2016 Ships of the Line Calendar Contest?

[Ptrope]

Something we artists have been hoping for for a long time is finally here: the official 2016 Star Trek Ships of the Line Design Contest!

But before one thinks I'm all aglee about this (and, believe me, I really do want to be), I want to voice some concerns about the rules, and maybe someone here - maybe even someone who is involved - can provide some answers, or more correct interpretations, before it's too late (the deadline is a very short 3 weeks, Sept. 2, 2014).

Four things really stand out to me as things that need clarification, or outright could jeopardize the success of this contest:

1. The main entry page states, "Ship must have been seen or mentioned within the Star Trek universe excluding Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness"; however, the rules themselves state, "The Contest invites Eligible Participants to submit their own original design of a Star Trek Ship, ...". And keep in mind, its official title is the 2016 Star Trek Ships of the Line Design Contest.
2. The main entry page states, "Final art must be delivered at 36” W x 18” H at 300 DPI. Key elements should be kept 1/2” from edges"; the official rules, though, state, "Design may be no larger than 36” X 18” at 300 DPI 3/4” bleed" (italics mine). And considering that the calendar is 12"x12", I'm just curious why they didn't simplify it to say, " 24"x12" @ 450 dpi," which is what the stated size works out to at the actual calendar size when opened up. But the key question is: what is the minimum size, if we go by the rules, or do we simply stick with 36"x18" (or 10,800 px x 5,400 px.)?
3. Tied to the size, the entry page says "Your photo submission must either be JPG, PNG or GIF electronic formats and may not exceed 5MB in size." No matter how hard I try, I can't get an image that is 58 megapixels to anything less than 7 Mb, and that's with one that has a large amount of white space - for something as detailed as a typical Trek calendar image, with compression that doesn't make the image muddy, I don't see how that's even possible; if it is, please share - I limit my JPEG compression to 95% in order to preserve the image (esp. the reds, which tend to compress poorly), and a test image at that size comes out to 11 Mb, with a PNG of the same image being more than 3x as large.
4. Finally, and a personal sticking point, is the rights you must sign away. "By participating, you: (a) assign or agree to assign Sponsor all right, title and interest in and to the Entry and the Design that is incorporated into the Entry, ..." (italics mine). I have no real problem with the sponsor (CBS) having the rights to the image - for $500 and a spot on the calendar, I would expect nothing less. But the original design? I would hope that a contest such as this would bring out some real creativity, which I would hate to see stymied because others like myself prefer to retain the rights to their own designs - they may share Star Trek's language as inspiration and something of a visual guide, but I think at the very least, the rights to original designs demand more compensation. $6500 (the total prize money) is pretty cheap for 13 original ship designs, I would think. If that's the case, though, I would really hate to have the calendar be mostly Enterprise, just like so many of the 'official' calendars, so that the contestants don't feel forced to give up their rights to their own designs.

 

[Kaiser]

I already Submitted a design to it:



couldnt submit anything else i did since there named after copyrighted characters ^_^;

 

[Dac]

Even though it says Ships of the Line Design contest, and although they have featured fan made designs in the past I highly doubt this is gonna be 13 entirely original pictures of original designs. I just don't see that selling.

With that in mind I'm making something based off an existing design...not quite ready to tip my hand just yet though...

 

[Ptrope]

Oh, I could see it selling - if only because the field has been so limited over the years; at least, from my own POV, the calendars have been losing their charm specifically because so little was ever really new about them - the same ships, the same artists, the same themes and settings. I've thought they should make calendars like the Strange New Worlds books, with an annual contest - maybe this is a way to get their feet wet and see if it will make a profit. I wish them luck - I just wish they were making it a bit more professional, from their end, and of course, leaving the design rights to the actual designers.

 

[Starscape]

I have to say I was very pleased to see the competition open to countries outside the USA, but the short deadline and the contradictory/confusing rules has put me off from entering.

Should it be an "original design" or a "Ship ... seen or mentioned within the Star Trek universe"? I suppose there is an overlap between ships that have been mentioned but not seen where you could squeeze in an original design. But why mention ships that have been seen, are they suggesting re-designing a ship is okay?


Perhaps, where they say "design" in the rules they really mean "composition"?

It would make a little more sense, but would mean the original composition is restricted to using a "Ship ... seen or mentioned within the Star Trek universe".

And it would certainly be more palatable, and in keeping with similar competitions, where you lose the rights to the composition not the design(s) used within.

 

[Klaus]

I've been pondering entering my TOS "clipper ship" configuration, since I also read it as being new ship designs. Hmmm.

 

[Tallguy]

Deadline is tight. Ah well. To work!

 

[Dac]

Really not quite sure what the rules are about sharing your work, but here's a sneak peak? At my final entry? Ah well. I don't wanna void my chances so I'll just share this for now.

 

[Ptrope]

I can't believe no one has ordered a sub to "Time," yet ... :O

 

[Tallguy]

I can't believe no one has ordered a sub to "Time," yet ... :O

Huh?

 

[Ptrope]

Last item in the survey ...

 

[Tallguy]

Ahhhhhhhhh. Thanks!

 

[Dac]

I can't believe I'm the only one to submit a piece with an existing design....going on virtually every other image in every other calendar, with the exception of a handful of fan made designs (usually with a relation to the expanded universe) every image is of a screen used ship.

 

[Tallguy]

I can't believe I'm the only one to submit a piece with an existing design....going on virtually every other image in every other calendar, with the exception of a handful of fan made designs (usually with a relation to the expanded universe) every image is of a screen used ship.

How do you know? Can you see submitted entries someplace?

Does anyone know if you can submit more than one?

 

[Ptrope]

Yes, per the rules you can submit one PER DAY.

Yeah, I'd like to see other entries if they're available, too ;-).

 

[Tallguy]

I might just be going by my own biases but it sounds like we’re supposed to submit a scene, e.g. a Ships of the Line page. Right? In the rules it says “your own original design of a Star Trek Ship” but I think that might mean our own design of a scene using a Star Trek ship. That’s my guess.


BTW, here’s an interview with Doug Drexler: http://www.thetrekcollective.com/2014/07/ships-of-line-competition-launched.html


Also a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/StarTrek/posts/1026600747356430


There's gotta be more people asking questions, don't you think?

 

[Ptrope]

I would think so - I would hope so! I also posted these questions on StarTrek.com, but the person to ask would be Doug Drexler, and since the DrexFiles seems to be dead, I don't know where that would be, unless it's a matter of tracking him down on Facebook. Some of these questions were asked in that interview, but it didn't seem he had answers at that time.

 

[Dac]

I can't believe I'm the only one to submit a piece with an existing design....going on virtually every other image in every other calendar, with the exception of a handful of fan made designs (usually with a relation to the expanded universe) every image is of a screen used ship.

How do you know? Can you see submitted entries someplace?

Does anyone know if you can submit more than one?

I was of course referring to the poll at the top of this page

 

[Tallguy]

I was of course referring to the poll at the top of this page

I'm not reading well today.

I'm kinda doing both. But do I have one entry that's entirely an existing design. (At least I hope I will.)

 

[Ptrope]

I think I've got maybe 4 entries in me - not sure how I can get them under 5 Mb though . A couple will be my own designs, a couple will be the same old ships (), and we'll see what happens. I really don't want to see a calendar devoted to fans' entries that limits them - and us, as viewers - to nothing more than ships we've seen for decades. When I buy a SotL calendar, I look forward to new ideas and designs - it's freaking Star Trek - when did we all get so stuck in the old stuff??

Here's a thumbnail of the image I'm working on now at a much, much larger size - this just happens to be a ship we've seen ... :