[WAR: Season II] Drawn Art

[Suicune's Fire]

That's a good point, Morzone. @Corrupt_Voidlich, was that an error?


P.S. Congrats to the winners and well done to everyone else! :D The entries were too good this week for me to even bother entering. That and I had no time. xD

[Morzone]

Also: wasn't 3rd place removed for week 2 because of point balancing in week 1?

[Suicune's Fire]

Also: wasn't 3rd place removed for week 2 because of point balancing in week 1?

The point balancing was rectified from last week. Coru can't actually give away more than 6 points a week, like any other judge of any section, so Neo Emolga just ironed out where the scoring was wrong and the points didn't go over the cap. :] Meaning that this week, there could be a third place with at half a point.

[Noblejanobii]

Name: Polly Austin's Grave
Team: Trainer
Myth/Legend: The Only Daughter of Nathaniel Austin
Summary/Link: This is a story that is very well known, or at least it used to be, in my neighborhood. There isn't much known to compare the story to so I'm telling you what I know. The story goes a little something like this. It's the French and Indian War. A young Polly Austin, child of Nathaniel Austin's second wife and only daughter, goes to a quilting party with a few friends from several farms in the area. During this quilting party, the residents received word of a pending Indian attack, so everyone was sent home. While being escorted home, Polly realized she had left behind her scarf. She insisted the group keep going on while she went back. She got her scarf and was on her way back when Native Americans captured her. Many reports say that they realized who she was and were angered at her father for a previous attack on their people. As a result, Polly was scalped (which is unheard of since most women were captured and kept as sex slaves or sent up for ransom). Her scarf was sent to Nathaniel's estate as a message. The tribe mysteriously disappeared after that, many people speculating that Nathaniel and his friends killed all the members of the tribe as revenge for Polly's death.
Piece of work:

Spoiler:

Extra: I picked this myth in particular because her gravestone is in my backyard. And it you don't believe me, I have photos.

[PTGigi]

Throwing in my two cents, no one has ever scored the max amount of points in any category. While I understand the thought, I don't think it's fair to anyone that in 2 weeks not one entry by any person for any category has gotten the max amount. Not even in the 5 point "half" categories or the theme category. Looking over the grades for all entries and your comments from them, I still have no idea how a lot of this is being graded. Frankly, I'm absolutely confused by the grading system, and a rundown of what you expect of us on would be much appreciated.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Scoring is all relative. I wouldn't worry so much about getting a perfect score if no one has gotten one so far. Some people when marking hesitate to give out perfect scores because they like to save them for a piece that not just matches what they asked for but totally blows them away and goes above and beyond. Other people will mark easier. There are pros and cons to both. It's the same for me when marking student reports. xD Considering it's relative, the exact points don't really matter that much. :)

Congrats to this week's winners! I love Velocity's entry :D

[lorii]

Great job everyone! The themes have been so broad that I haven't felt inspired, kudos to everyone who entered!

I really liked your entry a lot @PTGigi!

I agree I wish there were guidelines of what differentiates for example a 7/10 from a 8/10, and so forth, considering the points are always so close.

[Elysia]

Woaaaaahhhh this theme looks awesome for this week. I'm curious regarding legends--can I use legends from fictional works? Ie, would drawing some of the legends from LotR/The Silmarillion, or are we going for real-world myths (haha, that sounds like an oxymoron)?

Also, I, too, wouldn't mind having a bit more commentary if possible. <3 I'm glad that I placed, but I'm still really new to drawn art and each entry takes me and my mouse foreeeever--it'd be really handy to know what works and what doesn't so I can make improvements and streamline the process in the future. I get that you're super busy, so don't kill yourself or anything. ^^

[Coru]

With the theme scoring, I felt that they were all good and fascinating, that's why none of them had got low scores, but to get 9 and 10, I wanted it to be explained in depth a bit more, most just had a sentence or two about how they liked the animal rather than maybe rather than something that is a solid reason or an experience. Some I feel were better than others, but I did say the descriptions were not needed, so I didn't completely base it off that, I just decided to give maybe 3 or so marks for the description., even though I could totally understand you all and everything with your reason, I felt like there was a little more that people could have said. I don't know how to put it into words, it is hard to explain what I was looking for with the description for full marks, but hopefully you get at what I mean. I also agree with Sarah's point. I am really hesitant to give full marks because even a really good piece of work can be improved, so I really do not want to give out full marks as it would give the perception that the artist has mastered that area which, although it may be very good, would be unfair to say because there is always room for improvement of some form, even if it is very minimal. I will say that giving you all 8 could be seen as a little negative from one standing point as it may make it look like I just gave you all that score or that it makes it seem less meaningful, but you all did extremely well with matching the theme, but as I said earlier, I do not like to give out full marks due to the above reasons and to access to top marks, I feel a little more emphasis on the meaning of the piece was needed. Hopefully this is ok. :)

Also, @Velocity I was thinking more stories and urban legends that sort of thing rather than pokemon, however, if the legendary pokemon has a particularly good backstory/mythology, as long as the piece includes imagery and ideas from that mythology then sure, I will accept it.

I will get to the comments now and I will try to address all that you have asked/commented on to hopefully iron out the questions and quieries you have. The last thing I want is someone who doesn't understand the contest so feels put down by it. I want everyone to get as much from it as possible and get as much information as they can on how it works so they can work to strive to get the best they can.

[Suicune's Fire]

@Corrupt_Voidlich - I have very mixed thoughts about that. The point of a drawing contest is not to explain yourself. If people here wanted to write, they'd go to a writing section of the forum, like CW, ASB or GCEA. I think it's highly unfair that the theme is based off people's explanation of why they like an animal. o.o My favourite animal is a wolf. I don't have a specific reason as to why I like them, other than I've always loved dogs and they're doglike, but more majestic. If I had entered this week and you told me that my piece lost marks because I didn't have a good reason for liking my favourite animal, I'd be spewing.

It's also super unfair to have graded like this because nowhere did you state than an 'artist's statement' would contribute to a mark. If that was said, however, I think it would have been more fair to judge with this in mind. However, it still has nothing to do with theme. I would encourage you, if you deem it so important, to make it a separate category, and give it a value of 2 points. It's so not important. You're drawing something from your heart, from your mind--that can't always be put into words. This is what you have on the front page:

Also, if you want, you could also put in why it is your favourite animal and I will add that to the form. If you don't want to, you don't need to, just remove it from the form. It is just there if you want to interest me with some reading and discussion on here. haha

...Nowhere does it even imply that a written explanation for why it is your favourite animal is important, or contributes to the overall mark. It has nothing to do with theme; the theme was "draw your favourite animal." It wasn't "tell me why it's your favourite animal or you will lose points, OH, and, I'm going to judge the reason behind you liking the animal because if I think it's not good enough, BAM, points gone." No offence, but your evaluation of people's reasons for liking something has nothing to do with you, and neither does it relate to the challenge. Wolves don't even exist in my country. I don't need a reason to like them because I just do. Haven't you ever liked something for an inexplicable reason?


I didn't enter, true, but I feel like your judging scheme has to be rethought. If you're going to judge someone on something, then please let people know. It was like week one about backgrounds. That they weren't necessary so you won't lose points...but then you would gain them if you did include it. But then you also compared backgrounds between pieces, implying that they were important.

I don't mean to be offensive or rude, but this is how I feel and I think that other people might agree.