Cool! I like the subtle text to depict the back side of the opening where one's foot is inserted in order to convey a more-3D feeling. All the negative space with the sneaker/trainer clearly grounded makes for a compelling composition.

Very fun! A "Cloud" in the sky might be amusing. I would note that tires that aren't perfect circles are going to make for a wobbly ride.

I think you could add punch by taking better advantage of all the 'unused' space and the strong verticality of the image that requires scrolling down to see everything (at least for me).

Specifically, you could move "Take a long walk" to the top of the image and put it in a happy/cheerful font (think wedding announcement, but legible). "off a short pier" would remain at the bottom in a harsh/aggressive font (the current crisp font may be sufficiently direct). For flow, I would left-justify the top text and right-justify the bottom.

He clearly looks younger, but does that satisfy the contest requirement of 'young'? The white hairs say 'old' to me.

Younger, yes, but I don't see 20 years. I think at least 50% of the impact is merely due to the green contacts and the bold lipstick. New hair-do and clothes would contribute to a more-youthful look. (A more-oval face might be good, too.)

Who knew being 25 would qualify you to be an 'old person'?!

Her face is very convincingly childlike as is her near hand. Her far hand and (especially) her shoulder seem too imposing, however.

I do think her hair is too mature.

Clearly Photoshopped per the contest requirements, but I wish I understood the point of the image. The title makes sense without the little you. Alternatively, a little you also reaching for the apple with a new title could be intriguing (and more fun).

Given that the title references the iPhone, it should be crisper to stand out more.

I think replacing the variegated apple with a more-solid-colored red delicious or golden delicious apple would add a smooth texture and a stronger focal point.

The shadows are too strong IMO. The little you has a much more intense shadow than the apple. The slightly vague arm/apple shadow (that inexplicably extends far into the bottom left corner of the image) is way too expansive.

The background ellipse is not working for me. The different spacing between each letter is also disturbing.

I do like the cookie-letter idea, however. Maybe a more-compact logo with overlapping letters on varying baselines would be more compelling.

I like the idea but I find the execution too complex for a logo while too simplistic for a compelling commmentary outside the constraints of the contest.

I admit I don't get it. Aren't logos supposed to be simple? Why don't the left and right halves peak at the same point? Why does the left edge of the W extend just beyond the left edges of the shapes above and below it? What is the point of the big plus sign which makes me think of a Christian church? Are lots of black plus burnt orange and dark blue really the homiest of colors?

I do like the "where home happens" tagline, however.

Very cool entry, rather weak (unedifying) SBS.

I like the simplicity and the use of the four contest icons to identify the four contests on the site. And you cleverly focused on the 'eyes' part of the PXLeyes name when you chose your illustrative examples for each contest. I appreciate that orbs [color-changed?] might be the best 'eyes' you could find among all the 3D entries, but it does bother me that your Photoshop eyes were drawn and thus not what one thinks of as classicly Photoshopped (not to suggest that the entry you chose wasn't awesome, just that it might not be most representative for the use here, i.e., it doesn't look like an altered photo because your crop largely isn't such).

The filler image on the left side just fills without adding anything. Since the orbs are weak eyes at best, having them partially covered by the PXLeyes dude on the Facebook page would be a plus thus making an argument for deleting that filler photo.

I admit I don't get the different horizontal versus vertical spacing between the images let alone the color gradient of the background.

Glorious chaos (I like colorful!). The various 'tools' on top of the collage are a creative way to calm things down a bit. I think the coffee cup is a bit too small and would be a dramatic addition positioned whole toward the the southeast corner to balance out the CD and artist's palette.

You clearly expended a lot of effort to create a VERY cool central collage. (Having every image be overlapped a bit by another pic would add cohesion IMO.)

I don't get the inclusion of the PXLeyes threesome on the right, but then when I see your preview of what your entry looks like on multiple devices, I realize (assuming your depictions are accurate) that only those of us accessing PXLeyes from a PC would even know that there is a trio of PXLeyes characters—but who cares? I would delete the blue trio and let people figure out on their own that the collage spells PXL.

Less is more?

I really like how both the image elements and the image quality are retro. It does bother me, however, that the bottle labels aren't curved as if they were actually wrapped around the bottle. (And while modern-day Popeyes has chosen to eschew the apostrophe in its name for its chicken outlets, I suspect a retro soda purveyor would want to make it clear that its pop belongs to Papa—but maybe my dirty mind misunderstood the name in the context of the image.)

I admit the 'retro ad' element of the contest made me think magazine ad which would be a portrait rather than a landscape orientation. Such an aspect constraint might resolve my composition concerns here. Specifically, symmetry is formal and a bit boring unless formality is the point. Mirroring accentuates symmetry. But I don't think soda pop wants to be seen as formal.

Very dramatic and compelling, aspects that are accentuated by the limited color palette with the punch of blue. I like the narrow depth of field that blurs even the near background.

The face is clearly amazingly lovely and the reflected shine of the hardware onto her cheek (not mentioned in the SBS) is a nice touch. The highlight on the bottom of her chin seems odd, however. The head's edge is also quite harsh.

The shadow on the forehead element itself is extreme while its shadow on her forehead is weak and expansive. And then the shadows for the elements on the (viewer's) right side of her head appear nonexistent.

Creating an entry is a lot of work so I understand your decision to stop revising. But for the future, I would note that a Rule-of-Thirds (rather than centering) composition can be more dramatic (and might have yielded a compelling diagonal arrangement here if your hobbit were moved to the right and the little mushrooms were in the middle). [BTW the horizon line of the lamp at his feet doesn't seem to match that of the other elements.]

Using the source image as a hairdo seems so obvious now that you've done it--great job! And then putting it on a goofy lemur/gremlin/ewok instead of a woman makes it very amusing.

But I find all the background stuff distracts my attention from what I should be focusing on. The varying horizon lines of the background lamps are also disconcerting. (I personally would consider some vaguely Rule-of-Thirds cropping as a starting point for refining the image's focus.)

Quibble: Maybe a tad more shadow on the outer edges of the bangs plus the hair onto the ears and the 'whiskers' onto the hair.

Creative mix of blimp and message! The yellowy background noted by CMYK46 may indeed mute the impact as I find Step 8 of the SBS intriguing.

What bothers me is that the tail elements of the propane tank are slightly tilted [the blimp is perhaps making a right turn?], but that has not been recognized in the placement of the wings, rudders, etc. onto the tank. I also think a tiny hint of shadow where different surfaces meet is more realistic.

The blimp that you made using 3D Studio Max is very realistic. Given all the control that artificiality gave you over your final image, I have a couple of concerns, however.

Content: If I owned pxleyes, I would want to advertise it with my logo, not random rainbow-colored text.

Composition: Having both the blimp and the bridge mid-ground is kind of boring, made more so when the blimp blocks the view of the bridge. Moving the blimp to the upper-right foreground (thus making the blimp much bigger) leaving 95% of the bridge visible would be more dramatic IMO.

An intriguing space where I can still recognize the source despite all the chopping—kudos!.

I do feel the flatness of the image could be remedied by focusing on adjusting the uniform lighting. I would make the chandeliers the primary light sources, shadowing the outer edges.

There need to be tiny, dark shadows where the columns and planters touch the floor in order to ground them.

The planters need broader, slightly weaker shadows to recognize how much wider the upper portions of the planters are. Most disturbing are the planters' high horizon lines that don't match the lower horizon of all the other elements.

I, too, find it very cool, but the back edge of the counter needs to be lowered so the counter's horizon line matches that of the base of the specimen container.

"Less is more" applies not only to images but to titles and descriptions as well. While a gyotaku may have inspired you, it was TMI [too much information] that distracted from rather than adding to my appreciation of your entry. I would just delete the references to gyotaku.

The watercolor aspect is obvious with an unusually somber (not pastel!) color palette that makes the image unique. But I don't really see the gyotaku which apparently is just a largely monochromatic rubbing of the fish's surface to yield a pretty flat kind of superficial X-ray of the fish (I'm reminded of fossils) without the addition of any other elements (such as seaweed, for example).

Very fun. The image focuses on headgear which is a rather narrow interpretation of apparel IMO. I don't get the triple brand references to Johnnie, Oskosh, and Captains.

Vintage is cool but not antique. But accepting vintage as artistic license: Dramatic image although the moon is a bit too dark to make an impact. I think the second line of text would be more compelling as simply "Destroy your cinnamon craving."

I'm old enough to be vintage, but I don't recall a cinnamon craving in the past that needed to be destroyed. Are you referencing something in particular?

Dramatic elements and color palette. In addition to tweaks others have mentioned (except I myself like the bright light behind the windows if it were to illuminate the foreground a tad), I wonder if the moon is a bit too small for maximum drama (plus add three or four stars to the sky?) and if eliminating the left-hand street light would create a more compelling diagonal composition.

It just occurred to me that moving the figure to midground with footsteps in the sand behind him might be evocative.

Thanks for pointing out that there's a figure in front of the door. The fact that I hadn't noticed it is clearly telling. I agree that there is a lot to like here, however.

Regarding lighting, I would note that Salvador Dalí, for example, generally depicted realistic shadows which I think contributed to the disturbing nature of his images by giving a sense of reality to the unreal. The glow around the streetlights here (that don't illuminate the pavement below them) make them seem like they're in front of a stage backdrop to me.

Cool—which also describes the color palette referenced in your title. I think having the top brickwork being exactly in line with the top of the image and the bottom step perfectly parallel with the bottom edge of the image could be more compelling (i.e., in your face/"here I am". Given the clear falseness of the image, I might exaggerate the contrast and saturation a bit more.

Very clever title and concept. I find the background face awfully distracting, however. And I'm dubious about the far edge of the fountain image cascading over the side.

Creative concept very well-executed. I hadn't noticed that the source dragon was in a cringe posture before. I especially admire how you were able to use the (challenging) multi-colored source dragon as is.

Nice job with a very difficult source image. The fact that the statue's pedestal doesn't match the statue's color/highlights makes the much-smaller pedestal seem fake, however.

I like the concept. Clearly, orienting the speaker boxes so the two biggest speakers in the boxes are visible is necessary for the concept, but then the upside-down "Panasonic" is distracting when it could be reversed or even cloned out.

I admit I don't get why the speaker boxes are distorted. I think it distracts from the exploding fruit which should be the focus and makes me wonder why the wire fruit bowl isn't distorted as well.

The explosion does seem rather mild (yawn). I would prefer to see something awesome! (Following up on CMYK46's comment, square speakers might be fun with square cutouts.)

Evocative elements. However, I don't get why the balloon is tethered by an out-of-scale chain let alone why one would even need a balloon if you already have a house in the clouds. Plus the balloon is the focus of my attention, not the house. I would delete the balloon. Less is more.

The simple wooden bridge strikes me as a bit too rustic for an approach to such a castle-like home. And the dark windows make the home seem abandoned and uninviting.

The title delcares 'colorful' yet the image's palette is quite muted. I think there's an appealing Instagram feel here that could be emphasized with a square crop and perhaps a hint of vignette.

The creation of the background is awesome as is the cutout of the figure with her boa and the recoloring of her dress.

I do feel her shadow is much too strong given the light on her face, however. And stage lighting in general tries to minimize shadows. I suggest boosting the highlights on her like she's being spotlit from the right (which would make her stand out more) and then balancing the shadow intensity accordingly considering an apparently well-lit stage.

Also, the shoe reflection is too intense and I don't think it would show through the shadow.

Great diagonal composition but I think the boy blends too much into the background (I barely noticed him). The robot seems small and thus not particularly interesting. More robots (an army?) or a bigger (and brighter?) robot might be more compelling. A little tweaking could highlight the intended focal points and accentuate the drama.

I really like the notion of finding Eden. I think the composition could be more dramatic, however. Reducing the brightness of the cool framing cave would focus more attention on the garden. The Rule of Thirds would suggest moving what are now the centered elements of the garden to the left. I would also move 'Eve' as far to the right as possible consistent with retaining appropriate modesty so the waterfall doesn't look like it's cascading onto her head.

Very creative and fun to portray the artificiality of a theater set. The background source is inspired. I wish there were a greater feeling of depth, however.

First off, I would delete the big star painted onto the upper right corner of the backdrop. At the bottom prong of the moon, the big star above the prong should not be casting a shadow on the prong (as stars are always much farther away than the moon). The medium star below the bottom prong has a shadow that doesn't match the strength of that of the other stars I think the moon's shadow [why is bottom prong's shadow weaker than the shadow for the rest of the moon?] should be moved more southeast to make it seem clearly the foreground element the girl is pointing at.

The girl's meager shadow seems inconsistent with the shadows of all the other elements. I would make the lighthouse bigger (maybe by at least 100%?). And make the blue mountain the girl and lighthouse are standing on darker and crisper to seem more foreground.

The creation of the multi-colored bird from the source is cool except its wing seems too slight. The bright blue of the bird seems a bit at odds with the more muted saturation of the background. All the birds appear to be simply duplicates which makes them seem fake. I would keep just the bird perched on the post, give that bird some legs, and let it be the focal point of the image.

Similarity could just be a sign of having taken the most obvious approach. That said, I like how this buggy has passengers. The Instagram look with the vignette and unnatural color nicely matches the title—but I think cropping to a square and boosting the brightness to slightly washed out would be more convincing. An off-white border might give a real Kodak Instamatic feel.

I also am too out of it to know who 'she' is, but nevertheless I find the mysterious simplicity and (kind of) threatening slash compelling. As for messaging, I think a more-succinct "She's BACK" would have greater effect.

I don't get the hard edge that curves through the background and text in the northwest quadrant and that isn't explained in the SBS. I personally just find it distracting.

The slash is not very scary. Stronger shadows and less-bright white might add drama. I also think the black border weakens the impact of the slash. Reconfiguring the '2' so it suffers more from the slash would be more disturbing.

If the thing sticking out of the bottom of the slash is supposed to be some sort of sword, then a steely, metallic finish would make it more recognizable. The eyes inside the slash are difficult to discern. Deleting them would focus attention on the sword. But one identifiable eye peeking out of the slash might add a level of creepiness.

Pumping up the saturation really transformed your start photo into something compelling. The ship on the horizon adds depth and tension with the tropical oasis of the foreground. I think the text needs to stand out more, however. Bigger (overlapping the palm trees a bit) and brighter (picking up the yellow in the menus, for example) would help.

The posterized sky is a very cool touch. With all the empty space in the northeast quadrant, I don't see the need for the text to encroach on the cross atop the church. Making "Malta" bigger or a different font might be more 'postcardier.'

I think nicehotcupoftea is right on about the need for the eye to be symmetrical -- as well as for crow's feet being balanced as well. But he does know how to work his uni-brow!

Awesome—except the apparently un-manga-ed, chubby, wrinkly hand is creepy.

Totally believable!

The contest description asserts that "Humor is a big factor here." The lack of an 'amusing' element/aspect could prove to be a weakness in the final rankings. But I admit I have no idea how to add funny to this.

Very fun! I like how your human animal looks like more than just a human wearing an animal mask.

Outstanding! Great reconfiguring of features and recoloring. I do find the (awful lot of!) sparkles too flat/same plane because they're all the same size, however.

Great concept with a bit of humor as well! Using a prairie dog head in lieu of a recognizabale dog breed on the fourth soldier seems a lttle too cute/obscure, but maybe that's just me. The shadows on the T-shirts don't seem to quite match the fur of the heads. But it's the human arms instead of dog legs that seem the most out of place (and admittedly the hardest to replace).