Guild Wars 2

*edited to clarify entry information submission, add entry dimension guidelines, raise minimum resolution to 150 dpi (72dpi previously), remove “prepare 300 dpi if chosen as winner” clause, address issues concerning usage and ownership of entries, change “3rd Prize” to “Judge’s Picks” and lastly add special category prizes in conjunction with Stage 1 prizes.

Character information: www.tinyurl.com/sofiaprofile

Character album : http://imgur.com/a/4TGaz
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1st stage – Anything goes; freestyle

Winners also get +1 credit to qualify for Infinite Light on second stage

1st prize – Lyss

2nd prize – Jormag’s breath

Judges’ Picks – 25g (Entries that are neither of 1st or 2nd but have received a certain number of votes)

Special Category Prizes (An entry could possibly win special category prizes in conjunction with the usual prizes, listed below)

Melancholic Sofia – Flare Dye

Jovial Sofia – Shiver Sky Dye

Mischievous Sofia – Deep Glacial Teal Dye

Serene Sofia – Cinders Dye
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2nd stage – (Theme of host’s choosing; for future release along with relevant details)

Special Prize – Infinite Light (winner must secure 3 of 5 votes; host abstain due to conflict)

Host’s pick – Volcanus

Host’s favorite picks – 75g
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Contest Rules and Mechanics :

limit one entry per stage per participant.

Entries can either come in digital or scan of physical format.

Orientation and picture dimensions is up to the participant but it is recommended that participants use general desktop configurations as a guideline either in portrait or landscape. (e.g. 1280×960, 1366×768, etc.) Resolution quality must be no lower than 150 dpi.

Participants will retain ownership of their submitted entry. By submitting an entry, they are giving the contest host a license to use their entry only for personal use.

All entries must feature the character ‘Sofia Fairborne’.

Submit entries to sofiafairborne@gmail.com. Entrants must also include their display name in GW2 in email body

Gallery of entry submissions is to be displayed on http://imgur.com/a/cCCDp (gallery updated fortnightly)

Entry submission should be submitted within the given timeframe.

First stage is to begin from Dec. 1, 2013 to January 20, 2014. Winners of first stage will be announced on February 1, 2014. Second stage of contest will begin promptly after announcement along with other relevant details. Second stage entry submission will end on March 15. Winners will be declared on March 20.

Judging of the 1st stage winners is to be decided by a panel of 6 judges, host included. Judges’ names and votes are to be withheld until the conclusion of the entirety of the contest.

Judging of the 2nd stage winner is to be done solely by the host. Winner of second stage may be qualified to win an Infinite Light instead if the winner receives 3 out of 5 votes. (host excluded from voting) Winner’s participation in a brief RP ceremony is required before hand-over of Infinite Light.

Updated Dec.1, 2013 (No more changes =), I promise)
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If you have any further related questions or concerns, post away, and i’ll try to address them.

Sounds like fun :) I should warn you though that it’s a bad idea to change the resolution from 72dpi to 300 if it’s already done. All that will do is increase the image and file size and make it lower quality rather than higher quality. In anticipation of wanting a high res winner you should require all entries to be in 300 dpi

To clarify, if someone were to prepare 72dpi image for printing purposes they would need to completely redo it in 300dpi, unless they wanted it to be really blown out and blurry.

Sounds interesting, not sure if I will have the time to try it out but I’ll look into it ! :)

My primary intention for it is mostly to put it up as a desktop wallpaper and having it framed on a wall as secondary option. What is it like working with 72 dpi vs 300 dpi? Didn’t want to make it too kitten would-be participants.

*edit: “hard” is censored?

Oh god I never get tired of the kitten censor xD

But working in 300dpi the only issue I have is that the pixel density makes the brush strokes struggle to render in real-time, it gets a bit laggy. I think 150dpi would be a good compromise, it looks great in print and is easier to draw in.

Of course this is all for the sake of digital painters, preparing a traditional version for 300dpi is super easy, just tweak a setting or two in the program before letting it scan.

i could try my hand at this
…..
and yes, preparing traditional at 300 dpi WILL be super easy… hahha ha hahahaah

<— loves drawing with pencil

lol I paint digitally at 500 dpi bc of the flexibility and range of detail and control you can have or use a bigger brush :P I don’t do anything smaller that gets all pixels when I zoom in for details. this is from a graphic design background as well for print and just rescale smaller when needed

I hope to get in a piece for this :O should have enough time

sounds fun

does it have to have certain background or is picture more oriented on drawing of the character?

How you plan on drawing it is entirely up to you. To put an extreme example, I wouldn’t even mind a silhouette if the drawing can identify on some level whose silhouette is it. =)

God I wish I could draw…

Best of luck to everyone taking part, I’m actually pretty excited to see what they come up with for you.

takatsu.9416:

lol I paint digitally at 500 dpi bc of the flexibility and range of detail and control you can have or use a bigger brush :P I don’t do anything smaller that gets all pixels when I zoom in for details. this is from a graphic design background as well for print and just rescale smaller when needed

I hope to get in a piece for this :O should have enough time

I also have a graphic design background and I don’t know what program you’re using but even with Photoshop set to use 5gb of ram as processing speed it still renders brush strokes slowly and I find it irritating.

Been getting queries concerning judging. Just to add this out there, as this is more or less freestyle, I am not promulgating a criteria for judges to follow. Whatever a judge fancies I guess is where his/her vote goes.

Interesting, I’ll see what I can do. Looking forward to it!
Unless you’d prefer participants not to do so, I might post some ‘work-in-progress’ shots later on.

szshou.2193:

I also have a graphic design background and I don’t know what program you’re using but even with Photoshop set to use 5gb of ram as processing speed it still renders brush strokes slowly and I find it irritating.

Interesting… perhaps something in the software? I regularly use Photoshop with 300-500 dpi as well with no problems at all. It only starts slowing down if I use brushes that are bigger than 900 pixels, but anything smaller than that is fine.

You could try starting out at a smaller scale, then re-sizing it to 300 dpi before adding final details. This way you’re able to cover the blurriness with your detail work, and won’t need to use huge brushes for big swathes of colour/texture.

I’ll be doing something for this contest as well. Looking forward to seeing all the finished entries!

In case I decide to go for it, is it possible to request several screenshots for a good reference? (Like detail on the dress).

No further screenshots, sorry. While extra details might look great, I lean toward the general idea before going to the specifics and see if they reinforce the general idea. There’s plenty of screenshots and a backstory for your reference.

So… I wouldn’t be too bothered if the submission is vastly different from the reference screenshots so long as the picture alone can tell me that it’s the character in question.

*edited to include prize-claiming info…
Winners will have their prizes mailed ingame to the account name they have provided. Except of course for Infinite Light, which has to be claimed in-character (ingame).

Gonna try it while there’s a holiday. My computer already crashed 2 times from it tho xD.

half done here

Deadline for submission of entries is more or less five days from now. Given the differing timezones and whatnot, I will allow for only Jan. 21 latest but officially it’s still on Jan. 20.

Best of luck to all participants!