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

[Jadeduo]

Done! I look forward to it!

JD

[Jadeduo]

I posted up to RS! I forgot to do it for the cel contest, but I don't think it worked because when I click on the link for the post it goes back to the RS home page! GRRR Would someone else give this a try?

Also I have a question, what is the policy on photocopies for Settei... There seems to be nothing in the rules about it! Are we just accepting original settei or also the photocopies? This never came up in the Cel contest because obviously the piece is either a cel or it's not there are so many shades of sketches that it's well confusing at times.

Thanks,
JD

[sensei]

I posted up to RS! I forgot to do it for the cel contest, but I don't think it worked because when I click on the link for the post it goes back to the RS home page! GRRR Would someone else give this a try?

Because of an unfixed bug in the RS forum software, if you put any character other than letters (and, I think numbers) in the subject header, then the message can't be read.

This includes exclamation marks (the most common offender) and also hyphens. If you wrote the message again and headed it "2015 Anime Beta Sketch Contest," I think it will post in readable form. Or use the blog capability of your own gallery to post up an announcement, which might be more visible and thus more immediately read.

Also I have a question, what is the policy on photocopies for Settei... There seems to be nothing in the rules about it! Are we just accepting original settei or also the photocopies? This never came up in the Cel contest because obviously the piece is either a cel or it's not there are so many shades of sketches that it's well confusing at times.

While I don't see this spelled out in the present set of rules, I believe the standard in the past is that only original art is eligible: i.e., no photocopies. With cels, the parallel issue deals with repro cels, which (since they are not original, one-of-a-kind items) could otherwise be entered in identical form by two different contestants in the same contest. Original settei sketches are scarcer and (IMHO) more significant than photocopy settei, which could be several generations away from the copies made by the studio and used in the production process.

[Jadeduo]

Because of an unfixed bug in the RS forum software, if you put any character other than letters (and, I think numbers) in the subject header, then the message can't be read.

This includes exclamation marks (the most common offender) and also hyphens. If you wrote the message again and headed it "2015 Anime Beta Sketch Contest," I think it will post in readable form. Or use the blog capability of your own gallery to post up an announcement, which might be more visible and thus more immediately read.

Thanks SENSEI! UGH okay, Silly Rubberslug, *kicks, then pets RS* I will redo that when I get home... unless someone else wants to blog *coughs* Majinuub *coughs, winks*, and it was a masterpiece of peppiness too!!!

While I don't see this spelled out in the present set of rules, I believe the standard in the past is that only original art is eligible: i.e., no photocopies. With cels, the parallel issue deals with repro cels, which (since they are not original, one-of-a-kind items) could otherwise be entered in identical form by two different contestants in the same contest. Original settei sketches are scarcer and (IMHO) more significant than photocopy settei, which could be several generations away from the copies made by the studio and used in the production process.

That's where I was leaning too, but I did not want to make the decision unilaterally. I wanted everyone the chance to sound off, if anyone has a different opinion please post!

JD

[majinuub]

Thanks SENSEI! UGH okay, Silly Rubberslug, *kicks, then pets RS* I will redo that when I get home... unless someone else wants to blog *coughs* Majinuub *coughs, winks*, and it was a masterpiece of peppiness too!!!

Curse those evil RS bugs . No promises that my blog will be as peppy and inviting as yours

That's where I was leaning too, but I did not want to make the decision unilaterally. I wanted everyone the chance to sound off, if anyone has a different opinion please post!

JD

Years ago I would've been against it as the number of entries for the sketch awards were high. Now I'm somewhat hesitant to disallow copies mainly due to the probable lack of entries in this category. My opinion: let them be allowed to avoid the chances of eliminating this category and for the reason that Sensei stated(the rarity of originals).

Betarians who are entering this contest, it's moments like this where you need to be vocal, so please let us know your opinions on this matter. We want to make this contest as fair as possible.

[Jadeduo]

Curse those evil RS bugs . No promises that my blog will be as peppy and inviting as yours

LOL no need to match my levels of peppiness, I think that people are sometimes frightened by it, because they think I don't know I am being insincere, but you can ask everyone that knows me in RL. I am really this peppy all the time, unless I am exhausted! I really appreciate the help with the marketing BTW! THANKS!

Years ago I would've been against it as the number of entries for the sketch awards were high. Now I'm somewhat hesitant to disallow copies mainly due to the probable lack of entries in this category. My opinion: let them be allowed to avoid the chances of eliminating this category and for the reason that Sensei stated(the rarity of originals).

Betarians who are entering this contest, it's moments like this where you need to be vocal, so please let us know your opinions on this matter. We want to make this contest as fair as possible.

That is also a good point, peoples that are planning on entering, and also I would like to see more entries! Please sound off on this issue! I would appreciate to hear everyone's opinion!

Also I had another question brought up to me privately, I am going to bring it up then give my opinion.

So this Beta-er is concerned about entrants voting for their own pieces and would like us to add the rule that entrants cannot vote for their own pieces, but would like to remain anonymous in their concern.

Jadeduo's two cents:

This logistically would be a nightmare for me, as having to go in and check everyone's vote individually would be time consuming. Unless we switched to e-mail voting, which for transparency purposes is not as good as Survey Monkey and could cause issues for the runners if there is a misscount, and then there will be a risk of a blow up like in 2011. Which I would like to avoid as much as humanly possible, we cannot gather new people to the community if there is a lot of infighting and this revival that we have been working so hard on will be all for naught.

Also when the elections happen here in the states, votes are anonymous, I would assume that your congressman voted for themselves, and that is not going to affect the opinions of anyone else voting. Also because when you enter you can only enter in 12 different categories, and the rules state that if you enter YOU MUST VOTE IN ALL CATEGORIES. This moves the results enough that no one giving one vote to themselves in the categories they entered is going to skew the results unduly, also not everyone uses all 12 of their slots. Now if you enter and don't vote in all the categories that does skew the results, but I already track that with a special spreadsheet not what people vote for but what categories they vote in. You guys can ask I think PunkXPrince and I think Yuri-chan, when they missed a category in their voting I sent them an e-mail to make sure they got their vote in.

Also there is no worry about me skewing the results because when I publish the surveys, before I even post I go in and cast all my votes right away to make sure that I am not skewed by everyone else's opinion as to how voting goes, I also do it to test the Surveys and make sure everything is good to go. I.E. I have all the entries in, and that all the information is correct. And this time around I will also have Majinuub to do a round of testing as well, which will be great!

I also think that the Cel contest went swimmingly a few weeks ago, well except for Best in Show voting as not nearly as many people voted LOL. I think that every categories winner deserved their win, although I am still sad about me losing LOVE, because as you can see from my icon, I entered my favorite cel in my whole collection in the category and only placed second, and you can be damn sure I voted for myself there. LET ME REITERATE, MY FAVORITE CEL! In my opinion that was the best cel that was entered in the category, just because it happened to be my own should not have stopped me from making my opinion known by forcing a rule to make it impossible to make my actual opinion known, by barring me from voting for my cel.

*breathes*

I have more valid points to make but it is really early in the morning, and my brain is scrambled!

So other contest runners and people thinking of entering, please sound off on this issue.

JD

[sensei]

I don't always vote for my own entries. But I usually do. If you don't think it's the best cel/sketch that you can possibly enter in that category, and thus potentially the gold-medal winner, then don't waste everyone's time by making us look at it. I think such a rule would be both logistically difficult to enforce and also counter to the spirit that drives animation art collecting. We want to own the very best, after all, not just nice stuff that is visibly less good than everybody else's.

As for settei, I'd be more willing to lose the category than open a back door to allow photocopies to compete with original art. Original settei are rare, to be sure, but they do exist: I have some from Powerpuff Girls Z and from Sasami: Magical Girls Club. I got a third-place for one of these in 2011 and nothing in 2012 or 2013, so obviously there is competition in this area.

[ToriPagac]

the copy i entered is from a series were most of the ornial art has been los tgot from a friend who in turn got it from a studio source it was a jem model i didn't mean to cause a issue i just though people might enjoy seeing it its a studio copy has the stamp on it my sketches are rather limted aside from comic book ones ive been looking to see if i have more i can enter

[Jadeduo]

LOL Sensei, I am glad you agree with me on this, I guess I am spoiled because the quality was so high in the Cel contest! ^_^

LOL no worries Tori, this is a valid issue that needs to be brought up I am glad we are talking about it! ^_^

And it's important that we are passionate and have opinions about this stuff, it is a great piece ^_^

JD

[milestogo]

I have to admit I voted for myself but I also didn't I went through each category painstakingly and looked at each cel. I even took the time to look up the episodes of a cel I was up against to see the scene. If you think that what you entered is the best cel in the category then you should have the opportunity to vote for your piece. I know some people just vote for themselves too but really that is there right to do so. I won 1st place in a category I don't think I deserved (and I even voted against myself) but that's what the people wanted. I believe the use of survey monkey has really been a great tool to keep the voting transparent and JD has at least one Beta user recheck the results I think that by going to email voting we may lose the confidence in the results of the contest.

As far as the settei sets go, I'm not sure.... I agree with both opinions. We should really only have original art allowed but do we have enough entries to fill the category I don't want to lose a representation of a certain type of art because the majority of its original works are not released. Perhaps labeling them as copies... I dunno I don't think I like that either.

MTG

[Jadeduo]

Thanks MTG, I remember you told me that, you were torn about voting for a DBZ cel over your own, but you decided after pulling out your DVD cases and watching each scene, that yours was better! LOL, you still didn't take the category but voting for the best piece was important to you, and I think it should be to us all. I also like to think that because the results are published wouldn't it suck for no one to have voted for your piece because you can't vote for what you think is the best piece, as it is your own?

I love and hate SurveyMonkey, I love the transparency, and the ability to publish the results, as well as the easy monitoring during the voting period, but the fussiness in uploading each piece and having to create a different survey for each category is annoying, and monitoring so many categories is time consuming.

As for Settei that is a good point, and that you are equally torn seems to be a trend so far...

Anyone else want to weigh in!

JD

[Jadeduo]

I just thought of something I have gotten some WAY too large entries so far, if your piece won't look good and you have to go over on the pixel size that is fine, however if SurveyMonkey or RS cannot upload the piece due to it's enormous size, that is not going to work either.

So here is a good rule of thumb if you can't upload your piece to Rubberslug as is you need to make it smaller!

Thanks,
JD

[majinuub]

Late on the topic but as far as I remember voting for your own entries was always allowed(Sensei has already elaborated my opinion on this matter).

[Jadeduo]

Hi All!

This seemed to work pretty well for the sketch contest! These are the entries so far! 5 Entrants to date in the 2014/2015 Sketch Contest!

I've implemented the color key again! It looks a bit depressing as there are no categories we can give all three awards in YET! See what entries are popular for the 2014/2015 Sketch Awards, to date! Also I encourage EVERYONE to enter including, Sensei, MTG, Majinuub to participate as well! I will of course try to pad out categories again, although my sketch collection has gotten better recently it is not as widespread as my cel collection and I will not be able to pad out as many categories! I am counting on our sketch collectors to drop out of lurk mode and send me entries!! Please guys and gals!

COLOR KEY:
No Awards can be given, NEED MORE ENTRIES!
1 Award can be given, let's maximize this! NEED MORE ENTRIES!
2 Awards can be given, let's maximize this! NEED MORE ENTRIES!
3 Awards can be given, *breaks out boxing gloves* Let's do this!


Accessory - Emphasis on what the character is holding, using, swinging, playing, aiming. - 2
Action - Scenes of action, movement, motion. - 2
Background - No characters allowed. - 1
Bliss - Dreamy, joyful, heavenly, euphoric.
Blood on the Ground - Characters on the verge of death, or those that really are gravely injured, dying, or dead. - 1
Comic/Manga Art - Original art from comic artists and manga-kas
Fan Art - Made by you or another artist.
Femininity - Delicacy, gentleness, maidenly - 2
Tomboys - For all those lovely ladies that are redefining what it means to be a woman! - 2
Funny - Laugh out loud moments. - 1
FURRIES (have a cel of a furry friend? A dog, a cat, a cabbit, a catgirl/boy? a Kero..... you know ANYTHING with fur) - 3
Group - Art of two or more characters. - 2
Hanken - Art used for merchandise or other non-production special circumstances. Hankens are not allowed in any other category except hentai. - 2
Heroic - Hero/Heroine saves the day! Heroically! - 1
Hybrid - Artwork that incorporates original artwork with xeroxed work. More than 50% of the drawing must be original art. Hybrid artwork is not allowed in any other category.
Itadakimasu! (Our favorite characters stuffing their faces with deliciousness)
Love - Kissing, hugging, cuddling, any displays of affection, innocent or physical – just not explicit. - 3
Mech and Tech - Robots, vehicles, ships, cars, gundams, Oh MY! - 1
Muscles - Beef, brawn flesh, sinew, tendon.
Bishonen - Young men whose beauty (and sex appeal) transcends the boundary of gender. - 3
Outfit - Best dressed, emphasis on clothes and costumes. - 3
Rage - Mad, angry, extreme agitation. - 2
Shikishii/Signatures - Original signatures and/or artwork drawn by industry artists. Only the artist's signature and accompanying sketch are allowed for submission, all other images must be cropped out. - 1 Pending
Shocked - Stunned, horrified, utter dismay. - 4
Sorrow - Tear-jerkers, sadness. - 1
Special Effect - Power bursts, transformation effects, etc.
Tranquility - Characters who have found their inner peace. - 2
Villainy - Archenemies, evil scientists, meanies, wicked bad guys. - 4
OP/ED/Eyecatch – Cels used only in these special animated sequences. These sketches are not allowed in any other category. - 3

OPTIONAL: Animated - Short sequences of animated artwork.
OPTIONAL: Hentai/Yaoi/Yuri - The risque genres, nudity not a requirement however it must be from a Hentai, Yaoi, or Yuri anime with a higher maturity rating! - 1
OPTIONAL: Settei - Characters, items or scenery. Settei are not allowed in any other category.
OPTIONAL: Back to the Start - The initial draft of how the sequence should run. - 1
OPTIONAL: Ah! My Eyes! Mye Eyes! - The ugliest, most poorly drawn sketch you own. No random body-part submissions, please! Seriously hideous artwork only. - 2
OPTIONAL: Eyes on Me - Anime Eyes, love them hate them, they must be the focus of the cel. - 3
OPTIONAL: Mash-ups! - Those partial sketches which are nothing without all their parts, or go Zany a creative mash-up of sketches from different animes! (i.e. multiple sketches in one image only exists on the internet)
OPTIONAL: POSTERIORS - the Backs of anime in a non sexual way. (do you have a cel of someone's butt?, the back of their head? the back of their knees? do you feel it is not appreciated because its someones back, this is the category for you!) - 2

Entries are running the exact same way I ran the cel contest, send entries to: Jadeduo @ gmail.com - with each entry labeled with:

1. Your Beta User ID
2. What Category you are submitting to.
3. Character Name
4. Anime

Keep in mind the most recent Anime TV Show I have watched is Puella Madoka Magica, so I can basically figure out SM/DBZ and some other old school animes however I am not familiar at all with the newer shows. So make this easy on me please label everything as asked! Everyone that has ever run these things knows they are a time suck so the faster I can get done with admin tasks the smoother this will go, also, because I have been behind I will extend the deadline for submissions for a couple of days but I will have to adjust the schedule a smidge...

Thanks all! And Best of Luck to Everyone!
JD

[sensei]

Working on a slate of entries. As a two-time winner of silver in "Worst," I'm certain to be a formidable contender there again. But recovering from gastric flu and also dealing with semester start-up and promises made in November and now coming due quickly .

Plus gallery update starting next week (cels!)...