Contest The Great Triathlon Challenge Three: Angel's Lore

Done and posted. I am afraid mine is going to look pretty lame next to a lot of them, but I like it, my doll likes it and it is something I never would have done. I am actually proud of myself that I made it through the three challenges considering my major problem with procrastination and leaving things to the last minute. I guess in this case, it is a good thing I am not a perfectionist and can put something out there with flaws. Good luck to all those who have persevered.

 

Oh my gosh, didn't think I would make it. ^_^" I'm happier with the end result than I thought I would be and at this point I'm just glad I finished the digital aspect on time. Book binding went smooth but the digital part took forever! And thank you so much, EleanorAnne, for suggesting the gif site b/c I don't think I would of finished on time if I tried to use anything else, that site made that part a snap.

 

Still working! But I'm happy so far. Craft, craft, craft...

 

Good luck, hun. You can do it! *cheers you on*

 

glad I could help ^_^
I've always been a little intimidated by gif making, and I'm sure doing it the hard way would still be a little bit on the tedious side, but gifmaker.me really did make it super easy. I spent hours taking and editing the pictures, but like less than five minutes actually putting the gif together xD

 

And I'm done~! So glad I was able to pull through & finish all 3 challenges I'm really excited to see the results of everyone's hard work for this one. The book binding wasn't too bad, but filling it up with content was what took so long ^^;;; Thankfully it was nice outside while taking all the pictures I needed. And I went the easy route & just used gifmaker since I didn't want to be fiddling with using Photoshop to do it. I just wanted to wrap everything up and submit hehe. And just like the last 2 times I went over everything about 3 times before I was satisfied to hit the submit button. To everyone who is still working keep going!!!

 

Done and submitted! Again I hope I did everything right... I was worried about the gif but it was fine in the preview so hopefully it's OK.

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone's entries - this one is going to take even longer to decide who to vote for, what with watching all the gifs to read all the stories!

 

Well, I'm submitted. I loved my story but I'm not thrilled with my book binding. It was my first try and it shows. Actually, the actual binding went really well but the making of the cover was poorly executed. Ah well. I made it through all 3 challenges ;D

 

If there is a mod available who could help me I would really appreciate it. I got my entry sent in and all, but whenever I preview the gif it seems to start from the middle, which is not good for my story, lol. I don't know if it was only doing it in the preview or if it will do it when people click on it too, but if there's any way to check and put my mind at ease I would be very grateful @_@

 

TOTALLY desperate here DDDDDDD: MY GIF IS TOO BIG.... photobucket cuts it off halfway through playing. Where can I upload it besdies photobucket??

 

I don't know if I did brilliantly, but I did my best. And I'm happy with what I did, and I know that my doll loves it too! Glad I got it in on time

 

I've always used Imgur for gifs, have you tried uploading there?

 

Whelp. I must in the final hour admit defeat. Between being indecisive, then overly ambitious, life happened and I didn't have the time to work on and complete the book But! I've had a blast and am super happy with the pieces I did complete - the wings especially will be seeing plenty of use in the future. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else put together! A big round of applause to you all!

 

I went to www.gifmaker.me/ and uploaded it, then I clicked on "View Gif" then right clicked on the gif and selected "Copy Image Location". If it gives you an address ending in .gif it should work. I hope that helps!

 

Thannnkks guys oh my god I about had a heart attack. I think the file was wonky or something. Anyway, fixed it and it's playing and working. Can't say the timing is perfect but at least it's able to be read. Down to the last few minutes but DONE AND SUBMITTED. Excuse me while I pass out from the residual freak-out feels @.@.

 

Submissions are now closed!

 

I hope I submitted in time! I hit submit as midnight was struck! way too close, but I was in a mild panic getting the gif to work right heh. Good luck everyone!

 

No Sweeter Words Than These:
"Form was submitted successfully."

Done, with minutes to spare. Naughty me, but I did finish. I love my book. I hope others love it, too, but either way, I am very proud of what I accomplished, and I think my doll is happy to have gotten all this attention! Now to recover from all the fumes of the past few weeks... (Although, yes, I have worn face protection, I could still smell things while they were drying) I am BEYOND looking forward to what everyone has made. I am a bit worried about how things will run on my GIF; I set it slowly, and it was working fine on my computer, so hopefully it's working correctly on the other end of things. I bet, though, that after all the work we have all put into this, everyone will be taking the time to read everyone's books carefully. I know I will. Everyone has been mentioning how carefully and attentively they have been voting previously, so that makes me feel better.

This has been the most polite, kindhearted, and helpful contest I have ever seen. Kudos to everyone for your cheerful spirits and gentle words. I'm so sorry not everyone who wanted to was able to finish, but please, please, let us see your work when you complete it in your own time. I, for one, would love to see what everyone was able to do! Go, us!

 

I had a family emergency come up this week so I couldn't finish the triathlon... :/ and I was 2/3 of the way there! Lol meh well it was fun anyways

 

Well, crap. I downloaded it and the uploaded it to image host. But at this point i just don't care. My book is crap, the binding is terrible, my photos are lousy. . . the only thing that well off without a hitch was making the GIF (which surprised the heck out of me). Ugh. . . iz ded.

 

My computer decided to rage quit at the last minute... I worked for HOURS today, and can't even enter... I feel sick. *resists overwhelming urge to murder laptop*

 

Argh, Turynn! You gave me a heart attack about the idea of Photobucket not displaying all of a large GIF file... *panic mode* I just went back and watched mine, and yes, *phew* it does play all the way through... Time for celebratory ice cream!

 

I'm so sorry !!! I think it may not have been photobucket's fault. When I opened the gif file in photoshop again it was wonked (which is weird because it was perfectly fine when I previewed it before saving it...). Then I opened the PSD file of the gif layers and it was totally fine... so I just re-saved it and it seemed to work after uploading the second time. I was seriously thinking I was going to miss the deadline because I hadn't saved all the photos resized to 600px or less and wouldn't have had the time to do it over. I would have felt like dropping my niche and book off the third story of this building.


xtal - I have pretty similar feelings about my project. I still like the idea, I just wish I had the time to execute it.

Mitsuko_Elric - I'm so sorry...

 

Well as long as you got it posted, that's the important thing. I actually only figured out that you could post the link directly from gifmaker because I couldn't get it to upload properly anywhere else! I know how you feel though. The first time I entered one of the DoA contests I worked REALLY hard and didn't draw in a single vote and felt pretty bad about it. So bad I didn't even really look at these contests for a long time. It hurts to put in a lot of work and to feel like everyone is better. This year, even though I put in just as much work, I'm determined to just have fun, enjoy the other entries, and assume I won't be near the top. Just outdo my own personal bests, which isn't hard, so I'm happy. If anything, I know I've learned from the numerous mistakes I made this year, so next time I enter I think I'll do even better.

 

I failed this round OTZ ... I admit, I saw it coming since the weekend started, since I didn't get a chance to work on actual pages until Friday, but I had a hope in my heart that I could put something together... I've worked on it yesterday and today all day, and I futilely trudged on in the last hour despite knowing there was no way in hell I could get it all uploaded on time, in some funky denial, hahaha.

I knew I wouldn't be winning any prizes over here, hahaha, but I hoped I could at least share mine with the rest of the party. When it was announced it was a book-making challenge, it felt like fate or something, because I had just went to a panel on bookbinding at Otakon and taken such great notes I wanted to try out. But I guess I need t work on my time management skills, though that's nothing new!

Still, I really enjoyed working on this challenge so far, and I again tried and learned many things that I've been meaning to but never got around to. I'm pretty damn good with an exacto knife now, if I do say so myself, haha. And it also helped me flesh out more on my doll's concept and 'history', which I'm really glad for! Though what actually made it into the book I managed to scrape together doesn't include any of the new ideas I came up with, hahaha. I knew with what I was attempting, each page would be too laborious to be able to make much content in just a few days.

But I don't think I'm the only one that felt like after they bound their book, they preferred the way their individual pages looked before it was put together XD ? I'm happy with what I made so far, but at the same time I feel tempted to undo my book and lay out the individual pages flat as their own tiny pieces of art, hahaha. Maybe I'll see it in the morning and feel better about its book-form.

Since this was such an open prompt, I'll be excited to see what everyone else came up with and different book interpretations people made. Good luck to everyone that made it through all three rounds, and to those that didn't manage it like me, well, you're not alone, so let's not sweat it too badly. ^^'

ali

 

I didn't make it either. I feel bad, even if I was playing for fun. Still, it is a personal let down not to finish. I know I had it in me, but we adopted kittens last weekend and they've been an incredible addition to the family. I was so out of it I even forgot to vote for the last round. ^^;

Almyki, maybe we could finish ours up anyway and share them here. Since we're out and entries are closed, I don't think it would hurt. (I'm a lot farther behind though *cough*)

Good work everybody! I'm excited to see all the books and journeys. ^_^

 

Sooo... I'm taking some photo of my doll right now wearing its wings in/on/around the niche. I'm doing more "creative" poses I couldn't do in challenge 2 or 3 due to the limitations (seat/support, interacting with book) and finding it really relaxing after the stress of deadlines. It's like, woah... I made all this stuff. It may not be great, but it's unique to my doll. Even if someone else has the same doll as I do and likes to dress it the same way, no one else on earth is going to be taking these photos.

Since I'm not keeping my niche around forever I need to take all the photos I can now . Gonna go grab some of my other dolls and do it with them too. If anyone else is feeling frazzled, maybe give it a try? After working this hard, why not? It's one way to put off the massive amount of cleaning I need to do...

 

Great job everyone! Three weeks is a big time commitment, so it's understandable that life gets in the way. For those of you who didn't finish just yet, please do share your books here when you complete them! Just think, you collectively just created an entire doll library!

 

I second the notion that those who didn't finish in time should still finish and share 'cause I know I'd still like to see what you created even if the deadline has passed.
everyone put in so much work, all of the entries in the first two rounds were really something!

cheers to those who finished, we did it!
no matter where any of us rank, I think even just finishing is a great feat.
I know personally I put the "pro" in procrastination, so I'm proud to just have finished each leg of the challenge with time to spare 'cause that's not usually something I can say all that often xD

 

Hear, hear! My feelings exactly. Although, I was only good on the first two challenges, and uploaded ahead of time, both times because I had to go somewhere and wouldn't be around for the deadline! This last one, I uploaded with literally 5 minutes before submission was closed. Not a great feeling while you're pushing buttons...

It would be cool if we could start a little section of DoA for books we've made for or about our dolls. A DoA BJD Library, as it were, full of adorable GIF files that could be read, and that people could submit to whenever they wanted (I assume the mods would need to view them first, similar to how the Doll Database pages are run). I think that would be super fun!

 

I didn't get to say it this afternoon, but I made it in time I was typing up the entry information just as my friend pulled in the driveway to whisk me away! Such a close call! Congratulations to everyone who has competed- whether you made it through all three challenges or not, this has been quite a feat from the very first challenge!

 

I was finished... I just couldn't get to the form in time...
Oh, well. At least I get to go shopping tomorrow.

 

I didn't get my book done at all. I was attempting to make a pop-up book but my vacation ended so I had to go back to school and work. There isn't enough time in the day. X3

 

Aww, I hope you'll finish it anyway and show us, Suppi. That's an adorable idea!

 

I would love to see all the books that didn't get finished in time. Either here (not sure how soon they close these threads) or in a separate discussion thread.

 

The only reliable thing I have is my laptop won't do that. The internet, on the other hand. . . if I saw one more "server not responding" message. . . The universe tends to conspire against me in general. Otherwise why would my cat choose 6 am, while I'm trying to get the last bits done before bed, to eat a bunch of food, drink water, and the run around the house and barf it back up. And yes, the next day, while hustling to get things assembled and photos taken. . . I discovered I'd missed a spot.

Oh yeah, I didn't really like having to sandwich my pages between two boards. They didn't want to be sandwiched either. I'd been wanting to make books for a while, for myself mostly (thinks greedily of a leather bound watercolor sketchbook) but never got around to doing anything with the bits I'd collected. I did learn a bit about what not to do. Like having an odd number of signatures making stitching, um, interesting. I can't really say how really I felt about it on a PG-13 forum. I wish I had researched less traditional bindings earlier. I might have gotten something better looking.

 

I had great plans for my book and everything ready to go, then i got the flu..... Sigh, next year....

 

You know, somehow it helps knowing that I'm not the only one who couldn't finish -- even though I feel sick at heart for all of us. I would have had to start completely over after five days of hard work, in order to come up with any sort of version of my content that would have been even marginally useful.

And I tried everything I could possibly tweak to get a readable printout to use for those foolish photographs. I kept bouncing back and forth between "just forget it, it's not going to work" and "MAYBE!" It just wasn't designed to be read on paper by humans, and I'm terribly sad about it because it meant a great deal to me.

Well, at least those who managed to finish have a lot less competition in the end More points to go around!

And I did enjoy the whole thing, with the exception of the final two days.

 

Congratulations to everyone who made it through, and commiserations to those who fell at the final hurdle.

And thank you to all of you for being so encouraging, as a newcomer to the hobby who only knows a couple of people, you guys have all made me feel welcome and included, and I really appreciate that.

Can't wait to see everyone's books!

 

I'm really sorry to hear about all the other people who couldn't finish. I'm still sick at heart about it, myself, because what I had created meant a great deal to me.

On the other hand, I didn't have to worry about punching holes through my hand with an awl....

 

I can't wait to see everybody's work, it's going to be glorious! Also, I can't wait to start my own gallery with all the project photos that didn't fit the format of the competition. Like, a nice high quality video of the book with the animated page turning transitions. :P

I encourage everybody to create galleries with all the extra pictures that this fantastic project yielded. Thanks to the mods for the inspiration!

 

I'm honestly just can't wait to explain my projects. I honestly think knowing the idea behind the project would help me vote better.

 

I agree! I have an IRL friend competing (we haven't spoken about our projects, but I recognized her doll and I know she recognized mine) - and knowing her doll's name and where it originally came from added an extra layer of depth to both the wings and niche. I know my niche doesn't look like it really goes with my doll or wings... but it does! I explained that obliquely in the book, but that didn't help anyone voting on round 1 or 2 understand how they all went together.

I'd also love to see those who didn't get submitted in time show their books. I bet they're fantastic!

 

I can't wait to see everyone's entries! I didn't have time to finish the last leg of the race- but it's okay. I am sure everything will be so beautiful!

 

ditto to wanting to see everyone's stories/concepts explained!
I know it won't make a difference in the voting, and am not sure if it would have anyway even if we could have explained in the first two rounds, but my wings and niche were definitely made the way they were for very specific reasons that would have probably been unclear to anyone who doesn't know me and my doll so it'll be nice to be able to explain all that later so people can at least see what I was going for.

 

I decided to drop out I had an idea for the book but just no spare time to pull it off..no biggie I got a cool case for my girl now hanging in my living room and wings that I had always planned on making her anyway...maybe when I have time I'll still make it into a photo story.

 

*laughs* Concept?! When confronted with the blinking cursor my mind went as blank as the box it was in. Concept? Just to finish the damnable thing. Whatever "fancy a**" idea I had when I started went right out the window. . . along with my sanity.

 

Unfortunately everything that could go wrong for me did this last week. ;v; Work interfered way too much with my book and although I finished the pages, I could never print it and make a decent looking book. I may post it somewhere some if there's a place to do so here. My wings are mounted on the wall in my doll closet and my aerie is being used as some much needed seating. I hope that there weren't too many drop outs. :<
It is rather sad to have come so far and not be able to finish the last challenge when getting so close, but I was glad to get some experience my first year competing. ^3^ Hopefully there will be another competition next year and I can participate fully! I would say by now, if my exalted doesn't know that he's my favorite, then I don't think he'll ever know!

 

I agree ^^ I'm really looking forward to the concepts as well as the stories!!

Haha, I think it's fine not to have a concept! That's only par of the judging criteria anway ^^.

As I submitted with only minutes to go after a stressful omg-might-not-make-the-deadline error with the GIF file I was way too frazzled to explain my concept eloquently (seriously, racing heart, shaking hands... yup not an ounce of concentration left in me at that point). Total bummer as that's what so many of us have been waiting for! That coupled with the fact that my concept was heavily based off my inspiration which is a really personal/emotional kind of thing.... it was hard to explain it objectively without looking like an appeal to that sense . So, I know I cut myself short there. It probably still won't make sense to anyone who reads it but I wasn't sure how else to word it ^-^; oh well......

 

Haha! I laughed out very loudly when I read this, I'm sure my co-workers think I'm crazy now. ^_^" oh well
Honestly I didn't feel I could do my girls story justice with the time I had to work with, that and the wings just aren't really her thing, so I made up a story. Still like it, simple and sweet, just not true at all. XD

 

+1ing xtal's comment! LOL! So true here as well. Pretty much: rules said make wings - I made wings, etc. No real deep, hidden meaning. Other than "want prize doll!", but that's not very hidden. Or deep.



So! Anyone else get in the habit of setting up projects to do at the beginning of the weekend now? I made three t-shirts this weekend after finishing the book. I'm hoping to ride this wave of energy and inspiration, and get some long overdue doll projects done!
It's like I have this tiny hamster in a wheel, in the back of my mind: what's next? what's next? what's next?

 

I'm with you there, Aernath. I've been in crafting spaz, so now I'm using one of the techniques I taught myself while working on this challenge to make something pretty for myself. And, I, too, do not have a main story for my doll, but I did have one whole story for the competition, so I went with that. My doll is just my doll, and I'm happy with that. Pretty much all my dolls are that way, actually, although sometimes I dress them as specific things.

 

We had to drop out of the challenge... I started working last week, so my poor finacee and I couldn't find the time to work on the book together. :<

 

I can't really be that organized. If I were to employ Sherlock's "mind palace" then nailed on the front door of mine (with a bent nail most likely) would be a paper with the motto "a place for everything and everything all over the place." Of course I am finding things I wanted for these projects, things I knew I had, after I don't need them anymore. And in a place I had already looked for them.

 

I do that all the time! O___O Anyone read The Art of Memory? It was fascinating, but yeah, memory palace is a bit beyond my concentration ability at this point.

 

Hahah, no! I was like 'yay, no more doll stuff, can relax for a bit!'. I am in a crafting group where we post goals at the start of the month, and photos of daily progress, and aside from a weaving workshop, all my posts have been 'sorry, still working on secret doll stuff, no photos yet', so it's been good to work on something else. I've done more cross stitch the last few days than I have all month, and my boyfriend has been whining at me to get on with the jumper i am knitting him, so I started back on that yesterday.

Give me a few days off and I'll be back to doll stuff I'm sure, my newest doll desperately needs clothes, and a faceup, and tattoos, and i have other clothing ideas and plans, and a bunch of fibre i wanna play with for wigs.

And my house needed to get unneglected too. I've so far cleaned the kitchen, my room, and the bathroom, but there are still boxes of stuff i dragged out for the contest all over my craft room, and photography stuff all over the dining room, and bits of cut up book all over my sewing table. If this had gone on much longer I don't think my house would have survived!

 

It's usually just inconvenient, unless coming up against a deadline. . . then it borders on Greek Tragedy with the accompanying wailing, rending of clothes, gnashing of teeth. Almost worse than that is coming across project put aside that I really want to work on, like the Be With You head sculpting kit (it's been taunting me for the last 3 weeks).

I haven't read that book, but I find the idea fascinating and one I could certainly benefit from.

 

I haven't read The Art of Memory but for anyone who is interested in the subject I also suggest Moonwalking with Einstein, The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer, and The Woman Who Can't Forget, A Memoir by Jill Price.

As for myself, I'm just happy when I can remember where I put my glasses.

 

OMG, this is so awesome! So much talent and hard work... I should be going to bed, but I just want to stay up all night reading everybody's books now.