin Towers. The text seems off somehow, though... maybe more space between "for all we" and "lost", and make "lost" a big bigger...
- While the idea is certainly nice given the 10th anniversary of 9/11 coming up, the icon itself could have been better. The purple overlay over the entire image is an odd choice.
+ Nice image, and the gradient is lovely. I like the font, and the play on the London Eye and "all seeing".
- I like the image and the sunset colors, but the text does not work IMO. The font and placement takes away from the image in the background.
- Blurry, I don't really see the city represented in the image.
This image is lovely -- I like the watercolor effict, and the font fits.
- I like the painting, but it's hard to see that anything was done with it, and it comes out very crowded and with no focal point.
- The filter is nice, however the image just appears too busy. Too much is happening. Also the image isn't easily recognizable as which city it is supposed to be, and if it wasn't for the text (which looks like an afterthought) I wouldn't be able to tell if that was Paris or London.
- It looks too cluttered. And I'm not sure about the effect or the text.
- The overall photo is blurry and it would be hard to tell what the city is without the use of text
- I thought the background was a bit too busy, and thus wasn't a particular focus or subject. I also thought that the image could be a bit sharper
I like the way you picked out the lights on the Empire State Building, and how the other lights pick that up. The slight fuzzing of the text repeats the emphasis on the lights, and fits so nicely.
- This would work better, I think, with a closer crop. Aside from the left foreground, the rest of the photo seems kind of jumbled up. There doesn't seem to be a real defining characteristic to the photo. I also think the text overwhelms the image but does not contribute much to the icon in return. Maybe a different font (or fonts), font size, and text layout would be helpful.
- This icon is an okay icon, but I think it is borderline too busy. I only chose this icon as I had to choose three.
- I think the use of the glow on the text is too much with all the lights on the image – the text is sort of distracting overall
clean, simple, and obviously London. At first glance it might be boring, but then you realize it isn't. Love the slight gradient at the corners -- I think though that I would have cut the black bar on the left out.
- It's a nice crop and font choice, but there wasn't a lot done with the image to improve the quality.
- It looks washed out and the darker blue behind the text makes it feel more washed out. It draws attention away from the subject.
- I can't really say why I don't like it. It's just in comparison to the rest it's not as good. I like the blue line on the left side of the icon. There's a line at the bottom of the icon that shouldn't be there. I think the text should have been more blue like the sky.
- I like the idea of this image, and the font is a nice choice however the image itself is of poor quality. Perhaps a better image, or just trying to sharpen this one would have made the icon much better.
- I like this photo and a great angle chosen. I also like the layout with the Westminister on the side and a clean strip of blue on the other. However, the structure is somewhat blurry and could use a bit of sharpening. It seems that on the whole, most of the light values in the picture are in the middling gamma range - so in addition, I think it could use a bit more contrast which would help the photo pop out.
- Right now the image seems rather flat to me. I think it would work better if it had more contrast highlighting the features of the tower. Or perhaps a more dramatic sky. Or a different angle/perspective on the tower. I also don't really understand purpose of the blue bar on the left side.
+ I really like the photograph/scrapbook effect. I'm not sure what's going on in the bottom corner though.
- The postcard idea is nice, but the background to the image is confusing. I don't know what is in the lower-left corner, and the upper corners just seem like white space. I'm having trouble seeing the composition here.
- This could have been really nice, but the pale upper corner to me ruins the balance of the image. The font used isn't quite the right size, either. The images are crisp and clean, though.
- I like the idea. But I'm not sure it works as an icon. Also, I'd have used a different font and brighten the images a bit.
- I like the idea of the pictures in this icons, and I think generally the icon works very well. The only thing that bothers me is that the upper right corner doesn't have hardly any contrast with the Polaroid borders, yet the bottom left does. Thinking about it though, it might be a slight bit too busy if you were to duplicate the bottom left in the upper right, but a slight color change in the upper right might work well. :)
+ My favorite this week. I'm not sure what the text means (is it a quote from someplace?), but the fonts, colors and placement are all excellent. Excellent work on the coloring in general.
- The paleness of the sky is a bit too pale, and the brown parts of the text fade into it too much. I don't think the overall sepia tone of the image goes that well with the spirit of the quote -- the quote implies activity, the image is sort of muted and sleepy.
- I like the layout of this entry and the words made me chuckle. While I like the washed out feel for this particular photo - with the focus point on the building, I think picture and the text could use a bit more contrast (shadow and midrange values), making the effect more evident. That could also help eliminate the little bit of blurriness associated with the text.
- The brown text on top of the brown background makes it hard to read
+ I'm glad this one got added in because the colors are gorgeous. I like the use of tiny text, but i'm not sure about the angle.
- I like the image and the color, but that text is just wrong. Too plain, weird angle doesn't suit the image, clashes with the vertical-ness of the Eiffel Tower, and then the tiny type is annoying.
- The background coloring on this is very well chosen - I think it looks great behind the bright yellowish tone of the brilliantly lit Tower. I also like the angle of the text and the font chosen. However, I feel that the graphic overall is a bit blurry and has a slightly washed out appearance. I think adjusting the contrast, especially in terms of the lower values (upper mid range/highlights), would help the tower to stand out more and clarify the background a bit.
- The tiny text and the word Paris aren't lined up correctly. I'm not fond of the color of the background. I know it's the sky, but the purple just doesn't do it for me.


***********

New Challenge...

LIMS WEEK I! - Challenge

Icon Art



Take an image of a famous painting and turn it into an icon
NO animation
Send your entries in via owls to Rell
Size: min. 100x100 pixels, max 125x125 pixels

Deadline: Sunday, 9 pm CET


Participants who have to turn in an entry:



boushh
ccollinsmith
Jedi_Girl
Lord Godric
lupislune
Rell
Tenshi (S)

Are we allowed skip weeks?

Alright, so I knew I'd get voted out. I figured I was simplifying things a bit too much.... Oh well.

Mine was the London one.
I took the picture myself when I visited.
I took the blue from the sky to use for the text and bars, darkening the bar colour so that it would stand out from the lighter sky and make the text readable.
I sharpened and bumped up the contrast a bit.
Then I did a saturation boost around the clock to bring out the yellow/orange and added a subtle orange around the borders to both bring a focus to the middle (almost spotlight effect?) and also to make the yellow/orange in the middle pop a little more, hoping to use complementary colours to my advantage.

Better luck next time, I guess?
Edit: CLKEWJOCIE I made the focal point in the middle. I hate myself so much. That was the area the saturation boost worked on best because of the sunlight. I mean, that's not really the way I'd seen it at first because I saw it as kind of pointing upward? I don't even know anymore, haha. I guess it's not a big deal, but it still bothers me, heh.

Are we allowed skip weeks?Just one

Great job everyone. I didn't get to vote this week because of the holiday weekend.I just wanted to make a comment about the comment that the London Eye, #2, wasn't really recognisable as London or something like that, IMO,it's the "London" Eye and you can see the tower of city which is very recognizable in the background.

Just one

Great! :D

I will try to make an entry this week, but if not, I am using my skip for this week as I will be in Scotland.

Lonnie, I liked yours. And you really took the picture? :err:

I didn't get the chance to vote because of my Internet troubles. I wish I could though. Next table looks really intresting!

Attention Everyone:

Entries are due tomorrow and I only have two! Is everyone just working last minute, or are you all just planning on using your skips?

I'll bet a lot of people are Pottermore-ing and have forgotten their assignments... :whistle:

I know I have...

ETA: Hey, I've put up what would have been my submission on the Walking Wounded (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=5873614#post5873614) thread -- comments welcome, or maybe it's just to shame y'all into doing your assignment this week!!

And the question of the hour: which one would YOU have chosen? Because I made two (well, three really), and can't decide which I would have submitted...

Right now I have four entries including my own. The deadline is in thirty minutes, but if I don't get at least one more entry by then, I'm going to wait for Tenshi to come back to decide what to do.

EDIT:
Deadline is up and I still have only four entries. I am going to come back in a few hours and if I have another entry, I will post the table. If not, I will wait for Tenshi.

Sorry, Rell. I should have owled you. I'm going to use my skip as I've been sick for most of the week.

Hope you are feeling better, LG

Ok, I'm going to go ahead and post the table since everyone either turned their entry in or said they are using a skip. Tenshi wanted you guys to still vote for three icons, but since there are only four, I'm going to lower that to two.

Icons:
1) http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/lims2.jpg

2) http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/NLIMSweek41.png

3) http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/lims3-1.png

4)http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/lims3.png

Rules:


Vote for two (2) icons with the least quality
Provide constructive criticism for at least those 3 icons. No personal opinion. Don't write "Bah this icon sucks". "It's not my fav character, I don't like it" etc. Give a proper critique
Don't vote based on whether or not you like the original painting, or whether or not you recognize the original painting. Vote based on what the icon maker did with the painting.
Send an owl with your votes to tenshi.
Do NOT vote for your own entry
Do NOT get others to vote for you (I mean why would you?) and/or to vote against other entries
You're not allowed to share your entry until voting is over

I will have voting end at TUESDAY 9PM CET because we got a late start. And don't forget to send the votes to Tenshi.


------------
Note for Tenshi:
Since there are only four of us, I don't think it's fair that we eliminate two this week. Could be just eliminate one person?

Uhhh I didn't expect that so less people will enter this week. Max one person will leave this week.

Max one person will leave this week. Thanks

It was tough voting this week. :(

How do you vote out a good icon?

By picking the three that are gooder-er... but it was sure tough. I had to critique all of them before I could pick one out to bounce...

Were we still supposed to vote for 2? I thought we were, so I did, but it should be clear which one I was only voting for under protest. :shrug:

Here come the results.

ELIMINATED


Plan was it to not throw out anyone today as so less people entered and so less people voted. But what the hell, kicking out people is the most fun thing. So begone!

Entry #4
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/lims3.png

Votes: didn't really countSo that'd be me.

Votes and Comments



+ This is very nice in terms of coloring and temperature of the photo (balance). I prefer a more busy scheme for watercolors, but it is nice overall. Blisteringly fantastique job on the sky!! Kudos.
+I love the use of the gradient around the edges -- gives a stormy sort of feel to the entire image. Easily the best one of the groupl

+ Loved everything about this one, it was funny, great and there was no question at all about the tribute to the artist. Bravo!
+ Interesting choice, to make the painting grey-scale then pick out part of the headband and the drapery falling from it. I like the contrast between the light and dark areas, but perhaps would have brought the blue area up a little more.
- I like it, but I feel the yellow changes the focus to something that seems not as significant in the image.
- This is nicely balanced, however, I found the coloring a little distracting rather than adding to the overall appeal of the photo.
- I feel like I'm being super picky, but they want us to choose two. So sorry. This is a good icon. My super-nitpicky comment is that the jawline ends up looking a bit odd because of the way it's cropped.
+ Loved everything about this one, it was funny, great and there was no question at all about the tribute to the artist. Bravo!
- I'm not fond of the crop to this icon, but I'm being nitpicky. It's getting really tough to vote people out.
- Nice crop, but it's not got much "oomph" to it. It's just sort of... there. It looks like you may have used a soft glow on the face, but there's just no real point of interest.
- Icon is a bit blurry and I don't understand the purpose of the white space at the top.
- I think the monochrome highlights the blurriness of the photo (although it nicely picks out the defects). Overall, there is no real punch to the photo.
- I wish I could the expressions on the cherubs a bit better, perhaps by focusing on the the one or something. I see just enough of their expressions to want to see more and I find myself squinting at the icon. Though I still feel I'm nitpicking, really.
- I don't like the white band at the top, though I do like that it looks like the cherubs are looking at it.
- I don't much care for the negative space, what in the heck are the putti looking at? And the red monochromish effect doesn't do much for the image.


***********


LIMS WEEK IV - Challenge

The (High)Light on the Dark Side



Create a b&w icon and colour a part of it
Icon must feature a villian
NO animation
Send your entries in via owls to me
Size: min. 100x100 pixels, max 125x125 pixels

Examples:

Deadline: Sunday, 9 pm CET


Participants who have to turn in an entry:



boushh
ccollinsmith
Jedi_Girl (S)
Lord Godric (S)
lupislune (S)
Rell




ATTENTION!
THIS IS THE LAST WEEK YOU CAN USE YOUR SKIP!!!
(that is for boushh, CCS and Rell obviously)

Can you give an example of color highlight? Btw, the entry that got eliminated was my favorite icon of the week.

All of last week's icons were great. I'm glad I used my skip, or I certainly would have been gone.

Tenshi, something is odd with the comments. You seem to have repeated some in 2 and 3.

Can you give an example of color highlight? Btw, the entry that got eliminated was my favorite icon of the week.
I'm adding examples to the challenge post.

Tenshi, something is odd with the comments. You seem to have repeated some in 2 and 3.
I see now. Nothing I can do about. I deleted the voting owls already so no idea where the comment really belongs to.

yay table is coming soon :clap:

VOTING WEEK III







Vote for the ONE icons with the least quality
Provide constructive criticism for that one icon. No personal opinion. Don't write "Bah this icon sucks". "It's not my fav character, I don't like it" etc. Give proper critic.
For this week no voting off because you don't know who the icon is showing.
Send an owl with your votes to me.
Do NOT vote for your own entry
Do NOT get others to vote for you (I mean why would you?) and/or to vote against other entries
You're not allowed to share your entry until voting is over




http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W5E2.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W5E1.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W5E3.jpg


VOTING ENDS MONDAY 9 pm CET.

I voted. Hopefully I will be able to for the rest of the contest.

I didn't get the chance to submit an entry this week, back to school season does that to me every year. So, unfortunately I'm out. For anyone who is interested here are the graphics I made in previous weeks. Week 1 - http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w1_e5.png

Week 2 - http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W2_E12.png

Week 3 - http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w3e5.jpg

Gah! Why does it have to be so darn hard to vote!!!

Those were great Lord Godric. :tu: I particularly liked your #1 entry a lot. Good work! Too bad you couldn't continue, but next round then!

Tenshi, your inbox is full. I tried to vote, but my owl didn't go through.

Lord Godric, I'm sorry to see you go. I liked your entries so far. :)

Lord Godric, you can still make icons and post them on the Walking Wounded thread... there are plenty of extra beds, wheelchairs, crutches and IV stands there!

Shouldn't this be voting week four or five or something like that? I was voted out week 2 and we've had a couple of weeks since then. Not a big thing or anything.

Pst, Tenshi, your inbox is full.

I cleared it. I will postpone voting for 3 hours. So you can sent in your votes.

Remember that you can always click on the email button to send me a message.

Shouldn't this be voting week four or five or something like that?

This was week 5. Next challenge will be week 6.

The only reason I know is I make a new folder for each challenge.

And closed.

Here come the results.

ELIMINATED


This week the following icon got the most negative votes.



Entry #3
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W5E3.jpg



We say adios to Jedi_Girl and also to Lord Godric who didn't submit an entry.

Votes and Comments



+ This is a brilliant use of color and tone. Fantastic work!
+ Lovely crop, nice use of gradients, color, and the slight glow around the mask is superb. This is my favorite.
+ The red really sets the rest of the icon off. My favorite this week.
- It's not a bad icon, but the red on the mask does not really contribute in an interesting way to the icon, imo. The color seems to be there mainly to fulfill the assignment.
- I really like the coloring and I really like the cropping you did with Erik, however the glow effect used on the highlight adds too much to Erik's face.

+ I liked the border on it; if not for that, it suffers from the same sin as #3 -- it wouldn't have looked like anything was done beyond greyscaling it then coloring the lips.
+ The red lips really make Umbridge look creepy..
- The only reason I am voting for this icon is that I had trouble seeing the colored portion. If it was a tighter crop then perhaps the colored portion would have been more visible. It isn't a bad icon. Just had to vote for one.
- I like this entry; the color on the lips was a great way to create a highlight. The picture itself is quite clear and looks pretty balanced in terms of color and contrast. However, I feel that the smoky frame about the picture, uneven on top and distinct on the sides, takes the picture off balance overall and makes Umbridge appear a bit cut off which results in an odd posture for the picture to me.
+ I like what was done with the color on this one a lot. It really sets off the black and white. Despite the picture being perhaps a bit too small, it has clarity and the overall balance is nice.
- The use of color was quite nice, but there didn't really appear to be much else done to the icon. While it was an excellent icon on its own, the other two had more manipulation done to them beyond just setting the image to greyscale, saving it, resetting to RGB and coloring the dress... I'm not saying that's all you did, but it's all that's apparent...
- The overall icon was pretty good, but I think with the color highlight and the black and white, something is lost in the definition of the dress at the transition. Perhaps the darks are a bit too dark.
- The coloring really overpowers the rest of the image. Less is more.



***********


LIMS WEEK VI - Challenge





Create a text only icon using one of the quotes below
You have to use the complete quote.
ANIMATION ALLOWED
Send your entries in via owls to me
Size: min. 100x100 pixels, max 125x125 pixels

Quotes:


"ASCII a stupid question, get a stupid ANSI."
"Artificial Intelligence usually beats natural stupidity."
"The more I C, the less I see."
"Life would be so much easier if we only had the source code."


Deadline: Sunday, 9 pm CET


Participants who have to turn in an entry otherwise they will be eliminated:

boushh
ccollinsmith
lupislune
Rell

:eeep: those are long quotes

I am very amused by the geeky themed quotes. :lol:

I agree with Rell though, that is a good amount to fit in an icon and still make it look readable :scared:
I am up for the challenge though :D

I am very amused by the geeky themed quotes. :lol:

I agree with Rell though, that is a good amount to fit in an icon and still make it look readable :scared:
I am up for the challenge though :D

It will be hard, but it will hopefully make voting this week easier. There woun't be too much middle ground.

Jedi_Girl, that was my favorite icon of the week. Sorry to see you go!

I had a feeling I was going to leave this week. If anyone was wondering the person I used was Ursula from the Broadway show The Little Mermaid. :)

Aww, I liked yours a lot, Jedi Girl. I thought the color highlight was terrific.

:eeep: those are long quotes
Animation allowed. Does that help?

Otherwise use a small font. :p

Animation allowed. Does that help?you're still evol

Can't hear you complaining over the sound of my whateverism.

My walkthrough:
W1 - http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q253/OrlandoBloom08/Icon3.jpg
W2 - http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q253/OrlandoBloom08/EntryII.jpg
W3 - http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q253/OrlandoBloom08/Week3-2.jpg
W4 - Skipped
W5 - http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q253/OrlandoBloom08/Week5.jpg

This challenge is difficult! :lol:

As for this challenge. You can use a textures as background, it doesn't have to be solid colour or a gradient.

I suppose I should think about starting.

VOTING WEEK VI






Vote for the ONE icons with the least quality
Provide constructive criticism for that one icon. No personal opinion. Don't write "Bah this icon sucks". "It's not my fav character, I don't like it" etc. Give proper critic.
For this week pay attention to font, font size, placement and colour.
Send an owl with your votes to me.
Do NOT vote for your own entry
Do NOT get others to vote for you (I mean why would you?) and/or to vote against other entries
You're not allowed to share your entry until voting is over




http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W6_E1-1.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W6_E2-1.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W6_E4-1.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W6_E3-1.png


VOTING ENDS MONDAY 9 pm CET.

Text Icons are so tough! I sent in a vote for the first time. Good Luck, everyone! :love:

ELIMINATED


We're getting down to the bottom three now.
The following entry got the most votes and has to leave this week



Entry #2
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/W6_E2-1.jpg



This week's boussh. Congrats for coming this far in the competition!


Votes and Comments


- I don't quite like the font chosen for this icon. It looks too much like a kiddie font or something. I'm also not sure about the portions that are more difficult to see. That's probably done on purpose, but it doesn't really work for me.
- I really love the colors, the font, and arrangment. However the words are in turn pixely, blurry, and dark. That may have been done on purpose but the over all effect is too chaotic.

+ I really like the eye doctor theme here. Crisp and clean but over all lacks punch. Instead of filling the entire icon if you had scaled down the font a bit it would have forced people to really focus.
- I the the font works well, and contrasts well against the background, but I think the icon is a bit too simple.
- Icon consists of white background with black all-caps centered text in standard font. I'm just not seeing design here.
- I like the idea of making it look like an eye doctor's chart, but it looks too plain.

+ The texture and gradient really show off the quote quite well. everything is quite easy to read and doesn't overwhelm. I would have continued to mix the fonts in "source code" and brought "code" down one line so that it didn't go right to the edges.

+ My favorite this week - It's original and the fonts and placement go very well with the quote.
+ The coloring, background, and fonts all work here. Flipping the icon on it's side, though, is terribbly difficult to read and really reduces the impact of you icon. Also reducing the font so as not to meet the edges would have pulled the reader in.
- It's pretty, but it's also hard to read.

***********


LIMS WEEK VII - Challenge

The Good Ol' Times




Icon must show a scene from before the 50's and it must be sepia.
No text allowed
No animation allowed
Send your entries in via owls to me
Size: min. 100x100 pixels, max 125x125 pixels


Deadline: Sunday, 9 pm CET


Participants who have to turn in an entry otherwise they will be eliminated:

ccollinsmith
lupislune
Rell

Does this include the 1950s, or does the scene have to be from 1949 and earlier?

I figured I'd be gone this week due to my idea and execution of the eye chart being simple. Oh well. Good luck to everyone else in the competition. :)

I didn't make it back in time to vote. All of the icons were great this round. I liked the eye chart Boushh. :tu: You should post your icons for all the challenges, I like the reviews...

The next challenge sounds interesting.

Aw, I liked #2. I liked the simplicity, plus it looked like an eye chart.

Does this include the 1950s, or does the scene have to be from 1949 and earlier?
Befor the 50's so they are not included.

My walk through of entries for WWB and anyone else that is interested. :)



Week 1

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/fwm/icons/lims_week1alt.jpg

I took the picture of the flower:

original pic (http://flic.kr/p/55EyVc)

Week 2

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/fwm/icons/lims2.jpg

Week 3

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/fwm/icons/lims3.jpg

Week 4

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/fwm/icons/lims4.jpg

Week 5

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/fwm/icons/lims-5-finalb.jpg

Week 6

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/fwm/icons/LIMS-6.jpg

boushh, don't forget the Walking Wounded thread... we'd love to have you contribute there!

I didn't vote this week, I just couldn't decide which to throw out, because they were all wonderful! (Also I completely forgot...)

^^ I'll try to remember to make an icon and post. :)

Is tiny text considered text in this challenge?

Good question. I say no, when it's really so tiny that you can't make out the words.

Those were all terrific Boushh... thanks for posting your collection. :tu: I really liked the masked man, painting and flower.

I really liked the snail, the painting and the Phantom. I was too busy to vote for the last towo weeks, but I will vote this week, hopefully.

Thanks guys. :)

VOTING






Vote for the ONE icons with the least quality
Provide constructive criticism for that one icon. No personal opinion. Don't write "Bah this icon sucks". "It's not my fav character, I don't like it" etc. Give proper critic.
Send an owl with your votes to me.
PARTICIPANTS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE!!!
Do NOT get others to vote for you (I mean why would you?) and/or to vote against other entries
You're not allowed to share your entry until voting is over



1. http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w7e1.png 2. http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w7e3.png 3. http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w7e2.jpg

VOTING ENDS MONDAY 9 pm CET.

I can't vote??? :sad:

You can send in an owl to tell me your thoughts. if that makes you happy.

beautiful, guys! Will vote soon!

VOTES! More votes please!

1 hours to go and only 4 people voted and we have a tie.

I will extend voting time till tomorrow morning 8 am.

ooops! Hold on!

Why, mercy sakes, I have been remiss! I shall remedy that immediately, Miss Tenshi...

I don't know why my inner Scarlett O'Hara came out, but she did...

ELIMINATED


This week the following icon got the most negative votes.



Entry #3

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/w7e2.jpg

This means the 3rd Place goes to lupislune!
Congrats for coming this far and sorry to see you go.



Votes and Comments:

+ Very nice image, I liked the fading around the edges of the image. Looks like a still from an old newsreel.
+ Love the cropping here. Sepia is very subtle. So subtle, in fact, that it looks a little washed out.
-- I like the idea of the picture overall and the execution in terms of the aging. However, I think that the brighter parts of the photo are a bit overexposed.
-- I hate having to vote any icon off at all. There is a lot that I like about this icon... the color, the texture... but I feel the image a bit more clear or visible to the eye... maybe it's the crop?


+ This has an old timey, caught in the moment feel to it. I want to know what is making them so happy. Could be brightened up a bit.
-- It's a nice image, but I can't really see that much was done to emphasize anything about it. It just looks like a crop that covered 125x125. Maybe a gradient, a soft glow on the girls' hats or smiles or dresses, a filter to make it look like an old photograph...


+ This could have been a very boring image, but the addition of the border with its slight glow made it special. I think this is the best one -- it's sure my favorite!
-- In comparison to the other images, the other's had better focus.
-- I think the border is distracting the viewer from the actual topic.
-- Lots of humor in this one. I think it lost alot of punch being required to be sepia toned. Perhaps a different crop would have given it more oomph.
-- I actually really love the image itself. The partial border seems unnecessary and a bit distracting though.


I am off to work now. New challenge will be up as soon as I am back home!!

3rd isn't bad! :)

I had fun participating in the contest! :D

LIMS WEEK FINALE OHH OHHH

It all Started here!




You must use two of following bases to create two icons.
You can twist the icon any way you like, but the changes must be obvious
Both icons must be of different style
Text allowed
No animation allowed
Send your entries in via owls to me
Size: min. 100x100 pixels, max 125x125 pixels

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/th_89-1.png http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/th_36-3.png http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/th_226.png

Deadline: Sunday, 9 pm CET


Participants who have to turn in an entry otherwise they will be eliminated:

ccollinsmith
Rell

The final challenge looks like great fun! :D

Aw, cute. Can't wait to see the entries.

Tenshi and ccollinsmith, I am running behind on my schedule today (lots of busy stuff going on). Is there any way we can delay the deadline by and hour/hour and a half or so? I'll still try to get it in on time, but I don't know if it's going to happen.

edit: my entries are in. Thanks for waiting.

FINAL VOTING


So this is the last voting round for this LIMS. There are some more changes to the voting procedure so read carefully.






Vote for the ONE icon with the least quality and
Vote for ONE icon with the best quality
Provide constructive criticism for both icons. No personal opinion. Don't write "Bah this icon sucks". "It's not my fav character, I don't like it" etc. Give proper critic.
Send an owl with your votes to me.
PARTICIPANTS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE!!!
Do NOT get others to vote for you (I mean why would you?) and/or to vote against other entries
You're not allowed to share your entry until voting is over



Now here they are in no particular order, the fabulous four final entries:



http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/fin3.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/fin1.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/fin4.png
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg343/meowicons/WIMS/fin2.png



Now please get your votes in!

These are wonderous! :clap:

You're asking me to vote among these! Too hard.

Someone has to vote though otherwise we'll never find out who wins!

So please get your votes in. I will extend voting till tomorrow evening.

Voted! :)

OK, OK, I'll vote.