SOTM 2008 - September (Pairs!) - Entry Phase

[Solace]

!!!Welcome to the SOTM!!!

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~Congratulations to Eps~ for winning the August Contest!~

The theme chosen for September is - Pairs!.
What is that? See here for details.

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About the SOTM:

The Signature Of The Month contest is open to all members of the Animesuki Forums. The goal of the contest is to provide a fun and competitive way of showing off and improving the signatures and personal skills of contestants. The winner of each months contest is given the privilege of choosing the theme for the next month.

The contest begins on the first of each month and consists of roughly two weeks of entry creation/submission, one week of voting, and one week off. The entry and voting periods may be extended or shortened slightly as needed.

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About the SOTM Theme:

Each month prospective contestants are given a theme to base their entries on. This theme is decided by the winner of the previous contest. The theme can be anything, as long as it does not break forum rules regarding inappropriate material. At the end of the month, voters choose which entries they liked best out of all submitted entries and a new winner is decided. Themes cannot be used twice in a row.

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The Rules of the SOTM:

1. Contestants are allowed to create, work on, and submit their entry from the start of the contest until two weeks from the start date. This period of time is specified by the organizer every month. Once the entry period expires, all submitted entries are gathered up and sent to the Voting Thread.

2. Contestants must submit original works. This means you cannot simply cut a picture out, slap your name on it, and call it your own. Claiming someone else's work as your own is also not allowed. Anyone caught doing this will have their entries removed from the contest.

To further expand on this rule:

2A. Unless proven otherwise, all entries made by contestants are derivatives of works made by someone else. Thus, no claim of "ownership" shall be made in reference to the image(s) used in the signature entry.

2B. Misrepresenting someone else's signature work for your own is prohibited and will result in an immediate expulsion of the entry and disqualify the contestant from the current month's contest.

2C. In the spirit of originality, "crop" sigs are frowned upon, but not discouraged; however, the contest organizer can call upon all contestants to show the source of their entry(ies) at any time.

2D. Also in the spirit of originality, new signatures are encouraged. However, if you feel one of your older signatures is perfect for the theme and wish to enter it, you may. Just remember that the signature still has to follow the rules stated above.

3. Contestants are allowed to create as many entries as they wish, but are only allowed to enter one. To submit an entry officially, the contestant must mark the post in the Offical Entry Thread containing that entry with the words "Final Entry", or they can submit the signature to the contest organizer using the private message function.

4. Contestants who wish to keep their entries private until after the submission period can private message the contest organizer with their entry. The entry will not be displayed until submissions are closed, unless the contestant displays that entry publicly.

5. Entries must comply with Animesuki rules regarding signature size. This means each entry can be no larger than 500 x 160, and must be less than 50,000 bytes. They must also comply with forum decency rules. If you think your entry will be offensive or reported to the moderators, don't post it, even as a joke.

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About the SOTM Entry Process:

Every month, a new entry thread is created. Each month's entry thread is a central spot meant to give contestants a chance to create and improve their entries as well as their skills, in addition to providing them a place to post their official submissions.

The thread is solely about helping contestants with entries, and as such these things will not be tolerated:

1. Nonconstructive and negative criticism (if you truly dislike something about an entry, be polite and helpful)

2. Comments, questions, or complaints about General SOTM affairs

3. Flaming, trolling, and other uncivil behavior that breaks Forum Rules

Anyone disrupting the thread will be asked to take it privately, to the SOTM Generic Discussion Thread, or if the offense is severe enough - reported to the moderators.

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This Month's Entry Period::

This months entry period officially starts Monday, September 1st, 2008 and lasts until Friday, September 19th, 2008. Entries will be gathered and put up for voting on Sunday, September 21st, 2008. Voting will end on the following Sunday.

The due date ends at 11:59 (midnight basically) UTC/GMT. The polling will be up one day later after 11:59 (again, midnight). I will try to be as lenient as I can with last minute submissions but only slightly.

It is up to you as a contestant to know what your time zone is in relation to UTC/GMT. I cannot do this for you.

Here is a site that can help you figure that out: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/convert_time_in_UTC.aspx

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Good luck to all contestants, and most importantly, have fun!!!

[Solace]

**reserved**

[Solace]

News this Month:

I'm pleased to announce that there is now an official SOTM Staff! KiNA and Marina will continue their help every month with the SOTM. They'll be ensuring that entries and votes are counted and that the process runs smoothly.

I'll be around more often due to some RL issues finally clearing, but they will assist in managing the daily matters of the contest. I'll be handling the monthly duties, answering questions, and any matters that involve moderation (rule breaking, thread disruptions, etc.) or general SOTM matters (rule creating/revising, format reviews, etc.).

So basically, nothing is changing, just making things official.

[KiNA]

C-C-Combo breaker!!!

**reserved**

[bkg9990]

I'll put this sig atm because Im lazy and still searching for them SherylxAlto pics to work on



PS: @KiNa: Tuna buns XD

[KiNA]

*Hopes and Dreams*

XD


Temporary submission

[zSolaris]

Final Submission

[Faeyice]

For now this is my Final Entry. Depends on if I get inspiration from something else that I like better. I'm also working on a second option too though.

[KholdStare]

Hell, let's put a submission up in case I can't work on this month.

[ryuukazi]

Guess ill put up my submission for now but sep 19 is along time

[White Manju Bun]

Hmmm interesting theme, I hopefully will be able to enter something this month. So far the new stuff looks good

Edit: oh question, do the people in the sig need to be from the same anime (Im assuming yes) since like my sig is a pair but from two diff anime.

[KholdStare]

Also, does one have to be a "person"? The pairs I'm considering contrast in size, such as Amu and Miki.

[LeminLyme]

=)
One of the harder sigs I've ever done, and i dunno if it's even winning material XD

[Solace]

Originally Posted by White Manju Bun

Edit: oh question, do the people in the sig need to be from the same anime (Im assuming yes) since like my sig is a pair but from two diff anime.

No restrictions on that. Cross over type entries allow for more variety.

Originally Posted by KholdStare

Also, does one have to be a "person"? The pairs I'm considering contrast in size, such as Amu and Miki.

Clarify. I'm not sure what you mean. A signature of a person holding a lamp wouldn't work, nor would CC holding Cheese-kun. Ichigo and Kon would, because Kon is actually a character.

[KholdStare]

The Ichigo and Kon example works, thanks. So the requirement is just that it's a real character.

[Solace]

Correct. Generally mascots tend to be inanimate and more like props/fanservice, but Kon doubles as both because he is actually important to the Bleach story (well, earlier on anyway, now he's just comic relief).

I'm open to exceptions but I'd expect to see some examples provided and a brief explanation as to why someone thinks it would work. I love anime but it's not like I'm a walking encyclopedia of character knowledge.

[Ice Climbers]

Oh man, I never really did sigs with more than 1 character but since I might not be able to make another entry any time soon (college is starting @@) I'll just post the one I most likely will be using here (digging, oh digging the old pile of sigs)

temporary entry:

[Endrance]

My first attempt for this month...Thinking about changing the text though
any c&c greatly appreciated

[KholdStare]

Originally Posted by Endrance

My first attempt for this month...Thinking about changing the text though
any c&c greatly appreciated

I'll say a few things:

1) The signature is too big, and the focus is too small. If you cut off a bit from the top and/or bottom and get rid of the space on the right to make your focus off-center while moving the text somewhere else, then it would look better plus giving the picture a better quality. This is nothing technical, but something I though would be better from my perspective.

2) I love the animation around the text. I'm not sure how you will change the text, but definitely keep the animation. Maybe you could use a lighter font color to blend in with the sun rays.

[gelato_]

temp entry


this was one of my temp entry for last month also, thus the chibi sabers >.<

Is anyone else expecting a lot of animated siggie entries this month? ( since last month animated ones kinda dominated the votes)