ONE PART, MANY CHARACTERS contest……

[Keric]

Wow, this will be an interesting judgment-each entry is SO different

Kittendales Calendars? Are those the Calendars you always see around this time of year?

No, I tried to turn around the phrase “A basket of deplorables.”  I figured what was better the opposite of deplorables?  Thus adorables!”

[Christi S]

Oh. Wow. Duh. I’m an idiot for missing that play on words lol.

Are there any calendars that come out at any other time of year, btw tho..? =P

But yeah, Kittendales Calendars are a play on “Chipendales”; buncha pics of hunky guys… but posing with adorable kittens! Its a cat shelter/adoption charity thing lol. “Dan” just has that sorta male-model look to me, plus the aptly-named “adorables”, just made me think of it.

[Herr D]

All three entries seemed above recent average. A good contest.

First, backstory to consider: I didn’t notice until prompted the tweak on the phrase ‘basket of deplorables.’ I still can’t place it. But as a phrase it had already taken Keric’s minimalist story into the ‘less is more’ category. Randall’s alien would-be tyrant was falling a bit flat until with one fell swoop he did two things. He scared me and tickled me. The ‘handful of geeks’ being the mad-for-power-alien-despot-wannabe’s last hope made me laugh. Then the notion of giving superhero powers to a bunch of disenfranchised tech wizards who, needless to say, wouldn’t behave well enough to be welcome on this forum . . . the phrase ‘toddler with a loaded gun’ comes to mind. Brr-rrRRRrr. Concision with the rest of it would’ve made it tie or top Keric’s. Christi’s? It’s very interesting as a concept. The idea that farmers were in chapel at sunrise kind of jolted me. Maybe sunset or second sun’s rise or moonrise would’ve made more sense?

Second, background: Keric? You broke my heart. A mostly whited-out tree would’ve won you this contest. Two to three layers, man. I used the dog as a background, thinking ambiguity—more on that later. Randall’s background was complete, but not as interesting or 3-d-looking as Christi’s.

As you all know, my own judging is heavily weighted into ‘misusing’ items. That’s a one for findable with or without prompting / questioning. That’s at least a two for “abuse,” or leaving category in an emphatic manner. That’s a three for incorporating / manipulating in a way that makes it less obvious but still present and belonging to the pic.

All three entries went above and beyond with the mouth. K’s looked slightly more logical for the way they hung, asymmetrically, than the other ribbons, which I took for decoration till told otherwise. See ambiguity section below. The butterfly body was great. If it had been repeated or made a body and not a representation of one, I probably would’ve given that a five.

The horn is where you guys gave me the most variety. I LOVE that horn as a hat. I want one. The horn as a twister representation beat out a ‘real’ shoulder pad and would’ve made a five if somehow it could’ve been a ‘real’ twister. Like out a second window getting blasted by the deity or the faithful or the clergy’s hidden weather machine. That shoulder pad? Had one of them been ‘straightened’ to reveal a [gasp] pollinating bloom, or an arsenic rebreather, or something, it would’ve made a five too.

The fantasy top was obviously the hardest piece to work in. I can definitely say I’m in a hat mood this week. RANDALL, I WANT THAT HELMET. The lava-lamp-candelabra-mounted-on-the-mask-look is fantastic. And I’m not even into world domination. Keric probably could’ve closed the gap a lot by putting a basket pattern on his basket. Or suggesting one with a few faint, well-placed lines. Christi could’ve closed the gap, maybe even tied it with an element to explain the crenelations on her wings. It’s an ingenious use, if the crenelations were clumsy, leaving some—you guessed it, ambiguity. A bit in her story about how Ry was birthed by the deity of the mortise joint? A window box demigod or something. I’m not sure.

Bells here means presence by virtue of item or holistic effect contributed. Pivotal, all of you. Nothing extraneous about the three items themselves. K only got that half point up because no items were representations, and he had no ambiguity of the design itself.

Whistles is about minor pieces or features like placement, posing, shading, highlighting, etc. Keric posed and placed very well with some items, not so well with others. That right hip could’ve been hidden by an address card or something, and the one cat seems wrong in the basket. Randall’s is a standard front-facing and bland background, but that hat conglomeration with all those pieces is worth another half point for the alignment. Christi wins that category for the layer of people and the work it took to make a stained glass window.

The emotional content was incredibly different, but the item’s contributions to it were about the same. Uplifting to adorable to baleful creepy. Good range this time.

[drags over soapbox and steps up] Ambiguity. The first ambiguity I saw in Keric’s piece was whether Dan is a real elf or a costumed messenger. The neat thing was I didn’t care. Then I wondered whether the dog was an escapee or hoping that the basket was his next meal. Subject or background? I did care about that, but found myself using it to Keric’s benefit. Christi’s stained glass window. I didn’t know whether this was actually a painted window or a mosaic-style. I gave her the benefit of the doubt because it was a cool piece. That crenelation on the wings could’ve MADE the myth if it had been somehow made indispensable instead of a big question mark. Salvador’s shoulder pads were also a question mark, but not as big a one as the thing covering his hands / claws / tendrils. Was that an expanding energy bolt headed straight for us or some kind of a healing muff taking care of his mentioned injury? The muff / bolt actually lowered the net possible emotional score by making the context of the whole pic ambiguous. Ambiguity is not an artist’s friend, and it is sometimes very hard to eliminate or predict. [steps down and shoves soapbox aside]

Very close this time. I would very much like to see some of those distracting supergeeks from Randall sometime. I’d like Keric’s text so I could add a Christmassy background and use it for my Christmas cards. I’d like that myth detail from Christi.

But most of all, I’d like Christi’s next 3 items and deadline, since she won. Congratulations!

 

Backstory score: …..C3…..K4…R3.5

Bkgd score:………..C3.5…..K1…..R3

Mouth:……………C4.5….K4.5…..R4

Fantasy Top: ….…C3..…K3.5…..R5

Horn: ………….….C4..….K5…..R3.5

Bells: ……………C4…..K4.5…..R4

Whistles: …………C4….K3…..R3.5

Items-story:………C4…..K4…..R3

Emotional:…….…C4….K4…..R3.5
………………………C34…K33.5.R33

[Randall]

Congratulations Christi. Something told me you would get it. Keric your piece was well done and thought out as well. Herr D I have already created the geeks and some of the worlds protectors. Me and my nephew are making a comic book and I decided to use this contest to make the villain. I should have mentioned that the power source in his hands was to grant powers. I will probably change the shoulder pads up too.

[Herr D]

Christi S.? You may have been absent for holidays. You won. Looking back at precedents, I should officially say now that if two more weeks pass before we hear from you I’ll award judgeship to the next highest scorer. That’s 1/15/17, around 1 pm.

[Herr D]

Keric! As runner-up, it is your duty to pick 3 and assume judgeship. RSVP.

[Keric]

I hate having to stand in Christi’s place, I wish she was here, but I will.

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[Keric]

This contest closes 1-31!

[Randall]

Sasha was trained to be a great amazon warrior. She is beautiful but skilled with a deadly bow. Her friend, Gilda, aides her in all of her quests along with their genie friend Ludic. Together they will take on the forces the evil robot army that is on the rise.

I used the shoulder piece for a part of Sasha’s hat, one wing I used for Gilda’s face tattoo, and the other wing I used as blade weapons on the flying robots.

http://s1159.photobucket.com/user/RomeoPhoenix1984/media/Randall.TheRobotAppocalypse_zpsc8pfpppg.jpg.html

[Herr D]

“With A Tap, Kvar Fails Stealth Training.”

*Wing doubled as headpiece, shoulder as trainer camo, other wing as tapper.

–Love your backstory, Randall.

[Keric]

Randall and Herr enter the ring, only one  will leave to judge the next contest!

First off, the Last time I judged, Randall had a construction issue~ I do not see that this time, GJ!

story score: …..H4…..…R4 Yeah, on an overall level, without pieces to judge by, I would be at a tie!

 

FEATHERS:………H5 used as leaves…..…..R3 used on hat

 

SKELETAL WING:……………H5 used as poker….…..R5 used as blades

 

“SCOOTER” WING : ….…H4 used as helmet..…..R2 used as blood

 

other pieces ………….….H4 Convey your idea well..……R5 There are pieces used in ways that I would use them

total ………….…H22 ………….…R19

Herr D leaves to judge the next contest! congrats pick 3!

[Randall]

I’m not complaining nor asking for a re judgement, but I did specify that one wing was used for Gilda’s tattoo. Not Blood. I can see how it can be mistaken for blood though, and we all are ready for the next contest so I won’t hold anything up. I do want to thank you for your compliments Keric. Congratulation Herr D.

[Herr D]

Thanks!

. . . Randall, I would’ve taken that for a fresh wound right above the jawline by a shaped club like a robot hand, so I would’ve thought it wasn’t just blood or a tat. Good reason for clarification. The color was just right for that.

An extra half-point to whoever tells me which hero and heroine faced these ‘obstacles’ close to the climax of the hero’s final successful gambit.

Due 2/10/17 3pm, hopefully to be judged by 8pm. Here’s three:

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[Keric]

@ Randall Yes, you did call it a tattoo, but with each figure no more than 3 and  1/2 inches on my monitor, a lot of details were lost! If I had seen the lines on the wing, I probably would call it a tattoo.  I was not looking at the description when I wrote.   (Who cares, the ref is blind anyway!*)

* I’ve always worn “coke bottle” glasses, ever since my dad used a full sheet of paper to teach me how to right the letter A.

[Herr D]

Okay–no entries. New deadline: 2/21/17 3pm EST tbj in 5hr. Same items, but for that extra half-point, you have to name that hero and heroine and work a tower into the pic or use the ruined tower item somehow.

[Author]

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