April 2009 Contest - Creativity

[T Paul]

April 2009 Contest – Creativity

You’ve been tasked to develop a promotion poster for a new play, Poseidon's Revenge, with an underwater kingdom theme. You will be limited to using source images from the NOAA library only. This is a serious play (not Disney) and the client wants a professional looking poster. So nothing too cute or funny. Do not put any text on your entry.

The challenge will be to use actual elements from the NOAA photos to create a subtle face. DO NOT use any actual face parts or face images. The key is to arrange the underwater elements (such as seaweed, fish, coral, starfish, shells, bubbles...you get the drift) in such a way that it seems like an underwater kingdom at first glance...until you look closer and see the face of the angry Poseidon.

For inspiration check out the Premonition movie poster where they created Sandra Bullock’s face out of tree branches and birds.

Source Image: NOAA website

New to the contests? Please review the FAQs

Prize: Topaz Vivacity and Topaz Adjust, both donated by Topaz Labs

Prize Description: Topaz Vivacity is an advanced Photoshop plug-in suite that uses the latest in wavelet-based image enhancement technology. It is jam-packed with the best image enhancement tools on the market and is an integral part of any image enhancement workflow.

Topaz Adjust uses advanced algorithms to achieve unique exposure effects and adjustments in seconds. It offers the user full control over creative exposure, color, and detail effects, and has the ability to save and reuse presets for maximum convenience. It is also highly capable of noise reduction.

THE RULES:

1. Contest will run from 1 Apr to 24 Apr 09. Deadline for entries is 5pm CDST.

2. I will not answer questions concerning the rules. Interpretation of the rules is as important as execution.

3. Tasks:

• Create an underwater kingdom theme
• Create a face from natural elements.
• Do not use any actual face parts or face images.
• Use source images ONLY from the NOAA website.
• Any elements that you add to the photo should be copyright free.
• Do not add text
• Final image must be exactly 600 pixels wide by 800 pixels high.

4. When you submit your entry put your username in the filename (ie: tpaul.jpg). This is so users can save the images to a local directory and remember who did what--important when it comes time to vote.

5. Post your entries to this thread. Links will not be accepted. Please restrict your comments, questions or discussion to the Contest Discussion thread. Inappropriately placed posts will be deleted.

6. Only one entry per person. You can change your entry up to the deadline.

7. Voting will run from 25 Apr to 30 Apr. Only those with entries may vote.

8. Voting:

• Submit the 5 best entries (by artist name) in order, starting with your favorite.
• You cannot vote for your own image.
• Once you have voted, do not change your votes. The votes are tallied as them come in so any changes in the votes may not be reflected in the final results.

Finally, please remember that this is a friendly contest and suppose to be a learning experience. Tips and suggestions to help others are highly encouraged. Also please don’t limit your comments to just the top 5 when you vote. Most members are eager for feedback about their images, so remember to help each other out.

[CathyH]

well here is what I ended up with. I did about 5 version and and ended up back at no2.
Good luck everyone.

[Nasturtium]

I heavily 'borrowed' technique from issue #54 of APU's Phil Darby's Moss Dragon tutorial.

[Veralisa]

I'm not too sure of my way around here yet but I'm enjoying the exploration. When I read the contest description I thought it sounded like a great way to get my feet wet It was way more difficult than I'd expected. After several trys the Posiedon kept looking like the Creature from the Black Lagoon fame. It was so bad. Not wanting to quit, I moved the fish face more behind the seaweed until it all 'fit'. Many blended layers, many.

The other entries look so good I think I should have followed my first instinct and given PS a rest but, hey, it was another great learning experience.

Veronica

[r_dg]

well i just wanted to do sommething fun... here is my try...

[Sveltepig]

yeah, I agree, this sounded like fun and a good challenge, but was really really difficult. I am not really happy with mine, but have run out of time now, so here it is.
K

[Cassidy]

This was really difficult, found a photo that seemed to have a natural face in the coral and just helped the suggestion along

[Cupcake]

Here is my try.

[Ruzzez]

I warped, cloned, pushed, softened, and adjusted contract and brightness on selected areas and finally added some fish and coral. I found this one difficult.

[Newton]

Ran across this thread and had a minute before lunch. Fun stuff, probably would've done some more, but time to get back to work!

[T Paul]

Congratulations to those that challenged the depths of their creativity!
I hope everyone had fun working on their entries.

The winner of this month's challenge is Ruzzez!

Top 3
Ruzzez - 21
CathyH - 19
r_dg - 17