May 06 Contest Votes

[InfiniteMonkey]

It was interesting to see how many variations on a theme were created within the scope of this brief, yet I was dissapointed to see quite how many people seemed to rely soley on filters to create the desired effect.

I have to agree with Peth on this one, 'art comes from the soul - not from a drop-down menu'. The depressing thing is, most clients would probably not be able to tell the difference, or at least would accept the enterpretation and would walk away half-heartedly wishing they hadn't bothered.

Photoshop et al are just tools. Never forget that. It's how we use these tools that defines our creativity. Personally I'm dreading the day that adobe creates a drop down menu that, in one click, converts photographs into realistic natural media. I don't know about you, but I'm in no hurry to become obsolete.

Positioning myself as an informed client, it was simply a task of selecting entrants that I believed had truely entered into the spirit of the event. From the 7 I identified, these are my top 5.

1: Peth - very effective. One of only a few that chose to crop the image. Nice. Would have benefitted from a bit more detail and contrast in the hair.

2. Tpaul - again very effective. Really didn't like the crop, sorry. Didn't see the reasoning or the need. Detracted from an otherwise stellar creation.

3. Alllan - Absolutely loved this one. Very striking, but unfortunately as I'm finding to my detriment, more of a charcoal effect than graphite pencil. I had to include it though, as it really was one of my favourites, hang the rules...!

4. CathyH - Loved the natural media feel to this one. again, not convinced as to the graphite pencil feel, but as the client I am convinced I would not be dissapointed. Liked the balance from light to dark, with my only criticism being the crop, again detracting from what would otherwise have been a very competent piece.

5. dkcoats - loved the natural media feel to this one. Loved the tilt and crop, though I think it would have looked better rotated counterclockwise to the same degree, but then I would say that...
Would have liked to have seen a bit more detail in the face, but otherwise a very convincing piece.

Remember, we're here to test our abilities, not the softwares'

It's 3.50am, so please excuse my incomprehensible ramblings, back to dreaming about jammy dodgers ...

[bart_hickman]

Went through the initial batch and eliminated any that didn't look enough like pencil or that looked too much like a photograph. Then I simply sorted out the five I liked the most and would have wanted to pay money and hang on my wall. I gave less weight to images that looked exactly like a genuine pencil sketch--although I was impressed by them, I prefer the images that strike a balance between preserving the subjects likeness while not looking like a photo.

1. nancyJ_may06 -- very smooth pencil-like drawing and yet somehow avoids looking like a photograph--nice work!
2. CJSwartz -- very good pencil simulation and good likeness, but I don't care for the spots of texture in the hair
3. alllan -- I bit overly-textured, but I love the eyes--would be a striking picture hanging on the wall.
4. retouchpix -- I like the contrast and just liked it even though real pencil might not be so contrasty.
5. Peth -- Very nice rendition. The crop is a nice idea. It's a bit smooth and tilted a bit too much.

Bart

[chiroka]

1- cazubi
2 - Legacy~Art
3 - Retouchpix
4 - Drach
5 - alllan

[Drach]

Woah, lot's of interesting entries. After first sort-out there were 15 names on my list.

Everything that looked too much like filter or photocopy got sorted out first.

After that there were a lot entries that looked great, but (at least imho) not like a pencil sketch, prime example being CathyH. A pity this contest was not all-style cause this one would have had a high ranking.

Some entries really used an interesting technique, but had something that disturbed me somehow. Prime examples here being byro (can't decide if it's pencil or not), chiroka (would have loved more detail, especially for the eyes), bobdown (too pale imho) and mseydel (she looks ..umm.. old on the picture.. kinda).

Here we go:

1. mseydel (I hate it and I love it. She looks kinda old, but the whole picture looks sooo cool, I can't take my eyes of it)

2. cazubi (reminds me of the style of my old art-teacher at school )

3. byro (I still can't decide if it's pencil or not, but some voice in my head tells me it is. Now if you could just fix that one tooth )

4. bobdown (mmmh.. just a bit darker, but I guess it's a matter of preference)

5. ikroll (It's not what I woud call a traditional sketch, but it looks like pencil. A bit too dark in some areas maybe, but overall good work)


Honorable mentions:

Soleah (This one gave me a hard time. Some areas for some reason remind me of watercolor, really no clue why)
Chiroka (As mentioned above )
MargaretM (Looks like you tried to work on a free-hand sketch (not sure if that is the correct english translation). Definately on the right track )
Naburi (Hey, she is my wife.. I have to do it )

[TwinbNJ]

Wow these are getting harder and harder to judge!
narrowing this down to just 5 took some time.

1 - Soleah - overall treatment and effect was number one for me.

2 - Tpaul - love the crop and softness while keeping a pencil look.

3 - Janet Petty - I knew this would make my top 5 the minute it was posted. Very nice lines and the end product looks like a pencil sketch.

4 - Perth - soft with a pencil look.

5 - CJ Swartz - very nicely done good lines.

[blue dog]

I didn't let myself read the voting until I had my top 5. But, the previous explainations did help be verbalize some of my feelings.

I down-selected to 18 entries that ended up being based on just being consistent with the subject's character and its overall appeal to me.

The really hard part! I eliminated those with obvious filter effects, sketchy skin when it should have been soft, getting the relationship of the "whites" right (eyes, skin highlights, and pearls). I felt that the high-key entries were inconsistent with the subject's character which is warm and soft.

1. Peth. Love the crop and head tilt. Could have been more delicate under her eyes. Really get's the whites right. Nice hair texture. Wow!

2. InfinteMonkey. Really like the crop and tilt - I would have called it perfect except that Peth's is more perfect. Nice blending, skin tones, whites. Eyes a bit heavy. Edge problem stage left on her face.

3. kr1156. Nice shading. Nice soft texture to skin, good range of skin tones. I don't like the overall soft focus, I think it takes away from looking like a real pencil piece.

4. Twinbnj. I loved it all until I looked closely at the skin texture which is too artificial. Don't care for soft focus. Love the overall feel, especially facial tones - at a distance.

5. Vlkilee. I really like it. I felt the skin texture was too sketchy and needed the smudge-stick. Eyes are a bit dark. Stage left looks blown out and could have been fixed with a little smudging.

As a beginner, this was very helpful to me. Naturally, I really liked my entry when I submitted it, but now I see it a lot differently. I seem to have a strong relationship with that smudge-stick and a reluctance to leaving white-space. Its amazing, now I recall having the same problem when I was 9 or 10 and taking art lessons.

[Northernshadow]

WOW!!! got home from a camping holiday yesterday and thought I could vote quick... easier said than done! This was tough. I got it down to my 11 favorites last night, then made the final picks this morning.

1. Peth -I love the soft, blended look of the pencil on a very smooth paper.
2. T Paul -lovely effect, I think the light vignette takes away from the girls face and a medium grey blended look would have been better to bring the focus completely on her face.
3. Drach - a duller pencil on a textured paper works great but I thought the pencil strokes looked a little too regular and while the shorter hair suits her I think her mother would want it the same length as the photo.
4. myseydel -marvelous technique!!! but just not flattering to the girl, maybe lightening and blending the skin would soften it.
5. Janet Petty -a smudgier look that's soft too. just a bit more detail like using a sharper pencil would add some intensity to her left eye and hair.

There were a few more that I really liked, Nanls, CJSwartz, Soleah, Danny, Chiroka and Cazubi were in my favorites.

GREAT WORK EVERONE!!!

[barbara]

after carefully reading the rules of this challenge, my criterias are:
- pencil-sketch-look
(no matter what pencil used, hard or soft, no matter smudged with finger or not)
- clients satisfaction
(the client was girl's mom ,not a professor of Fine Arts Academy ; the sketched
face should remain girl from photo, not a hmm velociraptor althrough sketched in
the maestrial artistic style).
Enough theory.
Now results:
1. nothernshadow
2. allan
3. tpaul
4. dkcoats
5. soleah

[oltenius]

Romanian jury decided:
1. soleah
2. dannyraphael
3. philbach
4. tpaul
5. nancyJ
Good luck all of you!

[Tpage]

Very difficult judging some excellent work. I remember seeing pencil sketches as a youngster that I couldn't believe were made with pencil, so it's hard for me to know what is and isn't possible with the 'real' thing. I tried to think from the moms perspective and after getting a shortlist of 12 finally settled on the following five - although if I were the mom I'd be happy with any of the 12 in any order.

1. Peth - Love the contrast and the crop.
2. Nancy J - How do you manage to get that smudge look without smearing ??
3. Janet Petty Good use of texture.
4. Cathy H Just picking out the essentials - great simplification.
5. retouchpix Not convinced you'd ever get pencil that black, but very decisive pencil strokes giving excellent skin tone.

Trevor

[CathyH]

What a learning experience. I looked at each of the entries and like all the different styles that were achieved it is amazing how they can vary. I too went with the entries that looked less like they were just filtered. My first try was strictly using different filter, but there is a lot more to a portrait then that.

1. Peth - very much like a drawing and soft and pretty
2. Infinitemonkey - nice contrast and good detail
3. soleah - good sketchieness, I would like to see some more contrast
4. NancyJ - very delicate
5. mseydel2 - very stylized

I really liked the sketchyness of byRo's but there are a few things that bothered me, I liked her longer hair and the front tooth isn't quite right.
alllan - did a nice job, soft and dreamy

[palms1]

Phew and i thought entering was hard ! I have managed to whittle it down to five eventualy. There have been some excellent entries and i think everyone deserves a pat on the back.

1. Byro
2. Infinite monkey
3. Bart Hickman
4. Janet Petty
5. Danny Raphael

Palms

[corel]

I think mom would just be so proud to show any of these.

1. Tpaul
2. Infinitemonkey
3. cathyH
4. NancyJ
5. soleah

[MargaretM]

I voted "blind". Did not look at other votes. First I eliminated all the entries that remained too photographic and detailed for a sketch. Many very attractive renderings bit the dust. Then eliminated those that did not resemble a graphite pencil sketch. After that I was not left with too many. So here's my vote.
1.#30 Danny R - liked the pencil look of mouth and eyes.
2. #51 Peth - Very nice but found the hair not absolutly convincing.
3.#28 Janet Petty - nicely done, just found mouth a little photographic.
4.#45 dkcoats- a good sketch but a bit like a charcoal.
5.#63 Bob Down - a nice light look but hints of a photograph.

[palomino]

tough one this time...I also went against anything that looked like a filter or like a canvas-like texture was used...as I have never known graphite to be used on such a medium. I do love to see all the different interpretation. I also voted blind (not looking at any others until I had a top 5).

1. Tpaul- lovely, very muck like graphite, soft and tasteul.
2. peth- also nice, just liked the crop of the 1st a little better
3. soleah- very minimalist, nice.
4. lorraine- great, but a little too much black in spots for graphite
5. mseydel- I also thought it was original amd definitely looks like a drawing, but does lack the portrait "prettiness"

honorable mention to: ajava- best crosshatching, cjswartz- very nice but background was lacking for me, kr115- eyes got a little blurry and a bit too grey on the face, goose443 very close to top 5 also, drach- looks authentic but not pretty enough to be a proud mama's portrait of her daughter.

Good job everyone-- Kate