Suggested by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
by dtallakson

Comment:
Well, that's an amusing take :-) You've got the Kraken, you've got a sophisticated dive-suit to fill in for the submarine. The camera cracks me up. The whole thing's processed nicely. As an aside, that's the biggest silver dollar fish I've ever seen if it's the same size as a giant squid :-)

6 from me.

Alice in Wonderland
by tvsometime

Comment:
Not working for me, not even as an ironic take. Try as I might, I can't bring "wonderland" out of this at all, and beyond that, the grace of Alice is that she's naive and trusting, which this woman looks like she's anything but, so I get no sense of the book here...

4 from me.

Wuthering Heights
by wdamman

Comment:
This is not working for me at all, sorry. The composition is awkward, the processing is lackluster, and the fit for the book is marginal at best: there's no sense of height, for one thing (think "house on a hill") and there no sense of "wuthering", which is the oppressive sound the wind makes as it scours the lonely, bleak and barren moors. None of that comes through.

4 from me.

Captains Courageous (Rudyard Kipling)
by tome

Comment:
Whoa that's ugly weather :-) I generally like this, though I feel the execution's not getting all it could out of the image. A little more structure and darkening of the edges, would enhance the mood I think, make it a bit more intense.

I'm giving this one a 6.

Heart of glass
by Harlequin

Comment:
Pretty good finish, teamie :-)

"The Great Gatsby" Remembered
by beatabg

Comment:
Something's really wrong with the relationship of the airbrushed skirt and the car. I can't tell if she's been pasted in, or whether it's just generally crappy masking for the soft blur. It just looks REALLY wrong...

Otherwise, it's an amusing take on Gatsby, though of course the car is way out of period. What IS that car anyway? I ought to know, with thise louvers, but I'm drawing a blank.

Anyway, for me it's a 4 vote.

Go tell it to the mountain ~ James Baldwin
by Neat

Comment:
The title of the novel is "Go tell it on the Mountain", and it explores the role of the Christian church in the lives of African-Americans. The referenced mountain is Mount Sinai, where Moses brought down the commandments.

So for me, this otherwise charming, misty mountainscape is sort of irrelevant to the challenge, and I'm giving it a 5. It's not engaging me at any higher level.

Oliver Twist
by GeneralE

Comment:
Beautifully processed. The bit of grain/noise is an asset for the mood here. The separation of the head from the background is skillfully done. For my tastes, the crop is bit too tight on the bottom.

As far as relevance to the novel, "Please sir, may I have some more?" is the obvious reference, and it does work, but a couple things keep it from being as strong as it might be, for me: the spoon's too nice, and the bowl and spoon both should show evidence of a first serving consumed. Also, somewhat parenthetically, the white cuff is too clean and too white, if you think about it.

But, in the main, very nicely done. It goes in my 7 group for now, may get bumped or not depending on what else I find in this challenge :-)

Message edited by author 2013-10-23 00:12:25.

Malaysian Berry Mantis
by Cory

Comment:
Mantodea Suspiconius Coriensis? You con man, you :-)

A Study in Scarlet
by mrchhas

Comment:
My absolute favorite in the challenge, actually. And a good finish for such an idiosyncratic piece...