"Drawn By Fate" Contest Winners!

[RedStarRocket91]

 

The votes are in, and the time has come to announce the winners of our "Drawn By Fate" Community Art Contest! Decision-making was hampered by the high quality of many submissions, and indeed the final choice was so difficult that we've elected not one, but two winners!

 

The first winner, and our new Facebook page cover photo:

 

Submitted by Darth Mayh3m.

 

And our second winner, the new headline image for our YouTube channel:

 

Submitted by Magical Love.

 

We'd also like to extend honourable mentions to Edward Kenway, The Dumb Marine, and Sikslik7 for their own entries, which proved extremely strong contenders, and our thanks to everyone who took part in the contest. We'll shortly be posting all of the entries in a gallery on our Facebook page, and handing out awards to both of our winners.

[Zelda]

Congrats all of you!

[TDM]

Congrats guys! Can't wait to see them in action!

[VinWarrior]

Congrats all, it's evident why these two won, they are masterpieces, congratulations to Magical Love and Darth Mayh3m!

 

On a sidenote congrats to all who entered, especially The Dumb Marine and Sikslik!

[Vitamin Pwn]

Congrats guys both of them are awesome!

[The Stig]

Congratulations! All of you did great! A most very Excellent job my friends!

 

 

 I wish I could do more than just congratulate you all though...

[Buns]

Congrats to everyone you all did a great job with the art! I wish we could use EVERYTHING but we can't sadly....

[Maestro]

Curses, I thought for sure victory was mine! My plans for forum domination have been foiled again!

 

Way to go, everyone, and congratulations to the winners! It was awesome to see all of the participants break out the paint brushes and canvases and fly at it... or, computer mice and monitors. Same thing, right?

[Buns]

Curses, I thought for sure victory was mine! My plans for forum domination have been foiled again!

 

Way to go, everyone, and congratulations to the winners! It was awesome to see all of the participants break out the paint brushes and canvases and fly at it... or, computer mice and monitors. Same thing, right?

Don't be so sure of yourself your artwork will see the light of day again

 

*soon* *wink* *wink*

[BeckoningZebra1]

Congrats Mayh3m and JL! Both are very nice and will look great on the Youtube channel and Facebook page! Good Job

[Cooliest]

This calls for a round of applause. 

                                                        

                                                          

                                                        

                                                       

 

That's kind of round….. :/

Good job to everyone that entered and congrats to Mayh3m and JL!

Can't wait to see these go up on the sites.

[Ranger Intel]

Congratulations to all! Great work.

[joshyzburton]

All that artwork is AWESOME!

I know there is only two- i used "all" in th wrong context-oops!

[Akali]

congratulations to Magical Love and Darth Mayh3m for winning they are great cover pictures to use for facebook and things like that
commiserations to all those who didn't win but don't worry you will have another chance in the future so don't feel down and maybe you can make an even better piece of art and maybe win the next one

[Caboose The Ace]

I am not as surprised by the people who won I am surprised that Broney or Griffen did not enter.

 

BTW congrates winners.

[Is not JL]

Okay, I'm going to have to break up the chain of congrats posts here by doing a bit of a 'review'. I mean, congrats to Mayh3m and Lucky Me for winning, and good job to everyone (Because yes, you guys DID do a good job), but I felt as though each and every piece have a few issues that could be improved on, which is basically what I'll be iterating on in this next post.

 

Do note, all of this is my opinion, and in this 'review' I'm doing it from a single basis and standpoint - that everybody could have done the same thing. Yes, skill level is different but that is something I'll be ignoring, simply because I can't judge it. Furthermore, I acknowledge that some of the programs are worse than others - for example, older software, or free software, may not render the image as well as paid software. (And if I were to specify, I would say that Mayh3m's software from Adobe rendered images the best) However, I'm still not cutting any slack. 

 

I'm writing this hoping that it'll help everyone fix the issues faced in the future, but not necessarily to praise you about what you did well here. It's constructive criticism, and if you don't like it, that is fine. The only reason I write this post now is because I think constructive criticism will be good support for everyone, including me.

 

The following are done in order of the way they were posted in the submission thread.

 

Edward Kenway Submission #1

 

This would have been a good contender, had the background not been very scrappy, grainy, and in general unclear. The lens flare is a bit bright. However, my biggest problem may be the Spartan - for one, he practically glows in the picture, there's a bit of a green tint on him, and he also isn't the clearest in terms of resolution, as though a screen shot was taken from a distance or something. Another issue is that he's pretty much just smacked right on top of the background, and looks a bit weird. 343 industries community forum text is scattered and disorganized in the middle.

 

Overall, would have been a much better contender had all the sources been at a higher resolution and thus clearer and more concise once rendered. As it stands, the kind of 'blur' that exists kind of removes the professionalism of the picture.

 

 

UNSC Spartan-II Submission #1

 

Well, for one, I don't think this fits with the 851 by 315 px borders. Next, one of the thing that nags me is that while the Spartan is flipped and symmetrical, the assault rifle is not. The Halo symbol is a bit outdated, and its border isn't exactly the smoothest. Also, whole there seems to be a symmetrical line, it isn't in the middle of the artwork, as the 343iCF logo is added on the right. And that, too, isn't centered when looking at the piece horizontally. The white background coupled with random black squares doesn't look too good, and the Spartan's foot has been sliced in half.

 

 

Mayh3m submission 1

 

Spacing of the text towards the left corner is uneven. Its farther away from the left border than it is to the top.  Master Chief is a bit too transparent, and because most of the piece is black and white, it ends up meaning that this has very little coloring in it.

 

 

Mayh3m submission 2

 

Something that nagged me about this piece is the words. The words 'community forum', due to it being made mostly from borderlines, doesn't exactly resemble the words they meant to be at times. Take 'Forum'. I know exactly what it means, but to a guy who doesn't, it looks a bit like 'iorum', or even 'iroriil'. Another issue that may be limited to me, is that each time I read it, I'm reading 'Community Forum 343' rather than '343 Community Forum' Reversed, it sounds a bit weird, and the fact that an 'i' is missing behind 343 also feels a bit weird. 

 

Since this is on the facebook page, one issue that I foresee is that the main eye candy in this image, Cortana (Notice how she is the biggest source of both light and coloring in the picture), is going to be missing a bit of her chin, shoulder and neck.

 

 

TDM Submission 1

 

There's too much stuff. Black Dual Wield master chief looks a bit on the fat side, anime Master Chief looks a bit better, and then Noble 6 looks short. All 3 are plastered on top of each other in a bit of an ugly way, such that it's hard to discern them from one another. Furthermore, in some parts the out line of the shape (Most evident on Noble 6) are in a different color.

 

Moving to the right, the UNSC ship got mostly covered by the Spartans and the covenant ship is put on top. The issue here, I would say, is that there's obviously a depth cue here (Size of the ships) but everything looks as though its 2d, which makes it a bit weird. Then there's the 2 little grunts who simply add more stuff.

 

 

TDM Submission 2

 

Random flying fuel rod gun that looks like a 2d cutout from a 3d image. It reminds me a lot of powerpoint presentations where people would just make an animation of an image fly across the screen and make a lot of loopty loops. The chief to the side looks okay although his guns are on the receiving end of a light that doesn't look real at all, and his face is covered with the text. Same with Carter, Kat and Emile. I can't help but say that the fire and sparks look really well done though.

 

 

TDM Submission 3

 

A LOT of transparency and layers on top of each other. The two spartans are blurry and covered with a bunch of green dots, the red words would look cool if they weren't transparent and covered with green dots....everything is basically a mush of colors due to the transparency, except for the 343i logo which, as you can see, stands out, as it's really clear.

 

 

JL's submission

 

There's a bit of a slight blur to everything once you examine it closely. The blue on top of the image of the war sphinx is unevenly erased, which causes a light/dark balance that isn't uneven symmetrically. The flame animation probably could have been removed for something else. This also doesn't fully conform to the best layout of youtube, so if I were given the chance I would remake this.

 

Bottom right corner was erased more; random tad of white smeared in that corner.

 

 

UNSC Spartan-II submission 2

 

All that white doesn't bordering chief and assault rifle doesn't look good.

 

 

Halo5willbecool's submission

 

343 Industries letters has a random black background. To make it a teeny bit worse, you can visibly see that above it there's a white line. Yellow letters look very didacty, which is cool, but yellow on white is not that cool. You pretty much can't see if without it hurting your eyes. Further, chief's color is inverted, which doesn't look all too great either. There's a bit too much white for my tastes. The yellow on white only makes it a bit worse for me.

 

 

Mayh3m submission 3

 

Cyan on black looks pretty cool, but it's just a single color scheme that doesn't really match the colors of 343i.org. Also, only 1 halo-thing, the Grunt, in the picture. (Pardon my use of language)

 

 

Sikslik7's submission

 

Looks good all around albeit a bit lacking in the editing and fx department. Also, random monitor that doesn't conform to the depth cues of the image around it.

 

 

 

 

To sum up the basic problems that I think I see, it is that:

 

1. There's a lot of times when people simply copy purely the 'Spartan' or the 'Monitor' or the 'Ship' but doesn't copy it's surroundings. This leaves both a bad looking border around the copy, as well as messes up with the depth cues of the image, which then leaves our brain wondering what the frick we're looking at.

 

2. Balancing the number of objects. On one side of the image, quite a few things in the foreground, on the other side, pure background. Also applies to color and lighting. 

 

3. Rendering. I'm fairly certain that apart from Mayh3m's use of Adobe Photoshop C3, all the rendered images do not look as clean and crisp. 

 

All these come together to basically decrease the professionalism in the images. It is this decreased professionalism that then lowered the worth of using the images as a front cover.

 

 

 

 

Personal evaluation: Next time, use adobe

 

==============

 

Now for some happier stuff, congrats to Mayh3m for his success on the FB page photo, as well as a hefty good-job to everybody who participated. It's nice to see everybody give it a go, and yeah, as Ranger said, surprising (But lucky! I've seen firsthand what they can do) that the Art Department, or Insignia, didn't input their own works.

Edited February 1, 2014 by Magical Love

[Drizzy_Dan]

I loved that one Mayh3m did the best I'm glad it one, it's truly a work of art. These choices deserved to win. JL yours has a very intense, badass feel to it. Great job winners, Edward Kenway with the honorable mention, and all the others who submitted entries.

[MCPO Mayh3m]

Okay, I'm going to have to break up the chain of congrats posts here by doing a bit of a 'review'. I mean, congrats to Mayh3m and Lucky Me for winning, and good job to everyone (Because yes, you guys DID do a good job), but I felt as though each and every piece have a few issues that could be improved on, which is basically what I'll be iterating on in this next post.

 

Do note, all of this is my opinion, and in this 'review' I'm doing it from a single basis and standpoint - that everybody could have done the same thing. Yes, skill level is different but that is something I'll be ignoring, simply because I can't judge it. Furthermore, I acknowledge that some of the programs are worse than others - for example, older software, or free software, may not render the image as well as paid software. (And if I were to specify, I would say that Mayh3m's software from Adobe rendered images the best) However, I'm still not cutting any slack. 

 

I'm writing this hoping that it'll help everyone fix the issues faced in the future, but not necessarily to praise you about what you did well here. It's constructive criticism, and if you don't like it, that is fine. The only reason I write this post now is because I think constructive criticism will be good support for everyone, including me.

 

The following are done in order of the way they were posted in the submission thread.

 

Edward Kenway Submission #1

 

This would have been a good contender, had the background not been very scrappy, grainy, and in general unclear. The lens flare is a bit bright. However, my biggest problem may be the Spartan - for one, he practically glows in the picture, there's a bit of a green tint on him, and he also isn't the clearest in terms of resolution, as though a screen shot was taken from a distance or something. Another issue is that he's pretty much just smacked right on top of the background, and looks a bit weird. 343 industries community forum text is scattered and disorganized in the middle.

 

Overall, would have been a much better contender had all the sources been at a higher resolution and thus clearer and more concise once rendered. As it stands, the kind of 'blur' that exists kind of removes the professionalism of the picture.

 

 

UNSC Spartan-II Submission #1

 

Well, for one, I don't think this fits with the 851 by 315 px borders. Next, one of the thing that nags me is that while the Spartan is flipped and symmetrical, the assault rifle is not. The Halo symbol is a bit outdated, and its border isn't exactly the smoothest. Also, whole there seems to be a symmetrical line, it isn't in the middle of the artwork, as the 343iCF logo is added on the right. And that, too, isn't centered when looking at the piece horizontally. The white background coupled with random black squares doesn't look too good, and the Spartan's foot has been sliced in half.

 

 

Mayh3m submission 1

 

Spacing of the text towards the left corner is uneven. Its farther away from the left border than it is to the top.  Master Chief is a bit too transparent, and because most of the piece is black and white, it ends up meaning that this has very little coloring in it.

 

 

Mayh3m submission 2

 

Something that nagged me about this piece is the words. The words 'community forum', due to it being made mostly from borderlines, doesn't exactly resemble the words they meant to be at times. Take 'Forum'. I know exactly what it means, but to a guy who doesn't, it looks a bit like 'iorum', or even 'iroriil'. Another issue that may be limited to me, is that each time I read it, I'm reading 'Community Forum 343' rather than '343 Community Forum' Reversed, it sounds a bit weird, and the fact that an 'i' is missing behind 343 also feels a bit weird. 

 

Since this is on the facebook page, one issue that I foresee is that the main eye candy in this image, Cortana (Notice how she is the biggest source of both light and coloring in the picture), is going to be missing a bit of her chin, shoulder and neck.

 

 

TDM Submission 1

 

There's too much stuff. Black Dual Wield master chief looks a bit on the fat side, anime Master Chief looks a bit better, and then Noble 6 looks short. All 3 are plastered on top of each other in a bit of an ugly way, such that it's hard to discern them from one another. Furthermore, in some parts the out line of the shape (Most evident on Noble 6) are in a different color.

 

Moving to the right, the UNSC ship got mostly covered by the Spartans and the covenant ship is put on top. The issue here, I would say, is that there's obviously a depth cue here (Size of the ships) but everything looks as though its 2d, which makes it a bit weird. Then there's the 2 little grunts who simply add more stuff.

 

 

TDM Submission 2

 

Random flying fuel rod gun that looks like a 2d cutout from a 3d image. It reminds me a lot of powerpoint presentations where people would just make an animation of an image fly across the screen and make a lot of loopty loops. The chief to the side looks okay although his guns are on the receiving end of a light that doesn't look real at all, and his face is covered with the text. Same with Carter, Kat and Emile. I can't help but say that the fire and sparks look really well done though.

 

 

TDM Submission 3

 

A LOT of transparency and layers on top of each other. The two spartans are blurry and covered with a bunch of green dots, the red words would look cool if they weren't transparent and covered with green dots....everything is basically a mush of colors due to the transparency, except for the 343i logo which, as you can see, stands out, as it's really clear.

 

 

JL's submission

 

There's a bit of a slight blur to everything once you examine it closely. The blue on top of the image of the war sphinx is unevenly erased, which causes a light/dark balance that isn't uneven symmetrically. The flame animation probably could have been removed for something else. This also doesn't fully conform to the best layout of youtube, so if I were given the chance I would remake this.

 

Bottom right corner was erased more; random tad of white smeared in that corner.

 

 

UNSC Spartan-II submission 2

 

All that white doesn't bordering chief and assault rifle doesn't look good.

 

 

Halo5willbecool's submission

 

343 Industries letters has a random black background. To make it a teeny bit worse, you can visibly see that above it there's a white line. Yellow letters look very didacty, which is cool, but yellow on white is not that cool. You pretty much can't see if without it hurting your eyes. Further, chief's color is inverted, which doesn't look all too great either. There's a bit too much white for my tastes. The yellow on white only makes it a bit worse for me.

 

 

Mayh3m submission 3

 

Cyan on black looks pretty cool, but it's just a single color scheme that doesn't really match the colors of 343i.org. Also, only 1 halo-thing, the Grunt, in the picture. (Pardon my use of language)

 

 

Sikslik7's submission

 

Looks good all around albeit a bit lacking in the editing and fx department. Also, random monitor that doesn't conform to the depth cues of the image around it.

 

 

 

 

To sum up the basic problems that I think I see, it is that:

 

1. There's a lot of times when people simply copy purely the 'Spartan' or the 'Monitor' or the 'Ship' but doesn't copy it's surroundings. This leaves both a bad looking border around the copy, as well as messes up with the depth cues of the image, which then leaves our brain wondering what the frick we're looking at.

 

2. Balancing the number of objects. On one side of the image, quite a few things in the foreground, on the other side, pure background. Also applies to color and lighting. 

 

3. Rendering. I'm fairly certain that apart from Mayh3m's use of Adobe Photoshop C3, all the rendered images do not look as clean and crisp. 

 

All these come together to basically decrease the professionalism in the images. It is this decreased professionalism that then lowered the worth of using the images as a front cover.

 

 

 

 

Personal evaluation: Next time, use adobe

 

==============

 

Now for some happier stuff, congrats to Mayh3m for his success on the FB page photo, as well as a hefty good-job to everybody who participated. It's nice to see everybody give it a go, and yeah, as Ranger said, surprising (But lucky! I've seen firsthand what they can do) that the Art Department, or Insignia, didn't input their own works.

 

Congrats to you as well! And thank you for the criticism, it helps me understand what I need to improve on. 

 

Everyone who entered, you can all grow and get better from here. I am sure the most famous of writers and musicians didn't become amazing overnight.

[Ranger Intel]

@Magical Love

 

I completely agree with your suggestions. Some of them came to mind after publishing it, but unfortunately I never made all the improvements. You also brought up some things that I never thought about. Great evaluation.

[Zandril]

New wallpapers for me.