Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Area to post questions, comments, and discussions regarding this annual contest.
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sensei
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Post by sensei »

There was a long thread some years ago about what could and couldn't be entered in "Love." IIRC, a father/son DBZ cel started the fuss, some people wondering if it implied a gay relationship (which I gather in original context it did not, simply filial affection). Where we left it, I believe, was that a participant could enter a piece in any category, so long as he/she felt it fit the theme. Voters, in the end, decided whether it was seen as the best example of that theme.

I'd say with the Yaoi/shonen-ai/yuri issue, "Romance" is an OK place for these to compete, so long as they do not show explicit anatomy and/or sex acts.
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by majinuub »

I wrote my previous post while half awake so I'm glad it was somewhat legible :P . I don't think there's any need for there to be an explanation in regards to entering yaoi/yuri in categories since we as voters are judging if the the art fits the category rather than the series itself. I'm glad that they are being entered in other categories as I don't recall seeing them in any others in the past. I personally have no problems with implied art referencing it :^^: .

I just think that the hentai section should be renamed for future contest simply calling it something like "Hentai/NSFW/AO Art" so new entrants can understand that this is only for explicit art and to add into the rules that non-explicit hentai art can be entered into other categories.

@Sensei: I actually remember that and found it interesting how some people can only see "love" as only a relationship between couples or pairings.
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by theultimatebrucelee »

I can agree with majinuub on the category naming, it was a bit awkward entering the only NSFW piece in the entire contest(but knew it was destined for greatness so no holding back). For a sec there I doubted my understanding of the word hentai, as the description saids the pieces don't have to be explicit and two other entries wasn't. On the flip side, will there even be a hentai// category next time if only NSFW arts are allowed into the section? On this point I think the host was righteous to point out the combination of other types of arts can go into the category, because theres no way to combine hentai entry with other categories in case of shortage the way I see it.

On the topic of changing, I would suggest renaming the Blood on the Ground category to match the description and let it sound more inclusive. For one reason or another, dying characters, or even their blood don't always end up on the ground, as suggested by half the entries in this contest. I think death was a fine category name actually. If that turned people off, maybe // would do the trick here too.
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by animeobsessed »

Sorry this is so late, but the last two posts have brought me out of my lurker status. But, first thanks to everyone who voted for my sketches and thanks to Jadeduo and her crew for running the sketch contest as well as the cel contest. It's a lot of work and both went extremely well.

As for these comments -
"hentai section should be renamed for future contest simply calling it something like Hentai/NSFW/AO Art" so new entrants can understand that this is only for explicit art and to add into the rules that non-explicit hentai art can be entered into other categories" from majinuub and "For a sec there I doubted my understanding of the word hentai, as the description saids the pieces don't have to be explicit and two other entries wasn't" from theultimatebrucelee.
As stated, this contest stated it didn't have to be explicit and it was Hentai/Yuri/Yaoi. Since there were only 3 entries even with the wider scope for this category I doubt there would be enough entries if it was narrowed down to explicit only with the decline of participants.

The only reason I entered into this category is so hopefully with mine there would be enough entries so the category wouldn't be cut and without my entry it would have. I would like to point out that the more popular yaoi series don't have many, if any, explicit scenes and even if they did, those scenes are not the ones I would want to collect. I believe this differs from yuri or hentai series (sorry, haven't watch much of either). What I'm getting at is if you want to narrow down the category, great, but do so at the chance it will not have enough entries to continue.

As for the comments on "Blood on the Ground", I agree it's not the best name, but to go back to Death wouldn't be a good idea either. There are too many series that have someone who is on death's door *possible name*, but never die so the name was not reflective of the entries that were being submitted (characters that never actually died as the title suggested). It didn't have anything to do with the description being around death itself.

It's similar to the description of Accessory's description being "Emphasis on what the character is holding, using, swinging, playing, aiming", however, we continue to accept entries without a character in the scene. This description should be change to better reflect what the entry should be and what the voter should consider when voting, but that hasn't changed either.
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by theultimatebrucelee »

animeobsessed wrote:
What I'm getting at is if you want to narrow down the category, great, but do so at the chance it will not have enough entries to continue.


There are too many series that have someone who is on death's door *possible name*.
Agree with both points. Hentai is amongst short list of endangered categories pretty much in every contest. majinuub's suggestion would be pretty good otherwise. "on death's door" I think would be a good name to match the current category description(as its unlikely voters would look for "doors" amongst entries).
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by Jadeduo »

Okay After reading all these lovely thoughts this is my take on the whole situation...

My goal was to make the contest as inclusive as possible and as least complicated as possible. So when it comes to the hentai category, there are only a handful of collectors out there and even then not everyone is active anymore. And for those that collect at least Yaoi, I am also aware that it can get explicit but it is not usually alarmingly explicit, body parts are covered with clothes and there is a little more mystery. That is not to say that you can't tell that smexing is happening, and so it is still definitely not safe at work.

Also the Hentai/Yaoi/Yuri category was CUT in the cel contest because there was only ONE ENTRY! If those two Yaoi pieces had not been entered there would have been no award for theultimatebrucelee to collect and it was well deserved, it was not my personal cup of tea, but it was still well deserved and should be proud of the accomplishment! I think that if we remove the Yaoi/Yuri addition to Hentai, the category may as well be chopped completely... As there are just not enough people out there, that collect in this area.

Another point I would like to make is that not everyone is comfortable with Yaoi/Yuri and even some of the tamer pieces that were in the category could be construed as NSFW it is a matter of inches and degrees. While I am not ashamed of my appreciation for the human body, it is not everyone's cup of tea. Some peeps even abstained from voting in the Muscles and Love category because I am assuming a piece made someone uncomfortable and just decided not to vote and that is okay too. THERE IS NO PRESSURE TO VOTE IN THESE CATEGORIES! IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE.

As for the other categories, I am unsure what you guys are talking about, it seems like all semantics to me. For accessory, it comes down to for me the best looking accessory in the category, and for me that was the piece that won. The violin was lovingly detailed and the composition of the piece was impressive, and this is vs. my own Sanzo piece the smoking gun from Burial. Ultimately not everyone is going to vote by the descriptions and they are going to vote on how they feel about the piece, composition, detail, and sometimes even the show it is from.

And the name Blood on the ground was supposed to be clever, it was not meant to exclude anyone from entering the category or swinging votes a certain way, I can't even imagine any other piece winning the category that won this year, but that is of course my personal preference ^_^. Could it also be argued that the Death or Dying pieces with no blood could be entered in Sorrow? I think we are picking apart something that works...

One of the many reasons it was changed from Death/Dying because the category was getting cut or had little to few entries in the most recent contests, and the category on the last two contests were pretty healthy. Not Shocked or Rage healthy, but pretty healthy. This is another case of trying to create MORE inclusivity in the categories, another way we did this was move the regular category entries to 9 and OPTIONAL to 3 so everyone could fill out all the other categories, because we have had less participants in the last few contests as opposed to the past.

This was another way to get everyone talking again and active, there were a ton of lurkers that entered this past sketch contest, peeps that have been quiet in the community a long time. I have felt a long time that the contest was a little overwhelming and the rules kind of convoluted until I spent an UNGODLY amount of time getting myself ready to run these last two contests. In fact I had never entered ANY of the beta contests till last year. Because the rules scared me! @_@ 8O

But like I've said I will not be doing the Sketch contest again next year, I will pick up the Cel contest again with basically the same timelines over the holidays this year. That is a really slow time for me at work, so I have plenty of time to work on the contest, but the New Year is insanely busy for me, and then we hit con season and I am just not going to have the time. So I will post sometime after Otakon to talk about the Cel contest categories again, So sometime Mid-August Beginning of September.

Thanks for reading guys let me know what you think! :badass

Thanks,
JD
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@AO Thanks for the kudos BTW ! And you thank you again for the lovely awards you made for the cel contest! ^_^
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by sensei »

I don't think any of this is intended as criticism of the way the just-finished contest was handled or as a challenge to the award winners. Every contest concludes with a certain amount of forward-looking suggestions on what could be done better, and the organizer of the next sketch contest needs to start by reviewing these and allowing for a little discussion of them before the next contest formally begins.

There's no need to resolve these matters until we have a volunteer to organize and run the next sketch contest. With this contest just now finished, and the cel contest coming next (though not immediately next) there's time enough to mull over suggestions like these. It's just needful for the next organizer to revisit the last contest and begin the 2015/16 contest with a discussion of ideas like these.
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by Jadeduo »

@Sensei, I guess I sound defensive, mostly because these contests are a lot of work and there was plenty of time to talk about it before the contest began. I had a two week window before I started accepting entries when these issues could have been brought up. I have been very open on my thought processes and have brought anything that was even close to being a thing to the community for everyone to sound off on. So I'm sorry if it has come across that way, but I was trying to let peeps know what I thought...

I really don't get the accessory thing... Is it like you have to have someone's arm in the piece? I am just confused as to what the criticism is. Like my Sanzo piece, would that be disqualified because you can't see him holding the gun?

Also the reasons for Blood on the Ground are laid out as to my thought processes.

My goal is always to make everything all inclusive and as long as someone is not blatantly breaking the rules all the categories are open to interpretation and it is ultimately up to the voters in the end.

JD
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by sensei »

A lot of things are easier to see and verbalize at the end of the contest rather than before. From what I'm seeing, I don't think anyone is criticizing your handling of the contest at all; in fact most people are pleased and even a little surprised that it went as well as it did. (Older hands recall some nasty tiffs that occurred as the result of some previous contests, which I won't go into at all as they now are archived way back in Beta's Deep Freezer.)

As I see it, these are just constructive suggestions to go forward with next time. And not every suggestion needs to be implemented. When the next contest comes over the horizon, just review the discussion and start a thread, run a poll. Maybe most Betarians will say, "Naah, the way it is right now is good enough." Or maybe enough people will say, "Yeah, come to think of it, that makes sense, let's do it."
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by Jadeduo »

Mmkay will do, did, and done ^_^

But any thoughts on my thoughts???? /?: /?: /?: /?:

JD /ok /ok /ok
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by JWR »

All please remember this is a FUN event, not life & death.

There will be plenty of time before the next one is held to bounce back & forth ideas for category name changes and other ideas to help increase partisapation next time.

We just had 2 sucsessful contests and all those who worked so hard on them should be applauded. When the time get closer to the next contest all will get a chance to have imput and decsions made.

:cheers
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by sensei »

JWR wrote:All please remember this is a FUN event, not life & death.
[Sensei resists the temptation to promote the collection of academic essaysthat includes his essay "Love and War and Anime Art"]

I think it's good to lay out some topics that ought to be discussed before the next contest, but it probably isn't the right time to discuss these. I'm personally happy with the way the event ran and with the degree of participation and the quality of art in the competition. And I'm pleased with some of the changes that JD incorporated that encouraged people to enter and also spread around the awards at the end so that most people went away happy. Quite a change from the older contests, where one was restricted to fewer entries and fewer categories, so that each cel/sketch you entered was bound to compete with ten or more other entries. And enlarging the optional categories with some fun new ideas helped keep the contest alive and evolving.

Can a handful of areas use a little attention? Maybe. I don't think it does any harm to ask where the contest could be better, so when it's time to start the discussion before the next contest, we have a couple of items on the agenda. No need to settle these right now, though. And dang my abrasive soul, I thought "Worst" was a much better title than "Ah, My Eyes, My Eyes!" because as I was uploading images to the RS site, I kept getting confused :nuts and putting "Eyes on Me" entries in that gallery instead (and vice versa). But, hang me, hang me, and let the next hapless volunteer to run the sketch contest worry over details like these. (I'll do it if no one else wants to and I'm still alive next year.)
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by Jadeduo »

@JWR - Thanks for perspective, LOL I don't know if the other runners feel this, but when you complete a year as contest runner it is like your baby and you are like Step OFF! :evil: :evil: :evil: :D :D I also agree that we should push this out to when we get closer. Because by the time the contest comes around again sometime 2016 whoever takes it over will have to go back and revisit the issues, but I found it most helpful to kind of take the last contest's framework and keep it loose and easy announce two weeks before you intend to start and commence the conversation. I found a month for the Cel contest was much too far out to talk about this.

@Sensei - I'm glad that you thought some of the changes I made were good. :D Like I said my thoughts are always going to be about MORE inclusivity vs. less. I wanted to attract older Beta-ers and Newer Beta-ers alike so if a piece I personally wouldn't necessarily stick in the category was entered. I would be like... OKAY! Whatevs! Because I feel it is ultimately up to the voter when it comes down to it in the end. And everyone's voting criteria is different. So instead of getting caught up in the rules and semantics I was judging things more loosely, and I had a question I would pose to the community over ruling someone out without any thought. I also kept a lot of the framework that you put in place when you ran the contest Sensei... i.e. the viewing period and the tiebreak framework. Also the idea that we should rotate out categories and create new ones, as well as keeping some of the old favorites going.

I think it made it a little more fun, I also would get confused by the name, I just felt bad about labeling something as worst! ^_^ So if anyone has a name that they would like to put forward instead please do!

JD
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by JWR »

Yes Each year there are small tweeks that hopefully make it run a little smoother and as such make it more fun.

I was the last person to head the Sketch contest last year and I know that it is a lot of work (without Sensei & Anime Obsessed helping out I might not have had any hair left) but seeing it finally done leaves one with a great feeling of accomplishment and relief.

While it is good to have some discussion and feedback now it is best to not get caught up too deeply in it for therr will be plenty of time later in the year when these fun contests start up again to look over what was done here and before and make what ever minor tweeks everyone can descide on.
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Re: Annual Sketch Contest 2014/2015 - Winners ANNOUNCED!!!

Post by cutiebunny »

You did a great job, JD. It's not really until you work on one of these contests can you fully appreciate how difficult it really is. I remember when we had the rules in several different languages and how much of a challenge it was to update those whenever a category was modified or added. So, yeah, don't take any negative comments personally. There will always be something that you'll think about, months down the road, that you could have done differently or improved upon. That's just the nature of the beast.
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