http://i.imgur.com/O7RuvHm.gif
Finale Assignment: Mermaid Scores
First Place
Cherry Black
by Spookshow
Final Average Score: 40.5
http://i.imgur.com/JZtzEl7.png
Leslie
Creativity- 9/10
Composition- 8/10
Quality- 9/10
Creature- 10/10
Requirements- 5/5
Total- 41/45
Lemmy yours is so gorgeous! You have come so far in your editing and I’m really proud of you! I absolutely love everything about the way you designed your mermaid. She literally looks like you took a picture of her while she was floating onto that rock. I love the fish scales on her skin and her tail is really pretty. The hair you drew is beautiful and I love how you can see her movement more from the way you made her hair flow through the water. The ear that you added to her was really cool and creative. It was one of the first things I noticed and I love it! I love that you made some little fish friends hanging out around her. There were only two things that needed some work on your picture. This picture would have been so amazing if you continued that pretty light in the background onto your mermaid. She needs some lighting on her in general. Even the use of a filter would have made her feel more cohesive. The other thing was your smudging. It is way too heavy again. Smudging is a good way to get rid of any rough lines, but it should be minimal. You should use a much smaller brush and make it a lot less strong. The last thing was that you had some quality issues with the coral that you added. Overall, I love it and you did an awesome job.
http://i.imgur.com/SM8LyBe.png
Mizzie
Creativity- 9/10
Composition- 8/10
Quality- 8/10
Creature- 10/10
Requirements- 5/5
Total- 40/45
Hooooly moly Lemmy! Once again you have blown me away! You have improved so much during this competition and I am so proud of you! You need to pat yourself on the back for a job well done. (And seriously, you should join some of the Sims 3 comps. You’d do extremely well in them.) I don’t know how to describe it but there is something in this photo that certainly sets it apart and makes it beautiful, it’s probably how well you portrayed the mermaid species in this photo (beautiful yet creepy). Your hair drawing is absolutely amazing (seriously, you’ve come so far) and the colors you chose are gorgeous and memorizing. The colors remind me of the aurora borealis, just more purple. xD I also love that she’s interacting with the fish, it just helps her blend into the image. The only flaws I see here is that you need to work on blending a bit more, some quality issues with the background and objects, and the smudging is still really noticeable. With blending, look at the fish she is interacting with and then look at the fish in the back. The fish she is interacting with are far too bright, and so is she. Adding some filters over them would have blended them more and really help the overall image. Also some skin shading. I noticed in your last assignment photo (breathtaking btw) that you did some skin shading and did it remarkably well, but it seems you skipped it this time. For the quality issues, the very top of the background around the kelp (left side) has this weird effect around it, and I know there isn’t much you can do about it since it was taken from the internet, but cropping just under the kelp would have helped. It’s just really distracting once you notice it. For the objects, the first set of coral/plants you used in the front have a lower quality than the ones in the back. I would suggest drawing/texturing over them next time to help them blend a little better. Lastly, the smudging (and also lack of it). Your last photo didn’t seem to have this problem, but now it seems to be back. You really need to be careful when smudging and fixing the cut out issues. You smudge in some areas but neglect the rest, and it just leaves an odd appearance to your sim. Using a high strength for smudging (anything above 10 basically) just causes more work down the line or loses you points, and neither is good. That’s why I always suggest to use small settings. You barely notice the blurring but it removes the errors just fine, saving your photo from both smudging and rough edges. No fixing skin color or drawing back details that could take hours if you forget to save before starting your smudging. Like her scales around her tail, which are heavily blurred on the edges, you’d have to draw those back! Sorry about the long feedback, but this is a gorgeous photo and you should be proud for making it to the finale with such a bang!
Second Place
Calisto Green
by LilacErin
Final Average Score: 40
http://i.imgur.com/JZtzEl7.png
Leslie
Creativity- 9/10
Composition- 6/10
Quality- 9/10
Creature- 10/10
Requirements- 5/5
Total- 39/45
Wow Erin, another gorgeous picture from you. I love so many things about this. I really like your decision to go with the bluish lighting. The hair that you drew is beautiful and I like that you incorporated the pearls in it. I love her chest piece and the color of her tail. I didn’t really like the use of the stars, but I like that you made her look like she was glowing with magic. Basically everything about your mermaid herself is fantastic. The part that lost you points was the background. There are some weird things going on with it. I feel like you just added too much to it. The biggest thing is the black stuff all around her. I didn’t understand why you used it. It actually took away from the background and even from your mermaid because it covered the bottom of her tail. Another thing that I noticed was the water texture that you put on top of the background. It doesn’t work. I almost thought it was supposed to be rain at first, but upon closer inspection, it looks like an arial view of water. The last thing was the weird dark line towards the top of the water. I think maybe it’s because it was extended up a little from the original. It isn’t blended at all. So, overall it’s a really cool picture. Just be careful about adding too much just for the sake of adding more to your pictures. Make sure everything you add has relevance and flows with the picture.
http://i.imgur.com/SM8LyBe.png
Mizzie
Creativity- 9/10
Composition- 8/10
Quality- 9/10
Creature- 10/10
Requirements- 5/5
Total- 41/45
Your hair drawing is as amazing as ever, and this photo is beautiful! I love how everything has a cohesive theme and color. Normally we see bright colors for mermaids or a range of blues, but you chose silver and the decision was a great choice. The stars are an interesting and unique touch, if not a bit odd, and so is the black smoke/fog. Also, I absolutely love her chest piece and the accessories to go with it. I can really see a mermaid wearing this. The shells seem to be a bit too large, but that could just be me. However, what I don’t like is the overuse of the fog. There is just too much of it in this photo. Making it either more transparent or just using less would be a better decision. Honestly, I think the photo would have been better off without the fog. I don’t really feel like it belongs in this photo, but maybe replacing it with something else related to stars would be better, or maybe using white fog instead. Another thing that bothers me is how stiff she looks. Using the liquefy or warp tool to curve the tail, even subtly, would have helped. Other than those two things it is a gorgeous photo! Congrats on making it to the finale and for producing such amazing work!
Third Place
Luimur Sepcosihr (Lumen)
by Alexis3142
Final Average Score: 36.5
http://i.imgur.com/JZtzEl7.png
Leslie
Creativity- 7/10
Composition- 6/10
Quality- 9/10
Creature- 8/10
Requirements- 5/5
Total- 35/45
I really like the direction you went in with yours Alexis, making it look more like a cartoon. The coloring makes it look whimsical and fun. I really applaud you for turning in an assignment at all with all of the stuff you’ve been going through. Unfortunately it needed a little work though. Her tail needs some more detail. It looks very 2D on top of your model that is 3D. If you were trying to make her look more like a painting, like how the background is, it would have been really cool if you brought some of that almost impressionist looking texture onto her tail. I really like how you made the movement of the tail though. The pose her top half is in is a little wonky. Her arms look kind of unnatural. I feel it would have been better if the color on her was a little less bleached out too.
http://i.imgur.com/SM8LyBe.png
Mizzie
Creativity- 8/10
Composition- 7/10
Quality- 8/10
Creature- 10/10
Requirements- 5/5
Total- 38/45
This reminds me of the Little Mermaid! I really like her overall look (the hair was a new take but I liked it), and I love her tail, but I wish it had textures and (more) shadows to make it look real, as right now it’s very cartoony. I also like that you used a kingdom for your background; it’s very detailed and the design is beautiful. The pose is cute as well and the overall photo is very nice, however, there is just too much going on in this photo, color wise. You should have chosen a different hair, bra and tail color, because the colors blend into each other and it makes it difficult to set them apart from the background. I’m sure Leslie could help out with explaining this better (or even check out her color tutorial), but the color choices are not helping each other when the entire background is a range of blues to begin with (even changing the background to a darker blue would have helped). Also, the brightness of the overall photo. Filters and adjusting the contrast would have really helped the photo and made it so much better. Right now she has no shadows over her torso and it’s very odd. Skin shading would have helped as well if you didn’t adjust the contrast. Also, the two bottom corners at each side of the photo are very odd and detract from the image. Overall it was a good photo, but it could have been way better if it wasn’t for the colors and brightness. Well done and congrats for making it to the finals!
