I'm entering a poster contest. Help or wish me luck! (in Off-topic)

Hey all, if you have time to read this (especially if you're a parent), please do.

After my final semester in highschool, I will be heading into Art Institute in San Francisco (AIISF). The tuition + other costs could amount up to 100k total.

This is why I'm entering a poster contest hosted by AIISF, which grants a scholarship to those who will go to Art Institute. This is a VERY big thing for me, and its one of the main things I hope to help me bring down the cost.

What is the prize exactly? 25k for first prize international. However, there are 10 spots for international, and the prizes for each of the spots are very lucrative. Second place gets 20k, third gets 15k, etc. It'd be nice to get first place, but it won't be easy. If I get into the international, I'll be overjoyed already.

Anyways, what exactly is my poster? It has to bring across the theme "Art Leads To Innovation". I've done tons of thinking and brainstorming about how to make such a poster, and here's my final design. I will have a very young boy holding a picture of a rocket ship he drew (possibly in crayons), and the boy will be holding up the picture pretending its lifting off. In the backdrop, there will be a picture of a space shuttle taking off. Its one of the best interpretations of "Art Leads to Innovation" I can think of. I'm likely not going to change the design, since the poster is due in around two weeks.

For you parents (or even older siblings) out there, I need a picture of a young boy doing just that. It could be a boy sitting on the floor with crayons out in front of him, holding up the paper to his side and making it look like he's moving it upward. There doesn't even need to be a rocket ship on the paper, I can edit that in. Also, it could be a picture taken from over the boy's shoulder with him moving the picture upwards with both hands, or something similar. I'm very open to all sorts of poses and camera angles, but it REALLY needs to be good. Any pictures provided would be VERY helpful.

Also, I'd need your written permission to use the picture of your child (or sibling) for the contest, so I don't get into any legal trouble. Pretty straightforward.

I can't exactly promise anything in return, but the least I can do is continue helping the CB community visually (websites, themes, etc). Whether or not anyone here helps me out, I plan to continue doing so anyways.

So that's pretty much it. If you could help out, email any pictures to pixelsage@gmail. com . If you even read this entire post, I give you my thanks in advance. This is now one of my highest priorities, and getting a good scholarship will help me keep my parents from going broke from my art school tuition.

Thanks again!

Good luck man, sounds like a nifty challenge, one I'm sure you'll be up to...

good luck!

good luck with it, alas I cannot help.

best of luck on your project! :-)

Thanks a lot guys! Anyways, here are some examples of what I want. This kid will overlay a background picture of a rocket ship, which I am planning to model in 3D =D



Of course, I'm open to other poses and camera angles. I can photoshop a picture and crayons in even if the paper is blank and all. My idea is that the kid is imagining a real spaceship or rocket launching off, and with that the real one will be in the background.

I will be trying to get as many people to volunteer as I can (on and off CB), so I have much material to work with. Thanks to all who replied! (in this thread or by email)

Just to show you all a work in progress here of the background ship I made:

Click here!

And yet another update!

Put Cb somewhere on the ship. Every ship has a name!

Best of luck with the contest! Wish I could help you, but I would only be a hindrance. You have undeniable skills, you'll do fine no matter what.

Can't you just draw a child-like pic of a rocket, go find a kid in the street, and take a picture of the kid? ;)

In my area, we don't have little kids running around on the streets, at least not without their parents. Otherwise I'd kidnap a few and make them all pose for me =D.

Anyways, here's the mockup poster design. See that wonderful kid there?

Pixel, I think that looks fine as it is!

Just put the crayon drawing of the rocketship on the paper(maybe make it a little closer to white) and smooth out the kid's features a little bit.

Yeah I kind of agree, I think since the whole thing is computer generated a real person would look awkward in there.

I disagree, simply because I'm not able to make a good human in 3D yet, haha.

And uhhh th00p... that's a temporary placeholder. If you click the picture and read the white text on the back of the kid...

I suppose I just imagine it looking out of place, but I am also imagining myself placing it in there, and I am sure you would do a 100x better job at it anyway =P.

So you are probably right. Anyway, I looked at the finalists from last years and they were not as impressive as yours is so far.

Thanks =D. But yeah, if I get into international, I'll already be overjoyed. Anyways, I'm going to try to make the rocket ship more photo realistic rather than pixar-ish. Maybe that'll help the blend work out.

I think I'm getting better at the smoke effect...

Hmm, I'd say your smoke has to have more 'substance'

And what parent would leave their kid in the blast radius of a launching rocket anyway? With only a piece of paper to shield themselves!

Great work though!

Yeah, your smoke looks a bit wispy, but the shuttle looks great!

Yup, I've seen many screenshots of smoke, and if I were to model that, it'd be very difficult. Thus, I'm trying to use the particle effect to generate smoke, though its difficult to get it thick. Anyways, I'm going to touch it up in photoshop quite a bit.

As for the kid, he's magical.

Just a thought, and I wish you all the best Pixel.

What do you think if you had like Rocket/Ship say, in the background visible through a window and the kids 'inside' holding his artwork and have crayons and stuff scattered over the floor :)

Good Luck!

Well, the important idea is that the kid is highly inspired by rockets as a young child and since he's a child, he can't do much more than draw rockets for fun. He grows up to become a rocket/space engineer, and in result improves the space shuttle design.

The problem I have with him looking out the window is that it'd look more like there's a boy inside looking at a space shuttle that's too close to his house. Doesn't really make sense, and doesn't get the message through.

Art Leads to Innovation ;)

Great work good luck in the contest I like your idea alot.

Thanks edyit =D

I think I'm taking a break from this today... designing a charity website right now.... that made me miss a stinkin' bot check. Yay.

Here's an update.

Click Here!

The angle there just isn't as dynamic as the one here:

Click here!

Ahhh... 25k... 25k... must... winnnnn

If you are still inviting commentary: I really think you'd get "double" the action if the whole of the upper portion was framed. That is, the spacecraft portion were viewed as if through the picture window in the front of a house. So that the boy and his picture were "inside", and the launch was happening "outside". That makes the boy and his "art" much more the focus, and foreground, and the rest a bit more subtle.

It also solves the current problem you are having with the white space at the bottom, for the text, and gives you the opportunity to introduce more color between your background blue/grey and the text below -- more contrast than monochromatisism. (I believe I just made up a word. It's mine!)

Bast's CM:

Addendum: It also either let's you out of having to use the "imagine the possibilities" line, or of putting it down below -- using the "interior" colors for the "imagine" line and the "exterior" colors for the "innovation" line.

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Too... much... information... can't... process... haha. Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. The problem is the deadline is coming up in less than 2 weeks, and I probably wouldn't have time to compose such a thing and have my friend take pictures for me with a window.

The monochromatic scheme is purposeful. It creates for dreamy feel (which I'll work on more). Otherwise I would have probably kept the tank orange instead of blue.

Anyways, I'll do my best to work out the angles, balance, and coloring. I need to get the high-res photograph from my friend and render a fatty shuttle image.

And commentary is always open, thanks Bast!

Oops, forgot to post my update.

Click here!

I believe Bast has the same suggestion as I did, and look I even spent some time on how it might look. Obviously they're not going to award the scholarship for a poster created in Paint. :D

Good Luck Pixel!

I think having the model outside a window may make people think more towards, "Why the heck is there a space shuttle outside their window?" With the fade-from-room-to-shuttle approach, its more straightforward. The kid's inspiration comes to life.

Oh, and your chosen font makes "possibilities" look like it's spelled wrong. ( I think it's the L or the T.)

I think its the L with the star behind it making it look like a T =P

Nope, it's a crap font. It looks like "possibiuties" even in the last example.