Wow, coming up with challenges gets harder and harder! What do people like? What do they have fun doing? What gives them a chance to stretch their talents and skills? And how do we provide a baseline so that they can still compete on an even basis?
If anyone figures these things out, please let us know at obvious_answers@impossiblequestions.com
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In the meantime, I'm sure many of us look for inspiration on a regular basis at the bookstore, or at the grocery or drugstore, or the comic shop. Every month, there are new magazines on the racks, on practically every topic you can think of and many more on topics you might never have imagined. Whether you're into science fiction, modeling, découpage, fashion, art, woodworking, running, sports, or fantasy whiffleball, you can spend about $10 and get a slick cover wrapped around 100 pages of articles and pictures (and ads!) - and the next month, another one comes out of the same title (if we're lucky - some vanish, never to be seen again, like Starlog).
Do you think Captain Kirk had a subscription to Sports Illustrated? What about Scotty's monthly Core and Driver, or Captain Sisko's Louisiana Cookin'? Did Dr. Crusher ever find a PADD with an e-Playboy on it hidden underneath Wesley's mattress?
What could a magazine from Star Trek be like?
Obviously, I love book and magazine covers, and they come in such a variety, I'm betting there's something out there everyone can have fun with. So here's your challenge: create a magazine cover that has a connection to Star Trek, within that universe (not a fan magazine about Trek from our own) - something that would be lying on a shelf in a crewman's quarters, something for those off hours when it's all about their hobbies or interests. It can be a familiar title that exists in the here-and-now, but from the future, or it can be a twist on a familiar title, like a Klingon equivalent of Scientific American or an Andorian Rolling Stone - something that the viewer can relate to, somehow, but that has its context in the universe inhabited by the Federation, its allies, its enemies, and those yet undiscovered. Draw it, Photoshop it, paint it, model it, photograph it on your iPad. Make and enter as many as you like, whether they're different issues of the same thing or completely different titles.
And to try to make it easy - or at least to remove a variable - make them 8.5x11@150 dpi (1275px x 1650px) - so all entries will be the same proportion. This weekend, go to the store, look at the magazines there, maybe even take some photos for reference, and then you're the editor-in-chief and the art director - make a cover that will sell your magazine and submit it to ptrope at gmail dot com by midnight PST, 12/31/2014, so we can start the new year shopping!
If anyone figures these things out, please let us know at obvious_answers@impossiblequestions.com
.In the meantime, I'm sure many of us look for inspiration on a regular basis at the bookstore, or at the grocery or drugstore, or the comic shop. Every month, there are new magazines on the racks, on practically every topic you can think of and many more on topics you might never have imagined. Whether you're into science fiction, modeling, découpage, fashion, art, woodworking, running, sports, or fantasy whiffleball, you can spend about $10 and get a slick cover wrapped around 100 pages of articles and pictures (and ads!) - and the next month, another one comes out of the same title (if we're lucky - some vanish, never to be seen again, like Starlog).
Do you think Captain Kirk had a subscription to Sports Illustrated? What about Scotty's monthly Core and Driver, or Captain Sisko's Louisiana Cookin'? Did Dr. Crusher ever find a PADD with an e-Playboy on it hidden underneath Wesley's mattress?
What could a magazine from Star Trek be like?
Obviously, I love book and magazine covers, and they come in such a variety, I'm betting there's something out there everyone can have fun with. So here's your challenge: create a magazine cover that has a connection to Star Trek, within that universe (not a fan magazine about Trek from our own) - something that would be lying on a shelf in a crewman's quarters, something for those off hours when it's all about their hobbies or interests. It can be a familiar title that exists in the here-and-now, but from the future, or it can be a twist on a familiar title, like a Klingon equivalent of Scientific American or an Andorian Rolling Stone - something that the viewer can relate to, somehow, but that has its context in the universe inhabited by the Federation, its allies, its enemies, and those yet undiscovered. Draw it, Photoshop it, paint it, model it, photograph it on your iPad. Make and enter as many as you like, whether they're different issues of the same thing or completely different titles.
And to try to make it easy - or at least to remove a variable - make them 8.5x11@150 dpi (1275px x 1650px) - so all entries will be the same proportion. This weekend, go to the store, look at the magazines there, maybe even take some photos for reference, and then you're the editor-in-chief and the art director - make a cover that will sell your magazine and submit it to ptrope at gmail dot com by midnight PST, 12/31/2014, so we can start the new year shopping!
