Official ImagineFX challenges

Be Our Cover Star Competition...

BerenN — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:12:01 GMT

Calling all IFX artists!

Following a string of awesome IFX covers from the likes of Android Jones, Bao Pham and Stanley Lau, we're opening up the front cover spot to the public.

The competition – be our cover artist
This is your chance to kick-start your professional career or simply impress your peers by getting your artwork displayed alongside the best digital artists around today.

The prize
• Your artwork on the cover of ImagineFX, with a massive worldwide readership.
• A Wacom Cintiq worth £950
• A one year subscription to ImagineFX
• As our cover star, you'll also be featured inside the magazine.

Sending in your artwork is easy - you can send your art as jpg, jpeg or png via our dedicated server (where you can also get the details on the cover size) or just pop it on a CD/DVD in whatever format you wish and send it by post to this here address. For all WIPs go to this thread.

Please ensure that all entries include your personal details, including name, address, postcode, email and phone number.

Closing date is 10 January 2010.

Good luck!

The Important Rules Bit:

To ensure that your image works on the cover of ImagineFX, it must adhere to certain size and layout specifications. We want to show it off in its best light, after all. For a downloadable PSD template and more information on our size requirements, pop the ImagineFX DVD in your drive and go to the Resources section.
How to submit your image
You can either send in your final artwork via our dedicated server (see the DVD for the details and link, or go straight to the following www.futurecomps.co.uk/cover).
If you prefer you can send it on a CD or DVD by post to:
Cover Star Compo, ImagineFX,
30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW, UK
All artwork is submitted on the basis of a non-exclusive worldwide license to publish, both in print and electronically. Please ensure that all entries include your personal details, including name, address, postcode, email and phone number.

Yet more rules: 1. Employees of Future Publishing Ltd, Wacom and their immediate families or agents are not eligible to enter this competition. 2. Only one entry per person. Multiple entries will be discarded. 3. Entries must be received by 10 January 2010, which is the closing date. 4. All entries will be judged by Claire Howlett and the ImagineFX team, their decision is final. 5. The winner must agree to allow their image to be used on the cover of ImagineFX between the period of 9 February 2010 and 9 February 2011 and in any promotional or marketing material. 6. The winning artist must also agree to any image manipulation/enhancement if the quality is not to the required standard. 7. ImagineFX and Future Publishing reserve the right to postpone the selection of a winner indefinitely if the standard of quality is not to the required level. 8. No cash alternative. 9. The editor’s decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into. Unfortunately we are unable to return the CDs or DVDs containing your artwork. 10. All information is correct at the time of going to press.

ImagineFX Christmas art challenge - 2009

Roy D Hacksaw — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:09:09 GMT

Is it that time of year again?

Oh yes, because we're all off getting festive in our castles and eating roast swan for Christmas, we're too busy to change the Image of the Day on the homepage during the festive period. So, we're setting you a challenge - Hoorah!

We want you to create a seasonal image that will be our Image for Christmas on our homepage throughout Christmas and New Year (from 24 Dec to 5 January). Think of all those people clicking on your image and getting to view your gallery of lovely artwork...

And the theme this tiime? Christmas in Space! That should keep you busy between now and then!

Finished entries should be posted on this very thread. WIPs here please.

The deadline for posting final images is midnight (GMT) Sunday 20th December 2009. We’ll pick a winner and that image will be on our homepage for all of the festive period.

Good luck!

PS Last year's challenge was fantastic - see all the entries here.

New COVER COMPETITION!

BerenN — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:02:23 GMT

Looking for details on ImagineFX's new cover competition, where you win a Wacom Cintiq?

Go to the new thread - closing date is 10 January.

Good luck one and all!

Comic-Con fame!!

Claire — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:44:07 GMT

I'm sure you've all heard of San Diego's Comic-Con... If not, it's the biggest convention in the WORLD! They're asking for art and article submissions for their souvenir book that gets given out at the con. I thought you guys might like to try and get in the book!

The closing date for entries is 20 April, and there are a lot of themes for you to think about painting... check it out! It'd be great to see one of you lot in the book and it'd give you a bit of exposure. Give it a shot.

Okay, it's not strictly an official IFX challenge... but perhaps you guys could pick the themes for the MYFX challenges and all enter?

Do it!

http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_progbk.shtml

Unleash your creativity - a response

Claire — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:42:51 GMT

In response to a few queries about the brief for our competition to ‘Unleash your creativity’ to win prizes from Intel, I thought I’d clarify a few things.

Firstly, after the competition’s launch, a few questions about the brief were raised, so Paul, ImagineFX’s art editor and myself answered these questions on page two of the thread here and Paul provided an illustration to depict just how open the brief can be interpreted.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that the competition was held across four magazines here at Future Publishing. ImagineFX, Computer Arts, 3D World and Computer Arts Projects. Each magazine had its own prize but the brief was the same for each magazine.

Below are the winning images from 3D World and Computer Arts' competition, which illustrate how other digital artists interpreted the brief. Looking at the various templates offered as as an example of how the image would be used, it’s clear that these images suit the sizes (A4, half page, web banner, etc) required in the brief.

Computer Arts winner:

3D World winner:

We’re extremely happy that Alex, a graphic designer won the competition – and I urge you to check out his process for creating the winning image on the thread link above, because it’s a very interesting insight into his process. We received many entries and believe that Alex’s entry was the best image. Our decision is final.

The competition to start off our search for the digital artists of the year was a great success, and now we want all of you to check out www.digitalartistawards.com and enter your art in the categories. Good luck!

Design us an icon and win BIG!

Claire — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:42:02 GMT

Hey guys,

Next year we're launching a search for the best digital artists on the planet. I can't reveal any more details on this at present because it's still pretty top secret. What I can tell you is that we've got a challenge for you to help us design the icon/graphics to launch this competition. You'll be richly rewarded for your efforts... The winner will get an amazing workstation and a copy of Corel Painter X, all worth £3,686!

Click here for all the competition details... you've got until 12 Feb. Good luck!

"A pretty butterfly"

Tysall — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:39:06 GMT

Hi everyone,

By now you all should be making greasy fingers marks all over our wonderful creation nicknamed IFX38. I fear some of you might've drooled on a few pages too......

Have you read the story about 'What your art reveals about you'? We sent a Rorschach blot test to 4 artists to see what.. they see. Ya see? I've attached the same graphic here... so step up and have a go.

I asked the artists to knock it out quickly, so they didn't spend too long pondering what they could do with it, and just went for it. I reckon y'all should take the same approach - but I gotta admit if these speed paints turn into full blown masterpieces that would be pretty cool.

Part of me wants to say I can't wait to see what comes outta the grey mass inside your skulls... the other part is terrified to its core. :)

I might even have a pop myself...

Cheers
pt

Extra point if you can guess where I've quoted the title of this thread from...

ImagineFX Christmas art challenge

Claire — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:39:30 GMT

Well hello again!

You may remember that team IFX are far too ~~lazy~~ busy to change the Image of the Day on the homepage during the festive period. So, we're setting you an art challenge to create a seasonal image that will be our Image for Christmas on our homepage throughout Christmas and New Year (from 23 Dec to 5 January). Think of all those people clicking on your image and getting to view your gallery of lovely artwork...

The theme? How about over-indulgence at Christmas and New Year. It's what Christmas is for innit? Oh, and someone's birthday apparently...

Finished entries should be posted here. WIPs here please.

The deadline for posting final images is midnight (GMT) Sunday 21th December 2008. We’ll pick a winner and that image will be on our homepage for all of the festive period.

Good luck!

PS Last year's challenge was fantastic - see all the entries here

Conkers - IFX challenge. Upload your FINAL images here

Claire — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:52:28 GMT

Final images below please

WIP - ImagineFX Christmas challenge

Claire — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:07:04 GMT

Post your Wips here please....

The theme? How about over-indulgence at Christmas and New Year. It's what Christmas is for innit? Oh, and someone's birthday apparently...

The deadline for posting final images is midnight (GMT) Sunday 21th December 2008. We’ll pick a winner and that image will be on our homepage for all of the festive period.

Final Images here please.

Conkers! Official ImagineFX challenge - just for fun

Claire — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:05:21 GMT

Hey guys,

Back by popular demand, here's another just for fun IFX challenge. Remember the Matt the Vampire challenge? The very talented Kay Inglis (who used to work here at IFX) has written another short story for you to illustrate.

Download the story here, give it a read and illustrate whichever part you wish. Kay has given you lots of scope to get creative.

Here's what she said about the story: "With Conkers, I wanted to write a classic horror story with a few original twists. My aim was to give IFX’s talented forumites lots of options - characters, creatures, creepy locations – so that everyone had something to get their teeth into. As usual when I write, I started with an image, and after a brainstorming session with my writing group, came up with the bare bones of a story idea, which I fleshed out over two days. I added a few visual clues as to how I imagined some of the characters and creatures to look, and I can’t wait to see how the forumites interpret them.”

Deadline is Tuesday 2 December, midnight UK time. Uploads your wips on this thread and your final entries here

Winners and honourable mentions will get pride of place in ImagineFX magazine. And some lovely art books from our office.

I'm sure I've forgotten something important, so I'll await the regular forumites to tell me off... :)

Coming soon...

Claire — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:29:56 GMT

Back by popular demand, there will be another just for fun ImagineFX challenge VERY soon...

Watch this space folks...

Just for fun: ImagineFX cover competition

Rob — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:38:07 GMT

Hi all

OK, our next 'official challenge' is something rather fun and that I hope you will enjoy (plus there's some great prizes). We want you to paint a cover! Attached you'll find a layered Photoshop template we've created that you can drop your artwork into. The theme is character art, leaving the brief very open.

The deadline is April 30th. The prizes include Mimobot Star Wars 1GB USB keys (see http://www.mimoco.com/mimobots/SW.php), loads of fantasy-related art books and for the winner, all of the above plus a framed print of their cover signed by the ImagineFX team.

Good luck. If this gets a good response, the next one may be to create a real cover...

Photoshop file attached...
Cheers
Rob

Edit: All entrants, thanks to the good people at Mimoco, will get 15 per cent off Star Wars USB keys!

When do we get some official challenges again?

d-art — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:52:41 GMT

I think it would be nice to see some new ones soon...

Any thoughts?

I'm ready for the real deal

Jason Alexander — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:30:33 GMT

I heard mention that there would be more of these if results were good. I have to say that I'm ready for the real deal

Cover art competition. Final images only please.

Rob — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:42:33 GMT

As the subject says, post your final cover compo images here...

Cover Art Challenge

mashaka — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:16:17 GMT

I am new to this so I am a little nervous!

Win your own art in a book!

Claire — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:00:20 GMT

Win 50 copies of your very own book bursting with up to 100 pages of your own artwork in our competition

We’ve teamed up with self-publishing company Lulu.com to give you the chance to get your artwork published in a book!
The lucky winner will get 50 copies of a perfectbound full colour A4 book (portrait or landscape), with a minimum of 68 pages and a maximum of 100 pages. And all of it chocked full of your artwork. Cool huh? You’ll be able to sell this book at conventions, send them to prospective clients… whatever you want. Lulu will be on hand every step of the way to guide you through the process of creating this book.

To win, we want you to tell us what you’d put in your art book. So, we’d like you to submit a book title, cover idea, book synopsis, and send us 5-10 pieces of your art that will go in the book. We’ll sift through the entries and pick the best overall concept. Deadline is 11 February 2008. Competition rules are on page 32. Lulu offers a wide range of printing services worldwide. Visit www.lulu.com for more information. Good luck!

Send your entries on a disc to:
Book Competition, ImagineFX
30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW, United Kingdom

The next official challenge

carly801 — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 15:18:21 GMT

Hi ... I'm looking to find out when the next official challenge might be?

carly801

Frazetta challenge!

Claire — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:35:55 GMT

We heart Frazetta. He has inspired so many artists around the globe that we feel the need to pay tribute to his amazing work in the magazine... therefore we’re planning a special Frazetta feature for ImagineFX very soon - and we want you lovely forumites to be involved.

We want you to submit a Frazetta-inspired sketch. That’s it.

You can draw anything you like (it can be anything from a simple b&w pencil sketch to a full colour illustration) and it can be completed traditionally or digitally - as long as it's inspired by or related to Frank Frazetta's amazing art. Easy.

Dimensions 11x11cm. 300dpi.

Upload your art here by midnight Sunday 13 Jan to be in with a chance of joining this tribute. The best sketches will make it into ImagineFX magazine.

If you’ve not uploaded stuff before, here’s some handy hints:
1. Remember to upload images in the jpg format.
2. Make sure to add the .jpg extension to the end of the file name otherwise the server won't know what type of file you're trying to upload.
3. Try to keep your images under 1MB in size, and no bigger than 530 pixels in width.

Good luck.

Challenges on the magazine

jedikalimero — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:28:34 GMT

Hi!

I've seen in the last few issues of the magazine you're publishing the winners of the weekly and monthly challenge.

Aren't you planning on publishing also the "Join the dots/paint by numbers/colour the picture" winners? It would be an honour for me to see my entry on the pages of the magazine.

PD: The "join the dots" thread ha disappered

HOW TO: upload images to the forum...

Claire — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:49:30 GMT

See here:

http://community.imaginefx.com/forums/thread/703.aspx

Matt The Vampire Hunter - The Winner

Kay — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:52:14 GMT

Hello!

After much deliberation, we've chosen a winner for the Matt The Vampire Hunter competition. The standard of entries was very high and I was really chuffed with the amount of interest the contest generated.

It was a very difficult decision with so many great entries, and special commendation goes to Mac101 for some great detail, Nickillus for some truly eerie effects, and IanC for beautiful simplicity in capturing the essence of the lead character.

However, there was one image we think stood out and captured the feel of the story perfectly, and that was this image by Raymond.

Congratulations, Raymond, you are our winner and a copy of Painter X will be winging its way to you shortly.

Thanks again to everyone who entered the competition. By popular demand I'm off to work out what Matt does next...

Matt the Vampire Hunter - Final Entries.

kazky — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:49:20 GMT

ok i hope i haven't trod on any toes, but as Nick pointed out, it's a little difficult to have to go back and forth to see the entries, so i've made a thread for it. Mod's feel free to whip me soundly!!

Matt the Vampire Hunter competition

Tom — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:02:15 GMT

If you didn't already know, the ImagineFX team have hidden talents. When production editor Kay Inglis isn't miraculously turning Rob's words into something resembling English, she's often to be found writing short stories - and we want you to illustrate one of them!

Called Matt, The Not Particulary Good Vampire Hunter, you'll need to depict a scene from the story in your illustration.

Click here to download the story.

EDIT:
The closing date has been extended until 7 January 2008... and the winner will receive a copy of Corel Painter X.

Good luck!