Kyra - The rainbow colours are very nice, it makes your banner stand out since the rest of the entries are predominantly pink. You still got the point across by making pink as the central colour though, and that was good. To echo the other judges, the font looks a bit messy/pixelly... A 2-3px stroked border would have looked a bit cleaner.
meowth1982 - I like the background you've made, the variety in text sizes and fonts makes it especially interesting. Overall, though, I find this banner a bit ... jumbled feeling. The different shades of pink - the bright main text, the darker coloured hearts and the purpley-pink background - don't really compliment each other. The main "pink ink" font is very nice, but although the newspaper-print-styled subtext font is a good idea, I think the stroke effect draws attention to its messiness, in a bit of a negative way.
paola - Lovely textures and feel to this banner. Those deeper pinks are really great! I like the horizontal lines/dots, they really add a dynamic feel to it. I don't really have much else to say, except maybe a less cursive font would easier to read ^_~
hellyer - Hehe, this reminds me of the neopets banner too. That's possibly a good thing, though, as the neopets banners are usually quite clear and to the point (as well as nice to look at), which this one is! I think as a banner, this serves it's purpose very well... the black text contrasts a lot against the lighter background, making it easy to read quickly. As an example of your graphician-ness, though, something a little extra seems to be needed. The text overlaying the swirls looks really nice, by the way... maybe expanding on that idea a bit more would've been nice ^_^
Neko - Lovely background, the grids and checkered pattern look really nice against those soft-edged blobs of colour (hehe, I don't know how else to describe them!). The text looks good, the thin white outline fits in well with the swirls scattered around the rest of the banner. The text seems to merge in the background a bit too much, though. A bit more contrast there would be good, especially since the background is quite busy.
Darklegendary - This is really nice! The background has a lovely mix of textures, and it's nice to see swirls that don't look quite as obviously "brushed" (I think you worked them into the background well on the left there). The text looks great, very inky... especially with those blobs you've added. The only thing I'd suggest is that maybe it'd be nice to see a bit more of that newspaper article in the background... you can barely see it in the finished product, and it's a nice element.
Apricus - Very nice use of brushes and textures, I like the print in the background too. The black text seems to jump out a bit much. It might be a little less "sudden" if all of the subtext were black, or maybe stroked in black (to be a bit more subtle). Overall very good though.
moogie - Great idea! The newspaper style certainly stands out, and also illustrates the subject very well (in spite of the lack of bright pink-ness!). The slightly purpley shade of pink is nice and works well with the newspaper print, though it does make it seem less bold and bright as some of the others. And to be very
very picky, the "Read it today!" text seems to be on a slightly different slant to "The Pink Ink"... not something you'd pick up on normally though ^_~
Koku - Ooh, it's so nice to see original artwork in this competition! The pencil's very cute, and the yellow makes a good contrast with the pink. I'm not such a big fan of the text (I'm guessing it's hand drawn/written?), it looks maybe a bit childish, since I imagine that Pink Ink would prefer a more "sophisticated" look. If it was for anything else though, I'd say that it matched the style of the pencil really well (cute/childish). Also, I think the text in the background might've added more interest to the banner if it were on a slight angle... it looks pretty good as is though!
Amethyst - Very nice! The strong pinks you've used are really eye-catching, and the textured background and scanlines look great too. As the other judges mentioned, it'd be good if the text stood out a bit more... also, the font you've chosen is very "tall" (the verticals of the "I"s and "k"s are twice as high as the rest of the font)! I imagine that if the outline were stroked, it might overpower/balance the banner a bit, since it is so small. Maybe a slightly shorter font would need to be used in that case... but as it is, it looks great!
Optimus - Cool image and animation idea. I find it a bit confusing though that the text is "pink ink" but the ink splatters are purple... maybe if the banner on the whole was purple (or some other contrasting colour) and the ink was pink, it might've gotten across this idea better? On the whole though, it's creative and eyecatching... which is perfect for a banner.
Mm, it's starting to get difficult to decide who to choose!
This round my votes go to: meowth1982, Kyra and hellyer
Last edited by
mazil on Tue Mar 22, 2005 6:00 am, edited 1 time in total.