SNTD HA Challenge 8 (Results Posted)

Entries closed, results coming soon!!!

Your Task (reposted)

The Magic of Christmas (Lights)

For this challenge, I want you guys to capture the glittering magic that our lights bring to our holiday celebrations.

Specifics (reposted)

Your HA must:

feature lights and general glintiness, where the eye is drawn to the sparkle of the lights
the rest of your HA design should be there to complement and move the eye towards the lights, and not away from them
be made up of pieces that fit cleanly together into a complete image (rather than looking a bunch of items "thrown together" and pasted in)
pay careful attention to all aspects of the image, including background
be a balanced image, using all of the space

Feel free to make your overall design as humanoid or as abstract as you like. Throwing on a background item or two and calling it quits won't cut it... I want to see your creativity and attention to detail throughout your images. That doesn't mean you have to use 25 or 30 items... But 5 or 6 would also not be enough... :O

Entries (reposted)

Flyingkat, SAILOR, gryphongrl, Didi, CharliesNOTDead, Monime,

Marionette, Merlot, topipers, MasterSir, Holden, dragonrider88,

HirYoshiMa, Aturnia, lilyfair, Kanna, sauvage, IngiVamp,

Ramby, Sayuri, Lypsyl, Rox, Poptart,

The Results

Now, normally, I would go through and sort you guys into the upper half and the lower half. In this challenge, however, no one is being sent home. There are just a winner, a few top rankings, and the people who didn't make it into the top few. So, I'm just going to start my sorting straight away...

Now, this is an extremely detail oriented challenge, and the competition is FIERCE. So, I've reposted the specifics of this challenge up above, in case you guys need a refresher, and I'll often reference back to those requirements as I judge the entries.

A few important key words for starters... For this challenge, I wanted my designers to focus on "the glittering magic" of "holiday" "lights". I also pointed out that the lights themselves had to be the main focus.

But that left 22 contest entries. To start with, I sorted out the outfits that had less focus on the lights and that magical feel...

These first four entries just were less... well, lit... and sparkly... Sorry guys, but you haven't won this challenge.

Out :( (Of challenge 8, anyway)

Unfortunately, one entry was apparently deleted before I judged the event, so I wasn't able to judge that outfit...

That means Didi, Flyingkat, gryphongrl, Holden, and IngiVamp, you have not one this challenge.

If you are a current SNTD contestant, no worries, you're still SAFE in that challenge. You just haven't won challenge 8.

If you aren't currently an SNTD contestant, thanks for joining us, and feel free to check out the viewers group if you'd like to keep up with what the designers are doing!

Now the most important thing was the lights themselves. I wanted you guys to make sure the focus of the image was in fact those lights. That's different than most HA challenges. But if the person in your image drew too much attention away from the lights themselves, that didn't work in your favor. Some of these outfits did a great job of layering the lights throughout, with some in the background, some in the foreground, etc, so that the focus was really on the lights and sparkliness. Unfortunately, the next five outfits just didn't do that. I felt like my eye was drawn towards the person themself, and AWAY from the lights.

So, sorry guys, but you haven't won the challenge.

Out :( (Of challenge 8, anyway)

That means Lypsyl, lilyfair, sauvage, MasterSir, CharliesNOTDead, HirYoshiMa, and Aturnia, you have not won this challenge.

If you are a current SNTD contestant, no worries, you're still SAFE in that challenge. You just haven't won challenge 8.

If you aren't currently an SNTD contestant, thanks for joining us, and feel free to check out the viewers group if you'd like to keep up with what the designers are doing!

At this point, the remaining competitors were really tough, and I started having to get pickier... While I love the dazzling lights you guys included in your images, I just felt that your focus strayed a little more into completing a very wearable on-site HA rather than keeping your focus to the lights. Several of you had added items that I felt drew attention away from our light focus.

Out :( (Of challenge 8, anyway)

Rox, Poptart, and Marionette, you guys have not won this challenge.

If you are a current SNTD contestant, no worries, you're still SAFE in that challenge. You just haven't won challenge 8.

If you aren't currently an SNTD contestant, thanks for joining us, and feel free to check out the viewers group if you'd like to keep up with what the designers are doing!

At this point, I was down to 1! of my current designers, and 7 individuals trying to win their way into the competition. :O

Now, when I get stuck in my sorting, I often like to open up the outfits themselves, and look at exactly how they were put together and layered. After all, I'm trying to turn you guys into Master Designers... :P

The next two lost out because their outfits were a little less magical than the others. Glittery, filled with light and sparkliness, yes. But the outfits themselves were a little more real, down to earth, and normal than the others. Pretty, sure. But just not as magical.

Out :( (Of challenge 8, anyway)

Ramby, and SAILOR, you haven't won this challenge.

If you are a current SNTD contestant, no worries, you're still SAFE in that challenge. You just haven't won challenge 8.

If you aren't currently an SNTD contestant, thanks for joining us, and feel free to check out the viewers group if you'd like to keep up with what the designers are doing!

That left me with six remaining contestants:

Final Six

And this point, the challenge was getting REALLY hard to judge... I dropped one more contestant, however. Then, I took a coffee/watch-a-TV-show break. :P

This last contest left because... Well, something had seemed off about it. Something bothered me. I couldn't quite decide what it was, but in the end I decide to pull it from the final six. I think it was the lack of nose (though there was a nose shadow, at least), or possibly the coloring of the dress and jacket (they didn't seem to quite fit together...) I don't know. It was a lovely outfit, but just not quite there.

Out :( (Of challenge 8, anyway)

Monime, you haven't won this challenge.

If you are a current SNTD contestant, no worries, you're still SAFE in that challenge. You just haven't won challenge 8.

If you aren't currently an SNTD contestant, thanks for joining us, and feel free to check out the viewers group if you'd like to keep up with what the designers are doing!

The next contestant also had an impressive HA, and I loved the creativity they brought to the table. Their entry was filled with magic and light. However, in the end, it seemed to stray rather far from the holiday side of things, focusing purely on magic and light. After much deliberation, I decided to pull this entry from the final five.

Out :( (Of challenge 8, anyway)

Sayuri, you haven't won this challenge.

If you are a current SNTD contestant, no worries, you're still SAFE in that challenge. You just haven't won challenge 8.

If you aren't currently an SNTD contestant, thanks for joining us, and feel free to check out the viewers group if you'd like to keep up with what the designers are doing!

At this point, I had it whittled down to FOUR contestants! The final four included one current contestant, along with 2 new contestants and 1 previous participant.

Final Four

Since I now had it whittled down to just three people who aren't currently in the contest, I decided to let all three of you join us at SNTD!!!!

Please head over to https://subeta.net/forums.php/groups/#/group/8618 and join the forum group. :) I'll be sure to accept your entries ASAP, so you can get started on Challenge 9 (which I'll be posting by the end of the week!)

That said, I still have to narrow it down to one single winner!

The next contestant seemed to be channeling a little bit more of a fairy-elf vibe than a holiday elf vibe, so I'm sorry, but you haven't won the prize for this challenge.

Out :( (Of challenge 8, anyway)

Kanna, you haven't won this challenge (though you do get to join SNTD).

Final Three

topipers, your HA has a very Holidays-in-the-Diagon-Alley feel. I love the glow of the lights (which incidentally remind me of the Christmas lights the town I live in puts up every year) in the background, but also how the magical glitter and sparkle surrounds the figure, anchoring her to her to her surroundings, and helping prevent her from taking the focus too far from the lights themselves. I also loved the warm clothing and hot beverage, and how the colors fit well to the background, holding the same warmth and holiday spirit present in the rest of the image.

I did feel like the hair on your HA pops a bit more than some of the other parts of the image, preventing it from feeling perfectly real. It was a light reminder that this outfit is in fact one pieced together from items.

dragon88, your design held plenty of Christmas cheer. Your image included everything I associate with Christmas, from the snow in the background and the beautifully lit tree to the dangling lights and the holiday fairy/angel that was featured in the center of your image. Your character was firmly anchored in her surroundings, and the image was balanced and tidy, providing a very cohesive final piece. Your outfit also had a relaxed simplicity to it that I found refreshing amidst the chaos of the season.

However, that same simplicity is also the negative point I have for you. You put a great deal of time and effort into your background and foreground layers, and I applaud you for that. You didn't, however, do much to make the dress you selected your own. As always, the creativity of the entries in my contests are one of my favorite parts. I love to see items used in ways that make it so I don't even recognize the individual items. I would have liked to see you bring a bit of creativity to that dress, changing it in some way.

Merlot, your background is filled with Christmas lights that glint and glitter. I love how you included both modern, twinkling lights and the more traditional light of candles. You put a lot of thought into your layering, especially in terms of foreground and background layers.

For negatives, I felt like your HA seemed a little isolated from the rest of the design, especially around the boots. Something to make her seem more present, instead of pasted in, would have helped your overall design. I also felt like the bright clarity of the person in your design did wind up drawing the focus a little from the lights in the rest of your HA.

Out :( (Of challenge 8, anyway)

Merlot, you haven't won this challenge (though you do get to rejoin SNTD).

So...

Winner

I stared at the final two for a long long time, and in the end... Well, I just couldn't choose between the two... One was just so magical, and the other so Christmasy, and they both had enough of both...

So, I've decided to award both of you the challenge items.

Congratulations, winners of challenge 8!

dragon88, topipers,

Dragon, congrats on your win, and topipers, congrats on winning and getting a chance to join the big competition!

If you want to see what my designers have been up to in SNTD 2017-2018, you can feel free to check out the event by joining my "Viewers group" at this link. There, you can see the new challenges, discuss them, see the results and entries of my remaining designers, and make your own entries (though ineligible for a prize)!

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SNTD HA Challenge 8 (Results Posted)

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