- Oct 16, 2010
- 4,477
- 1,766
Signature of the Month is a simple competition open for all members. While it is focused on graphics design, it's often not the only criterion that's taken into account: there's also the issue of how well your entry represents the theme, how well all the elements you use in your piece blend together, whether it's pleasant to look at, and other such factors (as well as personal biases of the voters). Therefore, you're invited to join in and help liven up the party even if you're not very much into graphics design. This is just for fun!
Winning isn't everything, buuuuut it gives you a trophy to decorate your collections with. Or not. It's not physical, after all. But you can still brag to your friends―wait, do you have any?―and getting one gives a warm and fuzzy feel inside. Whoo, would you look at that. Pure gold! Or maybe bronze? Copper? Brass?
Nah, not any one of those materials. Just #FFE14D.
Winning isn't everything, buuuuut it gives you a trophy to decorate your collections with. Or not. It's not physical, after all. But you can still brag to your friends―wait, do you have any?―and getting one gives a warm and fuzzy feel inside. Whoo, would you look at that. Pure gold! Or maybe bronze? Copper? Brass?
Nah, not any one of those materials. Just #FFE14D.
I suppose it's more appropriate to call these "criteria", but referring to them as "rules" may help ensure that people pay attention to them. At least, I hope so. Anyway, the rules for SOTM are pretty simple:
- Your entry must be 500x300 or smaller. This means that you can submit an entry that's 500x300, 400x200, 300x100, or any size within the limit. I changed the old SOTM rule mandating that entries be of exactly 500x300 in size. If you can achieve the kind of goal you have in mind with a smaller size, why not?
. - Your entry must contain the words "SOTM" and either "Anime-Sharing", "AS", or "ASF". It is not necessary to append the ".com" to "Anime-Sharing". Capitalisation does NOT matter. You CAN have your username in your signature. This is another rule that I changed, because if your creativity lies with typography, why not show it by signing your authorship on your work?
. - Your entry must be in either JPG/JPEG, PNG, or GIF. Yeah, I know BMP is big and sexy, and TIFF has this charm yung'uns just won't understand, but no.
. - No nudity, profanity, or other such material that may be considered offensive. This isn't as vague as it may sound. Just don't flash uncovered private parts (some skin is fine, but don't go overboard either), stay away from slurs or profanity, and you'll be fine.
. - Your entry must be your own design. Well, duh! No, you don't have to create all elements in your entry from scratch, as art isn't so much about creating something from scratch (that's inventing) as it is making use of assets available to you. Just don't ask someone else to make a signature for you and enter it in the competition.
. - Your entry must never have won any SOTM before. You can submit an entry that has never won any SOTM before AT MOST TWICE. Let's say you entered SOTM #30 and didn't win. You can submit your old entry again here in SOTM #32, but regardless of whether you win this one or not, you may not submit that entry ever again in the future. Submitting the same entries over and over can bore our observers. Let's try to avoid that!
The theme for this month's SOTM shall be...
HOLIDAYS ARE OVER.
(Disclaimer: I do not advocate for abolition of mandatory formal education. I mean, c'mon―without school, we wouldn't have cute romantic comedies about cute girls doing cute things in cute uniforms, would we?)
It's back ta da harsh reality fer ya kids! I've been out of school for several years now, so I'm not really sure when exactly holidays end and new terms start for students, but I reckon it's around this time―just past the peak of summer (sorry Southern Hemisphere folks!) and approachingnew anime season September. It's also signified by the increased volume of commercials advertising private schools/universities as well as such products as shoes, schoolbags, stationery and other school necessities. It also means the roads getting more crowded and less safe with the presence of teen drivers back to populating critical routes throughout metropolitan areas.
Anyway, to clarify:
No, not "back to work". There's no romanticism in that. I suppose there's not going to be much difference between a "back to school" theme and simply "school" when it's depicted in the form of a signature, and with the prevalence of anime/manga/game characters depicted as students wearing school uniforms, this may very well be something close to a free theme in practice. But that's fine. As long as your entry depicts anything related to school, it's fair game. You don't even need to use a character; you can make an entry depicting school stationery, a schoolbag, a classroom or a school building if you wish.
I was absent for two months and a half, during which I obviously couldn't fulfil my responsibilities―including managing the SOTM. Now that it's already the third week of the month, I might as well extend the deadline of this SOTM to the end of September rather than making it fall exactly a month after (which would be the 20th of September), with hopes that the SOTM after this―scheduled to start on the first day of October―will get us back to track wherein the SOTM starts on the first day of the month and ends on the last.
Please submit your entry before the deadline. If you're unsure about aspects of your draft entry, feel free to ask around in the discussion thread. You can have only ONE post in the entry submission thread, but you're not restricted from discussing the SOTM as much as you want in the discussion thread. The deadline may be extended on our discretion if circumstances necessitate it, but it won't be shortened for no reason, so rest assured and don't rush. Take your time to make a masterpiece!
HOLIDAYS ARE OVER.
(Disclaimer: I do not advocate for abolition of mandatory formal education. I mean, c'mon―without school, we wouldn't have cute romantic comedies about cute girls doing cute things in cute uniforms, would we?)
It's back ta da harsh reality fer ya kids! I've been out of school for several years now, so I'm not really sure when exactly holidays end and new terms start for students, but I reckon it's around this time―just past the peak of summer (sorry Southern Hemisphere folks!) and approaching
Anyway, to clarify:
The theme for SOTM #33 is BACK TO SCHOOL.
School blazers... pleated skirts... thigh-high socks... striped pan―okay, I'll stop, I'll stop.
School blazers... pleated skirts... thigh-high socks... striped pan―okay, I'll stop, I'll stop.
No, not "back to work". There's no romanticism in that. I suppose there's not going to be much difference between a "back to school" theme and simply "school" when it's depicted in the form of a signature, and with the prevalence of anime/manga/game characters depicted as students wearing school uniforms, this may very well be something close to a free theme in practice. But that's fine. As long as your entry depicts anything related to school, it's fair game. You don't even need to use a character; you can make an entry depicting school stationery, a schoolbag, a classroom or a school building if you wish.
The deadline is on 30 SEPTEMBER 2015.
You MAY edit your entry submission post as many times as you please before the deadline.
You MAY edit your entry submission post as many times as you please before the deadline.
I was absent for two months and a half, during which I obviously couldn't fulfil my responsibilities―including managing the SOTM. Now that it's already the third week of the month, I might as well extend the deadline of this SOTM to the end of September rather than making it fall exactly a month after (which would be the 20th of September), with hopes that the SOTM after this―scheduled to start on the first day of October―will get us back to track wherein the SOTM starts on the first day of the month and ends on the last.
Please submit your entry before the deadline. If you're unsure about aspects of your draft entry, feel free to ask around in the discussion thread. You can have only ONE post in the entry submission thread, but you're not restricted from discussing the SOTM as much as you want in the discussion thread. The deadline may be extended on our discretion if circumstances necessitate it, but it won't be shortened for no reason, so rest assured and don't rush. Take your time to make a masterpiece!
This thread is only for ENTRIES!
For discussions, questions and comments, please go to this thread instead.
For discussions, questions and comments, please go to this thread instead.
