The Other End of the Spectrum

[Gilead]

[JOKE] Well the much anticipated list is out for those who made it into this year's Spectrum annual, and if you're like me you've been rejected...AGAIN!
What the hell were they thinkin'?

So I submit to you a new annual tradition: "The Other End of the Spectrum" showcasing the year's worst in fantasy art.

Here's your chance to get the recognition you really deserve. Post your rejected Spectrum submissions here.
Loosers only, so all you "in crowd" guys just keep on walkin'.[/JOKE}

I'll start with mine.
118982

[DayWalkerTP]

cool, I like the idea very mutch but i think the colours are a little bit darkly. Try to make the Asterisk-deaf more brighter (maybe more red :))

nice piece

[Elwell]

Great idea for a thread. Come on folks, pony up!

[Dizon]

Nice composition! I'm sure you'll be there someday!

[MikeHayes]

I like this idea, here are my rejected entries:

[Matt Smith]

I wish I had something to post here, but I didnt finish my piece.

[Mull]

nice entries guys and shame they weren't choosen :(

[Gilead]

Oh so I suppose the rest of you ALL got chosen? Mike 'n me are the only two sour grapes in the bunch? Huh? huh?
Well I'm happy for all of you...really...sincerely...it's an honor just to be nominated...

OK, Thanks for the comments guys. Actually I'm just a sign painter so no I don't think I will be in there someday unless they do a year's best signs anthology.

DayWalkerTP, Thanks, I'm afraid I don't understand what "Asterisk-deaf" is.

MikeHayes, Nice ones I remember you posting the first one here.

[Jeff Lafferty]

I'm in!!!:rendered:
(well,... not in Spectrum but in on this post)

[Mungus]

Gilead, nice painting, it's very melancholy,
were you consciously intending for the rocket to shoot out from the mans' crotch, between two balls, (and maybe there's something suggestive too about the angle of the ledge he's sitting on),

sorry, it just jumps out at me, that's all

.....I'll get my coat :)

[Gilead]

Jeff Lafferty, Good one, thanks for posting.

Mozchopz,...uhmm...nope the crotch rocket thing never occured to me until now. Perhaps I'm subliminally frustrated.
I wanted it to be reminiscent of the old Route 66 hotel signs or Ships Diner with the big boomerang shapes and rocket ships, and the rooftops slanting upwards like those rocks.
Kinda' like these.
120110

[Jeff Lafferty]

Thanks Gilead, I like your's too... Its got that nice chunky oil look that I like. Interesting, drawing inspiration from a motel sign, nice job.

[mikeorion22]

this is a fun thread, i did this while in school with illustrator and photoshop, and got rejected from spectrum, i think i posted it a while back, but not positive

[Gilead]

Corporate vampires mourning the death of copyright? Interesting stuff..

[mikeorion22]

Gilead- hey, it was an illustration for an article brad holland and i forgot who else, i think her name was cynthia turner, did about various creative people artists,writers, photographers losing certain rights to copyright their own work, there had been alot written about it and i didnt know much of it was going on. I found out this morning i got this one into Expose, so im happy about that.

[MoonVisionStudio]

I'll chip in. This one was rejected last year, I hope that still counts.

[stalsby]

nice stuff everyone! I don't see how y'all got rejected! Do you know where I can see the winners showcase?

[jadefoodog]

whats this spectrum thing???

[MoonVisionStudio]

jadefoodog- Spectrum is a juried annual published yearly. It features the best in Science Fiction and Fantasy art. All the big dawgs are in it, everyone else wants to be in it.

stalby- Since it's a book they want you to buy it, they dont show the work on the site:http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/
Their site is very basic but they say they are working on it to make it more dynamic.

[SwordOfDivineFire]

http://http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SwordOfDivineFire/immersion2.jpg

I haven't submitted work to Spectrum for a few years but here was the last piece that I had rejected. It's 2 years old and I'm sure I posted it somewhere before way back when...

[Eric Lofgren]

[JOKE] Well the much anticipated list is out for those who made it into this year's Spectrum annual, and if you're like me you've been rejected...AGAIN!
What the hell were they thinkin'?

So I submit to you a new annual tradition: "The Other End of the Spectrum" showcasing the year's worst in fantasy art.

Here's your chance to get the recognition you really deserve. Post your rejected Spectrum submissions here.
Loosers only, so all you "in crowd" guys just keep on walkin'.[/JOKE}

I'll start with mine.
118982

Hey Gilead, I really like this painting. It's very evocative of Frazetta's old spacey stuff. And I dig the homage of sorts to the old 50's Route 66 era architecture. It works. I really don't think there was much that kept it from entry into Spectrum.

If you're at all interested in hearing some comments, though, the one thing that really jumps out at me is the busyness in the compostion. Particularily in and around the centre of the painting. That's not to say that there isn't some balance going on. But I think that there might be too much that needs to be balanced, if you know what I mean. Such as the two planetoids, the rocket and it's vapour trail and the misty vapour wafting up to the right hand top, as well as the astronaut. I think what's happening is that we're not getting a very good focus to the comp because of this. Perhaps eliminating one of the planetoids and sort of pulling everything apart a bit to give some breathing room in the center of the compostion might helps towards this. I would also consider eliminating the misty vapour as well as I'm not sure if it's adding enough to the comp to warrant it's being there. If it was meant as a device to highlight the astronaut, I think he'd stand out fine without it. I also can't shake the feeling that the rocket's vapour trail shouldn't end at the rock the astronaut is sitting on. I'm thinking that seeing it come from the far right of the painting edge and then slipping behind the astronaut to carry on to where it is now would help give it more of a feeling of distance and separation from the astronaut. Which might enhance the lonliness he's no doubt feeling

I dunno, just a couple cents for your consideration. In the end, I really do like the painting a great deal. No doubt you'll make it in Spectrum soon enough with work of this quailty :)

Edit- Meant to add that I like everything else in this thread (great idea for a thread, by the way), but Gilead's painting really struck a chord with me.

[Gilead]

MoonVisionStudio, Old one's are fine, why not? we're just larking here.

SwordOfDivineFire,You havn't submitted in a few years? You know the old saying: "If at first you don't succeed... come back next year and we'll crush your puny ego again! Ha ha ha ha!" (it's a very old saying, trust me)

Eric Lofgren, Thank you sincerely. I was so moved by your post that I dug this back out of the trash and tried a couple of your suggestions. Namely I glazed out the yellow cloud and hitched the vapor trail up so that it passes behind the guy. This eliminates the crotch rocket effect as well. My new glaze has a bit more blue in it so it adds to the contrast and pops the guy out a bit more.
Kind of a bad photograph, sorry.
124718

[Eric Lofgren]

Hey Gilead, that's looking good. It's hard to see the full effect of your changes as the photo's not doing it justice, but it definitely feels less busy to me now. And there's definitely a stronger sense of lonliness to the astronaut.

If you were still motivated, I would suggest reducing the smaller planetoid in size and separating it from the larger one. And if you wanted to fill the area where the vapour was a nice subtle nebula effect that doesn't over power too much, just behind and around the astronaut's head, would probably look cool. Just some more thoughts. All in all, I like the changes.

And whatever you do, keep the painting out of the trash, man :)

[Chingwa]

Awesome thread guys. I'm now on my 3rd rejection from Spectrum. The stuff in here so far is really nice, Here's hoping they "see the light" next year. ^_^

My unworthy submission:
http://www.popgirl.net/public/post_07.jpg
http://www.popgirl.net/public/post_08.jpg
http://www.popgirl.net/public/post_09.jpg

[mikernaut]

Well this year seeing as they added a "concept" section I figured I'd have a excellent chance to get in. Here are my entries that were done at the gaming company I work at. These were created to help pitch a game idea to our publisher.

This is my second time being rejected btw.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/mikernaut/ganker_final.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/mikernaut/FantomeLEnfant_final.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/mikernaut/grabber_final.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/mikernaut/piranhamen_final.jpg

[Mr-Joe]

Hey gilead, can I suggest to maybe lighten up the mountains, or desaturate them to make them look farther away, I think their color and darkness is too much alike the rock in the foreground making them seem like they are closer than they are supposed to be. And also the new one looks a lot better with those changes.

[Gymnopedie]

wasn't expecting to get in, but figured i might as well give it a shot so next year i could try again.

http://fallenlights.net/portfolio/traditional/the_safest_place.jpg

[Gilead]

It's Alive!
This thread is coming to life I like that.

Eric Lofgren, Thank you, The moons are so heavily textured that I couldn't change them much without sandpaper so maybe I maybe I won't go there. Then again I was just gonna' trash it...


Chingwa, nice sense of story there. I assume she's the ghost of someone who drowned in the well?

mikernaut, Well in my opinion having a company pay you for your art trumps getting chosen for a contest any day. Nice work.

Mr-Joe Good call, think I'll do that thanks.

Gymnopedie, Not bad for a first time rejectie. Here's hoping you never qualify for this thread again.

Thanks everyone.
P.S. does anyone know why all my images turned to thumbnails? Am I being punished? I'm very sorry...NOT!

[Mr-Joe]

I posted a question about that in the support forum, I think its a bug or something, but... if you attach your images to your post, then put them in your text box using the paper clip attachment icon, they will show up as thumbnails... to show them full size, attach them with the attachment manager and just dont use the paperclip after, they will show up full size at the bottom of your post, unfortunatly you can't put text above or below them, but it will display them full size.