Congratulations to Malicent! For winning SOTM #27 with an open theme.
It's quite late, but better than never: hereby I proudly announce Malicent as the winner of SOTM #27. It wasn't a checkmate (no, not that guy) as Malicent's entry came out on top with 4 votes out of 13 in total, but it nonetheless led as the remaining 9 votes were spread on the other 7 entries.
Purple Heart! With a sci-fi-esque background that fits really nice with her overall image. Personally, I'm not a big fan of wireframe vectors and C4D-like effects, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate their beauty.
With blurred outer areas and a sharply enhanced epicentre, Malicent managed to bring out the focal point of the overall image in a strong fashion: Purple Heart nicely stands out in contrast with the rest of the signature, thanks in no small part to the faintly glowing yellowish area that she overlays. The placement and composition gives an impression of her forcefully breaking her way through a cage of solid, materialised matrices. That she brandishes her blade at the direction of the viewer solidifies even more the emphasis on her perseverance. Add in the distorted space effect surrounding her and it makes apparent what her silence is saying.
I am Purple Heart. No cage is going to stop me. Back. Down.
Congratulations to unownHGSS! For winning SOTM #28 with a theme of All I Want for Christmas Is YOU.
The season has changed, the snow has melted, the air has gotten warmer. At least here in the Northern Hemisphere. Anyway, late though it might be, I proudly announce unownHGSS as the winner of SOTM #27. This wasn't like the usual SOTM in that there was no public poll as Pinkylicious had intended to have admins and moderators take a look at the entries and pick a winner. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned being busy, we were late to notice that she had this kind of plan. Among the staff members I've asked, the majority went with unown's entry.
Let's take a look at the theme and the entries. The theme, as Pinky wrote it, was "All I want for Christmas is YOU". Uh-huh. Anyone who doesn't immediately think of girls in scantily-clad Santa outfits upon hearing the previous sentence, raise your hand.
Yeah. I thought so.
Now let's take a look at the entries, shall we? The other two entrants, nanashi1 and Malicent, each had a submission depicting a girl (in a Santa outfit, of course) offering/handing over/giving a present to whomever that present is meant for. No, definitely not you, because you weren't being a good kid last year. On the other hand, unown's entry depicts a girl offering... herself. With a box of present―that she presumably is supposed to give―put next to her. A side item.
Yeahhh, I know I read into things too much at times, but I think unown's entry reflects the theme in a nice twist: instead of "All I want for Christmas is YOU", he made it "All YOU want for Christmas is ME". She's like, "oh hey, I got you a present, but it's pretty meh. You know what, have me instead." Meanwhile, the girls in nanashi's and Malicent's signatures offer you a present when you tell them, "All I want for Christmas is YOU." They're like saying, "sowwwwwwy, I can't, have a box of present instead!"
Congratulations to nanashi1! For winning SOTM #29 with a theme of Starry, Starry Night.
This one wasn't the brightest spot in the history of our forum's SOTM, but it doesn't make me less proud to announce nanashi1 as the winner of SOTM #29. In a SOTM phase where Pinky had expected 10 entries, there was only one that made it. Another member, Seo Sama, expressed an interest in joining, but didn't come back with an entry. Hence, nanashi came out as a winner by absence of other entrants. Where others faltered, he persevered!
Judging by the theme and timing, I'm guessing Pinky was thinking of something along the lines of Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht when she wrote "Starry, Starry Night". The romantic kind, mystical and enchanting to those revelling in its solace. That nanashi interpteted it to mean a combination of flashy bolts flickering in a discotheque-like atmosphere and a depiction of a roaring sound system is... interesting.
I guess people now blast loud techno music and dance under flickering lights instead of marvelling at the ephemerally visible celestial bodies. Hmm, youngsters nowadays. When I was your age...
Buying resources out of their own pockets, spending energy and effort, with almost no return so that everyone can enjoy the cultural and entertainment products of developed countries at almost zero cost walking in the dark to serve the light, they are real heroes
First Place: 
