The Contest is over!!!!   Now the judging shall begin!!!!!  



We have decided our theme will be Creativity is Cool

This contest is somewhat different: We will provide you with different stock images: Four of people, four of interior shots, four of outdoor/landscape images and four 'unusual or 'difficult' images. Now your mission is to choose one (or more) of those and get as creative with it as possible!  You can use any part of the stock images in any way you like--so long as it's recognizable as having come from the image.  Imagine all the different possibles!
Here pure skill is not as important- A perfect portrait might get not as much recognition as a really creative piece with the same stock base.





People:


Exterior:


Interior:



And these are our 'weird' or 'challenging' set of pics, so  contestants can get 'extra points' if you choose to use them:
  

and of course, thank you to our awesome stockers: *HiddenYume-stock ~geoectomy-stock `faestock and ^Elandria




First impression: The attractiveness of the work of art clearly reproduced.
Creativity and originality: A fresh line of imagination in an extraordinary manner, please add your own vision to it!
The more, the merrier:  Extra 'points' to those who use more than one of the stock images in their entries!!  Or who use the images in a creative way--take a flower from one image, a chair from another, put the trees from another into a window--whatever you can conceive of!







Submission deadline: You have from July 20th to September 21th
Only members of T-A can participate.
One entry per person
The entry must be new and specifically made for the contest.
You must use at least one of the stock images as a reference in your entry.  You may use as much or as little of the image as you like--but it must be recognizable within the artwork.
The entrant must follow dA AND [link] (T-A rules).
This is a group of traditional artists, so ONLY traditional art is allowed in this contest.
All stocks/references used must be credited AND shown via thumbnail or link and all the stock artist's rules must be obeyed--so make sure you read them and follow!  Any entriant that fails to follow the stock artist's rules WILL be automatically disqualified.
All media used must be listed- including any computer 'tweaks'. (and remember your T-A submissions rules!)
Donors can enter the contest as well. Judges cannot.
Only submissions via note with 'CONTEST' in the title will be accepted.



[link]







THIS IS WHERE WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!
Over the next few weeks as we gear-up for the contest, we need some more donations of features and prizes for our lovely winners!  So please, if you have some extra points or drawings you want to contribute, or just a good old fashioned journal feature, please leave a comment here or note *JLDragonfly  


This list will be constantly updated!


First Place

1 years subscription to dA from =KW-Scott
Journal feature, 150 points and a drawn ATC by *Ileina
Journal feature and points (amount to be announced) by ^Elandria
Journal feature and 70 points from *rinaswan
Journal feature and 20 points by *Ina-Fahlsten
An exclusive stock-pack from *HiddenYume-stock
Journal feature, lama and feature in #anything-traditional by =LilaeaBluecoat
Journal features from #Traditional-Art-Only #FineArtGalleries & #Realism-Art
Journal/News article feature by *JLDragonfly
Group journal feature by #AnotherContestGroup
Journal feature by =pbird12
Journal feature by *RandomSearcher
Journal feature by #TraditionalUnleashed
Journal feature by #Feature-Heaven
Journal feature by #Traditional-Art-Only
Journal feature by #Rainbow-4all-Club

Second place

3 months subscription to dA from =KW-Scott
Journal feature, 100 points and a drawn ATC by *Ileina
Journal feature and points (amount to be announced) by ^Elandria
Journal feature and 50 points from *rinaswan
Journal feature and 20 points by *Ina-Fahlsten
An exclusive stock-pack from *HiddenYume-stock
Journal feature, lama and feature in #anything-traditional by =LilaeaBluecoat
Journal/News article feature by *JLDragonfly
Group journal feature by #AnotherContestGroup
Journal features from #Traditional-Art-Only #FineArtGalleries & #Realism-Art
Journal feature by =pbird12
Journal feature by *RandomSearcher
Journal feature by #TraditionalUnleashed
Journal feature by #Feature-Heaven
Journal feature by #Traditional-Art-Only
Journal feature by #Rainbow-4all-Club

Third place

1 months subscription to dA from =KW-Scott
Journal feature, 50 points and a drawn ATC by *Ileina
Journal feature and points (amount to be announced) by ^Elandria
Journal feature and 30 points from *rinaswan
Journal feature and 20 points by *Ina-Fahlsten
An exclusive stock-pack from *HiddenYume-stock
Journal feature, lama and feature in #anything-traditional by =LilaeaBluecoat
Journal/News article feature by *JLDragonfly
Group journal feature by #AnotherContestGroup
Journal features from #Traditional-Art-Only #FineArtGalleries & #Realism-Art
Journal feature by =pbird12
Journal feature by *RandomSearcher
Journal feature by #TraditionalUnleashed
Journal feature by #Feature-Heaven
Journal feature by #Traditional-Art-Only
Journal feature by #Rainbow-4all-Club

Special Prize

*rinaswan's favorite will get a special prize of 3 month subscription to dA and 100 points!  


In addition all entries will be featured in a news article of the group!

We'd be very happy if you would donate something, a subscription, a feature, a commission, whatever!







will be judges.







To make it easier for us to check whether your entry really fits into the rules, we will only accept entries that are submitted via a note to the group!
With more than 400 submissions a week it's hard enough to keep control over our message cente, so this will be safer, easier to control and probably even quicker!
Thanks for the co-operation!




Any questions, concerns, or do you feel something is missing? Feel free to note the group!

You feel that traditional art is sometimes underrated? Or you're just looking for a great enthusiastic traditional art community? Then you should definitely join in on "THE CHANGE", a traditional art movement.
has more details here and here. Also make sure to the articles to get more people involved!

After some time off 's big and beautiful feature is back! Marvel at them here and get inspired!






#Birds-Club Close-Ups Art Contest Winners

First place:

Bald Eagle - Ballpoint Pen by =VianaArts


Second place:

vision by ~AndreSintenie

Third place:

La vie en rose by *JessicaSansiquet



#Birds-Club Close-Ups Photo Contest Winners

First place:

YAWRP III by *Canislupuscorax

Second place:

Close-up of a Beautiful Bird 02 by *s-kmp

Third place:

Eagle Owl Gaze by *Shadow-and-Flame-86



First place:

Buzzard in flight by *BecciES

Second place:

The Colony Rises by *Mogrianne

Third place tie:

Landing by *AlexMarshall & The Predator's Instinct by ~Sygnia

We're finished! Thanks to all who participated!

Attention please! Because of a big backlog the Critique Wanted folder is closed for the time being. We want to clear out things a bit, so we hope you understand!
We're sorry, but at the moment, we have nearly 50 pieces waiting for feedback, and with an average CN outcome of less than ten pieces that makes the waiting time from submitting to actually getting feedback half a year. We're working on a solution for this, but in the meantime we greatly appreciate your patience.


If you want to receive an additional reminder the day before the CN, comment on this journal!



With our two-week schedule it's already time for the next Critique Night! We're working on a plan to have one every fortnight, so look forward to that. But until then you have the first-Saturday ones, and the next one is coming up quickly!
Here are the details:

Date:Saturday, February 4th
Time:4 pm GMT
_{Use this Time Zone Converter to work out what time that is for you.}
Location: T-A Chatroom
Anything else? As usual, how long it takes depends on how many people are there; ask any questions you have in the comments or note the group or me, ~Elveanna; and remember that you can't submit anything this time!

See you there!




So this section will compile all the feedback given at the last three CNs, since I didn't manage to organize it earlier. Therefore, a rather long list (and some breathing space in our Critique Wanted folder):

it's not vodka. by ~ddspela: [link]

Cute Kitten by ~masaad: [link]

Johnny Knoxville Portrait by ~SCRUBZLOTUS: [link]

Monica II by ~MiStr8022: [link]

Hurtful Words From My Enemies by =NynjaKat: [link]

Gunter Grass by ~LadyFromEast: [link]

Needatitle by ~matspawn: [link]

White Swan by ~masaad: [link]

Gackt by ~Bamoon: [link]

The Bull by ~MrZell: [link]

Nature Taking Over by ~Promandis: [link]

Love at first sight by ~Saiyajin-hime: [link]

No Return Journey - LOTR by ~ResonatingMelody: [link]

Jack Sparrow and Will Turner by ~shoutgirl11: [link]

Black Knight by *scifo: [link]

Witch II by ~Vronske: [link]

Saint Francis of Assisi by ~LadyFromEast: [link]











If you like to give people feedback on their work, you know a bit about art and would like to take on some responsibility, apply as Critic Contributor!

Here you can read how you can apply.






People who want feedback on a piece of art submit it as explained below.
In the actual Critique Night the work that is currently given feedback will be displayed as a thumbnail at the top of the chat window. Everyone present is given some time to think about it. If one wants to say something, they raise their hand by posting ^ and wait until the moderator calls on them. Then they post their feedback, preferably typed while waiting.
The feedback should be helpful and constructive and cover the good aspects as well as those the artist can improve on.
The moderator will call on people to give their feedback in the order they ^ed. If they're done, they type "finished", so people know they can move on.

Example (from 1st CN):
<Elveanna> [Moderator in this case] for everyone: piece xy is next
<Donguri7> ^
<BJ92-ESQUE> ^
<Elveanna> okay, Donguri7
<Donguri7> I love this one, the handling of the charcoal is amazing, especially in the rendering of the eyes - so subtle. I would say that the nose is too light, drawing too much attention away from the gentler parts of the work.
<Donguri7> Really the cheekbone closest to us should have a stronger higlight, and the nose less
<LeahJay> ^
<Donguri7> But I love the way you've treated the other lights, like on the collar
<Elveanna> ^
<WhisperingWolf> ^
<Donguri7> And how you've contrasted a light background to the dark side of the face, and vice versa
<Donguri7> *finished
<Elveanna> allright, BJ92-ESQUE's turn  (...)


Usually a piece gets feedback from about four people. In order to be fair we try to have about 20-30 minutes of time for every piece. If more people want to give feedback, they will be asked to do so directly at the work, if there are very few it might be put back to the Critique Wanted folder to get some more.

And some helpful chat basics:
If you enter a chatroom and see nothing - don't think it's empty and leave immediately. Your browser just won't know what as been chatted already, so it will seem blank, even if there are people present
To see who is online, look to the right. The grey colummn there (the frame of the overall chat window) lists all the people present - if there is only your name, then you are alone.
Please give people some time to respond - logging on and off in split seconds makes it hard to greet you. Especially when people are typing feedback it might look very quiet and empty, but a friendly "hello" is almost always answered within one or two minutes.
If you want to talk someone explicitly, you can "tab" them: type the first letters of the user's name, (e.g. El for Elveanna), then press tab - and the browser will complete the name. If you then post what you said, it will be highlighted in the recipient's window. Very helpful if there are many people talking simultaneously


But really, the best way to find out how a CN works and what it is like is to participate! Just pop in and take a look, we're all really friendly!





Attention! The Critique Wanted folder is currently closed.


A folder has been opened in favorites: "Critique Wanted" - to which anyone at any time is able to submit. You can submit as many pieces as you like, but in a Critique Night only one will get feedback!
Please note: We only accept traditional work!
Works from said folder will be selected in the order they were submitted to get feedback during Critique Nights;
Works that received critique from TA will be moved to the favorites folder "Critiqued by TA".

There will be about 10 Critique Night slots. In order to have one of these secure please not only submit your work to the folder, but also write the group a Note with the title "Critique Wanted" or something similar and a link to your work. Slots will be filled by notes first, then the rest will be selected from the folder.

Until now pieces directly submitted at the Critiqe Night usually recieved feedback as well. Be aware that with the opening of the "Critique Wanted" folder we will probably have enough pieces for a whole CN - so if you just submit at the Critique Night, you might have to wait till the next one!
If you want to be sure to get feedback, submit your work officially to the folder.


Please note:
The folder is open to all members. If you have some time and feel like it - go and give some feedback, it's rewarding for both sides!




So here are last time's pieces, but too many in total but every little helps:

Valentines_Special by ~priyankasachdeva: [link]: Harry. P by *acjub:[link]: Playing guitar by ~MiStr8022: [link]: Angel and her star by *Dalal-N: [link]: pieta with roses by ~s3v4uk: [link]: Quinn Fabray GLEE by ~verkoka: [link]