Aftermath of the #GTS Global Talent Search 2014 with Lilla Rogers and a tip for uploading if you haven't yet

Last night I uploaded my final GTS piece to the Global Talent Search 2014 run by Lilla Rogers and her agency staff; I discovered how to use the "Save for Web" in Photoshop properly so that the image I uploaded was as high quality as possible yet still 72dpi. Look further down the post for the explanation!

These sketches are nothing like what I submitted - I'd see this as the adult side of me... I went for something aimed at children. Difficult to choose but you have to!

I really love what I did. Like all of us I went through the ...oh this is no good... maybe I should do one of my other ideas.. it's too complicated...it's too straightforward. Oh constant contradictions! I stuck with it and over 3 days made a painting with collaged elements that I am proud of even if it goes no further  in the competition. 

Playing with lettering that I didn't use in the end

Really that's what we should all be aiming for isn't it? I'd LOVE to get through to the next round but the competition is fierce. I'm overjoyed that I took time, experimented with my scribbly sketches but kept going with my original idea. I painted over large sections of the background pattern I'd made and felt that the final image really "popped"  - an expression learned from Lilla.

I had three words on my canvas - this one was collaged

Now, the image uploaded had to be under 1.5mb and 72dpi (dots per inch) and on a virtual piece of paper sized 8 x10 inches with the image itself being 7 inches by 9 within that 'paper'. I did this part in Photoshop keeping the entire 8 x10 image at 300dpi. Then put my cursor on FILE>saveforweb; the screen below comes up.

© Gabriella Buckingham

Sorry the pink writing isn't bigger! but essentially at the top right you can choose your setting from Low to Very High. I started with Very High but could see that the jpeg reading on the bottom left was way over 1.5mb - it was more like 4mb. 

(*STOP PRESS*JUST REALISED THAT EVEN THOUGH MY SUBMISSION WAS UNDER THE MB SIZE REQUIRED AND 72DPI THE ACTUAL DIMENSIONS WHEN BACK IN PS WERE 33INS X 41INS-*

JUST HEARD back from the Lilla Rogers School that what I sent in was fine :) - so these instructions - while they aren't the only way they are definitely the way to ensure detail is as high as possible and just under 1.5mb.)

So I then clicked down the drop down list to High which brought my setting down to just over 2mb at 80 quality... then I experimented with the Quality button and entered 70 manually which meant I could then save my image at just under 1.5 - at about 1.45 as the image here was. Then before I uploaded I reopened the saved image in Photoshop and sure enough even though the quality was high the document was in fact 72dpi. I hope that helps someone.

Good luck everyone and just make something you love!