Sig of the Week 5 (independence edition)

Theme has been chosen by the staff due to the 4th of July

Theme: Patriotism (something honoring you country since not everybody is American so the 4th doesn't have the seem implied meaning.)
Date ending: Friday midnight (EST)
Poll closing: Sunday midnight (EST)
Size max: 500 x 200 px
Size min: 200 x 100 px or 100 x 200

Misc rules:
-Sig must be made during the open time of the contest *on the honor system for the most part*
-1 entry per person
-Max file size: 1mb (pretty much only applies to animated entries so as to not enter ridiculously large images that would bog down some computers.)
-Winner picks the theme of the next SotW (special circumstances may apply such as holidays)
*Winner has untill midnight of the following day after the poll ends to submit the new theme to ensure enough time is given*
-Provide viable reasons with your vote when the voting starts or it won't count. (An attempt to keep down fanboying the character. Viable reasons are reasons pertaining to the composition of the sig not just the render. Being innovative when fitting a theme can also be a viable reason.)
-Avoid voting for yourself and if you entered something try to cast a vote to be 'fair'

Dwlr


Zomb


Ferret


Ice


Orange

My vote goes to Dwlr. Although he has some dead space its more of an issue with what computer you're looking at. Dark computers make it look like there is a lot more than the light computers and so this is not the fault of the artist and should not be counted against. The lighting and color sets the tone of the render really well also.

Ice has way too much dead space to give credit to him this week. Yes its better than his usual attempts but the dead space kills the rest of the banner.

Ferret's is kinda trippy but it amuses me.lol I also think he said that he didn't have photoshop this week because of a vacation or something so he was working with limited resources.

Orange's banner looks cool but not enough to beat out Dwlr's.



Also I'd like to remind those voting to post a reason because otherwise your vote won't count. I only make this comment because there are 4 votes up and I'm the only one to post so far.

I'll vote Alison this week.

Aid's is simple which works but the pix-elation on the stars drew my attention immediately and kind of killed it for me.

Ferret's doesn't seem to fit the theme all that well so I kind of threw it out for that.

Ice's is clear brush spam, the light blue looks like stair steps completely showcasing that it is just a default chalk brush used repeatedly, dead-space on the entire top half with the focal being in the top is a big no-no. The render also implies that it would be better served with the rule of thirds and not just plopped in the center.

Alison's is fractal spam and lack of blending make it annoying, but the aforementioned flaws make it the lesser of the evils IMO.


Just to explain mine a bit: the dead-space on the right was intended for the shadow of the entire sig representing his body blocking the light from and off screen fire/explosion and at night I exaggerated the darkness of the shadow, it should actually be slightly blue and not black like the feedback I have been getting has been saying just to keep down eye strain, but monitor differences skewed that apparently.
Not trying to sway votes just put down some misconceptions.

Dwlr doesnt brushspam and his has pretty smudging that fits with his render.

I'm voting for Dwlr's because his banner looks like it had some time put into it. I agree with Dwlr and Zomb that ice has way too much dead space and Orange is getting better so I'm looking forward to what she might come up with in future weeks

Thanks for being a good sport and waking up to vote Tsuruya. I hope that you don't come and hurt me tomorrow because of it XD

Dwlr wins with 3 votes
Alison had 1 vote

2 votes in the poll were rejected due to no reason being given to support the vote. SotW 6 is up and running GL everyone.

One quick note about upcoming SotW contests. The poll the currently has been at the top of them will no longer be there. This means that all votes will be counted from the posts as well as there will not be any confusion about the poll stating something different.