TN Banner

December 2008:

Back to the snowy trees (we used this one a couple years ago).  I've added a snowish backdrop too.

October 24, 2008:

 

This kind of abstracty one is just me goofing around with Corel Painter and the little Wacom tablet.  The prior banner we've had this fall (with the nice Tudor houses) was from Rory Starks of the Arden team -- the image can be found lower down in this post.

April 2008:

Thanks to Mark Terrano for a new springy banner!

March 2008:

As you might have noticed, we've emerged somewhat from winter and I've reinstated the banner from Chris Dodds.  At some point, I might switch us to something more emphatically "springy," but I have yet to see the flowers emerging with any real force here in Philadelphia...

11/29/07: 

Thanks to everyone who sent in stuff.  Though it was a close race, Richard Page's submission came in with the most votes.  TN is now settled in for a long winter's blog.

11/26/07: Winter banners so far... (tomorrow is the deadline!)

from Richard Page

from Richard Bartle

from Bziomek

from Amanda Cosmos

from Tripp Robbins

Awesome!  Many thanks!

For what it's worth, here's the one we've used in past years, which is taken from the snowy woods of northeastern Pennsylvania:

11/15/07 Update:  So recently on a bus in Daegu, South Korea, I bumped into Mark Terrano, who, in addition to working for Hidden Path Entertainment, did that cool TN butterfly banner.  He was wondering when we were going to have another round of Terra Nova banner submissions.  Answer: How about now?

The current banner (which looks kind of "Highlander" according to Mike Sellers) was something I worked up from a photo I took on the Isle of Skye a few years ago.  But it looks like winter is soon to arrive here in the North, so it's probably time to switch it for something a little more chilly.

I'd really rather not call this a "contest" this time around, since there's really no prize, and we tend to like everything that you all submit. But, in short, if anyone with spare time and creativity wants to send in your "winter" banner ideas for popular display, please do.  What we're looking for are original, copyright-problem free,  900 pixel x 105 pixel, 30K or less,  JPEG files to be sent to the good old roaringshrimp address (see the about page).  And see the stuff below for ideas, but think "winter" rather than spring.

The deadline will be midnight Nov. 27th.  As before, if you send us stuff that looks good, I'll be posting it here so that folks can see what fabulously creative pixel-wizards our readers are.

p.s. Also, since last spring, you might have noticed I've started doing tiled matching background images that appear outside the 900 pixel width of the blog.  I can probably whip up something in a pinch, but if anyone wants to send in a wintry tiled background to make my life easier, feel free. :-) 

--------

6/15/07 Update -- Now featuring the awesome butterfly banner of Mark Terrano.

3/31/07 Update -- After counting all the votes, it looks like Chris Dodds (Christo) of Icon, Inc. is the winner.  It's really a pretty banner.  (And btw, Icon is located in Melbourne, Australia, where Spring looks an awful lot like fall -- so thanks, Christo, for putting up with our borealocentrism.)

I should also note that a majority of the TN judges suggested that we could do a rotation of these submissions, using some of the great stuff that folks created in the future months.   And I think that's what we'll do (with credit, of course).  So if you submitted something you'd rather not see at the top of the page someday, just let us know.

Thanks again.  We were really overwhelmed at the quantity and quality of the banners.

3/27 3/28/07 (update) -- Wow! We got a bunch of entries (11) (22!) for our Spring Banner!  Many thanks to our creative community for taking care of our design work.  (And if anyone has procrastinated, you've still got til midnight today). 

The next step is that I'll direct the TN authors to this post and we'll convene in the virtual star chamber this week to reach a decision.  But I firmly believe that all contests are somewhat silly and that creative work should be appreciated outside of artificial rankings.  So, just so that you can tell us where we go wrong in choosing among these, here's what we have received so far:

From Chad O'Neil:

From  Dave Levinson:

From Rory Starks

Two from Andy Havens:

Five (!!!) from Mike Michael Chui:

And from a Mike Michael Chui & Andy Havens collaboration:

And in under the wire, Sean Duncan:

And at the 11th hour, we've got two new sets, one set from Chris Dodds:

And these from Mark Terrano:

Again, thanks to everyone for submitting banners -- I'd be happy to have any of these at the top of the TN page.

Honestly, there are so many drop-dead gorgeous banners here that it really feel unfair to choose just one, but I guess that's what we said we would do.  We'll try to reach a decision before April.

Original Post from 3/20/07:

The snow is starting to thaw in Philadelphia and elsewhere -- it feels like it's about time to ditch our
winter bannerscape. 

Our past Spring banners have looked like this:

I could dust them off and drop them in place again, but I'm thinking something new would be more fun.  Does anyone want to take a shot at a seasonal Spring '07 TN banner?

If so, send us a 900 pixel x 105 pixel [ed: sorry, forgot that before] 30K or less JPEG file to the roaringshrimp address (see the about page) and if we get a few submissions we'll have a vote of the TN authors to pick a winner and do a post giving credit.  (If you come up with something nifty, you should post links to files in the comments here as well.)

Of course, graphics would need to be original.   (The photos above and the current snowy trees were both backyard shots.)

Update circa Vernal Equinox: I forgot to give a deadline -- let's make it the 27th of March.

Comments

[dmx]

1.

Damn northern hemispherians.

It's about to go winter down here down under.

[greglas]

2.

Whoops -- how borealocentric of me! Apologies! (To Dan and Lisa as well.)

We're already getting some nice Springy stuff -- thanks! :-)

I guess we should set a deadline for entries. How does a week sound?

[Ren Reynolds]

3.

yeh, some of the first snow of the year here too -brrr. But given global warming I guess it's spring in a kinda long view sense.

[Lisa Galarneau]

4.

Thanks, but no need to apologize to me... I'm back in the northern hemisphere these days. Nice to have holidays when I expect them. I never did get used to the whole Christmas in summer, Easter in autumn, Halloween in spring thing... but I'm a bit of a curmudgeon, I guess.

[BJ]

5.

Can you invert the season for web visitors with Southern Hemisphere IPs?

And no Santa doesn't use a surf board.

[Andy Havens]

6.

My entry.

It's not original photography, but it's adapted from a small slice of a royalty-free stock image that I have rights to use in print and online as long as I don't try to sell it as photography. So if it wins... do NOT pay me. If that disqualifies it (not sure if the "needs to be original" refers to the photography or the work), well... okey dokey. It was fun to put together.

If it does need to be original photography, try this. Taken in Colorado by my wife in 2001.

[Michael Chui]

7.

I'm planning on going down to campus sometime this week to enjoy the cherry blossoms. Since Andy already beat me to that, I'll have to take many shots and do it up as unprofessionally as only an amateur like me can. =P

[greglas]

8.

Hey, Andy, those are neat! Thanks!

By "graphics must be original," I meant more or less: "Don't submit something cool that you find on the Web (due to copyright issues)."

But as long as a banner mash-up is original and there are no real issues about copyright (e.g., your pic taken by and used with permission of a consenting family member photographer), that should be okay.

And don't worry -- nobody will be paid for this. Repeat, nobody will be paid. There is no cash prize!

All entrants, however, shall be awarded the collective and eternal gratitude of the TN blogging collective. :-)

p.s. We've got about 5 submissions now.

[Michael Chui]

9.

Came back from campus about an hour ago and threw together a couple banners with my usual lack of aesthetic taste for text.

No(t much) reason to paste stuff all over the place, so I consolidated all links and such into one post in my Livejournal.

http://raccaldin36.livejournal.com/1274053.html#cutid3

All the photographs in the Flickr set linked are CC BY-SA, and I'm not much of a stickler about the attribution. =P So, if anyone wants to take a shot at making some banners but doesn't have any material to work with, feel free to download pictures.

So I guess this is what passes for my submission. On the off-chance I get some actual feedback, I might even make them better-looking and re-submit!

[Andy Havens]

10.

Michael: Nice images. I like the idea of a collaboration, so I took the liberty of messing with one of your Flickr set and coming up with this..

[greglas]

11.

Wow, Andy, this is starting to feel very remix culture.

Thanks to everyone who has submitted things -- still 4 days left if anyone is holding off. What I'm thinking of doing is a post full of these banners with appropriate credit in early April explaining which one we selected and why.

[Sean]

12.

Here's my submission!

[Sean]

13.

By the way, I just tried to send that to the roaringshrimp address and it bounced back as undeliverable. The bounced back email seems to indicate that disk quota was exceeded on the email account. FYI!

[MarkTerrano]

14.

If we just get one submission, I'll pick this one:
SpringTNBanner

There are 3 other variants at the same location if we get more than one entry.

I certify that the source material is my own.

Lots of great entries, it is good to see so much spring.

[Verilazic]

15.

I hate to say this, and nothing against any of the other entries, but anything with cherry trees is awesome.

[Allen Sligar]

16.

Wow so many good ones, if we werent so busy I'd help with code to load a new one on each visit, that would be in line with the season (something new every time you visit TN!!!)

I like Chad O'Niels. But I'm going to have to go with the Chui/Havens collaboration, reminds be of rolling around in the grass in spring as a kid.

PS: Mike, that is the U-Dub campus no?

[dave]

17.

The Mike Chui & Andy Havens collaboration gets my vote.

[Endie]

18.

Yep, in the absence of any visual puns involving springs and Gadgetzan, I like the Chui/Havens mashup: that's all so very Banner 2.0. And the colours match the TN background one.

[Michael Chui]

19.

Yep. U-Dub Quadrangle. (I actually described my little mini-adventure in the LJ post I linked, if you're curious.) I only have a quarter left, then I'm being cut loose. C'est la vie.

I told myself I wouldn't vote, but I really like Mark Terrano's butterfly banners. The first one, especially, but I'm a sucker for the parallel, near-invisible lines scattering off the butterfly.

[Allen Sligar]

20.

Ahhh, when I lived in WA I used to wonder over to the quad in spring, that campus is really great, cant beat the puget sound in the spring/summer.

Enjoy your last few weeks of colligiate bliss :)

[greglas]

21.

Btw -- does everyone know what that fractal-looking stuff is in the background of the banner? I was surprised when I recognized it last weekend...

[christo]

22.

Greglas - The background is of an odd cauliflower I found at a Venice market. Like you, I was amazed at its fractal structure, although we know nature thrives off seemingly chaotic instruction sets.

[greglas]

23.

I was stunned when I saw it -- it seems like a computer generated pattern, but it's a vegetable. Pretty amazing! :-)

[greglas]

24.

Nov 20 -- Sorry, my mistake -- comments are now re-opened on this thread.

[Richard Bartle]

25.

Do you prefer real-world images, or can I hop over to Winterfall and snap some bears?

Richard

[greglas]

26.

Richard -- what do you prefer? I think the only limitation I set was "copyright-problem free" and IIRC, Blizzard permits WoW screenshots to be used for noncommercial purposes pursuant to some recent IP licensing thingamabob you could find somewhere.

We've never had a screenshot-based TN banner, but I suppose that's because no one has ever made one yet.

[Rory]

27.

@greglas -- that is not entirely true. My banner from the previous contest was a screenshot of Arden (back in its Multiverse days).

[greglas]

28.

Rory -- I stand corrected. Sorry & thanks!

[bryan campen]

29.

I think the second from the top has a nice sort of new zealand/lord of the rings feel. I am waiting to see a division of orcs crossing that mountain range.

[Richard Bartle]

30.

greglas>We've never had a screenshot-based TN banner, but I suppose that's because no one has ever made one yet.

OK, I made some:

Richard

[Richard Bartle]

31.

Hmm, it didn't like my embedded images...

They're at:
http://www.youhaventlived.com/tn1.jpg

http://www.youhaventlived.com/tn2.jpg

http://www.youhaventlived.com/tn3.jpg

http://www.youhaventlived.com/tn4.jpg

http://www.youhaventlived.com/tn5.jpg

Richard

[kalwis]

32.

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