BABYLON5CONTEST

Forgive me if the answer is obvious, but I've scanned back through the comm a little and checked the info page - is there any master list of the icon contests and when they are due? I only joined recently and as far as I can tell there are numerous ongoing challenges, staggered but simultaneous somehow. How does a newbie jump in?

Hi and welcome :) I don't think there is one single master list. But you may be able to find the current contests under the links at the left hand side of this page. Look under "Babylon 5 Contest Tags Post". I think the tags are a work in progress right now, but there should be something in there on the current contest.

If you scroll back down the page the Week 28 Franklin contest is still in progress.. I think. It looks like it's been extended until Friday. So you can enter this if you want. The rules for this Challenge are in the post along with the Zip file for the screen caps.

One contest just opened up today, it's the Garibaldi and Sheridan Contest. The zip file for the screen cap is included in the post along with the unzipped caps. The specifics for the contest are also included.

Those are the only two contests going on right now. For a while there were quite a few contests going on and it got a bit complicated keeping track of them. But we're back to one contest and then when it closes, or is about to close, another is opened.

Whenever the contest is closed is up to the mods. I believe one goes to school so they don't have as much time to run the contest as they used to. They give us alot of notice though. Usually two weeks per contest. And they again give at least three days notice before it closes. If there aren't enough entries they will extend the deadline a few days.

As to jumping in, right now is a good time :) Week 28 Franklin closes Friday so you have time. And you can get started on the next contest any time you want. Just post your icons with what font you used, because we always like to know the fonts, lol. And if you feel like it, where you got whatever textures you used from.

If there's anything else you want to know, feel free to ask. Looking forward to seeing your icons :)

I really like #4! So pretty, and a great interpretation of the lyrics!

Thank you so much! :D I'm very pleased with the way it turned out also. Especially that it actually looks "glowy" and has a metallic sheen to it :) I didn't plan for it to look like this. I had a completely different idea for the lyrics when I started. The only part I had planned was the style of the icon. I wanted a texture that would cover the background but not too much, so I chose a texture that I hadn't used on another icon. Then I needed a texture to lay the icon on, that's how I matched the second texture. The text took the longest. I tried a bunch of different fonts until I found the two that I thought worked the best together. In the end the icon sort of created itself, lol. I'm very happy with it :)

I know just what you mean about the text taking the longest -- I've had icons where the image itself only took about two minutes, and then the next hour or so is just fiddling with different fonts, sizes, effects, placing, on and on and on...

Which is probably why so few of my icons usually have words on them... :)

the first and the last are SO COOL.

Thank you! :D I'm teaching myself a new technique, since I've always liked the square within a square look. Each icon uses a different method of making it. The Sun icon is the easier technique to do. I don't know if I can remember what I did on the first one, lol.

yeah, i did like the first one slightly better (but just slightly!), and i really do like boxes and the like. good job on teaching yourself. i stink at that.

Glad you like the icons :) You shouldn't say that about yourself not learning well. Check out some of the icon tutorial communities. You can follow icon making step by step. There are some very easy well explained tutorials out there. And then when you're more familiar with what each part of the program you're using does, it won't be as hard improvising. Also it'll be way easier when you change to either Photoshop or PSP. Trust me on this one. I was using Arcsoft and Microsoft Paint when I first started and it took twice to three times as long to make an icon than it does now. A lot of this is just trial and error, there are a lot of buttons you just keep clicking or unclicking to see if you like the result. I know I felt like giving up a lot in the beginning thinking my stuff wasn't very good. So I want to encourage you to keep practicing on your icons and get either one of those two photo programs, it'll make your life a lot more pleasant and change your outlook on your icon making ablities.

i'm asking for photoshop for my birthday, but i'm afraid that i'll be on the computer for way too long if i get it. :-) but when i have the time, i'll check some of them out.

I like them, good ones :)

Thank you :) I'm glad I was able to get them all done in time, since I'm a slow icon maker. It takes me anywhere from 1-2 days to make one icon, lol. That's pretty slow, lol.

Lovely icons. :)

Thank you so much! I'm glad you like :)