Posted on the gallifreybase.com forums, and on the LiveJournal community doctorwho.
Gallifrey 2012 call for postcard art
Who wants to design a postcard for Gallifrey One? The prize is a pound of See's Chocolates, or half a kilo of Cadbury Roses (or other Cadbury). You can also get on our mailing list, if you just want to get the postcards in the mail.
We're going to cram an entire progress report onto one side of a little postcard. What should we put on the other side? We've got full color printing capability. Bleed, even -- you can have color and stuff going right up to the edge.
Deadline for Spring postcard:
(Pacific time) 3:59 pm, 15 May 2011.
(British time) 11:59 pm, 15 May 2011.
Deadline for Fall postcard (extended):
(Pacific time) 3:59 pm, 30 September 2011.
(British time) 11:59 pm, 30 September 2011.
Deadline for Winter postcard:
(Pacific time) 3:59 pm, 01 December 2011
(British time) 11:59 pm, 01 December 2011.
Dimensions at 300 dpi: 1350x1875 or 1875x1350 pixels. Display thumbnail size, if you post your designs, should be 270x375 or 375x270 pixels (i.e., 60 dpi).
Design your art to be 4.5"x6.25" at 300 dpi, and allow for at least 1/8" along the edges where you won't have any text or anything vital to the design. It'll be 4.25"x6" once it's trimmed. So, don't have any text or logos within 40 pixels of the edge (1/8") and we should have no trouble trimming it.
You can e-mail the high-resolution version to gallifrey at postcardart dot info, or just publish a link to it on your server.
You could have a photo of Canary Wharf in flames and a big banner that says "Greetings from Torchwood!" like a standard tourist photo postcard. You could pretend you're designing a color cover for the convention program book and make a photo montage with lots of dark blue swirls in it. Make it look like a still from the opening credits sequence with the Tardis flying through hyperspace... Whatever. It should have the official full name of the convention on it somewhere.
Each Gallifrey has a different full name, such as Gallifrey One's Network 23. Please include the full name of the convention somewhere in your design. You can use the full-name logo if you like -- high-resolution version will be available on request. You can use that theme as inspiration for your postcard design. If you want, we can use actors that we have confirmed as guests on our postcards. You can do a collage of photos, or you can draw any of them. (See also item #1 below, though.)
All other things being equal, a design with the dates of the convention has a slight edge over one that does not. We've found the post office's postmarking machines can put random smudges just about everywhere, but they usually seem to zero in on the dates.
Some notes from the August 2009 postcard contest:
We're a Doctor Who convention. When we have a Doctor confirmed as our guest of honor, if there's anyone portrayed on the card we'd like that Doctor to be included. (This just goes for when you can see an actor on the card. Designs with other show-related images -- Cybermen, Daleks, the Tardis -- have all been winners in the past.)
We had one or two Doctor-less designs that were as good as the ones with the Doctor that had been invited., i.e. they made the first cut, but were washed out in the second round of consideration.
However, when a Doctor had to cancel/postpone their trip, we ended up picking one of the Doctor-less designs and printing that after all.
So if we don't have a Doctor on the guest list, you can still use some of the other confirmed guests on the postcard. (Or go without an actor at all, as mentioned above.)
Related to that, you can't sneak in cartoon drawings of people who aren't attending, even if they're just drawn on playing cards.
Our judges generally tend to prefer art that stands alone without captions or word balloons. Nothing wrong with having text on the card, but the design should make sense without it.
Incorporating the theme of the convention isn't strictly required, but a good piece of art using the theme definitely has an edge in the judging.
Prize for the one we use will be a 1-lb. box of See's chocolates, or 500g of Cadbury Roses (or other Cadbury chocolate), or something else if you're allergic or dieting. If you've used someone else's art in your composition, get their permission -- you'll be splitting the prize with them.
If you have a See's Candies store near you, we can send you a gift certificate, otherwise you can go to their website to see what kinds of assortments they have and we'll go pick one up and ship it to you. (Or we'll ask Robbie to bring some Cadbury back for you.)
You can also get on our mailing list, if you just want to get the postcards in the mail. Your info will be kept on a computer in California, and will only be used to send you convention postcards.
Questions and Clarifications
What about silohuettes? Tom Baker is pretty distinguishable with his scarf in silohuette, but you could argue that's not him too. So if you don't want people for whatever reason at all, that's fine. I just wanted to ask. (2007-09-20, vandonovan)
...Nope. You can include any guests we've announced, but since Baker's not on our guest list at all, we don't want to give the impression that he's coming.
*raises hand* Just a note regarding the postcards and stuff - are these actually being mailed out? Because I wouldn't want to put anyone through the expense of mailing stuff out to Australia XD Would there be scanned, online versions, or could I have my postcards set aside and I'll pick them up at the convention, or can I nominate a friend of mine in the US that they can be sent to? (It's okay, she's going as well!) (2007-09-20, ryttu3k)
I can afford a couple of 94-cent stamps to send a few postcards down under. And if you're coming to the convention you're entitled to them to be mailed to you. If you insist, though, I can mark them "do not mail" or "mail c/o so-and-so." Usually I put out the extras on the freebie table for people who missed seeing them (or wanted clean ones in uncirculated condition), but some postcards might be out of print by then. Digital images will be posted.
Can you posts some samples of what has won before? (2007-09-20, digitalemerald)
Here are the previous postcards we've printed.
I take it (because of the prizes) that the competition is only open to contestants from Britain or the U.S.A.? (2007-09-20, therru)
Is the contest open to Quebec residents? (2007-09-25, Romanadvoratrelundar)
No to the first question, yes to the second, it's open to everyone on the planet. We'll happily ship. Even to Quebec. The prizes mean that we only have agents to buy and ship chocolate in Britain and U.S.A. (Berkshire and California, respectively). Originally I was just going to offer See's Chocolates (there's a shop not far from my home), until I realized that some people really, really, really like Cadbury's. As far as the See's: they have a number of different assortments. There's the Assorted Chocolates, the Milk Chocolates, the Soft Centers, the Nuts and Chews, the Chocolate and Variety... For one contest (different convention) the recipient asked for See's peanut brittle, in fact.
If selected, I could provide a better version if I could get a higher resolution version of the logo, or I could design my own if that would be preferred. (2007-09-20, vandonovan)
Logo for convention will be available.
I'm thinking of doing my own card idea. did you say it could be hand drawn too? (2007-10-11, karuri)
Hand drawn is fine. They don't have to all be photo collages!
The rules posted on the LJ and forums, and the rules here show two different sizes. Are the postcards going to be 5.5" or 6" long/wide? (2007-10-29, Chaz)
Oops, I missed that. We'll print whichever size you give us. (You might find it easier to design it as 8.5"x11" and then reduce it 50%.) Our printer charges the same for either size and the post office accepts them equally.
Are we allowed more than one entry? I just finished my first one, lol. I was just wonderin'. :) (2009-07-27, mitashade)
Oh, absolutely!
Question: Are personal items directly connected to particular Doctor allowed if the Doctor himself is not depicted? ie. A converse trainer with the sonic screwdriver sticking out of it sitting on a long colourful scarf. (2010-04-21, tenthrose)
So, different things you might find in the closets of the TARDIS? As long as you mix it up -- as long as they're not all props from one particular Doctor -- we're okay with it.
