ABC #15 - Mai Time!

Media Outlet Image Mishmash
1

First of all, thanks to all the artists who submitted entries. Thanks also to the judges and quiche for showing me the ropes of running ABC.

As usual …

I’ll unveil the artists next to each avatar once all the judging is complete.

The standard rules:

#1: No one discusses the avs until ALL SIX judges have passed judgement. This is to prevent people from giving away who the artists are. This is not limited to the artists. Even if you did not submit an av, please refrain from commenting until after the judges have voted. The judges do not know who has submitted an av, and I don’t want you giving away to them that you DIDN’T submit an av by starting to comment on them.

#2: Judges: You are to pick your favorite 3 in each category based on whatever criteria you want. You will then order them from 1 to 3. Your #1 pick gets 3 points, your #2 pick gets 2 points, and your #3 pick gets 1 point. The points will be tallied, and a winner for each category declared.

#3: Judges can feel free to discuss among themselves any aspects of the avatars they like. They may confer with each other before voting, but do not have to. Feel free to discuss what you like or dislike about any of the avatars --1 Restriction, tho! Judges may not speculate as to who the artists are, as your speculations may affect the other judges.

The judges are:
quiche
Bowling Pin
noodleman
xjester
AsianDemon
jae hoon

#4: After the judges vote, the points will be tallied and I will reveal the artists behind the avatars. Discussion is then open for anyone and anything about the avatars.

**#5 PRIZES:

ANIMATED**

1st Place:

1 figurine – Chun Li (from glgaz)
1 Digital sketch (from woof)

2nd Place:

1 month of premium (from givequicheachance)
1 Digital sketch (from rook)

3rd Place:

1 Ken cell phone cleaner (Yes, it really does clean your screen, from glgaz)

STILL

1st Place:

1 figurine – Mai (from glgaz)
1 Digital sketch (from woof)

2nd Place:

1 month of premium (from givequicheachance)

3rd Place:

1 Ryu cell phone cleaner (Yes, it really does clean your screen, from glgaz)

#6: ENTRIES (As usual, if a title was not specified by the artist, I made one up.)

STILL

“Planet Mai”

KidZero

“Oh Mai Geisha”

shizuma_15

“Nippon Ichi”

Worthless

“Mai Trap”

Tat Guy

“Mai Profile”

GuMz

“Lightning Strikes”

free

“Surprise Secks”

givequicheachance

“Mai am I hot”

celcius

“Fire in her eyes”

Sheng-Long

“Where the fuck are the last two pieces!!!”

monkee77

ANIMATED

“Surprise Mai Secks”

Tat Guy

“Subliminal Suckage”

True_Tech

“Oh my Chang?!” Mai luvz Chang?!

monkee77

“Midnight Run”

Worthless

“Bubz ftw”

surewhyyoucan

“Heartbeat”

givequicheachance

“Club time”

GuMz

“Bubz Beast”

celcius

#7 Links
Here are links to the judging threads of all of the previous battles:

ABC #14 - Urien
ABC #13 - MSPaint
ABC #12 - T and A, and S R K
ABC #11 - Retro
ABC X - Fuckachunkz/Guilty Gear/Technology
ABC #9 - Time
ABC #8 - Rock n’ Roll
ABC #7 - Food
ABC #6 - Weapons (w/ a Soul Calibur Bonus)
ABC #5 - Street Fighter
ABC #4 - Darkstalkers
ABC #3 - Sprite Commercials
ABC #2 - Booty/Boobies, Sprites, & SRK
ABC #1 - Trial & Error

Judges, please make your picks! Thanks again to everyone involved!

2

Hahaha! Man, these are kickass. Kudos to the creators. :tup:

3

aaaaaa these were disappointing

4

Some of them were good, but others weren’t as up to par with past ABC’s. Oh well, good work to all!

5

agreed

never got around to making mine

Christ, 3 ‘surprise secks’?

Lame.

6

Alright guys, just to let some of you guys know, i’ve recieved all the paypal payments and i thank ya’ll lol, time to judge. I give big credit to those that are orginal or made a impact on my thoughts while i was looking at it.

STILLS

**1st Place : “Where the fuck are the last two pieces!!!” **

  • It was a great idea, i never thought about it, very original, you even got it on a wooden table which is a nice twist. although the wooden part could be toned down just a bit, seems really bright compared to the darkened Mai. The smilie wasnt needed there, it kinda made it cheesy for me.

**2nd Place : “Nippon Ichi” **

  • Alright simple yet detailed to a fixed amount, the color edit seemed detailed, although probably using the blue’ish theme wasnt something that i expected from a Mai avatar, probably would’ve been better with the orginal red/pink tint. Also the mspaint writing seems to out there, i would never realize it said “Nippon Ichi”, if it wasnt for the tittle, i thought at first it was something japanese lettering.

3rd Place : “Mai Trap”

  • hummm just to let you know… i know how this is easy… lol but anyways what i like most about this is the blending with the backgrounp, color is clean cut with the image, i like the modern use of the blurr to blend out the image and BG together, although nice the theme and writing he gave it doesnt make much sense, ‘trap’, really was a random word probably be better without it. even though nice, but not very orginal, seems the same style as any avatar.

ANIMATIONS (not gonna be detailed with animation)

1st Place : “Heartbeat”

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g226/glgaz/ABC15/Heartbeat.gif

  • Nice detailed with the movement, blended the image well with the background, although i wish there was more animation with the rest of her body.

2nd Place : “Oh my Chang?!” Mai luvz Chang?!

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g226/glgaz/ABC15/Oh-my-CHANGMailuvzChang.gif

  • Well seen this made me laugh, even though i’ve seen this style, it took alot of effort to make, very creative in the end.

3rd Place: “Midnight Run”

  • Alright even though its very simple it made alot of sense with its theme aswell, i can def. see Mai doing this, the only problem i wish you edit her outfit to black, to make it look more of a ninja theme to it.

Alright good job everyone, and good luck.

Also… i know who did what in a few… lol the style never changes that much, but im a no bias judge, my judging was based on how hard the avatar was to create aswell as originality, I do not base judge on past ABC battles.

7

I concur, i didnt enter because i couldnt get the right facial expression so i shouldnt complain but i knew this was going to happen.

8

Any suggestions for the next ABC? Whether it be theme suggestions/more time to do entries/prizes? I think we’d like to keep this going pretty often and I want to keep participation up and get as much feedback as possible when it comes to how we can improve things to interest as many people as possible in entering.

9

Oi if we wanna rock of of these do we take it up with the creator? :wonder:

10

Once voting is done, I’ll add the names of the creators and you can ask them for the AV if it’s available.

11

it has less to do with the subject and more with the entry quality, which can’t be helped

but whatev. past 2 ABC’s i haven’t participated, hopefully i’ll do something nice for the next one.

12

Man, I want 3 of these!

13

Sorry guys going to have to wait until later today when I get off work.

14

I’m also disappointed with the quality this time around. I think this is why I stopped doing t he ABC’s for a while in the first place. Do them every once in a while, and you get stuff like the last ABC. Do them every couple weeks, and you get this.

STILLS - Best 3

1 - “Mai Trap”

Is this like Mouse Trap? The colors work really nice, and I like the way the artist played with the focus to make the drawing of mai really fit in with the rest of the imagery. Very well done.

2 - “Fire in her eyes”

Really like the bg, and it’s nice to see a sprite of Mai that’s not a “money-shot.” Overall I think it just looks great.I wish I knew what the Japenese said.

3 - “Planet Mai”

I wish the red ball looked more like a render and less like a gradient, but this av is solid. The design is good. The font works well, and everything is placed where it should be. A little extra antialiasing on the extended arm would have been nice though, as the elbow area has more noticeable jaggies than the whole rest of the sillhouette put together.

…seriously.

15

ANIMATIONS ? Best 3

1 - “Midnight Run”

My favorite out of these avs. Best in show, easily. The moon is huge and glorious, and rugal?s rooftop is the perfect color. The palette swap on mai to make her look darker was brilliant.

2 - “Surprise Mai Secks”

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g226/glgaz/ABC15/SurpriseMaisecks.gif

What the hell is going on in this av? I think its craziness is what gives it the appeal. The text is ugly though, and the plain black background is, well, plain. It hurts me to have to give this 2nd place, but out of what we?ve got, it?s my only choice.

3 - “Oh my Chang?!” Mai luvz Chang?!

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g226/glgaz/ABC15/Oh-my-CHANGMailuvzChang.gif

Wow, crazy edit on Chang, but the presentation is kinda crappy. No background during the Chang/Mai parts, but then theres a black bg at the end. Also, the text is haard to read, particularly the red on white when Mai talks. I kind of have to take issue with this one as well, since just a couple weeks ago I made an avatar using the ball-scrub chang sprite with psylocke right next to him (goleafsgoaz is currently wearing it.)

…seriously.

16

Just a few comments:

“Bubz Beast”

I havent really seen many story avs that just use stock art instead of sprites, so thats a plus. Also, the text is clear and readable. Unfortunately, the backgrounds are really simplistic, the portraits are really common, and the placement is weird. During the initial viewing, it seems like Mai is standing way above Akuma since his portrait is so low in the av, and hers is so high. Also, some bad white jaggy stuff around the non-shin Gouki pic.

“Mai Profile”

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g226/glgaz/ABC15/MaiProfile.png

Holy shit thats busy! On the one hand, Id love to be know how to be able to do stuff like that, but on the other, I just dont feel its executed well here. Seems like theres just too much going on, and way too much red & white.

“Club time”

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g226/glgaz/ABC15/clubtime.gif

Mai floats in midair as she shakes back and forth. Yama swings his arm behind her, but from the placement it looks like he’s stroking her knee? The saving grace is the disco ball lighting, which is a really clever effect. But seriously, why are Mai’s floating in the air when Yamazaki’s feet are below the frame? Here’s what could have been one of the strongest pieces here, ruined by bad technique. The BG is suitable and the disco-ball lighting effect is really cool. It would have been cool enough to carry this whole av if the rest was done at all well, but the poor sprite placement brings the whole thing down.

…seriously.

17

Finished writing comments, posting it later when all the judges have seen the entries.

haha wow I thought I was the only one who wasn’t feeling it this time.

Jesus, we’re like a buncha women in the same office with synchronized menstruations. :rofl: Except its creativity metaphorically bleeding out. I say, let’s just stick some cotton in there and weather this thing and bring on the next challenge!

P.S.
I have to say though, I know I campaigned and voted for Mai because I thought she wasn’t a very deep character and it would be challenging to make a substantial avatar about her…maybe a little too challenging.

I should’ve voted for Terry or CapCom. lol

18

Dan all the way

19

I voted for Captain Commando in the poll. I was honestly expecting Cammy or Mai to win when we started the poll so seeing Dan almost win was a big surprise. I agree with Sheng, inspiration and creativity probably ran a little low on this one for some people.

All of that being said, I hope the next ABC gets back up to par with those of the past.

20

My Picks

STILL

1st
"Mai Trap"

Nice and clean AV. The blur around the face is a great touch. I would’ve like to see maybe more vivid colours instead of the sepia like look, but great non the less.

2nd
"Nippon Ichi"

Another clean one. The pic is a little pixelated, but not sure if there was anything that could be done about it. Not really digging the font though. Doesn’t match well with the pic. I also would’ve liked to see it in more of a redish colour, as it is Mai we’re talking about.

3rd
"Surprise Secks"

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g226/glgaz/ABC15/91faf02a.jpg

I had a hard time picking third place, as I found this and the other two listed below to be on equal grounds. I don’t like the background used here. The sprites are relatively clean, and Mai’s expression is what put it over the top of the the other two choices.

Honourable Mentions
"Mai Profile"

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g226/glgaz/ABC15/MaiProfile.png

The background is WAY too busy for me. Maybe if “text” wasn’t as bright and distracting.

“Where the fuck are the last two pieces!!!”

Again, the lines in the puzzle were too noticeable and distracting. using a relatively dark gray instead of black would’ve been a much better choice.

ANIMATED

1st
"Oh my Chang?!" Mai luvz Chang?!

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g226/glgaz/ABC15/Oh-my-CHANGMailuvzChang.gif

Haha, “My Fucking Eyes!” is what put this AV over the top. great sprite edit of Chang with the mai costume. Text in the story at the beginning should’ve been more legible, maybe a thicker font or use bold.

2nd
"Surprise Mai Secks"

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g226/glgaz/ABC15/SurpriseMaisecks.gif

Another great comedic AV. Though in the first flash it’s hard to see what Mai is saying. The rest of the AV is good though. LOL at Mai showing Marco a white baby.

3rd
"Midnight Run"

nicely executed. The shading was well done, and the background is a great match for the theme.

Honourable Mentions
"Subliminal Suckage"

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g226/glgaz/ABC15/SubliminalSuckage.gif

I feel the need to vote Terry. This lost to Midnight Run by a hair. It was due to the Running one had a nicer background.

“Heartbeat”

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g226/glgaz/ABC15/Heartbeat.gif

So i can’t stop staring at this AV. If the Animation was smoother, it’d be 3rd if not 2nd in my mind.