Curse

The Grumple · Jan 11, 2008, 06:54 AM // 06:54

I loved this one - Stephan about to tackle the unsuspecting Gracie Grumple. lol, she just looks so unaware! and he looks like such a rugby player!

Fenryl · Jan 11, 2008, 08:38 AM // 08:38

I wanted to pick this one ... but it was too dark:

Morag D · Jan 11, 2008, 08:42 AM // 08:42

Fenryl, I think that shot is awesome, and that it's not too dark...

however, here's mine. I just went for rock star, but didn't pick a particular star for that one.

Toutatis · Jan 11, 2008, 08:48 AM // 08:48

Outtake time! I was wondering when the judges would use an assignment as an excuse to get Deus to take his shirt off... Well, you asked for it!

First batch - from the world tour!

Unplugged in Denravi - but nobody came

From the Arborstone Acoustics Sessions (sponsored by Duke Holtz)

Performance rule #62: Always look into the camera...
...even if it's at a stupid angle

Stage on in the Valley

Backstage security provided by Cynn (SuperNuke Security Inc)

This one would have been almost perfect...
...if the lighting crew hadn't totally screwed up

And a quick blooper from that last photoshoot:

"Bwahahahahahaaaaa! The Goa'uld shall RULE this puny world!"
Directly after this, I banned Deus from watching Stargate reruns ever again

Second batch - publicity shots! I've tried to give them a uniquely Deus touch; the first rule I was taught when getting into music was to never directly copy a fellow artist's style

Navarro on the red carpet
Deus on the red carpet

Random Navarro publicity shot
Random Deus publicity shot

Navarro poses for the paparazzi
Deus demonstrates publicity rule #81 (always pose for the paparazzo who's waving the biggest wad of cash - I knew I shouldn't have bought that bento earlier)

Blooper from that last one:

"If my real husband saw this in the tabloids, he'd do this to you!"
That HAD to hurt

Huge thanks to Sorceress Magus for being my Carmen Electra for those last 2 shots - and apologies to her husband

And a final thought... Does this dancing news reporter remind you of any of the other contestants?

Alyrrae Melarrian · Jan 11, 2008, 12:00 PM // 12:00

I love those outtakes.

Toutatis, Deus looks amazing. Especially shirtless. I didn't know male mesmers could look THAT good.

Queen Kitiara · Jan 11, 2008, 03:30 PM // 15:30

BWaaahh ha ha ha!!!!

ZOMG Dues!

You had me cracking up from Stargate on with those shots and comments

Gah what an elaborate post to put together, so many witty comments and pics, best out take post EvARRRR! xD

Tender Wolf · Jan 19, 2008, 05:21 PM // 17:21

Now that the assignment 4 results are finally posted (evil flu), I'll post my attempt! hehe The lovely male paragon with me is Graham Moonring (from my best friend's account, so I got to play the back and forth between computers game).

Starli has lived on her own and has vowed to avenge her family after they were killed by the Kournans (refer to assignment #2's story). However, their numbers are great and she is alone. So she flees to Cantha. There, she finds a new home and allies in the Luxons. In their ongoing raging war against the Kurzicks, Starli joins their battles and channels all her anger to the battles for her alliance.

One day, her curiosity gets the better of her while Luxons control Kurzick territory. She ventures into the forest and meets Graham Moonring, a handsome paragon. The two begin to duel, as Starli is the trespasser and Graham won't have that. But in the end, he spares her life and she returns to the Jade Sea.

A few days later, the two engage in one on one combat during an alliance battle. Starli recognizes Graham and spares his life just as he did for her. After the battle breaks up, the two can't stop thinking about each other. Graham decides to buy Starli some Kurzick armor so that she can walk through the forest freely. One day, the two meet up again.

Graham reveals that his whole family is paragons and they all believe they have a purpose in life to protect one special someone. So in essence, they are guardian angels. Graham believes that Starli is the person he's sworn to protect. So the two fall in love and run off together, as they don't want to engage in combat against each other or see any more war.

Picture: Basically it could be a Luxon/Kurzick thing, but I thought dark and light would be better. Graham is the guardian angel, Starli has the dark past. The background resembles Cantha, where they met. I know, my story probably doesn't match as well, but for this particular assignment, all the focus was on the picture.

Edit: Forgot the outtakes!

"It's out, what do I do with it?" (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Pose was a little awkward for a kiss.

I wear the pants, you wear the skirt! (That's an opposite!)

Like the armor but it kind of clashed with the background.

Here's an opposite-human and Charr.

Toutatis · Jan 19, 2008, 06:07 PM // 18:07

I love your take on this assignment Tender! It's a shame they don't make lux/kurz armor for paragons... That would have been absolutely great in the shot if it were possible

Anyhoo. About my outtakes this week; I've run into a slight problem with them. Deus' other half has been away on business in the city this week, but still managed to find out about this assignment and is not happy about Deus cavorting around with beautiful ladies. My outtake folder was wiped, and some very angry messages left (I swear, my characters have a mind of their own sometimes). I don't want my neck to be on the line by not posting these, so here they are anyway. Nothing like a good ol' sex scandal to make things more interesting

"Stay away from my man, or I'll Moebius-Blossom you back to Pre-Searing!"
Someone clearly has jealousy issues

"And YOU, Deus, YOU are in BIG TROUBLE when I get back from Kaineng!"
I think I may need to find Deus a place to crash for a few nights

"Oh yeah - and this little scandal will be on Rikki Lake next week, if I let you live that long!"
If anything, that's the "talk to the hand" pose nailed for the TV cameras

I've been putting together the story of how Deus met his other half for some of the guys on LSI who've shown interest... If anyone here wants to know the particulars of how they got together I'd be happy to cross-post the story once it's finished

Tender Wolf · Jan 19, 2008, 10:45 PM // 22:45

roflmao Deus! Great outtakes! I really see your assassin's jealousy.

Remind me to avoid him in a bad mood.

Ember010 · Jan 19, 2008, 11:02 PM // 23:02

Heres some out-takes:

Too interested in Embers, er, assets to get the job done:

''Hmm..what shade of this? I think I could pull off red hair..''

Edit: Adding the story that went with my main pic thing

Ember, the beautiful daughter of one of the Kings of Vabbi, was snatched from her bedroom at the palace one night by a bunch of Grimy corsairs, their leader, Egor the Bloody being the one in charge of the ambush. His son, Alec the Rugged, infatuated with this womans beauty, springs her from the cell early in the morning, whisking her off to the ruins of what was, a magnificent temple. Ember, a fiery girl with a wild spirit, upon seeing her captor, could not resist the charms of such a dangerous man, and succumbed to the once fearsome pirate, who had been made helpless by his love for this young woman. The penny-less corsair, could offer her nothing but his love, and the wild princess, discarding everything she had been taught, recklessly accepted.

Toutatis · Jan 19, 2008, 11:29 PM // 23:29

Nice one Ember! That first shot is classic!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tender Wolf

Remind me to avoid him in a bad mood.

He's actually quite charming if you can avoid lighting his very short fuse - easier said than done, as Deus will tell you (Deus still has a few physical scars from their last little tiff, ignited by a discussion over whether sushi was better than pizza, of all things). I've roleplayed almost all of my characters into relationships with each other like that - only my warrior remains unattached (and my mule, but nobody really cares about mules)

~nymph~ · Jan 20, 2008, 12:20 AM // 00:20

rolf at the last one tender, how did you get that shot lol

haha my guildie was getting so irritated he just wanted to shoot me lol

Tender Wolf · Jan 20, 2008, 01:01 AM // 01:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~nymph~

rolf at the last one tender, how did you get that shot lol

haha my guildie was getting so irritated he just wanted to shoot me lol

Nice shot! lol Actually, I got that shot randomly while I was in a mission.

I just saw him standing there, told the owner not to move, and snapped the pic.

Okay Deus, I'll be sure not to get on that sin's bad side. And I do the same thing with my characters.

Well, maybe not related or knowing each other but each one having their own little story. lol

dgdg525 · Jan 20, 2008, 03:42 AM // 03:42

I am starting to have my doubts about the jury a bit.

A picture is not only about focus, it's about composition as well. It seems that if the character isn't put bluntly in the foreground in close up (probably with screaming gear as well) some of the judges miss the 'focus' .. *rolls eyes*

A good picture is about composition with a lot of different secondary eye-catchers as well. The pic of Gracie was one of the better when it comes to composition. It doesn't always have to be blunt close-ups.

Well, that is my five cents

tidus yumemiru · Jan 20, 2008, 04:14 AM // 04:14

i'm sorry i don't understand either, the judges aren't quite in agreement? i am consistently baffled at the judges choices

RedStar · Jan 20, 2008, 04:23 AM // 04:23

You have to remember that this is a "modeling competition".
If you choose a random page from a model magazine like Vogue, the first thing you are suppose to see is what the person is trying to model.
In this competition they are modeling their bodies, and more importantly their face, their eyes.
You can have the most beautiful background in the game but what they see is only your back and not at least your face, then this isn't a modeling shot anymore but just a beautiful screenshot.

I do agree that Gracie's pic was good, you see her, the background isn't distracting. On a side note, I think that she zoomed as much as possible, because if she did zoomed a little more, than we could only see half of the necro.

This is just my 2cents ^^.

Toutatis · Jan 20, 2008, 04:37 AM // 04:37

Here's how I see the judging in general:

We're doing more unique assignments, pulling from a broader range of themes. This means that old judging standards either don't apply, or don't exist for the material we're producing. In a way, we contestants are being used as guinea pigs to test out new ideas to see how well they work, and to find out exactly how far the boundaries can be pushed; at the same time, the judges are also under pressure to define new criteria that need to be taken into account to properly judge the worth of each submission.

It would have been nice if a new set of standards had been defined to handle this before the contest started (it would reduce a few of the doubts some people are having), although realistically I don't think that would have been possible. There is no way that anybody could have predicted the styles and qualities of each of the submissions that have been in this contest so far, and it's anyone's guess as to where creativity will lead this contest in the future.

Though at the end of the day, the point of these contests is simply to have a good time. Winning or losing comes secondary to having fun, and as long as we're all enjoying the wonderful pieces of art that result from each assignment and making some new friends, a few scores and opinions from some nameless judges really don't matter

Queen Kitiara · Jan 20, 2008, 06:47 AM // 06:47

Gah, ok I have to disagree with you on several points Dues…I don't think that defining the standards is nice to have ~but rather imperative. When I look at scoring such as:

Contestant 6+6+2=14
Other contestant: 2+4+5=11

I am extremely concerned that either there isn’t a basic criteria set in place and it is all left to opinion which in that case scoring based on only personal appeal seems to have quite a staggering affect on a score – from the outside viewer this looks like favoritism or a vendetta and I don’t want to see another great contestant get kicked before their time >.< ~ basically one would assume that “if” there was a standard set into place then how could there be such an extreme variance?

This is about having fun and the foundation of that fun stems from accurate and fair judging so I say this on behalf of the hard working contestants that might not be alright with blowing off their scores. I wouldn’t be - so I’m looking forward to understanding

tidus yumemiru · Jan 20, 2008, 06:59 AM // 06:59

Kiti made a lot of the points i was going to say, not to mention this isn't the first or second time this has been brought up. there shouldn't be a need for such variances if the judges understand the point of the assignment.
this has been happening from the start and yet it continues. and more people are wondering whats going on.

yeah its meant to be fun, but whats the point in doing something if ur not going to do it correctly?

dgdg525 · Jan 20, 2008, 01:25 PM // 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedStar

You have to remember that this is a "modeling competition".
If you choose a random page from a model magazine like Vogue, the first thing you are suppose to see is what the person is trying to model.

I do see your point, but a magazine like Vogue is about fashion. Of course you want to put up clothes or make-up in close-up.

This is not a competition about fashion however, so these rules don't apply. It would have been nice if creativity could be rewarded as well. Love for instance has primarily to do with atmosphere ... your picture needs to tell a story.

Okay, I agree that this award winning pic is an example of the other extreme, but it does tell a story (it's an ad for beer)

http://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/unter...200834962&cp=5