February/Valentine Banner Contest

Post by **Tiff** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:05 am

It's that time again!

Only..I have something NEW for you! BWA!

Okay..Normally I ask you to create a banner with some sort of holiday theme on it. This time around, I'm offering a challenge.

I bring you.."IRON DESIGNER!"

Much like Iron Chef hands their chefs one ingredient and demands they make dishes with it, I am handing you two images. With a piece of one of those two images (or, if you're REALLY bold and creative, both), you must create a banner fitting for a valentine-esque theme. I have selected pictures that will fit well with this, as one is splashed with red and pink and sultry looking women, and the other is full of weddding gowns (weddings are about love! LOVE, I TELL YOU!)

So I invite the creative, the bold, the original,a nd those seeking a challenge to come and enter this contest. Below are the two links for the pictures. Below that are the rules.

First Picture

Second Picture

1) Your banner must contain an obvious part from one or both of the pictures choices above. By obvious I mean don't take a tiny patch of background, or a cherry blossom, slap it on a completely new image, and then say "BUT I USED THE IMAGE!" No. You MUST be able to see at least ONE of the characters from either image.

2) Banner must be 300 x 137 in size and in GIF or JPG format. You may submit up to 2.

3) You are allowed to use brushes, backgrounds, and edit the images TO A CERTAIN EXTENT. Don't edit the original image until it's unrecognizeable (see rule 1). Photoshop filters are fine, and I have no problem if you want to edit out the background and put in your own. In fact, I encourage it. If you use a brush, credit the brushmaker in your post.

4) The banner needs to say "Sailor Moon Uncensored Forums" and have the url, "http://www.smuncensored.com" on it. This must be done in a readable font (this includes size, style, and color)

5) In order to enter, you must have been a member for at least two weeks and an ACTIVE POSTER AS OF TODAY. Anyone who joins the forums after this is NOT ELIGIBLE. This isn't to be mean, but I don't want people joining just for the contest, and we have too many members who have never posted or have only posted once or twice. If you are unsure as to whether you qualify as an "active member", contact me.

OTHER GUIDELINES:

1) Please try to use a readable font. I cannot stress this enough.
2) Be creative! BE CREATIVE, CREATIVE CREATIVE!

THE DEADLINE IS SATURDAY, JANUARY 22.

Prizes are as follows:

1st: Banner displayed Jan. 23- Feb.5 , avatar made by me.
2nd: Banner displayed Feb.6 - Feb.19, avatar made by me.
3rd: Banned displayed Feb.20- March5, avatar made by me.

You also get to pick from any of the following from Dan's cd list found here:

http://www.smuncensored.com/forums/view ... 81&start=0

XD the maker of the first prize will also be deemed Iron Designer by me. Tiffu. THE Tiffu. Yeah. *Flex pose*

I would like you to upload the banner to your webspace (if you have one) and paste the link here, so that everyone may view your creation. If you do not have webspace, email it to me, and I'll upload it for you. DO NOT POST THE IMAGE ITSELF HERE.

Have fun, and I hope we get a lot of entries!
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Ayane · Post by **Ayane** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:42 am

Phew...for some reason, those images are tougher for me to work with than most of my own. Ah well, the thrill of a challange, eh?

My first entry: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/ ... anner1.jpg

Second one (if I can get one done) will probably be up tomorrow or day after.

NameGoesHere · Post by **NameGoesHere** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 5:25 am

This is a challenge! I love the Iron Chef theme. XD

Here's my entry.

This took me about four hours to complete. I used MS Paint for the editing, since that's all I have to work with. ^^; I'm surprised at how well the cascading flowers turned out. I used Irfan View (the handiest freeware I've ever used) to resize the wedding image snips, and to apply the tint to make it look old photo-ish.

I was going for a "single girls" theme. (Single people exsist on Valentines Day, too!) Thus the choice of characters without boyfriends/girlfriends. I would have used Minako too, but four panels weren't balancing out. So, I scrapped her for varieties' sake, since she's on the current banner.

LilEva · Post by **LilEva** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 4:14 pm

I saw the pics, but didn't save them, and now they don't work. Is it me? I'm using Firefox.

And the two entries so far are fantastic. It's amazing what you can do with just MSPaint! I didn't know you could do much with it.

crazydiamond · Post by **crazydiamond** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 5:09 pm

I can't see the pictures either. Tho I do know which ones are being used and could probably find copies. I might try this contest out. The enteries so far ROCK. Very neat stuff.

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:09 pm

I'm in the same club here. The links appear to be broken.

Slrjoecool · Post by **Slrjoecool** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:40 pm

I believe the files are down too, but I did download them, so I uploaded them to Geocities.

The links are:

http://www.geocities.com/joegould1111/nt4-18-19.gif

and

http://www.geocities.com/joegould1111/v5-02.jpg

Post by **Tiff** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 9:00 pm

o_O; strange. T hey still work just fine for me.

But either way..thanks, Joe Sweety ^^

Slrjoecool · Post by **Slrjoecool** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:50 pm

Here's my first entry:

http://www.geocities.com/joegould1111/S ... Banner.jpg

I don't know if I'll make a second.

Edit: OK, I did make a second. I had some spare time. Here it is:

http://www.geocities.com/joegould1111/S ... anner2.jpg

Artemis · Post by **Artemis** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 5:09 pm

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/ ... 265964.jpg

Artemis-chan's banner. Paint is all I have to work with. T____T

crazydiamond · Post by **crazydiamond** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 6:01 pm

okay, here is my one and only entry. Like Artemis and NGH, all I really have is paint, so the words ALWAYS turn out a little fuzzy. I really love Usagi's face in that picture. All the little rose petals also come from that pic. The big roses come from another artbook picture. Also, if the link doesn't work, try opening it in another window, the site was acting weird yesterday.

LilEva · Post by **LilEva** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:43 pm

Here are my entries:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/lileva/bw.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/ ... makoto.jpg

Good way to pass the time at work. =)

Butterscotch · Post by **Butterscotch** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:25 pm

I got permission from Tiff to enter! ^_^

entry one

Entry Two

I only have paint, so they came out kinda fuzzy.

Ayane · Post by **Ayane** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 6:20 pm

Here's my second entry. http://img93.exs.cx/img93/4290/smuvalbanner24va.jpg

crazydiamond · Post by **crazydiamond** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 6:38 pm

LilEva, I (heart) your second entry! It's beautiful! I don't even *like* Makoto in that pic, but you made her look awesome!

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 8:01 pm

I'm not gonna make a banner until this weekend sometime. I promise I'll make time for one! I don't have Photoshop anymore (my trial version expired), so it's gonna turn out pretty crappy, but hey.

LilEva · Post by **LilEva** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:52 pm

crazydiamond wrote:LilEva, I (heart) your second entry! It's beautiful! I don't even *like* Makoto in that pic, but you made her look awesome!

Thank you. =)

Akarui Kibuno · Post by **Akarui Kibuno** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:49 am

My first and only entry

http://kibbs.free.fr/other/smuvalentine.jpg

Credit for the background image goes to www.backgroundcity.com (I love Google so much) .

Artemis Lover · Post by **Artemis Lover** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 6:53 pm

Okay.
WHAT???? How does everyone do such great stuff?

I don't have photoshop- where do you get a little trial thingie?

Slrjoecool · Post by **Slrjoecool** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:04 pm

You can get a 30 day trial of Photoshop CS at www.adobe.com.

There is also a program called GIMP (available at www.gimp.org, which has most of the features of Photoshop, but is free. You can even download GIMP brushes at sites like www.deviantart.com)