July Art Challenge - Portraits
Hey there art community!Welcome to the first in our all new monthly art challenge competition! Every month we'll launch an all-new art challenge with some great Gold prizes to be won!
The three winning paintings each month will also be hung in the Monthly Art Challenge Gallery - a featured space. As the months go by, we'll see this Gallery fill up with amazing artwork!
This month I'm throwing down the gauntlet and seeing who'll take up the Portrait challenge. Perhaps you'll paint a self-portrait? Maybe a reproduction of something by a famous artist? It's 100% up to you!
You've got 3 weeks to paint it - entries close 27th July, when we'll issue the new challenge. Enter on this thread. The winners of this competition will be announced in the Chronicle on or around the 3rd of August.
I've popped 3 or 4 amazing portraits in a range of different styles throughout the story to inspire you!
Painting Portraits - a few tips!
- As well as the technical painting skills, ideally a portrait painter needs to bring out the subjects personality. There is no right or wrong way to paint a portrait and certainly no secret way to produce a likeness.
- As a general rule, the main subject should not cover more than two thirds picture - so it's important to get the size of the subject right! If you get it too small, then there will be too much space to fill up and the viewer will be distracted from the portrait itself.
- Also, the background is important to consider - remember that the subject of the work is the 'main event' and not the background, which should work to bring the subject to the front. For instance - you would want to avoid putting distracting things in the background to ensure that the eye is always drawn to the subject.
- Check in with the Art Tutorial Directory for lots of great tips to help you create your portrait!
Competition Categories
In order to give both experienced and newer artists a chance in the competition, I've decided to pick winners in three categories:
1 - Best Painting: Painting skill will be paramount in this category. We are looking for an excellence in artistic skill, and for a great picture as a whole. This is the category in which the master painters of SmallWorlds will battle it out.
2 - Most Creative Entry: The entry will be judged on the whole picture, with emphasis placed on the background, general theme and the placement of the subject in the picture. Points will be awarded for creativity in this category, so if you've got a great idea you could be a finalist in this category - even if your painting skills aren't quite perfected yet.
Prizes!
Prizes will be awarded as follows within each of the three categories:
- First Place: 5000 Gold
- Runner Up: 3000 Gold
All four winners will also be placed within the Monthly Art Challenge Gallery - a permanently Featured Space!
Competition Rules
- You can choose any setting for your portrait subject,... the more creative the better!
- All paintings entered will be considered for both categories. You don't need to specify which category you're entering.
- A screenshot of your painting must be included in the official competition forum thread, along with a link to where the painting can be seen in-world. Judging will be based solely on the screenshot submitted to the forum thread, and all winners paintings will also be checked in-world to ensure that the entry has not been digitally enhanced.
- Only one entry per person / SmallWorlds account
- The competition closes at 11.59pm SWT 27th July. Only entries that have been submitted to the official competition forum thread will be eligible for judging. Your entry must include an in-board screenshot of your portrait, taken from inside Painter. It must also include a link to an in-world space where the painting can be viewed. Your entry must have been completed by you, and cannot be the work of another SmallWorlds artist.
- The competition will be judged by Ruby Rush and Honesty Blaize, who will choose 1 winner and 1 runner up in each category.
Good luck everyone. I'm so looking forward to seeing your entries!
~ Ruby Rush
PS: If you have some truly great ideas for future art challenges, please email me: ruby.rush@smallworlds.com
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The Legal Stuff
- The Competition is open to SmallWorlds standard and VIP Club members 13 years of age or older. Employees of Outsmart 2005 Limited and its officers, directors, parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliated companies, advertising agencies, promotional suppliers, or production agencies, and their respective dependents, immediate family members (parent, child, sibling and spouse of each) and individuals residing in the same household, are not eligible to participate. Void where prohibited by law.
- The winners and runners up will be selected based upon the sole and exclusive discretion of the SmallWorlds Competition Judges. Three category winners will be awarded 5000 Gold and 3 category Runners up will be awarded 3000 Gold. All submissions are carefully reviewed before determining the prize winners. The judge's decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
- The finalists will be chosen and notified on or about August 7th 2011
How to take a photo of your Portrait and copy it to the forum thread.
1 - Once you have finished your portrait, go back into the Painter in-board view and take a screen shot of it. You can use any screen capture software you have, or simply press the Print Screen button on your keyboard (this saves the screen into memory, so you won't see anything happening when you press it).
2 - Save your image as a .JPG file into a directory on your PC.
3 - Upload the image to a photo sharing site such as Flickr, Photobucket,TinyPic, or ImageHosting. Copy the URL of the photo.
4 - Go to the competition entry forum thread. Post a reply. Click on the 'Add Image' icon. Paste in the URL of the image from your photo sharing account.
5 - Don't forget to also add a link to the space where your entry can be viewed in-world.
Good luck!
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