Now that you’ve shown the world whose boss, it’s time to flaunt your wealth and influence too! You’ve just bought one of the latest and greatest robotic pet prototypes out there and are now doing a futuristic photoshoot with your fab new pet. The theme is of course the future and anything that might be in it, so dress in your best futuristic high fashion with an accompanying futuristic background (and your robotic/metal pet of course). Makeup, hair, and accessories should be futuristic too. They don’t need to be avant garde, just giving a futuristic vibe.
Requirements
⚜️ 3/4 to Full body shot
⚜️ Futuristic background
⚜️ Accompanied by a metal/robot animal (you can be riding, leading, etc.)
⚜️ Futuristic hair & makeup
⚜️ High fashion futuristic outfit & accessories
⚜️ One image only & No text
⚜️ No extra sims
Tips:
⚜️ Remember, these are editorial assignments! Do not be casual. If you are confused on what an editorial is, please see this tutorial with a list of themes and explanations and look on Pinterest or Google by typing in "fashion editorial" or even "modeling editorial" (Pinterest is better) to get a better idea of what to aim for.
⚜️ Use different terms when searching if you can't find anything. For the pets, that can be "robot animal (or pet)", "metal animal (or pet)" and may even find one under "futuristic animal (or pet)" and "scifi animal (or pet)".
For backgrounds, don't forget key words like "scifi", "science fiction", "futuristic", "future", maybe "tech (or technology", and don't forget second key words like "background", "render", "city", "house/home", etc.
⚜️ Remember that Lana CC has a ton of resources and categorized CC for you to look at, and the S4MM server should as well.
Besides Assignment 2, this has been one of the other assignments I couldn’t wait to see you guys complete! For this round we’re going full neon photoshoot. Not just any neon of course, but neon lighting. Yup, it’s time for you to truly test your skills by making your own lighting! Let me explain everything before you panic though. I want a bust shot or headshot of your gorgeous model surrounded by neon lights with the same neon lighting applied to her (like the examples). There can be 2 or more light sources depending your preferences and creativity (preferably the physical lights are shown in the image, like the examples, but let your creativity make the final decision). She needs to have vibrant makeup, and her clothes/accessories should be vibrant as well. Her hair can be styled anyway you want, just know that updos may be easier on you if you are not used to making highlights. Background should be kept simple/plain so you can focus on the lighting. And now that I’ve covered that, let’s move on to tips to make sure you succeed (I wasn’t going to leave you hanging)!
Tip 1:
With enough dedication, you can possibly accomplish most, if not all, of this in-game. I’m sure some editing will need to be done too for that extra vibrancy/neon effect, or that extra highlight, but it’s possible. Please see Jillie’s Assignment 1 for Miss Sims, where she did a completely in-game shot with incredible lighting and minimal editing. Note that she has at least 2 light sources on the sims.
Her pic came after I made the assignments, so this was good timing as I didn’t know such decent lighting was possible! If, for some reason, you don’t know how to work with in-game lights you can read the SEW workshop here (just skip to the lighting section).
Tip 2:
For those of you who prefer editing, or can’t get in-game lighting to work, here are some tips to adding highlights. Please note that this is my method. You may find other methods that work better from other people or discover something better, so please feel free to experiment and research.
All highlights should be done on a new layer of course (and each new color on a new layer), preferably a clipping mask/clipped layer so the highlights stay on the sim and you do less cleanup. Grab the softest brush (if you need more defined highlights make the brush harder) and change the brush mode to “Color Dodge” (hopefully your program has this). On the new clipped layer, change the layer mode to “Screen”. Some of you may notice that with certain colors it seems like there’s no difference when combining these two modes, but there is on majority of colors, so make sure both brush and layer are set to their respective modes. For the brush, unless you have a drawing tablet with pen pressure, adjust the Flow and Opacity to what works best for you. Something around 30%/30% may work, as light is not solid and you need that transparency for it to look natural.
Go to the color/lightsource you are copying and select it (aka eyedropper tool). You may need to select different areas to get the right color, depending the lightsource. Sometimes you grab a color that is too light and basically draws white, so try again.
And now you draw! Depending the strength of the lighting and what type of highlight is required is where I place my brush when drawing. The less the light hits my model, the further away I keep my brush so the light on her is soft, and the more intense the light the closer I move my brush to make it stronger and thicker. I normally draw *outside* the model, FYI. I rarely draw directly on her for most lighting, because as I said it depends on the intensity and closeness of the light. Anyways, go around the model and add lighting where it would fall. I highly, highly recommend looking at example pictures and studying how light falls before doing it yourself. If you go into this without much thought your highlights are most likely not going to look good.
For the extra areas people may encounter:
1. If there is a source of light directly behind the sim you may want to add lighting around her as well as on top of her. You can use a radial gradient, same settings as the brush and layer (not a clipping mask though), to make it seem like that light is actually going over her. This is a bit hard to explain, but you’ve seen it naturally in photos where a person has a light behind them. I’m not referring to a flare btw. You can see an example here (note the light going over his legs):
2. If you draw hair you can use the same exact settings for your hair brush and the layer (again, no clipping mask) and just draw the highlights behind the hair and maybe a couple of strands on top.
3. Don’t forget filters and color balancing to add the same light tones to your sims. For example, your sim should not be yellow/orange when she’s under a neon pink and/or blue light. Use your common sense!
I hope those tips help! Let me know if you need anything. This is a tough round, but you can do it!
Requirements
⚜️ Headshot to Bust shot
⚜️ Simple/plain background
⚜️ 2 or more neon lights in the image with same colored neon highlights on the sim
⚜️ Vibrant hair & makeup
⚜️ Vibrant high fashion clothes & accessories
⚜️ One image only & No text
⚜️ No extras (sims or pets)
Below is what you will be scored on. Remember, this is an Intermediate based competition so the expectations and what we are looking for are higher. If you are struggling, etc. read the Tips section below the scoring rubric/breakdown or ask for help.
Scoring Breakdown Creativity – Was your idea out of the box? Are you truly using your resources to the best of your ability? Make sure you are pushing your limits and thinking about your details, don’t do “safe”. The pose, clothes/styling, background, and overall theme should be creative. Appearance – Was the model styled appropriately for their location and/or situation? Is the styling high fashion and fashionable? Are the poses creative/unique and modeling quality (so no Instagram or casual poses)? Did you remember to accessorize? Quality – This is an all-in-one category that has quality, editing, and composition in it. This is because quality/editing/composition are basically the same category in the end. (Ex: Did you edit badly? Image quality goes down. Is the image quality low? Fix it with editing. Is your lighting bad? Use filters, etc.) To score well here, consider each section carefully. Quality means that your image (background, sim, objects, or effects, etc.) should not be grainy, pixelated, badly blurred, over sharpened, etc. In-game quality is considered minorly in this competition because as an Intermediate you should know beauty and correction editing by now (if you do not, review some tutorials before submitting your assignments or ask for help; SRWE will help tremendously with quality). Glitching limbs, hair, etc. are considered as well. Your editing is basically everything under the sun. So, consider your lighting/shadows (includes making/adding shadows and light), brightness/contrast, color balance/filters, sharpening/blurring, cutting, blending, cropping, drawing, etc. Composition includes majority of the previous stated stuff, but don’t forget photography concepts like Rule of Thirds, space, your angles, proportions, etc. Appeal – How appealing is your image overall, including does it fit well with the assignment theme? How well your picture fits an editorial is considered here as well. Requirements – This section is seriously easy points. When I give you an assignment the requirements will be stated as a list. Please make sure to review that list while working and before you submit to ensure you met all the points.
Tips
Terms to use when searching for inspiration are “modeling”, “fashion”, “editorial”. You may need to use all 3 to get similar images or maybe just one, it depends the theme.
Pinterest is your best friend for anything modeling related. Instagram, if you find real models and not random people, will be a good resource too. Fashion websites (Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, etc.) and their social media pages are good resources as well.
If you want to do well, please make sure to shop for the best clothes and poses. Casual poses (aka just standing there or casually standing, etc.), Instagram-like poses, etc. will get you very low Creativity and Appearance scores. If you are new to modeling, or a beginner, or in general unfamiliar with these style of comps, make sure to take leaps that you normally wouldn’t and avoid safe pictures.
Don’t rely on just a handful of poses, or CC, throughout your competing career, and also in a single comp. Judge’s will notice things like that (we are a small community after all) and it makes you seem uncreative, so try to shake things up by using other options in each round and in each competition. Go shopping regularly to give yourself new options. Lana CC is your godsend.
PNG is the best option for photos. Not only does it retain the quality better than JPEG, but it also keeps transparency.
Submit large images, not small. If the background you are using causes the image to be small, find a new one. If you are using Discord to save apps/backgrounds, make sure you open the original image to save. Do not upload images via your phone either as it lowers quality.
Read other people’s feedback to learn extra tips and use the feedback to improve. Don’t ignore the feedback. I’ve seen too many times where an issue was addressed, like rough edges, and contestants ignored that feedback and continued to get low scores because of it. The feedback is not there to hurt your feelings, it is there to make you a better competitor and editor.
Don’t focus so much on winning or losing. It’s not only the wrong mentality to have, but you’ll quickly realize it makes your experience worse if you don’t score well. Instead, focus on the fun and learning.
Use the available resources to improve your editing and modeling knowledge, like the Sims Editing Workshop or my linked tutorials (check my tutorial thread). Great resources for editing on Youtube include Phlearn & PiXimperfect.
Have fun. Seriously, enjoy the competition!
**MyFavoritedesign (Angela) with Martha Tyson**
**Jendowoz0612 (Jendowoz) with Bailee Patten**
**TEXASTWANGTONYA (Tonya) with Sawyer Avery**
**Jessa with Jessa Iowa**
**WillMal13 with Diana Pancakes**
**Abelhinha35 with Lindy Swartz**
**Dropbearsim with Sinead Kavanagh**
**Penguinwa101 with Emily Thomas**
**gardenGothic (Booky) with Rosaline Serrano**
**Jillie Bee (Jillie) with Rylie Walker**
**Gee with Nicole Fernandez**
**Jake with Lauren Weathers**
OHHH what an incredible collection of screenshots .. everyone FAB! I am blown away!
I added a small explanation under the main assignment description to explain what we are looking for better. Please make sure to review it.
I also added a (quick and messy) example with an explanation of how to draw highlights under Tip 2 in a new spoiler. I hope that helps if you were struggling before.
Thank you @TEXASTWANGTONYA! (I myself am not very happy with my work. But it comes out so that the moment comes when I no longer want to see my work and I just finish it.)
I tried... lol not great though. Had to rush it, because i would be late to work if I didn't LOL
Assignment 3: Highlight of My Neon Life
Model: Emily Thomas
Comments
Emily Thomas
Twitter: @Penguinwa101
Tumblr: http://penguinentertainment.tumblr.com/
Youtube: Penguin Entertainment
Again, don't panic. Fiddle with in-game and then editing and see what you can do! I'm here to help.
@gardenGothic @Penguinwa101 @jilliebee22 @Jendowoz0612 @MyFavoritedesign @TexasTwangTonya @abelhinha35
Simming Blog: Booky Loves Shiny Things!
OHHH what an incredible collection of screenshots .. everyone FAB! I am blown away!
LisabeeSims
New readers can visit here first: In-a-NUTSHELL
#EAgamechanger
Model: Martha Tyson
I also added a (quick and messy) example with an explanation of how to draw highlights under Tip 2 in a new spoiler. I hope that helps if you were struggling before.
Scores will be up sometime tomorrow.
@gardenGothic @Penguinwa101 @jilliebee22 @Jendowoz0612 @MyFavoritedesign @TexasTwangTonya @abelhinha35
You have 3 days and 5 hours left to submit your A3. Even if you think you won't do well, make sure to submit! You may prove yourself wrong.
@gardenGothic @Penguinwa101 @jilliebee22 @Jendowoz0612 @MyFavoritedesign @TexasTwangTonya @abelhinha35
Model: Bailee Patten
Full Size
Here is my attempt. Did my best @MizoreYukii
@gardenGothic @Penguinwa101 @abelhinha35
Model: Sinead Kavanagh
(non-compressed version)
I finally got SRWE working on my laptop, I can finally get large screenshots LOL
twitter @dropbearsims ∼ koala-sims @ tumblr ∼ simstagram @dropbearsim
origin id: dropbearsims
EDIT: I added a link to the non-compressed version above the image. I have no idea why only the red side got blurry in the imgur upload HAHA
twitter @dropbearsims ∼ koala-sims @ tumblr ∼ simstagram @dropbearsim
origin id: dropbearsims
Assignment 3: Highlight of My Neon Life
Model: Emily Thomas
Twitter: @Penguinwa101
Tumblr: http://penguinentertainment.tumblr.com/
Youtube: Penguin Entertainment