- Oct 16, 2010
- 4,477
- 1,751
Following the massive success of my SOTM management debut, which received praises and laudations from an astounding grand total of zero news stories, heeeere comes the thirty-first instalment in the huge anthology that is SOTM!
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.
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.
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.
The theme for this month's SOTM shall be...
UNLEASH YOUR TRUE SELF.
An artist's art piece is her creation. To an artist, her ideal masterpiece is akin to her child: the only difference is that, instead of flesh and blood inheriting her physical characteristics, it is an opus borne out of her heart and mind, carrying with it all the incorporeal runes and inscriptions written in her being. The expressed, the implied; the intended, the unintended. An artist's ideal masterpiece is unburdened by mundane concerns such as money, popularity, politeness, or indeed any guidelines at all. It is a manifestation of the plane of existence that is her mind and heart, with her and only her being the deciding factor in the equation.
Yes, I like to write emotionally philosophical (philosophically emotional?) stuff that looks like it would fit well with a handwriting-like font overlaying an image of a scenery in a sepia tone right after putting a silly meme image. I also fully realise the previous sentence is unnecessarily verbose. I'm weird like that.
Anyway, to clarify:
There's nothing much to ramble about here: you're free to make any kind of signature you'd like as long as it conforms with the guidelines. Whether you prefer signatures with transparent backgrounds, good old square-shaped signatures, animated gifs... it's up to you. If you feel like you need some suggestions, hit up the discussion thread and let the other participants know what you already have in mind!
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!
UNLEASH YOUR TRUE SELF.
An artist's art piece is her creation. To an artist, her ideal masterpiece is akin to her child: the only difference is that, instead of flesh and blood inheriting her physical characteristics, it is an opus borne out of her heart and mind, carrying with it all the incorporeal runes and inscriptions written in her being. The expressed, the implied; the intended, the unintended. An artist's ideal masterpiece is unburdened by mundane concerns such as money, popularity, politeness, or indeed any guidelines at all. It is a manifestation of the plane of existence that is her mind and heart, with her and only her being the deciding factor in the equation.
Yes, I like to write emotionally philosophical (philosophically emotional?) stuff that looks like it would fit well with a handwriting-like font overlaying an image of a scenery in a sepia tone right after putting a silly meme image. I also fully realise the previous sentence is unnecessarily verbose. I'm weird like that.
Anyway, to clarify:
We're having an OPEN THEME.
As long as your entry is in accordance with the simple rules, anything goes.
As long as your entry is in accordance with the simple rules, anything goes.
There's nothing much to ramble about here: you're free to make any kind of signature you'd like as long as it conforms with the guidelines. Whether you prefer signatures with transparent backgrounds, good old square-shaped signatures, animated gifs... it's up to you. If you feel like you need some suggestions, hit up the discussion thread and let the other participants know what you already have in mind!
The deadline is on 1 JUNE 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.
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.
