April Contest

[Lord Nibbler]

Is there going to be a May contest?

[alldaws1]

Is there going to be a May contest?

I've been thankfully sent some good rules for this month too.

I'd guess yes.

[AJ]

Here are your April Contest Results. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone else who entered. Boo to those who didn't, boo I say.

I've included Norris' and K's comments underneath since they sent some with their scores.

<img src="/junky/contests/april/aprilscores.gif%22">http://www.ewbattleground.com/junky/contests/april/aprilscores.gif" />

Norris' comments:

Dochappy: 7.5/10

Reason: The grungy feel to this whole piece works in your favor Doc. It has a horror-vibe to the background, yet the happy little bunny with the shotty throws a nice bit of contrast in there. The cutting is a bit rough on the bunny's legs though, but that could just be the stark contrast of the white-on-dark. I have to agree with AJ too, you're usually a great graphic designer, but a terrible typographer. In this case, it's a step in the right direction, though I do feel that the text is a bit smooth for the grungy feel you've got. All in all, this turned out fairly nice.

Legend_Killer33: 5.5/10

Reason: The text fits, but I don't see the use of the black stroke on 'Money'... seems like it would stand out on its own and remain legible fairly well. Also, your fading on the woman is a bit rough to the right: you can see the edge of the photo you used. Outside of that, admittedly, a casual viewer would have no clue what was going against what here. While it fits the theme, it's very vague and difficult to get anything from. All in all, the graphic is... okay. It's okay.

J.C.B.: 6/10

Reason: This graphic is good and bad, it's just all over the place really. On one hand, I'm loving the background you've designed... it's brilliant, and it fits a more violent peice quite nicely. However, then you've got the cut-out of the over-used Santa smoking a doobie with a terrible outer glow applied to it. I get that it's to make the red edges not blend together, but honestly, it just looks terrible. Couple that with the poor text and the awkward blending of the police line, the money, and the weapon... it doesn't work all too well. All in all, I really like the background, but the foreground is in need of a major facelift to make it better.

- Matt -: 8.5/10

Reason: Sweet lord, I forgot about that holiday. Now THIS is an original piece, and I love how classy you make the whole thing seem. I can tell the background is a simple gradient and default Photoshop texture, but the way you've used it... I don't know why, but I think that may be one of the best ways I've seen it used (though it's mainly because of the rest of the graphic). The typography is actually really nice, I'm loving the angels aiming at the flower; however, I'm not sure I like the motion blur on the flower. Maybe ease off of it just a bit, I'm not sure it's good to have it so drastic. All in all, this is definately my favorite piece. I love how you've handled the idea given to you, and kudos for using a holiday no-one else thought of.

Jimmy the Exploder: 8/10

Reason: Ahahahaha, I love this one. Much like Matt, you took a holiday that most other people would skip over (albeit yours less so) and worked something creative into the competition with it. Yours, because of the Santa image you used as well as the text at the bottom, really does look great for a propaganda poster. If anything, you could even leave out everything outside the red border (and get rid of the man up top) and it would work fantastically as a satirical poster. However, with what you have... I'm not sure, I would have gone with a different image for the guy up top, it just doesn't seem to fit too well with everything else. I've no complaints on the font-- the transformation from a more welcoming, elegant font up top to the grungy, in-your-face font down below works perfect. It's just something about the fellow that you used that's throwing the graphic off for me though. All in all, it's a great effort, but I just don't see it beating Matt's.

God-Awful: 6/10

Reason: Simple, yet effective. It captures the much more mean-spirited side of Halloween and honestly I could see this more as a T-Shirt design than a propaganda poster. Your font choice is excellent, but you could have cut a bit closer on the shot Cupid there... the outlines are terribly jagged. I'm also not 100% on the positioning of everything for some reason-- not saying that it'd benefit being perfectly centered, just saying that it being that far down just isn't working for me, because you've got all that negative space up top (aside from the small red line). All in all, this was a fun piece, and I like the result... but the design would look much better on a T-Shirt than on a poster, really. Clean up the cutting and send the idea in somewhere, I'm sure someone would buy it

K's comments:

Kill The Turkey - 6/10

Probably the best entry in the contest, but very simple execution. Loving the general blood spatter effect, but the positioning on the arm is wrong. You can see that it's the same blood spray as the the chest, which wouldn't happen unless he was standing like that when he shot the turkey.. which he couldn't have done from that position. Hmm, a niggly thing I know, but I noticed straight away. Other than that it's working.

Cool idea though, like it.

Police Line Do Not Cross - 5/10

I honestly have no idea what's going on here. Too much burn, and I'm not sure what you're implying about Santa.

Steak and BJ Day - 5/10

I want to rate this higher, but can't because I know you didn't make the Steak and BJ Logo.. sorry! I really like the cherubs, but I think they would look better sharp. I think you added a black glow to them or something, but it's not working. I like the motion blur across the rose, with the exception of the petal on the left which has a straight line across the top that draws attention away from the graphic in general.

Festivus - 6/10

Baha, really cool. Looks great Nothing I'd really change, although the red text has low-res'd for some reason. Yeah, looks nice.

Halloween - 4/10

There's not really much here for me to rate, sorry!

Money - 3/10

Again, there's not really much here for me to rate.

[Docpepper]

tis was a close battle. Congrats guys some good graphics by the lot

[Matt]

Congrats dochappy and I have to say I'm surprised God-Awful didn't come much higher, because his was probably the most visually appealing. I'm more than happy with second place here, especially seeing as the rules were very difficult to get ideas for.