The Master Contest

For those who want to withdraw: Man, be smarter. Don't you want to win the prize? Why the heck are you going to withdraw....



Ok let's make things that way: No entries, no winner. I will skin that tree and nobody gets the prize.


Note: THE PRIZE IS NOT ONLY THE POINTS!!!!!!!

As stated, most of us are withdrawing because we want to participate in other areas/seasons of the contest.

This brings up some sort of point... I don't know if you do this or not but some of the score should be based on how much the people who will do the winning thing in the later contests (modelling then skinning) would actually want to do (model/skin) the concept. I know the undead contest was kind of dead... hmm... but when you really get down to it, its a tree. The concept does look really nice but I for one would rather skin a orc riding a chariot then a tree...

Edit: I'm not sure of any prize that I would actually want from the contest... I just like entering it cause I like to skin... but if I win, it wont be the tree since that just isnt for me.

Hello contestants. I'm the Concept Artist behind The Burnt Ancient and I'm making an appearance here to cheer you all on.

I must admit, it's really exciting to see a concept go from design phases to actual implementation. It's been very interesting to see how the design develops as it passes from artist to artist.

I won't be judging the final skin in any way, nor will I provide contestants with additional information regarding the unit; All you get is the provided concept art to work from.

But, (while not taking sides) I'd like to say entries that re-invent my concept and shift perspectives, like Mock1's, really interest me, and I hope more people will enter and take that road.

Finally, this concept has recieved a lot of criticism in the following statement:

"It's a tree...."

The reason I think I won the undead season was because I took a risk by submitting something unconventional. It was difficult for the modelers to come up with the tree, and it's difficult for you guys to skin the tree.

Lots of people could skin a human, or a zombie, but it takes a certain degree of mastery to skin a tree and have it look good. Those who are willing to push the envelope, who will go into uncharted territory, are the ones who are going to find hidden treasures.

I don't mean for this to sound derogatory. This notion applies to concept art and modeling as well. I am just very disheartened by those who think that they are limited by my design, when I feel it is quite the opposite.

The folks at Blizzard had to do it. Someone had to skin all those Night Elf buildings after all.

So why won't you answer.... it is almost like you are avoiding. Why did you decide to have only 1 entry for the whole thing per person? I mean, you call it the master contest, but how can you really call it that if it is so limited? Anyways, I don't much care for the prize. If you want to use one of our skins, go ahead, but I will not let this limit what I can enter in, so I guess I have to withdraw, sorry, but you don't seem to understand... this is about the art of it, not the points or the prize. Why do you think people that know they aren't going to win enter? Because they like to do it, not because they think they are gonna get some spiffy prize. I truly think you should withdraw the one entry rule (I mean one entry per thead is fine, but not one entry total). I think the results would end up being a lot nicer, and end up being things more people might actually use in a game. The way it is, we might get a nice model one season, a good skin another, and a good concept another, but not really good ones in each catagory every season. This is about the community, come on. I guess in the end your the mod, but aren't mods supposed to listen to the community too?

really nice speach undertow

u should run for president :ggani:

i agree with undertow, you can say "it is a tree..." but when you use your imagination and talent, i think it can turn out really special and beautiful
i understand when people want to show their talents in one of the other contests, because som might find it more fun to make concept art of their own (which means you make an idea for a total new unit, what sounds more attractive to me then modeling someone elses idea)
but dont say that someones idea is stupid because you prefer to do something else
it would suck when you all withdraw you entries for this skinning contest, because there are real nice ones

undertow - i think your idea r0xs it is one of the most original ideas for a new unit that i saw on this whole forum, i really like the concept art as well

Okay, I have to defend myself here a bit. I never said it is just a tree, neither did a few of the others. The tree model does have some problems that make it pretty boring to skin.

1. It wraps funny on a few places, the whole skin will get twisted or shift substanially.

2. The front and back having the same skin greatly taks away from any expression or life you can give to the trees face since it has to look decent on back also.

Well, there are a couple more, but those are the big two. The model is a nice model, don't get me wrong, but it is off from the concept, and wrapped weird enough, that it just isn't very fun to skin. The entire thing also has to have bark of some kind to look like a tree, where as most other things allow for a lot more variation. One person could have, say an arm, bare, another with clothes, and another with armor. There is just a lot more you can do to really make a skin your own on other models. And like I said, it is about the art, not the points.

There are people that have done it, which shows they did want to at least try at some point. The problem is people want to keep trying even if they win. I will stress again, and hope again for a mod comment, that the 1 entry thing should be taken out. I mean look, instantly you could have a bunch of skin entries for this contest. Bah, I think I am just tired of people whining that we are no good or jerks for withdrawing.

Think about it this way, by the skinning for the last season, a lot of the people recognized as being really good will have already won something, that leaves the people with less polished skills to compete, resulting in what may be a very low entry, or low quality contest.

In the end this ends up being a community project, to come up with new units to use in mods and maps. But you take more and more of the community out of it each time some one wins. Bah, this is getting long I guess I should stop. Last thing. People seem to think artist stuff is about ego and being good... in reality most artists don't give a crap about ego or fame, otherwise the saying "starving artist" would never have been invented.

Its not difficult to skin a tree nor was the model difficult people just didnt want to do a tree.
thats why they say its a tree.
But me id gladly skin the tree but i cant get the model to even work in game. :(
even when i try to replace the ent model with it and ive used new models ingame before.
So really icant skin the model.

Oh and if someone could post a 3d of the tree model i might be able to get a better unwrap on the tree not the vine though.

If you want to complain about the model, talk to phoenix_s.

Now, let me answer you.

Man, you are misunderstanding the whole thing. It's not that you should not give enter the others seasons. You are not allowed to get in another seasons nor in another categories IF YOU WINNED a season. What? Are you so confident that you are going to win?


PS: By the way, I didn't check all the skins yet, so it's not that you didn't winned or anything.

That's plain stupid, and the reason why no one wants to enter for the Treant. They all want to take on the challenge of the chariot.

How can this be called a Master contest if you ostracise a winner, a master, from entering again? There's a lot of talented people entering, so you surely cannot be worrie dthat one person is going to win more than once...

Ya just dont let them ahve firwst 2 times in a row givem second or something if they win twice in a row or put a modifier on the score like -2 for everytime they win in a row.

That's even more stupid. You can't penalise someone for being a winner in a competition of who's better!

YAY! See even WhiteHorn agrees with me... just take out the damn one entry rule already. The results of the competition will be so much better if EVERYONE enters everything. Anyone else that doesn't agree with the one entry please reply... we need to be heard.

Though I agree with you, I doubt he will change the rule since the last season for the concept art is almost done (18 days left) and um... I think I had a point here but I forgot it...