I HEREBY ISSUE A SKIN CHALLENGE TO ALL SKINNERS: XD

The Challenge is to create a skin based on a theme I will give you. All skinners will use the same theme. When you're done, you email your finished skin to the "referee". At the end of the time limit, the ref will post all the skins at the same time for voting. You may submit more than one entry.

Please post below if you are interested in competing in this challenge.

Due Date: 5/20/2006
Skin Theme: Fire and Ice

Referee:
- Lonewolf

Submission Rules:
1. Subject title on email must read, "Skin Challenge #1"
2. Email must include the name of your skin design.
3. Email must also include your PTT or TT name.
4. Include preview pictures - these will be used in the voting.

Voting:
Each skin will be named by it's artist. The Referee will post the previews of each skin as provided by the artist, along with the name of the skin. The artist's name will be withheld. All votes will be collected in this thread. Each person will be allowed one vote - the Referee will ensure that no one uses aliases to place multiple votes. The Referee may not vote. The winner will be the creator of the skin that collected the most votes. In case of a tie, the Referee will cast the deciding vote.

Prize:
The Winner of the Advanced category will get to choose the theme for Skin Challenge #2.

Advanced Skinners:
- Master TMO
- Rabban
- fishtank
- cpt Rik
- WWII Dan
- Woohoo
- CADC
- w00t (withdrawn)
- GQ-SHOOTER
- DrSawBones
- AncientOne (withdrawn)

Beginner Skinners:
-

Unassigned (need to choose which category):
- Recon Commando YSUTY

Skins

Arctic Shatter - Made by Cadc


Animation Pictures

Meteor Tank (click on images to get a better view) - Made by Fishtank

Frost Burn (click on images to get a better view & to see tread animation)Made by Master TMO

Icy Hot - I had to edit your picture to remove your name from it(click on image to get a better view) Made by woohoo

The Fire Beneath Made by Cpt Rik

Mustafar Snowstorm Made by Rabban

Fire & Ice Gem Made by WW11Dan

ST1 - I had to edit your picture to remove your name from it (click on image to get a better view) Made by DrSawBones

Burnt Alaska - treads made by TMO - Skin Made by GQ-SHOOTER

Voting Totals as of 6/02/06 at 7pm CST
1. Arctic Shatter - 0
2. Meteor Tank - 4 (Tankster,Sersh,Big Show,Napalm)
3. Frost Burn - 2 (Triv,Racer)
4. Icy Hot - 1 ( Freakin Disco)
5. The Fire Beneath - 2 (Scyth,Spirit)
6. Mustafar Snowstorm - 2 (Monica,Player)
7. Fire & Ice Gem - 1 (Jedi)
8. ST1 -6 (fixit,blitzer,Deliiriot,Dazzle,Jesus loves you,Jay)
9. Burnt Alaska - 5 (Cassie,Rob,Reagebt X,Sniper,Flea)
Total votes in - 23
Winner with 6 Votes - ST1 by DrSawBones !

Last edited: Friday, June 09, 2006 at 5:07:18 AM

Right on! You go girl! The only skin I knew for sure was the imperial Rab's! All the tanks looked great! Time for the old Doc to step it up a bit :)

Thanks fish. I wanted to post my concept, too! Maybe next post...Awesome job! WTG on the skin too! What app do you use for manipulation?

Agreed! Excellent and most fun. Thanks for the info LW....still left it to the last few hours...so it goes.
TMO- Glad that you did this. I tried a long time ago but the response was pittish.

I will post a theme later...after I chronical in the anals of time the concept for the ST1 skin.

Can I add....
Perhaps there should be a submission size and profile requirement on the submitted screen shoots so that all the submissions are graphically viewable at equal weight. ? FRONT, TOP, SIDE, BOTTOM? All at oh 100px X 100 px or something?
Missing the art/concept part of the TEST. Can we perhaps next round submit the concept with the screenies of the finished skin?

This was super fun! Thanks again! And very excited to have won the 1ST ST.

Doc

Last edited: Friday, June 02, 2006 at 11:12:12 PM

ST1 = Skin Test 1
Fire and Ice Challenge

Being into computer building "Ice" to me came in the form of Peltier.link
Being into TT, art, skins and textures "Fire" came to me as the force that drives one to do / comitt, compete, succeed. Whatever.

The tank and textures are about 99.9 percent hand painted, airbrushed and photolayered with some rendering effects, except for the RIMS that I decayed. The skin took about 12 hours to paint. Durning the process of the creation of the tank, I reinstalled TT and lost the entire skin. I had sent a mid point preview to a friend, who lucky for me still had it. I had to start from there. My best guess is there were/are at least 200 layers going in photohshop.

The Brain Bucket is a lose rendering of my vision of what a Peltier cooled tank brain bucket and brain parts would look like, rusting from the effects of the constant condensation and exposure to air...on the fritz that is, by the time it gets to the brain....cooling the core and releasing heat all over it's parts.
If you look closely at the side of the tank, you can see a faint SonicHedgeHog type face. This was created when I dropped an image of a rose into my Peltier color palette and then air brushed the form to make it stand out. I did this to help reinforce from the concept of the "Fire" as in the Fire Within. Cold, Dark, Blue, but full of furry.
I then thought of what happens to steel at -75F or below. It shatters. Rust-icles were found on the Titanic, another inspiration for creating decaying metal, and another inspiration of Cold.

That's about it in short.
Glad you like it....I've had it on for a couple weeks now! Thanks for the chance to have fun and make a new skin!
DrSawbones(UF)

OMG forgot to add....after I submitted the skin...I was inspecting the textures and layout for flaws, with fingers crossed....zoomed in real close on the ice pack on the belly of the tank, the redish orange ice bubble at the top of the 2 big icicles? I found a face. Have to rotate it 90 degrees to see it though. Freeked me out! Looks like a Mutant Ninja Turtle with with a neck bandana and sunglasses.....ROFL.

Last edited: Friday, June 02, 2006 at 11:55:25 PM

I've never used any other program for tank skins other than Arcsoft PhotoImpression 4, Which came as part of the software bundle on my outdated computer. I think the latest version is 7. I've dabbled w/ GIMP for.png's, as PI4 can't export, but I can tell you my software is about 100x easier to use. PI4 doesn't have as many bells and whistles as GIMP, but can do some unique stuff that GIMP can't. I can't compare it to Photoshop because I've never seen used PS, but I've heard it's even more complicated than GIMP. Woah!
Reading your description of your concept, etc., was almost as fun as viewing your skin(s). I admire your work and envy your choice of profession. Thanks for setting a standard all skinners can aspire to meet.
- I haven't seen Rabban's layout yet, but I'm sure it's impressive. IMO, heavies are the hardest skin to paint. Having that ice-to-fire fade must have been especially difficult to do on a heavy, and the snow is very realistic looking.
I was impressed with Woo's skin also, especially after seeing the layout.

So what is the next theme DSB?

Scythe

Isn't my layout getting posted then? :o

Gratz doc..sheesh you put a lot of thought into this...very deserving win :)

Thanks..you make me blush....being true artist is more of curse then fortune. But yes, I do live to create, I create to live.

Give me a minute and I'll let you know. Still suprised by the win.

Thanks Cpt!
Where's your layout? Would like to see it.

Doc

Last edited: Saturday, June 03, 2006 at 5:06:00 AM

Waiting for LW to post it :P

Post what, all skins are up above in header B)

Edit: Sorry Cpt Rik didn't realize I forgot to post your skin.
Since my vote didn't count I will say this, it was a tie for me between GQ's & Cpt Rik

@ DrSwaBones GQ-SHOOTER
Congrats ! :P

Last edited: Saturday, June 03, 2006 at 6:07:58 AM

@ DSB:
Sorry, I forgot to add the congratulations !

Scythe
PS: I ll be waiting

My skin FrostBurn is not nearly as complicated a concept as Saw's skin: the tank is a solid block of ice, and yet still has the flame exhaust ports. Cartoon physics, done for effect. XD The treads were a late addition - the original treads are those that wound up getting put on GQ's Burnt Alaska.

I used Photoshop CS to build the skin, and probably wound up with 50+ layers, most of it dealing with the ice blocks. The flames actually wound up being just a single layer each IIRC.

One of my ideas was to have the exhaust pipes come up out of the ice, which effect worked fairly well I think.

Thanks again to all, and congratulations to all. We all did very well.

Looking forward to Skin Theme 2!

Skin challenge II:

4th of July Tank
[Fireworks/Patriotism]

Thanks,
Doc

Sawbones Tip of the Month!
For those that have layers in their manipulation apps try making the top most layer the black background, tank parts clear...cut out. Then you can put anything underneath that layer and the shapes and colors don't get lines around them. And you never have to worry about registration again!

Last edited: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 at 1:41:24 AM

OK all see the Bottom part of Header for Theme 2
I wish you all luck and will be waiting for your skins with open arms :P

Wow...i must say I'd never thought about doing that..great tip XD lol. Will be using that for sure.

This months contest I may partake in, depends if I have the time.

Caps

I actually DO have that, but I forgot to turn it back on in my final submission to LW. XD

I think Doc needs to also be in this one so she can defend the title, I hope she will reconsider and enter this one as well, I'm in so add me to the list.

Did You Forget Me!?!? I Said I Voted Burnt Alaska!

I was thinking... Why would the non-American skinners care about the 4th of July? Maybe the theme should be a little more non-specific. Maybe "Patriotic"? That way, it wouldn't matter what country you were from.

Sure, other countries...thought of that...also thought that you would still be able to derive a concept from the theme even though perhaps not from US or Britain. Fireworks and Fireworks packaging, Model a tank to look like bottle rocket....I don't think it matters RED WHITE BLUE theme...?up to skinner....but if that's where your heart tells you to go...go there. Shouldn't be too hard to come up with something. I see it as a very deep well for thought and concept development. If you win one, you can post something special to you or your country. :P and then we will all have to learn about that!

Create a Skin that makes you go "SWEeeeeeeT!!!!!!"

I will submit a skin as you wish. Thanks....now kick some skin butt! Out there skinners!

I've modified the theme above:
Skin challenge II:

4th of July Tank
[Fireworks/Patriotism]

DrSawbones(UF)

Last edited: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 at 1:34:45 AM

Count TMO in. Only 3 weeks? Ouch. But I understand - that way the skins will be ready in time for the 4th.

*begins cudgelling his brains for an idea*

You know I have ideas. But I have no talent.

I will wait for a theme that I can maybe do with my noob-ness.

Racer! You must have SURELY SNAPPED!
[I just saw LW's army skin thread archive and you have alot of very nice work in there. And everywhere!]

Please don't bow out on this one!

DrSawbones(UF)

Yeah, Racer, I'm calling BS too. If you've got an idea, you're one step ahead of me already. As far as I'm concerned, you are now in the competition. ;) Start skinning.

Yes, I have snapped.

Fine. Enter me in. Why the hell not, I will test my crappy skin ski11z.

@Racer - You had the right idea in the first place. I'VE come up with an AWESOME idea and trying to compete with it is just going to be a waste of time. For that matter, the rest of you oughta give it up right now too. ;) ;) ;)

Ack, forgot I have to do those new PTT avatars, plus a new skin I am working on. Not enough time for this competition... Maybe next time.

I've hit myself in the head with a hammer several times, and I still haven't come up with an idea. Not sure if I can come up with a worthy skin in time, we'll see.

Please see new thread.
Not enough people signing up for this,
so I just made a new thread for it to help bring in more entries,
I hope B)