Add your comments, questions or general discussion about the Contest entries here. This is also a great place to share your techniques or ask others about theirs.

Most members are eager to hear comments/suggestions about their entries, so please take the time to help each other out. :jacko:

<tap><tap><tap>...is this thing on?

don't know about you, but I'm a bit stumped on this one

That was my initial reaction too, Cassidy. I think the title of the contest, "Fright Contest", however, pretty much sums it up. Just making the model look scary: a ghost, monster, zombie, etc. should suffice -- as long as the criteria of a black background, proper file name and image size is followed. You might want to look at the October, 2006 contest for some inspiration. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm off base. IMHO, it's impossible to predict just how folks might interpret the criteria in these contests. That's what makes it interesting though.

Anyway, I just got to thinking about my EX, and I think I can come up with something that should scare the bejesus out any red-blooded fella!!!

The title might be "Fright Contest", but the instructions say "The art director has a Halloween project and wants the provided photograph turned into a character more appropriate to illustrate the provided poem."

To me, that sounds a little more directed than just make it scary. How do zombies and ghosts fit the words and mood of the poem, for example. But, there is a lot of leeway available. What might be desirable to the art director of "National Scholastic" my be very different from the art director of "The New Yorker". So I'm certainly open to broader interpretations than mine.

There are some interesting possibilities. The figure of Death is generally considered to be male. Yet, here Death is female. Quite the role reversal. There are some interesting directions that could be explored here.

Not being able to "talk" to the art director to "flesh it out" so to speak, I tried to take a moderate approach and imagined what would fit in with the poetry magazines that used to be the rage when I was a youth. I wanted to echo the mood of the poem with a Death figure that, being female, avoided the traditional hood, robe and scythe (I did give her a scythe pendant though), but still showed the gaunt wearyness and indifference suggested.

It will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with on this one!

The title might be "Fright Contest", but the instructions say "The art director has a Halloween project and wants the provided photograph turned into a character more appropriate to illustrate the provided poem."


I agree with "BobJones"..

To illustrate the provided poem, I decided to break away from the "Portrait" mode and provide a complete character (using the portrait) for the Art Director(s)..

My thoughts on getting away from the portrait may be a little out of the box but I tried to envision the character depicting the lines of the poem...

I was also just a little curious how submitting something other than a portraiture early in the contest would influence how others approached this project..

I think the rules of this contest leave a lot of latitude for interpretation.. I hope everyone stretches their imaginations

BTW.. Lonk, Fantastic work in the Sept Contest

I certainly don't disagree with either of you. As we've all pointed out, there is quite a bit of flexibility in how one could interpret the assignment. In my case, I kept going back to the title, especially the "fright" adjective. Also, as mentioned in the instructions, we (in the U.S. at least) celebrate Halloween this month, which has it's own implied meaning.

The poem itself comes across, to me, with darkness and foreboding. It, of course, could be interpreted entirely different. That's the nature of poetry. E.G. a high key rendition of a beautiful angel might be perfectly valid as well.

The bottom line, I think, is how each presents their entry. I have a tendency to look for first impression impact and quality of workmanship. IMO, these should be, after all, the primary goals of any retouching/manipulation effort. I believe these contests are designed to challenge your skills. In this contest, the black background requirement, for example, tests your ability to retain her stringy hairline while changing to a solid dark background -- not a simple thing to do.

I'm looking forward to seeing your entry, Bob. And thanks, Granny, for the compliment on my September contest entry. I, for one, really like your illustrative interpretation in this contest.

The poem set me in mind of the Banshee tales of Ireland,
"The Banshee
The Banshee is most commonly visualised as a female spirit who wails in the night to foretell disaster, either to an individual family or more generally. The tradition is the strongest in Ireland but many places with Celtic survivals have a variant of the Banshee.

From most descriptions, the Banshee appears dressed in green, perhaps wearing a grey cloak over her wizened body, with long streaming hair and eyes red from weeping. She is depicted both as a young woman and as a hag. Although often described as above, her most common characteristic is mournful wailing during which she heard but not seen. "
So that is where I got my inspiration from. Tho I'm not quite sure I want to go the whole hog, need to find the clothes and hair to suit, if I cant, will have to make her more ghostly.

Hey Everybody! Well, this time I think I used just about every one of PS2's tools to get my entry going. I mean I dodged and burned, liquified, bloated, pinched, cut, paste, drew, stretched, shrunk, changed colors and anything else you can probably think of to make it have the look I wanted. The problem was when I finished, my file size had shot all the way up to 597 and that put the quality at 115%. When I started bringing it back down to get to 100% I couldn't get there. I had to bring it all the way down to 78.something to get it to load at a mere 19% quality, so I lost some of the effects I had on her. Does anyone else have this problem or am I doing something wrong? I remembered to save it to web. Boy, I'll bet that pretty lady didn't know she could look so terrible :)

You know all of that explaining I just did, just ignore it. Sometimes all you have to do is read and that is what I didn't do. I did not have my entry at the correct size (after I read the entry rules again), so I went back and changed it. I knew that had never happened to me before. Please excuse my oversight.

John Donne wrote these words a few hundred years ago:

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

I chose to make the contest this month not about horror but about something more.

Janet

some pretty imaginative stuff here, folks. i may not enter, but i'm certainly enjoying the view :)

Here is a temporary gallery for easier viewing.

Oct Content Entries (http://www.retouchpro.com/contests/may/)

Well done by all entries, here's my list.


pixiecho
plattepro
cupcake
LonK
OlBaldy


Again Congratulations to everyone who entered. :knockedou

With the change to the new server and to ensure that eveyone gets a chance to vote, the voting has been extended to 2 Nov 5pm EDT. As a result the Nov contest will be posted on 3 Nov.

Cheers,

~T

For my entry I wanted to see what I could do quickly with just filters. I had fun as I hope everyone else did.

Designpunk
I loved the grey hair and I really think you achieved the dead eye look with the skinned over eyes (creepy). The lighting was well done and the aging process worked very well to develop your character.

Cassidy
I really liked the mystic glow around your character and the dark blank stare worked well.

Plattepro
Your image works very well with the poem. There is some darker black at the top of her head that stands out (at least on my monitor). This would have worked better if it matched the background's softer black. The muted eyes and blue veins worked very well and were an excellent touch. Nicely done!

Mikkimicole
Definitely a ghoulish figure! One I wouldn’t want to meet up with. The aged and tattered shirt was very well done. Great job!

BobJones
You created a nice skeleton feel here. I especially love the touch of changing the pearl to a scythe for the necklace. The B&W tone works very well to enhance that cold look.

LonK
Excellent horror figure! It was just a little too strong in my opinion for the poem. Great work!

I think all retouches are pretty good... But I will vote next time - i must get used to it :)

Excellent job by everyone! It was very close in the voting and the winner for October's Contest is....

LonK!

Prize: Donated by Thomson Course Technology PTR:

Digital Horror Art: Creating Chilling Horror and Macabre Images By Martin McKenna (http://www.courseptr.com/ptr_detail.cfm?&isbn=1%2D59863%2D181%2D0 )

Top 5:
LonK - 37 (won the tie breaker)
plattepro - 37
designpunk - 33
cazubi - 32
jessibelle15 - 28

The tie breaker is determined by who has the most first place votes. If it is a tie again, then we will look at who has the most second place votes and so on until a winner is determined.

Congratulations Lonk (and plattepro)! Well done everybody!

Well done LonK. Nice work everyone

Congratulations Lonk and Plattepro :)

Congratulations to the winners.

I admit to entering this contest just so I could vote. It was well worth the experience.

Janet

Congratulations to all of the winners. Well done everyone.

Cathy

Great job LonK, nice job by everyone.
mikkimicole

These are the votes from Sarah (the individual kind enough to let us work on her photo).

1. Designpunk- I really liked how they finessed the detail
2. LonK- photo-real conveying the impossible
3. Plattepro- great job with the hair and dead eyes- goes with poem
4. mikkimicole- I like the treatment of the clothing
5. CathyH- because it looks just like my alter-ego

Please thank everyone for being creative with my mug-- it was fun and twisted at the same time :)

~Sarah