Over the past week, we started our first Vector Battle here on Tuts+. Two regular Instructors went head to head using the same concept... diamonds.
Round One: Diamonds
The theme for the first Vector Battle was Diamonds. This was because the birthstone for the month of April is diamond/crystal. The challengers could interpret the theme how they wish.
Our challengers for this round are two regular authors, you may recognize them:
Mary Winkler aka Queen of Kawaii
Yulia Sokolova aka Queen of Patterns
The Results from the Voting Stage
The winner of the battle was decided based on the result of three rounds of voting:
An Editor vote: by yours truly, the Vector & Drawing Editor here on Tuts+ and general vector obsessive.
A Guest Judge: for this battle, Jacob Zinman-Jeanes. He is the former Tuts+ Creative Lead (and responsible for our diamond trophy graphics!).
Community vote: based on the number of unique comments on each article within a week of publish for the tutorial (spam will not be included).
The Editor Vote
The Editor vote was based on ease of editing the content and how educational it is. Of course all content must follow the high quality standards we set for the site, but some tutorials can give you more insight and more tricks and tips than another. Based on this, I decided that Yulia's tutorial was easier to edit and held more educational value.
The Guest Judge Vote
Jacob was kind enough to provide some feedback on the two tutorials and the reasons why be picked his favorite in this battle. The comments from our Guest Judge vote were as follows:
These pieces are a great example of how different styles and intents bring out very different results. Both are perfect for their intended use.
Mary's interface has just the right amount touchability and whimsical style. Exactly what you want for game art. There's a lot of character there, especially for such a simple UI. I think the detail in each gem is great, it's hard to believe everything here is 100% vector.
Yulia's gem icons are very much in-line with current trends, and really well put together. They gems are nice and simple and well constructed, meaning they'll reproduce well at a bunch of different icon sizes. Good use of colour, too. There's great contrast in each separate icon.
It's a tough call, but I'm going to go with Yulia's gem icons. I'm a sucker for stylish simplicity, and I think Yulia's use of colour and shade is spot on. I love the subtle gradients that bring it out of a 'flat design' cliché and into something with a bit more depth and unique style.
The Community Vote
Votes from the community were based on the number of unique commenters for each tutorial. Any spam or duplicate comments were disregarded.
Mary Winkler's tutorial: 5 unique comments
Yulia Sokolova's tutorial: 13 unique comments
The Winner is...
This means that with a win in all three categories, Yulia Sokolova has won our first Vector Battle on Tuts+!
So What Does Yulia Win?
Nothing.
Well apart from the knowledge she won the first Vector Battle on Tuts+. The purpose of taking part in a Vector Battle is to push your creativity and to have fun.
As with all content, Instructors get paid for the content we publish, so both have been financially rewarded for their hard work and generosity of sharing their work flow with the community.
Let's Have a Look at Yulia's Previous Tutorials
If you're a fan of Yulia's style of graphics and/or teaching, she's published many tutorials on Tuts+. Let's start off with the winning entry of her flat gem collection and move onto some of my own personal favorites of hers.
Create a Set of Flat Precious Gems Icons in Adobe Illustrator
Yulia embraces two trends: flat style and long shadows. She shows you how to create a set of precious gem icons. This tutorial uses Adobe Illustrator and is aimed at beginners.
Create a Detailed, Festive Christmas Wreath in Adobe Illustrator
What I love about this tutorial on creating a detailed, festive Christmas wreath is it's clever use of brushes and gradients. The brushes you create in this tutorial can be applied in many other projects... which is always a bonus!
Create a Tim Burton Inspired Bride of Frankenstein in Illustrator
I love Tim Burton's style and being able to create your own Bride of Frankenstein illustration in his style was a winning tutorial to me!
Create a Punk Queen of Hearts, With a Sleeve Tattoo in Illustrator
I love line art based illustration and in Yulia's Punk Queen of Hearts tutorial, she demonstrated several valuable techniques on creating effective line art. The way she created the eyebrows... genius!
Create a Summer Underwater Seamless Pattern in Adobe Illustrator
In this tutorial, Yulia shows you how to create a seamless underwater pattern. This tutorial makes easy work of Adobe Illustrator's Pattern Options panel.
Congratulations Yulia!
Well done to Yulia for winning the first Vector Battle here on Tuts+.
Yulia is a regular Instructor on Tuts+ and she creates inspiring and educational content on a monthly basis. If you're interested in seeing more of her work, you can follow her on:
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