Challenge 76: Eclipse

[slaycandy]

Challenge 76: Eclipse

NO IT'S NOT ABOUT THE BOOK!!! ;)

For those of you who watch Heroes, or even those who have just seen it advertised, you will know the very iconic Eclipse used as part of the logo, which was also used at the beginning of the series. To me, the symbolism of the Elipse is simply beautiful. It is a global event, that connects everyone in this world at one time, even if we all have a different perspective, this one event connects us. Furthermore the beauty of the light vs. dark symbolism is very poignant in the symbol of an Eclipse, a moment where the two opposing factors meet and join together.

An eclipse has so many layers of symbolism that it can ultimately mean the time where night meets day, and dark meets light, and a global connection. Which brings me to this challenge. What I would like to see is everyday 'Eclipses', or even big monumental 'Eclipses' that have occurred in various series. An event that brings together the characters, an event that faces light with dark, night with day; something that brings all of these opposing factors together and joins them.

Now for the challenging part, I want to see both the contrast, and the connetion within your pieces, feel free to do this using all resources possible, colouring, lighting, textures, whatever you see fit to create this "Eclipse" in your art.

I am sure that many of you will interpret this in various ways, so I do hope to see a variety in the entries. Have fun with the challenge, I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Requirements:
Sizes: Standard Wallpaper sizes (regular, or widescreen), & Wallscrolls
Entries: Unlimited. If you want to art the same moment more than once, please do it with a new twist, or new perspective on the moment to differentiate it from the original, ;)
Deadline: 16th July 2008 (midnight GMT)
Fandoms: I really would prefer to be familiar with the fandom so that I can properly judge it, so I am going to limit these to:

Angel, Buffy, Charmed, Chuck, Dark Angel, Firefly, Ghost Whisperer, Gilmore Girls, Greys Anatomy, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Lost (not season 4 yet, sorry!), Moonlight, Private Practice, Psych, Pushing Daisies, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Supernatural, Tru Calling, Veronica Mars

If there is anything else you want to do please PM me first and ask, it's possible I just didn't list it!
...
Did I not mention Twilight? Oh I am a tease! Yes, that is also allowed, :P Heh.

Have fun!
SJ
xox


EDIT: Had a PM about movies. Ultimately, the list above is the fandoms I would PREFER to be done, as that way I will be able to feedback your pieces more fully when the challenge is closed. Not to mention I'll have a better understanding of the piece in general. BUT if there is something else you would like to do, for example a movie, then I would need an explanation of the scene, and of your piece, so that I know what it is within your piece that is supposed represent the Eclipse. Because the point of this challenge is to see the concept of the eclipse within your piece, and if I am unable to do so, then it won't really meet my requirements. So please include as much info as possible so that I know what is going on.

[DigitalLeonardo]

Ahh, I love the idea. And I had to do Faith and Buffy... It was the first thing that came to mind, but not the only thing. So I promise to have more entries.

How I see this is, Buffy and Faith can fight together, be "friends", be on the same side by they will always be night and day. They will never be able to live together in totaly harmony... When ever they try something bad happends. And its a tragic relationship, but its what they've made for each other.

Entry 1: Flip of the Coin
http://singingshrimp.voided-space.com/wallpaper/buffythevampireslayer/flipofacoinpre.jpg
1400x875 (http://singingshrimp.voided-space.com/wallpaper/buffythevampireslayer/flipofacoin.jpg), 1024x768 (http://singingshrimp.voided-space.com/wallpaper/buffythevampireslayer/flipofacoinx.jpg)
Image: Pretty as a Picture
Texture: Nikki

[amy1234]

I love this idea, and as soon as I read it I immediately thought of buffy and spike, and spike leading buffy into the darkness.
Entry 1 Eclipse
http://sweetescape.misplaced.co.uk/btvs/eclipse.gif (http://sweetescape.misplaced.co.uk/btvs/wallpapers/Eclipse.jpg)
I wanted it to be all dark at spikes side, and light at buffys, I think it turned out something like I thought for a change :2party:

[LRae12]

Entry One: Fade

Ok, so this entry is based on the movie, The Incredible Hulk. I'll put my explanation in spoiler tags for those of you who haven't watched it yet....:)

Ok, so the lore of The Incredible Hulk is that a scientist, Bruce Banner, conducts an experiment that goes amiss and is subjected to major radiation poisoning. As a result, whenever he gets angry or overly excited he changes into the Hulk, an angry super-strong beast. Now Bruce does everything he can to control his temper/pulse rate to keep the hulk at bay, and he banishes himself from everyone he loves in order to protect them. But just under the surface, all the time, the beast is lurking waiting to destroy.

I think this movie perfectly illustrates the concept in this challenge. Bruce, a really 'good guy' and the hulk, a totally implusive destructive beast are brought together to defeat the 'bad guys'. Bruce must learn to control/work with the beast in order to protect those he loves. Hence night and day/good and evil coming together to work to a common purpose...:D

I tried to show the eclipse in a few different ways. First, I showed the polar opposites. The angry hulk (large pic on left) and the calm scientist (pic on bottom right). Then I showed the moment when the two are battling for control. This is illustrated by the shot of Bruce with the green eyes.....that in the movie is always the moment when the good being taken over by the evil. Finally, I showed what I believe is inside Bruce all the time waging war. The angry beast roaring (center pic) and the calm man trying to maintain peace and spirituality (Bruce doing yoga). I also tried to use light textures at the bottom right where Bruce was more prominent to symbolize the good and light, and I left the top left very dark, to represent the darkness inside.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/LRae12/hulksmall.jpg

1024 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/LRae12/hulk.jpg)

Credits:
Pictures: Promo shots from the Incredible Hulk movie, courtesy of BeyondHollywood.com
Textures: More-Adventurous, Colorblind
Lyrics: Fade by Staind

[Jenni Lou]

So, I really like this idea and it made me think. Like, a lot. It was kind of difficult to come up with any idea I thought would fit the challenge in the right way. But I came up with a couple ideas. And so here is one of them. From Buffy. "Bring on the Night." Originally I wanted to do a sort of epic art that depicted the circumstances of the worldwide slayer awakening and the scythe. But then I decided I liked the simplified idea of tracing this moment back to its inception--however infant that notion of Slayers United may have been--and it is in this episode when Buffy is beaten down hardcore. And she delivers that rousing speech about getting up and seeking out the evil. To face it head on. Eventually this speech turns into the epic "Chosen" battle and her will is realized. So I hope that fits your concept of the challenge. :)

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/fanart/albums/btvsats/ep/b7/normal_bringonthenight.jpg (http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/fanart/displayimage.php?pos=-2035)
credits: SP, me, sxc.

[Pandora's_Box]

Identity

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f93/panbox002/panbox_buffywall_01/identity0.jpg
xxx (http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f93/panbox002/panbox_buffywall_01/identity2-1.jpg)

I'm not sure if I like the piece, but I'll post it anyway. This is about Spike in Sleeper (I have to stop arting season 7 :lol:). Spike is haunted by the first who took his appareance, but more importantly, I always saw Spike version The First as the pre-souled Spike. That's what makes it so hard for Spike, being faced to the man who killed and tortured, the man he used to be. Hence the cap choice and the double-isation of those caps to show his split personnality. Red because it's the blood of all the innocents he killed and is haunted with. The lyrics are "Who Am I?" by Point of Grace. The last sentence is "Your light could still shine though" which is a reference to Chosen but that reference might be too soon to say in Sleeper, so I hid the last part, but since no one knows that song, hiding it kinda ruins the effect...

Ressources: mine, Daydreaming
Caps: Screencap Paradise
Lyrics: "Who Am I?" by Point of Grace

[LRae12]

Entry Two: Friends?

Ok, so this peice is centered on the Season Finale of Battlestar Galactica, so I will keep it in spoiler tags....;)

Explanation:

So, you said you've only seen some of BSG, so I just wanted to refresh your memory...The human race was all but wiped out by the cylons, the robot-type humanoids that the humans had created and that rebelled against their creators. There was a war with the more primitive 'toaster' models, that was supposedly settled years ago. Every year a human and cylon met to keep up the peace treaty. But the cylons double crossed the humans, and instead nuked their planets, thus destroying the human race, all but those that were in space at the time. Well, this series has been all about the race to find earth - both for the humans and the cylons, who of course at this point are mortal enemies. But within the cylon fleet, there has come to be a civil war between some of the models after the boxing of the Deanna line. Some of the cylon models came to the humans for help in unboxing their '#3's' and the humans agreed, because the '3's' knew who the final cylons were that were hiding among the human fleet. In this, the final episode of the season, Deanna has been unboxed and has tried to 'force' the humans to turn over the remaining cylons by kidnapping the human President and others. In turn, the human's interim-President, Lee Adama, takes the remaining identified cylons and threatens to shoot them out an air-lock. Suffice it to say, tensions mounted. But Starbuck had a 'revelation' of sorts that would lead them all to earth, but only if they worked with the cylons.

So, in the season finale, Starbuck convinces Lee that the future of the human race depends on the survival of the final cylons and their working together to find earth. In this peice, I showed the two opposing sides, the humans depicted in Lee and Kara, and the Cylons depicted in Deanna and Sharon and Sam and Tigh. Also, Kara found out in this episode that Sam, her husband, is actually a cylon.

So to make a long story short (too late :p ) the 'eclipse' in this peice is the two mortal enemies agreeing to work together for the survival of both of their kinds. In the central picture you have the leaders making the agreement. In the outer pictures you have the humans on the left and the cylons on the right. At the bottom left is Kara, looking up towards Sam, in the top right corner. I tried to use some gradients to separate the humans and cylons - with the humans having more of a greenish (life, living) hue, while the cylons have more of a purplish (cold, inanimate) tone. I used a lot of swirling textures of lights to signify the two meshing into one unit.

edited: I had to edit, because *apparently* I don't know my left from my right...:roll:

Credits:
Caps: by the wonderful Jenni Lou :hug:
Textures: left-unspoken, more-adventurous

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/LRae12/bsgsmall.jpg

1024 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/LRae12/bsg.jpg)

[debbiefm]

Love the challenge idea. So hope this fits into the requirements. I've only recently started watching Supernatural and have just finished watching season 1 so my explanation of this piece is as everything stands from then

Here comes the incoherent ramble. The idea behind this is that in the first episode of Season 1 we see Sam and Dean's mum killed by a demon and also his girlfriend Jess, and these events set Sam and Dean on the path to finding said Demon and killing it. Cut to the final episode and they have finally caught up with the aformentioned Demon BUT Sam can't kill it cause it's possessing his Father and killing it will kill his father as well. Where does the Eclipse thingy come in I hear you ask? Well the shape of an eclipse is round (duh!) and from that first episode to the last Sam and Dean have come full circle.....the demon taking or trying to take something they love away from them. Ta Da! I decided to concentrate on that last episode with the demon taunting Sam and his father begging Sam to shoot him and finally get rid of the Demon. When I first thought of this it was a more evolved explanation but for the life of me I can't remember it now.:lol:

We Can End This Now
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/1638/wecanenditnowuc2.th.jpg (http://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wecanenditnowuc2.jpg)


Credits
Images: screencap paradise
Gradients: blacklagoon

[Bre]

I will admit when I first saw the title of this challenge, my head spun into Twilight-land! :p :lol:

First Entry: I Love You

http://www.primordialsouls.com/art/buffy/episodes/grave_iloveyou_mini.jpg
1280 (http://www.primordialsouls.com/art/buffy/episodes/grave_iloveyou.jpg)

So... eclipse. My first thought was: season finales! For a great deal of the time, they are the climax of the season, show the light after the dark, bring a close to a story line. So I chose the sixth season finale of Buffy, "Grave", mostly because I love the idea of Xander's love for his best friend being the stop sign for Willow's end of the world trip. For this entry, I wanted to show the events that lead to Willow going Dark Side, and then Xander simply telling her "I love you" being enough to resurface the Willow we all know and love, in a sense, him being the end of the eclipse that Willow started (if that made sense...). For this piece, it definitely turned out differently than I thought. I took a literal meaning from eclipse and used light to show her coming out of her darkness, and the dark showing her falling off the cliff into her evilness. The purple coloring is to show her supernatural witchiness and how that has dominated her life. I also wanted to get a shape in there, the idea of an eclipse and to draw the light/dark line a bit better, surrounding the light. This is sort of a remake of an earlier piece of mine, using Coldplay's lyrics, but they just fit so dang well!

Textures: Misplaced, Radiance
Gradients: Mine
Images: Screencap Paradise, Pretty as a Picture
Text: Fix You - Coldplay, Episode

[aldieb]

Oh wonderful challenge :heart:!

Entry one
At first I was a bit sceptical to this idea, but then suddenly I got an epiphany. I realised excactly what you were talking about, and I love it. I love the moments, or the consept you talk about, or actually I can't really decide if I love or hate them. Mostly it's both :p. However I could not for my life, remeber any moments like this, except the one in Eclipse. Therefore that it is!

Kind of spoilery for Eclipse

Ehm with this piece I wanted to show how the vampires and the warewolves go together for a greater good (ie. protecting Bella, and fighting the vampire army). In their eyes the other ones are the enemies normally. However also with this piece, I want to show that they still aren't that different (like Bella puts it), mostly because their relation with their powers or problems. Ie they go together towards a greater enemy :p. Actually I had written a long and winding (and good) explanation but it disappeared when I was to post it :( urk.


Special Freaks
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j204/von_estrella/art/small/specfreak1d.jpg (http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j204/von_estrella/art/specfreak1d.jpg)
resources: everglow, black lagoon, salt'n burn, shattered, intoxication
lyrics: 'paper tigers' - caesars

[Lady Manson]

This is the first time I have ever had a wallpaper that I thought looked better without ANY words, so I made two versions because I thought the Triumph lyrics were good for the challenge.
I always loved the fact that everyone in the school got together to fight the enemy. I haven't done Buffy art in a while and went to get the images, only to remember that there actually was an eclipse during the fight. So, another image for me to add to the piece. I'm not the best at explanations, so that's pretty much it.

Version One
http://ladymanson.com/Artwork/Thumbs/fightthumb.png
1280x800 (http://ladymanson.com/Artwork/BuffyWalls/B3/fight.png)
Resources: Screencap Parardise, Feel, Misplaced

Version Two
http://ladymanson.com/Artwork/Thumbs/fightwordsthumb.png
1280x800 (http://ladymanson.com/Artwork/BuffyWalls/B3/fightwords.png)
Resources: Screencap Parardise, Feel, Misplaced
Words: "Fight the Good Fight" - Triumph

[Signe]

Rolling Stone Magazine published their list of the 500 best songs of all time some time ago. Now you're thinking, what's this got to do with this challenge, right? Bare with me... Now, wierd and bored as I am, I decided to make a wallpaper featuring lyrics from the top 20 of that list (I was thinking all first but that would take a year!). As I was reading the first lyrics (Let it Be by The Beatles) it hit me that those lyrics were perfect for this challenge! Because it's about overcomming differences and troubled times.

Spoilery for Dark Angel season one finale
The moment I sort of always had in mind for this challenge was when Max & co. decides to group together with Lydecker to take down Manticore. As you know, Lydecker had been hunting them down for years and years and wasn't exactly thier favourite person. However, they couldn't deny that he would be an asset in taking down what they hated the most - Manticore. In my piece I wanted to show the cold hatred one might say, between the two parts, brought upon by years of viewing matters differently (understatement of the year :lol:). However, the cold colours I used on the "parties" also represent the fact that alone, the parties can't do much harm (to Manticore). On the other hand, together (in the middle) they're stronger and have a chance of bringing Manticore down. There of the colours and the light :p

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/Pigneso/wallpapers/th_agree.jpg (http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/Pigneso/wallpapers/agree.jpg)
Resources:
Images - Radiance
Textures - Ugly Business, Shattered, Salt'n Burn
Gradients - Mine
Lyrics - The Beatles "Let it Be"

[Lady Manson]

I wanted to do a Supernatural piece for this and I FINALLY came up with something. I put the following in spoilers because it is based on a season three episode.

This wall is from the episode Malleus Maleficarum where Ruby comes to the house and gets the crap beat out of her after she tries to help Dean and Sam. The demon almost extracts her from her host body before Dean stabs the demon in the back. I found this to be a good Eclipse type moment because Dean is helping Ruby, a demon and someone he would never help. Never again in the season does he even say a kind word about her, so I thought it to be a good one.

Friend or Foe
http://ladymanson.com/Artwork/Thumbs/friendorfoethumb.png
1280x800 (http://ladymanson.com/Artwork/SPNWalls/S3/friendorfoe.png)
Resources: Mine, Misplaced, Radiance
Words: Pink Floyd

[Pandora's_Box]

Just Willow

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f93/panbox002/panbox_buffywall_01/justwillow2.jpg
xxx (http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f93/panbox002/panbox_buffywall_01/JustWillow.jpg)

This is a piece I made some time ago but it fits the challenge so perfectly that I had to enter it. This is about Willow's duality, either she's a witch or a goddess she remains herself, just Willow. The witch is part of herself, the goddess as well.

Ressources: mine
Caps: Screencap Paradise

[BlasterBoy]

Entry One - Hell and Dreams

http://differentdimensions.taste-of-honey.net/art/micsellaneous/six320.jpg

1024 (http://differentdimensions.taste-of-honey.net/art/micsellaneous/six1024.jpg)

credits
cap: daydreaming
gradients: mine
texture: um, I think black lagoon, not sure
brushes: really, all over; misplaced, more adventurous
lyrics: "bitch" - meredith brook

Well, I made this art of Cylon Model #6. She has multiple identities: Caprica Six, Gina, Natalie, etc. and that makes her GOOD and EVIL. At times she wants destruction, other she wants love. Or both at the same time :lol: And I think that fits the challenge, two totally different things, but the twist is that they're in the same body. To show the darkness, I hate the outside edges with the dark blues, and to show the light is the bright white in the middle. I thought the lyrics "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks worked. And I loved the lyrics, "in your hell, in your dreams". They fit so perfectly.

[ciderdrinker]

This challenge has had me stumped for the longest time, but I'm on a real art buzz at the moment and so inspiration hit!

I was thinking about the dark and light part of an eclipse - the duality of it and that how it mirrors very well with "good" vampires. Creatures of darkness that choose to live as if they were in the light with mortal beings, but forever has this darkness inside them that they can't escape. Now of course Angel and Spike immediately spring to mind, and I didn't want to do something that predictable (because a dark/light and vampires connection is predictable anyway!), so I picked another vampire that has found love on this board - Mick St John. Mick isn't striving for redemption. He feels an innate need to help people but still hates his vampirism, although it helps him in his cases.

There were no decent pics of Mick in vamp face, so I improvised and painted on the eyes and lightened his skin to reflect the difference between his personas. It wasn't until I'd nearly finished this that I realised how close this is to the opening credits, so it looks rather like a promo for the show, but it really is all my own work and I have the PSD's to prove it! :p

Face Inside
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r191/ciderdrinker/Thumbnails/FaceInside.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r191/ciderdrinker/FaceInside.jpg

Credits:
Picture: PAAP
Stock: SXC
Words: Papercut, Linkin Park (adapted slightly)

[Risa]

Well here is my one and only entry. Its from Stargate Atlantis. The humans of Earth travelled to a galaxy called Pegasus where they found the lost city of Atlantis. While exploring they came across an enemy called the Wraith. Evolved from a bug, the Wraith, feed on the human life force to stay alive. However, the humans and the Wraith occasionally work together to fight off the other enemies in the galaxy that threated both of their existence. Basically its the first time the Wraith and the humans have ever depended upon each other. The bad and the good working together.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g49/aintright_69/eclipsechallenge.jpg

Credits:
Texture: left-unspoken.net
Pictures: stargatecaps.com

[litzie]

Here's my last minute entry...

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a347/litzie132/vampwillow.jpg
Resources:
Textures: more adventurous
gradients: misplaced
caps: screencap paradise
stock: san-julian.com

It didn't quite work out the way I wanted, but I spent so long on it...

Basically, I wanted to capture both the contrast of vamp!willow and season 3 willow (evil and good) while also connecting it to the idea of what eventually drove willow to be greyer and greyer come season 5 and 6...her fear of being that nerdy girl she was in high school.

[Fuzzy]

Entry One

White Flag
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/1379/whiteflagwg2.th.jpg (http://img397.imageshack.us/my.php?image=whiteflagwg2.jpg)
Credits
Caps: Screencap Paradise.
Images: Pretty As A Picture, AUO Gallery.
Stock Images: SXC.
Textures: Misplaced Moments, Chosen Art.
Gradients: Daydreaming, SOTD, Misplaced Moments, Call Her Green, Black Lagoon.
Brushes: Ugly Business.

Explanation:
Okay so i hope this makes sense and all. So you spoke of an eclipse being when light meets dark and 2 opposing forces coming together...so i first thought of when Spike & Buffy join forces (for the first time!) to take out Angelus in Becoming pt2. So i tried to show the dark side and the light side joining together... I made Spike very dark & red and Buffy is lighter and blue. I added a stock of the moon and a texture of cracking ground, to illustrate the barriers of good and evil breaking down to mesh together... Also the little pics show Spike before he chose to help and after.. I dont really know how it turned out but there it is. :D

[slaycandy]

Hey guys, just to remind you that this challenge closes tonight at midnight GMT, it's currently 11.15am for me so that gives you just over 12 hours if you have any last minute entries to enter! :D

SJ
xox

[litzie]

Entry Two - right under the wire!

Just the Things You love (http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a347/litzie132/Justthethingsyoulove.jpg)

Explanation - How I Met Your Mother Season 3
In the season finale, Ted's cab gets into an accident, and he talks about how he saw flashes of all the people he loved right before it hit. It was (and seems to be...since we haven't seen how it ends yet!) a turning point in the series, both by getting Ted and Barney back together and by prompting Ted to ask Stella to marry him. The event brought all the characters running to the hospital, and this particular scene highlighted for me the awesomeness that is himym...it brought together all the pivotal (and hilarious) moments of the show.
Resources
Caps - mine
stocks - mine
textures - more adventurous
gradients - misplaced

[slaycandy]

This challenge is now closed, sorry this is slightly later than planned, I hope to have the awards posted soon, but am leaving for London, so it won't be until I get back next Monday!

Thanks to everyone who entered!
SJ
xox

[slaycandy]

Hey guys!

Sorry this has taken so long, normally I am super organised with my awards, but this time I have been away working at an event again and just got back last night. So, I have spent today doing the ever-difficult part of these challenges, picking the winners, and also making the awards!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this challenge, I really loved seeing all the entries as they came in, and just wish I could have given an award to everyone. But, here we go, the awards:

Participation:

http://www.left-unspoken.net/radiance/awards/bfc76/participation.jpg


Honourable Mentions:

These go to the pieces that I really loved, and wanted to give an award to, but didn't quite make it into my placements, as I didn't want to have hundreds of placements for the few entries I had.



http://www.left-unspoken.net/radiance/awards/bfc76/ciderdrinker.jpg

Ciderdrinker - Face Inside

I adore the repeated image in this wallpaper, and the way that you have turned the promo shot into Mick's 'other side'. I prefer it with the same image it really highlights the fact that Mick is the same person with these two sides to him, I feel that if you had used an image of him in his vampire form it would have lost that touch. I loved how you did one of the Mick's hidden in the darkness, and the other in the light, again really forming these two distinct halves of his lifestyle; but at the same time, the repeated image really brings to the surface the fact that these two sides are connected and are one and the same. I thought the placement of theimages worked really well, having the main image of Mick in the foreground, with the darker one placed behind it, it made it feel like his vampire side was lying just under the surface, very effective. I really loved the concept behind this piece, and my only nitpicks about it were that it felt very focussed on the left hand side, the lighting seemed to cut off the right hand side entirely, and it just felt like wasted space to me, you could have centered the two images, with the light going around them in the same fashion and brought the text in as a part of it - as it stands the text feels slightly disconnected from the rest of the piece, and the right hand side feels quite empty to me. But on the whole, fantastic piece, and the imagery conveyed just rocks.



http://www.left-unspoken.net/radiance/awards/bfc76/signe.jpg

Signe - Agree

I love the composition of this piece, the way that you have Lydecker on one side, and the other four on the other, so that they are all segregated, but then they have all come together in the middle to work together, and you have this Eclipse type moment in the center where the light and the dark meet. But, at the same time, I felt that this composition made the piece feel incredibly crowded. Perhaps a smaller image of Zack, or even using a widescreen canvas size to spread the elements of the piece out a bit. It just felt very busy on one side of the wallpaper. I absolutely adored the concept behind the piece, and the idea behind the composition, but felt it was just slightly too much. The text used was very fitting, and a nice touch, and the way you curved it around the central image was fantastic, :) I also really liked the contrast between the light & dark with the colours you incorporated into the piece, using the darkness to show them all separately, and the the light when they decide to work together to accomplish something bigger.




http://www.left-unspoken.net/radiance/awards/bfc76/aldieb.jpg

Aldieb - Special Freaks

I really loved this piece, the darkness of it, and yet the warmth of the tones used, showing the goodness that they are going to do together. The blending was all done fantastically, and the text was a really nice touch. I was seriously tempted to add it in as one of my placements. However, from looking at the piece on its on, I didn't feel the connection between the vampires and the wolves. An image of Bella in danger in the middle with the wolves on one side and the vampires on the other, both fighting for the same cause would have really solidified what you explained in your post. But looking at the piece, it just didn't come across, and since this challenge was all about seeing the contrast and the connection, I felt that it wasn't fair to add it in as one of my top 5. In saying that, the lyrics were a nice touch, as it made me feel like the vampires and wolves were not as different as they believe, I still didn't really feel a solid connection there. Hope that makes sense.




5th Place


http://www.left-unspoken.net/radiance/awards/bfc76/fuzzy.jpg

Fuzzy - White Flag

I love the composition of this piece, it feels like a mirrored image across the two diagonals, using the boxes in the top left and bottom right, showing Buffy & Spike fighting one another, and then working together was a perfect parallel, and then reflecting the three images of Spike across the other diagonal to meet the three images of Buffy. I loved how they were physically separated, but they paralleled one another so perfectly, and were connected in this mirror-like fashion. I also love the idea of the 'before' and 'after' boxes, and having the moment that changed it as the central focus of the wallpaper. I thought the composition just worked perfectly here. The silhoettes of Spike and Buffy both fighting Angel, really helped to sell the 'connection' to me here. The only nit-picks that I had really, were the image quality of the larger Spike & Buffy images, Zugma has some fantastic tips in her tutorial on improving screencap quality that may be worth checking out, but that's just a small nitpick. The other thing that I wasn't too keen on was the text. I felt like it should have been placed above the boxes at the bottom to keep with the flow of the composition, it just felt slightly jarring that the text didn't match the rest of the piece. Also, the text felt incredibly plain, and simple with no real character to it, check out some of JJ's pieces for some fantastic ideas of how to improve your text in pieces, and get some variety in there, :) Other than that, it's a great piece!





4th Place


http://www.left-unspoken.net/radiance/awards/bfc76/ladymanson.jpg

Lady Manson - Fight

I have to admit I never even thought of this moment! But, it is so fitting for this challenge, and shows the Eclipse very effectively in this piece. I love how the darkness here, is all of the people who are in the dark about demons and vampires, and the light is the knowledge, and when the two meet, we have this huge battle, where both sides come together for something monumental. I also love how this is an event that brings everyone together, like an Eclipse does, connecting everyone. This scene was just so perfect! Anyway, onto the piece! The composition worked really well for me, the images flowed through the piece very effectively, with a great line of direction from Willow in the bottom right, pointing up toward the Mayor in snake form, with Buffy in the center glaring over toward him as well; and then to have them surrounded by the rest of their class joining in the fight, it really worked for me. The dark tones of the piece, really brought out the 'congratulations' banner, which I thought was quite ironic, given that their joint efforts are what defeated the mayor. The Eclipse screencap in the background, felt more like a stock before I read your post, and it just fit so perfectly, showing the light emerging from under the darkness, I really liked it. I have to say I did prefer the plain piece, the one with the text just didn't feel right. I'm not sure if placing the text elsewhere and using slightly different fonts may have made it fit slightly better. But, my only real nitpick is the images felt as though they had been blurred quite a bit, and I just felt as though, it would have worked better with sharper, cleaner images. Zugma has some great advice on improving screencap quality in one of her tutorials, maybe you should check that out to ensure you get the best results from your caps, ;)





3rd Place


http://www.left-unspoken.net/radiance/awards/bfc76/amy.jpg

Amy - Eclipse

Wow. This piece was one of the first entries to the challenge and I can remember thinking, yeh, this one is going to get an award! I adore this piece. I love the lighting on this piece, and the colouring, they just complement the piece brilliantly. The composition works incredibly well, with everything centred neatly, the lighting brings you around from Spike to Buffy and into the text, so it all flows together nicely. I love how Buffy is bathed in the light and the warmth, but her body is turning toward the darkness and toward Spike; whereas you have Spike in the darkness, and the creases on his shirt look almost like lots of tiny specks of blood. Similarly, I adore the tiny splatters of the blood red colour on Spike's side of the piece, it really highlights the differences between the two. The text works brilliantly, a nice mix of fonts, and sizes. Ultimately I can't really think of a single criticism right now, except that maybe I'd erase some of the lines from the texture you used that are slightly visible on Buffy's body. But other than that, awesome piece, I love it!





2nd Place


http://www.left-unspoken.net/radiance/awards/bfc76/jennilou.jpg

Jenni-Lou - Bring on the Night

I love the story you are telling with this piece, and the way you incorporated the idea of an Eclipse into it. Using the calling of all of the potentials around the world as the global event like the Eclipse - but then showing in your piece how this came about, and what it was that made this Eclipse happen. The speach by Buffy used along the top of your piece really solidified the connection between the fight that had unfurled and bringing the potentials together. I love that the Eclipse here, isn't joining light and dark, but the current and potential slayers; and you show the contrast between Buffy fighting on her own and then joining with the others as well. It's a fantastic idea, and well executed as always, :)





1st Place


http://www.left-unspoken.net/radiance/awards/bfc76/bre.jpg

Bre - I Love You

Bre, I love you. This piece was just breath-taking. The composition was flawless, using a nice direction from bottom left up to the top right, taking us through the events in order, but then splitting the darkness from the light with this swirl made it feel like a whirlwind and really captured the moment well of that final breakdown. Moving on from the composition, the image choice made the placement work all the better. Using the image of Willow looking down on Tara, her sucking the magic from the books, and her foray into darkness, the images fit together perfectly, and sum up the events perfectly and concisely without using too many images to make it feel crowded. I love how you have the final image of Willow in the darkness looking toward these two images of Xander standing in the light, and this is the central focus of the wallpaper, the moment that changed her - more importantly, the image of that tear coming right down at that moment, really separated Willow from the darkness and the light as she realised what she was doing to the ones she loved. What I adore even more, is the fact that you have images of only Willow on her own on one side, and then only images of Willow and Xander connected on the other; with the two of them looking at one another right in the middle. The images, composition, textures, they all worked together amazingly! And, also, great job on the colouring, purple of course the colour represnting transition, for her turn to the darkness, and green, the more calming colour as she comes back around, also a very earthy tone as things go back to normal, :) I fell in love with this piece when I saw it, and cannot help but gush as the awesomeness of every aspect of this wallpaper, it just rocks!!! :D Hence, why you are my first place!! :heart:




Thanks again for those who entered, can't wait for my next challenge!
*hugs to all*
SJ
xox

[Jenni Lou]

Stunning awards, as usual! I love the comments; you always have the best things to say. And I'm so glad that you liked my concept from this super neat challenge idea. I also really liked making this entry. I'ts nice to do some old school Buffy episode art from time to time!

Awesome entries as always and Bre with a well deserved win. Congrats everyone! :celebration:

[~*Marilyne*~]

WOW amazing awards Sayjay ! congrats to the winners ! :)

[Bre]

:thud: Holy. Crap! First place?! *dies* That is so amazing, thank you so much, I was sincerely not expecting that! I was afraid that my idea kind of got a little farfetched with how I rolled it out, but a huge freaking YAY for you understanding it! I :heart: you. Thank you for your fabulous feedback, I'm pretty much stunned right now. *dazzled*

Congratulations to the other winners, this was a fabulous challenge idea, open to a lot of interpretation, and there were a lot of awesome entries. :xd

And of course, gorgeous freaking awards, as usual from you, my dear. :hug: Thank you!!! :hug: ... again. :p

And a quick edit, I miss you!

[Pandora's_Box]

Congratulations for all the winners, your pieces were beautiful!
The awards are to die for Sayjay, awesome challenge!

[debbiefm]

Congrats to the winners, especially Bre cause it was just a stunning piece. Awesome awards, such beautiful lighting as usual.

[ciderdrinker]

Thank you for my Honourable mention. The negative points about my entry that you mentioned I hadn't thought about, and totally see where you're coming from, so thanks for the assistance too!

[amy1234]

WOW thanks for my award hun! and the comments :heart: :D:D Am glad you liked it ;D Those awards are gorgeous congratulations to everyone else, they were some gorgeous pieces entered.

[Signe]

Fabulous awards hun! They're so pretty and beautiful :D I love mine and thank you for the comments, I agree with you 100% (my entry was a little rushed^^). Congratulations to all the winners, really amazing entries! Loved the challenge - it really made you think!

:hug:

[Fuzzy]

Wow i got an award! I so was not expecting it as i thought my piece was a tad ugly...more than a tad really! So thank you!!!! Thanks also for the comments and tips for improving, i will def take your advice as it was spot on!

Congrats to all :D :D :D Especially Bre & Lady Manson, i really loved your entries... Also the awards are fab!

Also did anyone else see that all the top 5 were Buffy entries?? i thought that was cool :roll::2party:

[aldieb]

Gorgeous, gorgeous awards! And thanks for the award and the comment, you really know how to comment :xd (and I really know what you mean, it is entirely right :hug:). It was an awesome challenge all the way through and I'm just sorry I didn't have the time to enter more pieces! Congrats all the winners, and to the beautiful entries :heart:!