Castle Paradox

[Ysoft_Entertainment]

can we go on with the voting already? like someone posted already, its my first contest, sorry for being an idiot and come up with the whole idea. next time it will be better, I promise you that.
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OHRGFX
Striving to become better pixel artist then Fenrir Lunaris. Unfortunately the laziness gets in the way of my goals.

[Uncommon]

Ysoft, you're an idiot. My first contest certainly went hella smoother than this. I didn't want to vote, 'cos I don't want to have to vote for all of them, but if I'm going to make a post here anyway, I might as well.

Jenik by Komera ~ 10 ~ My vote.
Alicia by Sephyroth ~ 7 ~ Technically good, but generally lifeless. Is this a sprite?
Kylene by St. Ajora ~ 5 ~ Nothing special.
Locked by Iblis ~ 9 ~ Second place. Only problem is...that beard.
Leen by AdrianX ~ 2 ~ Ew.
Chick by rpgspotKahn ~ 4 ~ A~w~k~w~a~r~d, also her breasts are different sizes.
Pixel3 by Sew ~ 8 ~ Would be better with an outline. Also, from the pose, it looks like it needs a right elbow.
Brittany by Machu ~ 9 ~ Aside from the bland design and the lack of real feminine features, I like it. The facial expression, imagined or real, really makes the sprite.
Poppi Rose by It is the Riz ~ 3 ~ The coloring hurts my eyes. Gradient art is not good.
Deressi by Fernurion ~ 1 ~ Ew.
Vulpesu by Fenrir-Lunaris ~ 6 ~ SEEN IT.
Rell by Rinku ~ 9 ~ Excellent. I'm not too keen on her arms, but everything else is great.
Woo by PHC ~ 4 ~ It's sloppy, but it gets an honorable mention for having more of a purpose than "to win the contest".

NOW. TO GET TO THE REAL MATTER.

What's say we start with Fortis?
FORTIS. I appreciate you explaining yourself better than Harlock, but McCloud never said that all art should be iconic. What he did was define The Picture Plane, which looked something like this:

He never rebuked any piece of art for being in a particular spot on the picture plane. He discussed many comic artists at different points on the Plane, but never said any one spot was the right one, because there isn't a right one.

HARLOCK. You disappoint me. I normally respect you, but this is crazy.
If what you say were true, AdrianX would be a better artist than Michaelangelo because Michaelangelo used realistic proportions.
AND DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT ADRIAN IS BECAUSE HE ISN'T
LORD GOD HE ISN'T

Art has, for much of its life, strived to imitate life and realism. To write off millenia of art as horrible because you think realism is bad is ridiculous.

The way I see it, it all boils down to style and skill. Now, this is just the way I think about it, not necessarily the way it is or the way it should be thought about. It's just my take on the thing.
~ Skill, as I see it, is the part of art that tries to be realistic, the part that wants you to look at a painting and think you're looking at a photograph. It is always striving toward the realistic corner of the picture plane.
~ Style, however, is where you take it from there. Style is what sets the art apart from real life, what makes it unique, what makes it yours. It draws it away from the realistic corner, into the realm of the abstract and iconic.
~ Illustrative Art (drawing in its various forms, basically) is the perfect marriage of style and skill. With too much style it doesn't resemble what it's supposed to be, with too much skill it's not really yours. One thing about art is it should be able to be taken on its own. It should always be in context when completed. It's better that others understand it without you having to explain it to them. Thus, to make a squiggle and only a squiggle and call it a man and expect others to recognize it as a man is a little absurd (in the context of a game, you could give your player a squiggle and expect them to recognize it as the game's hero, but not necessarily as a man). On the other hand, if you make the most perfect, photorealistic portrait of a person, you cannot really say that you put yourself into it because you didn't. No, you put the subject into it. It is more the subject than it is you.
See, it's an interdependent relationship. One cannot exist without some form of the other.

And there is something I see from Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics in this argument. Regarding the Picture Plane, McCloud wrote, "The entire history of visual arts belongs in this space. Monet set up his easel along the left face, Mondrian at the top, Rembrandt lower left... And nearly every movement or manifesto planted its flag and loudly proclaimed the discovery of the only patch of ground worth building on."
Art is so much more than you're making it.

I'm done here.

[Fernurion]

Wow. Go away for a week and miss everything. That'll teach me.

Anyway, my votes are:

Komera: 8
Sephy: 7
St Ajora: 7
Iblis: 6
AdriianX: 8
Rpgspotkahn: 6
Sew: 6
Machu: 7
Riz: 5
Fenrir: 9
Rinku: 9
Phc: 3wtf

Ah well. I didn't set out to win. Leroy's comment made it all worthwhile.

As for the thread, lay off Ysoft. This is his first contest and he has apologised on several occasions for the inconsistencies in the rules. He will know better for next time. I'm sounding like my mother so I'll shut up now.

[Uncommon]

I think Ysoft's the one who needs to lay off. The voting'll proceed as it will. In the meantime, he shouldn't be stifling a good artistic discussion.

[Ysoft_Entertainment]

to me, adrianx made the best miss pixel art, komera is also good, but phc, he didn't even put an effort to make something good, at least he could have made his drawing colorful. but again, it is my opinion. next contest I will be co-hosting it with other ohr user, I already submitted to him basic rules.

and I sure hope the next contest will go smoother. I am also guessing that I am too judgemental, and been waaaaay to harsh to PHC, and for that I am sorry. sorry phc, I shouldn't have sent you that pm. I will keep my thought to myself next time.

since I made bad rules, I would like to see your versions of rules for miss pixel of ohr, and than I can compile those rules and use it for next year. well tell me what you think.
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OHRGFX
Striving to become better pixel artist then Fenrir Lunaris. Unfortunately the laziness gets in the way of my goals.

[Gizmog1]

I can't access the 6th page of this, but I am rather curious if AdrianX received the same warning as PHC, because it seems that if not, Ysoft is taking some pretty heavy measures to try and knock PHC out of this contest, and he's done so from day 1, and I think it may be best for everyone if Ysoft refrains from hosting contests in the future.

[The Wobbler]

[JSH357]

ok, what?

If you're bashing PHC for not using color, why don't you bash Iblis for using the 8-bit style?

[Iblis]

The only reason you people are rating PHC's so low is because it has penis in it.

Really, did you even look at the rest of it? What's wrong with it? Most of it seems to be fine to me. I could tell in an instant who the characters were. It's got definite style and it's shaped competently. Both poses are interesting and pretty well done. So, please explain what's so bad about it if you could.

Also, Ysoft, some rules for the next contest maybe:

- All entrants must vote or be disqualified.
- Any entrant who complains about their pic being underrated will be disqualified, and this entrant also loses their vote. Exceptions to this are when the entrant can express their issue reasonably and make a calm comment/question, something like what I just did above.
- Any non-entrant who complains loses their vote. Same exception as above.

This should cut down on some of the outrageous stupidity.
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Locked
OHR Piano

[The Wobbler]

[Fenrir-Lunaris]

Komera - 10 - Komera's is the most stylistically pleasing to me. The pose is functional, and accurately reflects how one would use a gun. Though certain features, such as the purple hair, or the blockiness of certain areas of the dress strike me as a bit odd, the color choices and the skill involved in this merit its grade.

Sephyroth - 7 - Sephy has always chosen dark colors for many of his characters, with a very monochromatic outfit. This is no exception, save that here it actually works. The hair and clothes are believable (in as far as video game characters are concerned), though the thinness of the sword, and too little definition between the legs leaves something to be desired. The arms are also a little too thick for my liking, but they work well enough and are proportioned correctly in regard to the rest of the character.

St. Ajora - 5 - This is what I'd imagine a barbie doll with short arms to look like. The outstretched arm seems to have an extra bone in it judging from its outline, and though the legs may appear stretched, they are in proportion with the rest of the body. The hair is redered well, though if the back quarter behind the ear could be shaded with the midtone-yellow, it would look better. The contrast between the dress and the skintone is also not nearly enough, and in its smallest scale, looks very similar. This would be a problem in importing, though along the bottom, it's fine because of the black line. The breasts also appear too large for the body's frame, and the hips are too small compared to the shoulders.

Iblis - 6 - I actually like this one more than I'll let on. It seriously does look like something from an old NES era mystery game, ala Maniac Mansion. I feel that the the part of the hair nearest the neck, under the chin should be black though, as from a distance it could potentially be confused with the hair. I see nothing further wrong with this - the limited colors aren't a problem either, and if you were to make a game using this style in particular, it'd be awesome.

AdrianX - 4 - I've seen much better from you actually, and at a glance, this could easily pass for RMZ's *best* work if he had done it. On that note, I'd urge you not to become attached to the line tool in MS paint as the results here are somewhat mixed. For one, the hair looks incredibly blocky, and there are some parts that even look miscolored (on the far left you'll see a spot you missed). This could actually pass for a bishounen knowning japanese character design considering the size of the breasts, which also bother me because they lack detail. It's probably your choice to actually limit the number of shades per color to only two that cripples this piece. A third draker shade per each tone would do wonders and bring this back up to par with your better works. The mouth is also too reminiscient of housemaster's for my liking, and any attempt to create an attractive redition of a woman in this manner is probably destroyed by this. The picture is not without its flaws. For one, the black and red stripes on the shirt are actually interesting, and lead one to believe that this is an actual piece of clothing instead of just painted on latex. You spent much more time on your avatar, crescent dream, and the kyle image than you did this; it shows.

rpgspotKahn - 3 - It's blocky, has too much of a contrast between light and dark areas, and has a very rough appearance. The hair just isn't doing it for me as it looks too abrasive. Perhaps even moreso than AdrianX's picture, this one needs a middle tone between light and dark areas to soften it up.

Sew - 5 - You're getting better, it shows, though the shirt seems a little forced, especially around the breasts and also at the midline between them and the left arm. It's not believable as a crease, and should probably be removed as it's a bit distracting to me. The upper arm is also way toolong; it looks unnatural. Try to put the elbow at the middle of the arm, it'll look better.

Machu - 9 - It was either this or Komera's. I really can't say anything bad about this picture, aside from it being totally badass. This would so fit in a MetalSlug or even Resident Evil game; the woman looks like a psycho zombie chainsaw maniac. Excellent hardware too, and the shading on the clothes is excellent.

It is the Riz - 3 - I can tell you've put some effort into this one, but I'm not liking the particular style all that well. It's blocky, the clothes look inspired by FFX-2, and the stockings are just to strange for my tastes. Neon red and green have way too much of a contrast. Also, the blocky eyes make this look somewhat childish. Also, the detail on the hip sash, while it would work for Sephy's picture, does not work well here. Broad areas of color instead of checkered patches would work better for this.

Fernurion - 2 - (Is this loli?) The arms are too extended for the character, the feet look odd, the hair is too blocky, and the dress suffers from the same problem that rpgspotKahn's has. On the other hand, I can tell it's a young girl holding a doll. I think I like this one the least of all the serious pictures, because there is no defining line between the left arm and the rest of the dress. Also the doll's feet seem to materialize out of thin air.

Fenrir - -1 - YOU FAIL AT LIFE DIE PLZ K THX

Rinku - 8 - For reasons similar to Machu's, this is an excellent piece. The shading is believable and accurate, notwithstanding the sheer outlandishness of such a creature existing. Also, it seems to have more of a penis than Sulraw's "joke" picture, though it bears some resemblance to some kind of stinger. The detail on the hair is wonderful as well. The only reason this isn't higher is probably because of the feet.

PHC - 2 - As a picture, and considering Ysoft's complete lack of direction/coherant-instructions/management in hosting this contest, this is actually pretty damn funny. Also, in your defense, drawing each individual pixel by hand is a serious waste of time and incredibly inefficient. Anyone who says that sprite art MUST be done pixel by pixel is not being serious about it, especially considering that not even AdrianX's work follows this rule. If the pixel by pixel rule were applied, I believe only mine, and possibly Fernurian's sprites would be eligible. Clearly this isn't the case, so arguing about this is a moot point. However, as a serious work of art I can't reasonably stand by this one. The penis doesn't even factor into my judgement. The fact remains that had anyone else started this contest (Machu, Myself possibly), then woo would probably be rendered much better. Therefore the reason this score is low is because you didn't try to make it good sprite-work. As a picture though, it succeeds, and it gets the point across. And for the record folks, the one with the penis OBVIOUSLY is not the girl.

[Sephyroth]

Now I'll just feel bad if I don't vote

Komera- 10
Sephy - 5 : I didn't like my own entry all that much..
St. Ajora - 4
Iblis - 10
AdrianX - 7
Kahn - 4
Sew - 6 : Proportions seems a bit off. Abdomen seems too long and stretched. Also, she has no ass
Machu - 9
Riz - 3
Fernurion - 7 : Pretty good.
Fenrir - 7
Rinku - 6 : The arms are too thin proportionally.
PHC - 3
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im realy ded

[no_shot]

[Fenrir-Lunaris]

[Ysoft_Entertainment]

for the sake of the rules, I will not count personal votes for this contest.

also here is pm from someone with votes, and no it not any of the participant's
as for the contest hosting, I cannot see any reasons for me not to host a contest, however in the future, I will ask another person help me out, until I get the whole thing right. next time the rules will be like medo-persian's laws(if you know them, you will know what I mean)

anyway here is annonymous vote

Jenik by Komera - 10
Alicia by Sephyroth - 6
Kylene by St. Ajora - 3
Locked by Iblis - 8
Leen by AdrianX - 8
Chick by RPGspotKahn - 6
Pixel3 by Sew - 8
Brittany by Machu - 9
Poppi Rose by Riz - 4
Deressi by Fernurion - 2
Vulpesu by Fenrir-Lunaris - 8
Rell by Rinku - 10
PHC - 0


phc, I guess I owe you an apology, next time, things will be better.
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Try my OHR exporter/importer.
OHRGFX
Striving to become better pixel artist then Fenrir Lunaris. Unfortunately the laziness gets in the way of my goals.