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Forums » List all forums » Forum: The Mariner's Muse » Thread: LE Portrait Background Contest - Redux Edition! [Winners Announced!] |
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Thread Status: Normal Total posts in this thread: 48
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Clotho
OceanMaster Joined: Jun 23, 2009 Posts: 4035 Status: Offline |
Redux Edition is here! Click here for the winners! Ahoy thar matey! If ye be looking for the best pirate arrrtists, then here they arrrrrrrrr! I had to use me best convincing skills for Cronus to let me out of the dungeon. Only cost me arm and me leg, har, har, har! Redux ye say? Aye, matey! This round we will choose several winners. However, the winning backgrounds will not be enabled in game at the same time, but instead they will be spaced out for a period of a few months and significant dates will be saved for that particular period. This contest covers any holiday, activities or seasonal themes, preferably between mid-December to mid-March. Any theme goes! Deadline: Thursday, November 7 2019, 11:59pm game time Submissions: Create original backgrounds that are consistent with the theme and style of the game. The image must look sensible with characters placed on it in any of the orientations possible for its size. The preferred file format is .png Entries must fit the appropriate scale: 1-pirate backgrounds: 348 x 650 2-pirate backgrounds: 696 x 650 Large backgrounds: 1600 x 1170 Expansive backgrounds: 2000 x 1275 The usual pesky rules: * Only original art is accepted. You must create the images yourself. * References to copyrighted intellectual properties should be excluded from the entries. Plagiarized entries, photographs, and other unsuitable entries may be removed without notice. * You may use reference materials for your work, but if you base your work substantially on a reference, please acknowledge it in your forum post. * There is no need to acknowledge any game art used as reference material. * Players may participate with as many backgrounds as they like and any player may have multiple backgrounds chosen as winners. * Previous work (that belongs to you) can be submitted for future contests as long as it fits the season. Avoid crops of past backgrounds that have already had a win and have been seen in game before. We are looking for new material! Requested format for the filenames on YPPedia: monthly_yourname_title_the_way_you_want_to_appear_in_game.png All in lower-case and put underscores between all the separate words in the title So, if I want my portrait background to appear as Clotho's Tangled Threads, I would use: monthly_clotho_tangled_threads.png Instructions for tags in the summary field The tag for this contest is "oct19contest " so that we know which entries to consider when judging starts. The summary field for the upload should be: {{contesttag|accountname|creditname|Portrait Title}} where "contesttag" is replaced by this month's tag "accountname" is replaced by your own forum name "creditname" is replaced by your pirate name "Portrait Title" is replaced by your suggested title for the portrait background e.g. {{oct19contest|Clotho|Spinner|Loom}} or {{oct19contest|Cassopia|Whitenose|Spindle}} If the name to credit the portrait with is the same as the account name, it would go in twice. e.g. {{oct19contest|Clotho|Clotho|Tangled Threads}} To make sure your entry is uploaded correctly, check using a tag search. Judging: * The entries will be judged by the Grey Havens' arrrtists and the winners will be put into future releases as a Limited Edition portrait background. * Winning portrait backgrounds may also be re-used for limited times later or could be adopted as a longer-term or permanent portrait background. * The same player may be chosen more than once for different entries. * Entrants may be asked by the arrrtists to make small changes to their designs. Prizes: The winning entries will be included in the in-game list of available portrait backgrounds for a limited duration. Anyone in the game can use it when it becomes available. In addition to that, each winning entry will receive in the ocean of their choice (same account as winning pirate): * choice of clothing or furniture item* * choice of Bluebeard, Fishheadred, Greenbones egg or doll * a free copy of their portrait in-game * Dread Masterpiece trophy if they don't already have one. * A surprise prize for overall winner! The small print: * Poe and doubloons for the free copy and the trophy will be delivered at the time the portrait is available in game. * Clothing or furniture can be any item in any colors that can be ordered from a tailor or a furnisher in game. No limited edition colors, no items that require a design to be created and no items that require a certain reputation to be worn or placed. Suggestions: * Make it look like it came right out of the game. * Get your line weights down, and compare with existing portraits to be sure. * Keep your lighting consistent with the lighting on the pirate portrait art. * Choose a scene that many in the game would like to use. * Take your time and rework, going to others for advice and critique. * A very small signature in the lower right corner is acceptable. * Avoid words - if you do use them, use them minimally, and only when they are not central to the understanding of the portrait. * The composition of backgrounds related to pirate placement is a major consideration and sometimes otherwise good backgrounds are eliminated because the nicest elements are blocked by the pirates once they are in frame. Suggestions and links:
Questions, discussion, entries and feedback can all be posted here. Good luck! ---------------------------------------- Avatar by Greylady ---------------------------------------- [Edit 3 times, last edit by Clotho at Dec 1, 2019 3:39:36 PM] |
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Distructible
Joined: Aug 3, 2007 Posts: 286 Status: Offline |
I'm so glad to have a new edition of this contest! This is for sure on my agenda now :p. ---------------------------------------- Masters on Emerald. |
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wuppypuppy2
Joined: Jul 24, 2010 Posts: 682 Status: Offline |
I am so happy this is back, and also so sad because it is coming at the busiest time in my academic career to date, so I'll be able to spend far less time on this than I would like to. But mostly happy. Thank you, Clotho, Cronus, and anyone else who had a part in bringing this back! (side note, I started joining these contests before I ever left for college, and I'm in my third year of a PhD program currently, holy heck.) ---------------------------------------- Wayfarer of Mala-idian-erald |
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pixierain486
Joined: Jul 21, 2007 Posts: 71 Status: Offline |
Thank you for bringing the portrait contests back!! :) I'm very excited to procrastinate and come up with some seasonal yo-ho ho ho terrain for all those making an appearance on Santa's nIce list this year.... :P Good luck and have fun to everybody! ---------------------------------------- *Scythera of Emerald | Obsidian | Meridian* - Avatar by me |
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Harlech
Joined: Feb 21, 2009 Posts: 541 Status: Offline |
Tempting. ---------------------------------------- SIXTH Puzzle, Win an Avatar. |
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Kiwikitten
Joined: Dec 18, 2007 Posts: 3 Status: Offline |
I have a question. Where do we upload them to? This post? ---------------------------------------- Cutthroatmel on all oceans :D |
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wuppypuppy2
Joined: Jul 24, 2010 Posts: 682 Status: Offline |
If you go on yppedia and log in, you'll see an "upload file" option in the bottom of the left column. Hit upload file and follow Clotho's instructions above for naming and tagging your submission! ---------------------------------------- Wayfarer of Mala-idian-erald |
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Taskbeta
Joined: Mar 5, 2012 Posts: 904 Status: Offline |
My regular laptop died during the move... Hopefully I can get my previous backgrounds (or create an entire new one). I luff you Clotho! ---------------------------------------- Bisca - Emerald & Obsidian Avvy by: Jellyx |
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Clotho
OceanMaster Joined: Jun 23, 2009 Posts: 4035 Status: Offline |
I'm very excited about this contest, it's one of my favorites. I hope to see lots of entries! ---------------------------------------- Avatar by Greylady |
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Igboo
 Joined: Oct 30, 2016 Posts: 15 Status: Offline |
I have Windows 10...I don't really have an art tablet nor $$ to buying apps to download on my laptop. Most of my drawings seem to be pixelated after i've done so much cutting and measuring it to the right measurements. They look nice on paper..just not a computer...Is there other apps I can use, if you have any in mind. Please list them to me. ---------------------------------------- Igboo |
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Harlech
Joined: Feb 21, 2009 Posts: 541 Status: Offline |
Iqboo, you can reduce pixelation by working large-- larger than the intended result. When you've finished your large background, you can scale it down to the submission size. First, review this page: Portrait Background Contest info Note in particular the pirate cutouts. Next, sketch a few ideas. I do thumbnail sketches. Simple layouts, nothing perfect. Keep in mind the aspect ratio of the pirate cutouts, and a general position of the pirate(s). Note also the black bars which are lost in the final in-game portrait. Then, I print out one of the pirate cutouts (black bars and all) as large as I can on a single sheet of paper. I overlay another sheet, and mark the corners of the black bars, and lightly sketch in where the pirate appears. This helps ensure that my drawing maintains the right height to width ratio, even when I shrink it down for the final submission. I then draw a neat line drawing in pencil. Draw a little bit beyond the anticipated borders of the portrait. It's easier to trim extra than it is to add more later, I find. Next, I ink the pencil lines I wish to keep. I let the ink dry (no smudges please!) and erase the pencil lines with a decent eraser. The white block Staedtler Mars Plastic ones are good, or Pentel has some similar. Anything that won't scratch/tear up your drawing like a grade school pencil eraser. I also mark (in ink) the corners of the black bars, so I know where to trim later. I use a scanner set to black and white (not greyscale), at a high resolution. 600dpi or 400dpi could work. So now I have a large black and white line drawing to color on my computer. There's a lot of free software out there. GIMP does everything I want, but if you've used other image editors, it can take some getting used to. I shout at GIMP a lot. Paint.NET isn't as powerful, but it's pretty straightforward. Sometimes I go looking for a plugin to do something it cannot do by default. First, I look over the drawing carefully on the computer. I look for little broken lines or gaps and I fill them with the pencil tool (in black). I make lots of layer copies of this fixed black and white drawing, and I color different parts of the drawing in each layer. Makes it easy to later replace or adjust all the barrels in the drawing, for example. I color individual regions, or sometimes groups of regions which are part of the same object. To do this, I select a white part of the drawing using a magic wand tool. I keep it selected as I paint/fill, so nothing bleeds into another section. It is possible (with a fair amount of patience) to do this with a mouse. A tablet is friendlier, of course. The constraint that I can't paint beyond the selected region really helps me when using a mouse. I can shade parts of a region or object without messing up something else. When you've finished coloring, you'll have a huge image a few thousand pixels in height. Trim the top and bottom of the image, then scale it to the submission height. Then trim the sides of the scaled image to the submission width. All that 600 dpi linework and painting should result in a smooth scaled image with no obvious pixelation. It's been ten flippin' years since I've submitted a background, so forgive me if I've missed something. And of course, this is not the only way to get it done. Best of luck! ---------------------------------------- SIXTH Puzzle, Win an Avatar. |
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Igboo
Joined: Oct 30, 2016 Posts: 15 Status: Offline |
Thank you lots. I will try this tip :D ---------------------------------------- Igboo |
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wuppypuppy2
Joined: Jul 24, 2010 Posts: 682 Status: Offline |
Agreed, anything is possible with a little elbow grease :) The vast majority of backgrounds I have entered (and I've won with) have been created on free software with my laptop trackpad and nothing else. It takes a lot of time and patience but it's definitely doable. P.S., I like the software Krita as a free, fairly user-friendly drawing program. ---------------------------------------- Wayfarer of Mala-idian-erald |
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cattrin
Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 2069 Status: Offline |
For those who are on Chromebooks or otherwise wouldn't like to download/pay for a program, there is also the fabulous Photopea, which is essentially a ground-up, browser-based Photoshop lookalike one guy made as a side project. Super handy and works great. I've used Photoshop for years and Photopea is on the same level, as far as background creating is concerned, and free. (For past Photoshop users: It's also similar enough to Photoshop that you'll know how to use Photopea immediately. Everything is where you expect it to be.) ---------------------------------------- Cattrin of Cerulean Avatar by Apollo (we miss you :c), Blakbead, Angelira, Coriander, and Accelerator!
---------------------------------------- [Edit 4 times, last edit by cattrin at Oct 29, 2019 12:22:27 PM] |
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cattrin
Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 2069 Status: Offline |
Okay, idea dump time! I tried to think of one for the major holidays- Christmas:   Gingerbread pirate- I made the cookie wide enough to accomidate a male figure alternatively. Chinese New Year (Year of the Rat)   Giant golden rat statue, and rats enjoying some oranges. I added some rats to the pirates to be sure they would fit, too. Valentine's Day:   Aw, lovebirds. Not sure about the flower vases, we'll see what it looks like later on. St. Patrick's/Spring:   Lying in a field of clovers- rough shadows around where the figures would be. All the 2-person ones I'm planning so they can be cropped for a 1-person version also. But Cattrin, you say, you only have 5 days to do these- how will you finish? The answer is I have no idea, but I'll try! My brain didn't want to think of anything but spooky Halloween ideas before now. :P ---------------------------------------- Cattrin of Cerulean Avatar by Apollo (we miss you :c), Blakbead, Angelira, Coriander, and Accelerator!
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cattrin
Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 2069 Status: Offline |
Tried to get as much done as I could this weekend-         I'd like the ones using the facing templates to use those in-game, if picked, as the regular templates do not show the background as well. ---------------------------------------- Cattrin of Cerulean Avatar by Apollo (we miss you :c), Blakbead, Angelira, Coriander, and Accelerator!
---------------------------------------- [Edit 4 times, last edit by cattrin at Nov 7, 2019 6:48:45 AM] |
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Igboo
Joined: Oct 30, 2016 Posts: 15 Status: Offline |
What if its too big? And i tried cutting to fit it into a 348x650...Is the OM going to cut it where it fits the perfect size? ): It's frustrating, first time doing this and i dont think i even will put my painting up for this contest ---------------------------------------- Igboo |
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cattrin
Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 2069 Status: Offline |
Is your painting physical or digital? In any event I'd be happy to resize your piece for you. You can post it as a link here, or PM me if you'd prefer. :) ---------------------------------------- Cattrin of Cerulean Avatar by Apollo (we miss you :c), Blakbead, Angelira, Coriander, and Accelerator!
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Igboo
Joined: Oct 30, 2016 Posts: 15 Status: Offline |
How do I load my painting D: I don't understand this format. ---------------------------------------- Igboo |
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Igboo
Joined: Oct 30, 2016 Posts: 15 Status: Offline |
I have it on my discord :3 not sure its the perfect fit ---------------------------------------- Igboo |
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Igboo
Joined: Oct 30, 2016 Posts: 15 Status: Offline |
How were you able to load up your pictures? ---------------------------------------- Igboo |
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Vermiljoen
Joined: Jan 18, 2018 Posts: 88 Status: Offline |
I uploaded another entry, called Stargazing, but I made a mistake in the tag. I corrected the mistake, but it's still not showing up when I search for {{oct19contest... what did I do wrong? ---------------------------------------- Jaxxa - Emerald Vermiljoen - Obsidian |
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cattrin
Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 2069 Status: Offline |
If you mean for me to resize, you can use a website like imgur.com.
https://yppedia.puzzlepirates.com/File:Monthly_jaxxa_star_gazing.png This one? I can see it in the current entries. If you mean the one without the space, I believe it's not showing because it's an exact duplicate image of the first one. If you'd like the title in the game to be "Stargazing" rather than "Star Gazing", you can just edit the link above and remove the space in the tag. The file name having the space won't matter, it's what's in the tag that is used. ---------------------------------------- Cattrin of Cerulean Avatar by Apollo (we miss you :c), Blakbead, Angelira, Coriander, and Accelerator!
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Igboo
Joined: Oct 30, 2016 Posts: 15 Status: Offline |
Can you look up mine as well. Its december_igboo_mistletoe_kiss or december_igboo_mistletoekiss. I tried uploading it and grey havens said its a copyright but I have my main scribbles from the final picture. How is it possible its a copyright? And Ive also looked at the old backgrounds and they didnt have the one I created. ---------------------------------------- Igboo |
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Igboo
Joined: Oct 30, 2016 Posts: 15 Status: Offline |
I might have put December instead of monthly. Could it be that? Also, Im on discord its igboo#4982 ---------------------------------------- Igboo |
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pixierain486
Joined: Jul 21, 2007 Posts: 71 Status: Offline |
I just looked yours up igboo, from what I see your Mistletoe Kiss is entered in the correct category! Great stuff so far, hope you don't Mist out. :P Here's a link to the Oct 19 tagged entries ---------------------------------------- *Scythera of Emerald | Obsidian | Meridian* - Avatar by me |
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CapnKkatz
Joined: Jul 11, 2006 Posts: 2687 Status: Offline |
Greyladyy of Cerulean Christmas Pets:  If selected, I would prefer the pirates facing please.  ---------------------------------------- Greylady, Meridian & Emerald, Greyladyy on Cerulean Get cracking and scrambling! Eggs are here!! |
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Vermiljoen
Joined: Jan 18, 2018 Posts: 88 Status: Offline |
Thanks Cattrin! The first entry of that file never really showed up when I did a search for the competition entries (bevcause of the extra space I guess) so i uploaded it again. I can't use the name "Stargazing" in the tag though, because the old entry is.. well.. somewhere apparently :) ---------------------------------------- Jaxxa - Emerald Vermiljoen - Obsidian |
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Vermiljoen
Joined: Jan 18, 2018 Posts: 88 Status: Offline |
              ---------------------------------------- Jaxxa - Emerald Vermiljoen - Obsidian ---------------------------------------- [Edit 2 times, last edit by Vermiljoen at Nov 7, 2019 6:54:35 PM] |
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Clotho
OceanMaster Joined: Jun 23, 2009 Posts: 4035 Status: Offline |
Ta daaaa! This contest is now in judging. Good luck everyone! ---------------------------------------- Avatar by Greylady |
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