I N N O V A T I V E -- d.r.e.a.m.s

Scoring
Gold -first place
Silver -second place
Bronze -third place
Most Unique -explains itself
AOTR -my personal favorite ARTWORK of the round

I usually will just do gold silver, bronze and one AOTR per round. "Most Unique" only comes up sometimes.. I may add extra awards like "best effects" or "best text" if necessary. If your blend doesn't win any of these but definitely deserves credit, you may get an "honorable" award. :)

Judging
How do I choose the winners? I basically grade each blend like a teacher would grade a paper- on an out-of-100 system. Here's how it works:

Creativity- 40%
I look for creativity more than anything. I don't want to open up a picture out of my inbox and see something that I expected. I want to be blown away. As you've probably heard me say before, I want to say "WOW". The point of this site is to grow within your creative self and become better at blending. Something average that looks like everyone else's isn't going to grab my attention.

Balance- 20%
This is pretty obvious- Colours and photographs should balance. If the subject is an elephant, and you put a humongous elephant on one side and a really small one one the other, don't leave it at that. The side with the small elephant should be the one with text and a lot more effects and brushes. Get my jist? Colours should coordinate as well. Don't mix colours like purple and green together. Don't put all pastel colours on one side, and really dark colours on the other, unless it's something about the light side and dark side or something like that. You can only break the rules of colour if it makes sense.

Text- 15%*
Some blends look better with text and some without. It's up to you to make that choice. If the text looks good and I agree that the blend should have text, you have your 15 points. If there is no text and I agree with that, you have 15 points. If you put text there and I agree with that, but it's ugly or doesn't balance well, you have half of your points. If I completely disagree with your text choice, you have 0 points. You can figure out the in-between points. :)

Quote-10%*
This only applies if you have text. If not, these points don't really count for anything. However, if you do have text, you should have a good quote. It should make sense with the blend, of course. If it doesn't make any sense, you'll lose points. The message of the blend should be expressed through the quote.

Effort- 10%
Did you take a lot of time to do this? Did you do it in 2 minutes or take a good look at it before submitting? That's what I'm looking for here.

Fits Challenge- 5%
Because most work does fit the challenge, it's not worth that much. Just make sure it fits with what I'm asking for and you follow the rules.

*These don't apply for photography and sometimes drawing. Drawing CAN have text though, where these points will count. :)

My Soft Spots
:) I know you all want to know what makes me like something a lot. Different colours, fonts, and styles can make the blend more likeable to me.
Colours- I pretty much like most colours. I like greens and yellows a lot. Bright fluorescent colours make my eyes hurt, and aren't that charming. I like pastels and "soft" colours.
Effects- I like two different types of textures: ones that make the blend look softer, and ones that make it look linear (lines and stuff like that.) :)
Drawing Utensils- Oil pastels and charcoal have always charmed me. That doesn't mean your drawing won't if it's not with those. I'm still looking for artistic ability, but those can make me like it more. :)
Fonts- I like normal fonts like Times New Roman, Verdana, and Arial that give it a "simple-but-not-so-simple" look. One of my favorite fonts is Century Gothic, and I'm not really sure why, but I just like the feel of it. It looks nice if most of the text is in a regular font but then one important word is in a handwriting or cursive-type font.