Art Forgery Competition!
September 16, 2009 10:38 AM
Hello there citizens. I have news of a wonderful new Art Forgery Competition. I just love art, and this gives an edge of danger and mystery to it. Art and excitement, don't you think that's a great mix?!
Art Forgery - Copycat Crimes!Art forgery has a very interesting history. One of the greatest Art forgers of recent times (a Hungarian man named Elmyr de Hory) claimed to have sold over a thousand forgeries to reputable art galleries all over the world! In fact, his forgeries became so famous on their own merits, that forgeries of his forgeries have now appeared on the art market.
I'm absolutely delighted to announce the Smallworlds Art Forgery Competition - of extra special interest to all the current and budding artists in the SmallWorlds community. Do you remember our recent celebrity lookalike competition? This one is a variation on that theme. The difference is that for this competition we'd like you to use your creative skills to paint a lookalike of a famous painting on your virtual canvas. There's so many well-known paintings to choose from.
Competition Entry Example
As you can see from Wheezy Bee's painting above (thanks so much Wheezy for letting me use your brilliant forgery!) she has taken a screen capture of her painting, pasted the original painting above it, and then taken a screen capture of the two images together. This gives you one image which contains both pictures. But if you don't feel you can create a single image, don't worry, you can just post two images into the same forum post you create.
Which painting will you forge?
Would you like to look through some paintings? Here is just one site to get you started in choosing which artwork you'd like to forge, but there are plenty of similar sites for you to choose from.
This time the competition judging honors go to me, something I am really looking forward to! Whenever I get a little time out from my busy reporting schedule, one of my favorite things to do is to go on an Art Tour...the talent of our SmallWorlds artists is simply breathtaking. I truly enjoy all artwork I come across. There are of course plenty of citizens like myself who are somewhat less artistically gifted but whose efforts are still wonderful to witness! I enjoy seeing people experimenting and playing with the blank canvases. Yes, creativity is good for you! Now onto the competition details...
Prize Categories
There will be three different prize categories: * Landscape
* Portrait/Face
* Abstract
I shall pick what I consider to be the top 5 Art Forgeries out from within each category.These 15 placegetters will each receive a 2000 Gold "Judges Choice" award. I will then put these 15 forgeries out to a Citizens Choice vote, and the final awards will be made based on the forgery with the most citizen votes in each category. There will be one entry which is awarded the Supreme Award as best of the competition, based on citizens' votes.
Citizens Choice Award Prizes * Best Landscape - 5000 Gold
* Best Portrait / Face - 5000 Gold
* Best Abstract / Modern Art - 5000 Gold
* Citizen's Choice Supreme Award - 8000 Gold
The Supreme Award winner will be the entry that receives the most votes overall. One lucky artist will walk away with a total of 15,000 Gold - that's 2000 for the Judges Choice award, 5000 Gold for winning their category, and 8000 Gold for the Supreme Award!
The competition will close at midight on Monday 21st September, so get your entry in now!
Only One Vote per IP AddressA recent poll run by Harris Pilton exposed a problem with some unscrupulous citizens cheating by voting multiple times. The only way to avoid this problem is to set the poll parameters to restrict votes more strictly. This means one vote per IP address. My apologies to you if you share a network with multiple SmallWorlds citizens, as only one vote will be allowed from your address. Unfortunately this is the only method we can use to try to discourage cheating and ensure fairness for all competitors.
Which artwork can I choose to forge?
In order for your entry to be valid, we need you to choose a picture which was originally painted on a real canvas, not something that was originally created on a computer. In your entry, you will need to post the artists name and name of the painting, along with a picture of the original painting alongside your Forgery of the picture.
You'll also need to specify which category you are entering into: 1 - Landscape, 2 - Portrait/Face or 3 - Abstract. Only one entry per SmallWorlds account.
1 - Select a photo of a painting you would like to forge. Something that was originally painted on a real canvas, preferably by a reasonably famous painter. We'll be judging your forgery/entry against the picture of the painting that you choose, so keep a copy of the photo of the painting you choose, you'll need it for your entry. You may want to print out a copy so you can keep it next to your monitor while you create your forgery.
2 - Go to Modern Living and buy yourself a blank Graffiti Board. Go back to your home space, put on your artists beret and get out your virtual pallet - it's time for the launch of your art forgery career! (if you need some spare cash to purchase a board, remember it's easy to earn some gold to buy one, or you might like to invite a few friends into SmallWorlds to enter into the competition also - and get your gold reward for doing so!)
3 - Once you feel your forgery is finished, take a snapshot of it using your usual screen capture software (details below)
4 - Submit the TWO photos together onto THIS FORUM THREAD (on the official Smallworlds site. Not here at SWfansite) only, before 11.59pm, Sunday 20th September SWT/ EST. See the competition entry example above to see what your final entry should look like when submitted to the forum thread. For instructions on adding an image to a forum thread, please read to the end of this article. Note that we need your forgery photo and the photo of the original painting, within the same forum thread entry in order for your competition entry to be valid.
Entry Conditions
* Only one entry per person / SmallWorlds account
* The competition closes at 11.59pm SWT (EST) Monday 21st September. Only entries that include both a picture of your forgery and one of the original painting submitted via the forum thread given above will be eligible for judging.
* The competition will be judged by Honesty Blaize, who will choose the top 5 entries in each of the three categories. These 15 semifinalists will then be put forward for a citizen's vote to determine the three category prizes and the Supreme Award. All judging decisions will be final. The 5 semi-finalists in each of the three categories will be awarded 2000 gold. The Citizens Choice Award winners within each category will be awarded 5000 gold each. The entry that receives the most overall votes will win the Citizens Choice Supreme Award, and receive 8000 Gold.
Well citizens, I do hope this inspires you to get painting! The SmallWorlds art scene is a a wonderfully rich and diverse one and I am sure that this competition will only serve to make it all the more so. Speaking of rich, I have a feeling that Art Forgery entries just may end up being worth a little something after the end of the competition. Perhaps Art Forgery might just be a way to earn a decent living here on SmallWorlds!
I'm so looking forward to seeing your entries and (although I am sure it's going to be a very difficult task) picking out and then reporting on my top picks within each category.
~ Honesty Blaize
The Legal Stuff * The Competition is open to SmallWorlds standard and VIP Club members 13 years of age or older. Employees of Outsmart 2005 Limited and its helpers, moderators, officers, directors, parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliated companies, advertising agencies, promotional suppliers, or production agencies, and their respective dependents, immediate family members (parent, child, sibling and spouse of each) and individuals residing in the same household, are not eligible to participate. Void where prohibited by law.
* The semi-finalists awarded a Judges Choice Award will be selected based upon the sole and exclusive discretion of the SmallWorlds Competition Judge. The Citizens Choice Awards will be based on the results of a public vote. All submissions are carefully reviewed before determining the prize winners. The judge's decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
* The prize winners will be chosen and notified on or about September 28 2009
How to take a photo of your Forgery and copy it to a forum thread. * 1 - Once you have created your picture, take a screen shot of it. (We prefer that you are "Draw" mode when you do this, rather than taking the picture inworld). Do not use the SmallWorlds camera function to take the picture. You can use any screen capture software you have, or simply press the Print Screen button on your keyboard (this saves the screen into memory, so you won't see anything happening when you press it).
2 - Open an image editing program (you can use Paint). Paste the image in by clicking on the Edit menu and choosing Paste.
3 - Crop your image down to size. We only need to see your picture and not the background. If you are using Paint to edit the image, draw a rectangle around your picture with the default selection tool and then click on the Image menu and choose Crop.
4 - If you know how, you can paste the photo of your forgery next to the picture of the original painting you are forging and save the two pictures as a single image. If you don't know how, don't worry - you can upload two separate images into the forum thread.
5 - Save your image as a .JPG file into a directory on your PC.
6 - Upload the image to a photo sharing site such as Flickr, Photobucket,TinyPic, or ImageHosting. Copy the URL of the composite photo (which includes your forgery with the original painting beside it.
7 - Go to the competition entry forum thread. Post a reply. Include the name of the artist and painting, as well as the category you are entering in for. Click on the 'Add Image' icon. Paste in the URL of the image from your photo sharing account.
8 - Repeat steps 5 and 6 for your art forgery image. Make sure you upload your art forgery into the same forum post as the image of the original painting, so they may be viewed together.
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Topic: 9/16/2009 (new contest) Art Forgery Competition! (Read 5350 times)