Creating Awesome Features [+Contest Winners]

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   Feature Contest Winners!!!

This was seriously one of the hardest contests I have ever judged, but alas we finally have winners :la:
<da:thumb id="245773476"/>1st place<da:thumb id="245773476"/>
:iconconnyduck: ConnyDuck with The Faces of Traditional Art 2



<da:thumb id="245773917"/>Runner-Ups<da:thumb id="245773917"/>
:iconmimi-min: & :iconstarhavenstudios:
Art Feature - IlluminationHello, my wonderful watchers.
I hope you're all feeling as lovely as you really are! ♥
Today, I'm coming out of my little hole to share
a collection of art that I just can't get enough of.
I've never really put together an art feature before,
but I want to start doing them regularly for Project-Rekindle,
so as a practice shot I thought I'd make one here.
(Psst... there's a Feature Contest going on, too!)
Deciding on a theme was no challenge at all.
If there's one thing that really stands out to me in the art world,
it's those high-contrast paintings that incorporate genius manipulations of light and color.
These artists have mastered this effect. Someday, I hope I can too!
Note that because Project Rekindle is mostly aimed at painters, photography will not be included in this feature. Sorry!
Now then, without further ado, check out these stunning works of pure,
April 2014 Feature - Part 1: Bunnies!I'm starting a bi-weekly feature after doing a feature in my last journal, which I had fun doing.  The first half of April will feature cute bunnies, since April is the month of Easter.  Normally, I would choose 10, but this time, I shall do 15 (the reason being is because it's the minimum requirement for this contest by projecteducate).

    Entries were judged on multiple aspects. Layout, style & appearance, sticking to the theme, activity of deviants [yes, I checked to see if those featured were active or had been gone since], not being too overwhelming/underwhelming, among other variables such as having not been snagged off the popular pages and such things. :B
    Thank you everyone who entered! Regardless of winning you all had AMAZING features! I definitely found some very talented deviants to watch and a some favorites along the way as well! I hope you all enjoyed it, we may have to do this again!







 Features are awesome! Getting them, making them, seeing them... it's pretty much like this:

***Perhaps one of my favorite things dA did was making thumbnails available for all users; not just premium.***
    So why feature artwork anyways? Because it's awesome, it's fun, and it's nice. Featuring artworks in your journal is great on both sides; it gives both you and the person featured a little more exposure and gives you both the chance to make new friends. Also gives you a chance to find new art and artists on dA.

    BUT; features take some effort, especially the good ones. So; what makes a good feature great and where do you find all this awesomely fantastic work!?
Theme:
    The first thing to do is pick a theme you want to centre your feature on. Do you want to do something specific [music, hearts, green, dinosuars, redheads, ballet] or you can do a media [photography, literature, digital, etc.] or a category [street photography, watercolors, beads, etc.]  by deviants [watchers, undiscovered/unknown, etc.] or just your recent favorites [weekly favorites, monthly top faves, etc.]... so really you can pretty much feature what ever the blank you wish.

Finding your artwork:
[for the sake of decent explanations we're featuring flowers of the rainbow]
    This is probably the most time consuming, because depending on your feature; finding the artwork you're going to feature. Now; how do you find all these works?
  • Basic browsing art: you can get here through the front page.
    • If you're doing a specified theme like we are you can type flowers into the search. We can narrow it downe ven more by adding for example "blue flowers". Additionally say you only want to feature photographs, can select your media [in this case photography] on the left side.
  • @Groups: Groups are also a pretty good way to find art to feature; especially if you're familiar with your theme, you'll know where to go, but if you're not you can do a search [i.e. flower photography]
  • ThumbShare Forum: Post a forum thread asking for what you're looking to feature. Something simple like
    • Share 3 thumbs of your best flower photographs! BONUS: add two flower deviations from your favorites
  • Galleries & Favorites: this is another method of browsing; and it can take you to amazing places! Say person A :+fav:'d your work, you go to my page and see their gallery then go onto their favorites where you find a pretty cool artwork from person B. You find something in their gallery to feature then their favorites you find person C, D, and E to feature as well and continue doing the same thing... this is an excellent way to find great artwork to feature; especially if you're not using a specific theme or you're looking for undiscovered artwork.

7 Tips for Putting Together an Awesome Feature:

  1. Limit yourself! In this case less is more! I generally use about 25 artworks per feature. If you have more; make it a 2 part feature and save the rest for later. Too many and people won't want to wade through them, just a few and they'll take their time.

  2. Use your resize options! Make deviations next to each other same in size; you can square off the layout [where all sides come down straight] or stagger them [like I did below]. Mess around with it until you find what you think looks good

  3. Use CSS if you can. Find a CSS journal that works well with your theme [if you have a theme]. It's like adding an extra piece into be featured and adds character to your feature itself [keep in mind this may change your layout; so make sure you preview it in the correct widths]

  4. Try to feature active artists! You don't have to if you don't want to; but if you feature a bunch of people that were active back in 2005 and have fallen off the face of deviantART since it doesn't get things moving with finding active artists to watch and any attention they receive will fall on long since gone ears.

  5. When featuring literature thumbs can only be full width or regular square thumbs; depending on which you decide to use if you mix them with visual work you can a. put lines of say 3 throughout the feature breaking up the visual feature b. feature them at the top to catch attention first c. use big thumbs throughout [like the lines] - if you're featuring just literature I recommend using the big thumbs

  6. Treat your feature as though it's an artwork in it's own right; when laying it out and styling it; make it visually appealing.

  7. Have fun! :la: if you make featuring a chore it will get tiring and not so fun... have fun featuring the work you find!

*** As always: if you have any questions feel free to comment or send me a note, I'll be happy

to answer anything that may not be clear or I forgot! ***


Example Feature

[theme: rainbow of flower photographs :dummy:]

NO! :(

.o.i.o.i.o. by prettyflour Flowers 52 by delphotographerThank You Bev by Applemac12 Orange by MartcheMadeleine Rainbow flower 2 by a6-k
Tender Flower by RiseUndead Speckled Clover by Squiddles66 Happy Roses 8 by MarjoleinART-Photos White Orchids by CASPER1830 gone like the flowers by jyoujo


YES! :la:

Flowers 52 by delphotographerOrange by MartcheMadeleineTender Flower by RiseUndead
Speckled Clover by Squiddles66.o.i.o.i.o. by prettyflourThank You Bev by Applemac12
White Orchids by CASPER1830gone like the flowers by jyoujoHappy Roses 8 by MarjoleinART-Photos
Rainbow flower 2 by a6-k



    Now you've got your feature and you're ready to go. Or are you?

YOU ARE! :la:


Contest!

    We're not done yet though, it's time to put everything you've learned to work :squee: I want to see your features!
Rules:
  • Must be new & created for this contest [make sure to mention in the feature that it is for this contest & a link back to this journal]
  • Must feature at least 15 deviations
  • You must pick a media/theme. [i.e. fantasy, music, blue, etc.] whatever theme you want, there just needs to be one
  • Deadline: Friday 04.April.2014 at 9pm EST. 

Features will be judged on:
  • layout and visual appearance
  • sticking to a theme
  • activity of artists featured [are they still using dA or did they disappear in 2005?]
  • Personal preference: undiscovered artwork; not something that already has 300+ :+fav:

How to Submit:
    You can submit all your feature THIS FOLDER.
If you don't know how to submit a journal to a group folder:
Open your feature and along the left side you'll see "Featured in Groups" and the "add to group" button,
click the 'add to group' >  click or type projecteducate
submit to the gallery folder titled "Feature Contest"
***if you have any problems submitting please leave
a  comment or note WorldWar-Tori

Prizes:
Winner: 6 month subscription
2 runner ups - 250 points each




© 2014 - 2024 WorldWar-Tori
Comments162
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prettyflour's avatar
Congratulations to all of the winners!  There were a ton of fabulous features created for this contest that are just wonderful!