Domenic Bartolo's response to Jose's work: Itīs depth isnīt it. I particularily like this one. Sonar blips. Whale noises. Layers of language. It communicates a serenity, something untouched, almost out of reach of the rays of light. And of course itīs got movement. Depth and movement. Way to go.





Domenic Bartolo
Sydney NSW Australia

Response to work: Marine. There is one thing that is unmistakebly the sea in my mind. The air. The smell of salt. The grandeur of the ocean, the mystery, the depth.These are the thoughts that stirred in my mind when creating this work. I wanted to peer into the canvas. The scales of fish. The reflective pools of light. The marine mystique.

M. A. Turner's response to Domenic's work: The feeling of being under water is alive in this piece, the layout leads the eye to the center of the work with nice color combinations and clean text. The multiple circles and grid give a feeling of ripples and structure. There's nothing at all wrong with this submission in my opinion, it is very relevant to the requirements and expresses the word, MARINE, exactly. A nine out of an imaginary ten.





Colin Beagley

Response to work: A Place where true contentment rests in the memory. Where flashes of loud reality are gradually sedated, then a solid escape is formed and can be called on when needed.

Meridian's sesponse to Collin's work: Collins work is interesting, it's hard to give an accurate critique of his works since I haven't see any of his other stuff. This could be his best work or his absolute worst, so I'll give it a go. I like the minimal style that he uses for the project.The pic has kind of a glowing water color effect going for it too. When I stared at it at first I thought hmm audio waves on an equalizer, then I pulled back and then realized it looks like a reflection of lights on ocean water maybe by a warf or in a marina? :) Maybe you'll see something different? Just my interpritations that's all :) Good work.





Haze
Australia

Response to work: My work was inspired by certain marine life octopus, squid that sort of thing. The vision was to depict tentacles extruding out, reaching for something. I tried to get a techy feel to it with the wire frame and line work. Most of the work was done in 3D then smoothed out in Photoshop..

Sean Torstensson's response to Haze's work: To me this was easily the standout of all the entries. The organic looking element is beautiful(teach me!!) possesing emotive colour and motion which really brings the artwork alive. The juxtaposition of the 3d wireframes as well as the illegible blocks of type against the main graphic element was well done. The only thing I would question would be the relationship between the angular shapes with the rest of the elements in the work - and the typography which I think could have been pushed further.





Minusbaby
USA

Response to work: My first idea, after seeing the word 'marine,' was to make a piece that was dark, murky and ran along the lines of an H.G. Wells novel. But then I sat back and remembered, I played super mario brothers on nesticle a few hours before so the natural choice, for me, was to throw some wiggly squid into the mix. The bulk of my work is influenced by things that've happened to me a few hours or a few days before sitting at the computer...with extended history as the front and back covers.

MWG's response to Minusbaby's work: 3d shapes, 45 degree angles, pixel art and a great sence of colour andbalance makes the minusbaby entry stands out. The submarines are brilliantly executed as layered graphical shapes that also become icons that represent marine in both "under water - liquid" and a literal "defence marine - human" metaphor... nice job... bastard!





Meridian

Response to work: This project was a lot of fun because of working under the standards that where set. They where a challenge and I enjoyed meeting that challenge.

Matt Olsen's response to Meridian's work: The spawning of life on earth. Highly atmospheric, with lovely textures alluding to odd molecular structures and creation. The 'never limit God' text provides a guide to piece's message; an apt one. My only uneasiness is with the heavy black framing, for me, it draws away from the light essence of the piece. Anyway, good stuff, I like it..





MWG
Canada

Response to work: I suffer from marine-aphobia, a claustrophobia of the water kind. I deal with it better now days but I know whilst under there... in the deep blue... there is only one way to escape... follow the light!

Haze's response to MWG's work: First thing to come to mind when I saw this piece was that it was very blue. Then I stared at it for a while and it grew on me. It is very subtle in its approach in conveying the theme, MARINE, and it does very well at doing this. U could not mistake this piece as being anything but MARINE. It works, congrats to the designer





Matt Olson
Australia

Response to work: At first I pictured blue aquatic scapes in my mind, but i knew that this would be a popular response and I wanted to find something different about 'marine'. the end result is not what I had envisioned, but rather a wave of emotions and thoughts that were spawned from a visit to http://www.marines.com/. .

Jose Alcayaga's response to Matt's work: His work is very dynamic. The red, flame-like mist makes me think of blood and determination. I especially like the "Emotional Content, Military Summary = None" I also really like his use of typography used as a design element, and as content. Everything is well placed and what came out of it was a very successful piece.





Sean Torstensson
Sydney NSW Australia

Response to work: My inspiration behind this particular work comes from those great alien-underwater scenes from the movie "The Abyss. I wanted to create something which gave a cyber/alien/organic feel. The style that I have employed for 'marine' is something new for me. Don't know how I would describe but I'm looking forward to the next "visual response" because I think there is potential for me to push it even further.

Minusbaby's response to Sean's work: This reminds me of the fancy vases and drawings architect, Alvar Aalto made for the Karhula-Iitala Glass-Design Competition in 1936; a smooth, organic quality that, in this case, owes more to nature and kenetics than pixels and cursors. It's also a bit morbid in it's serenity...I can't help but wonder - is this what a manatee or sea lion sees right before a collision with a speed boat?





M. A. Turner
USA

Response to work: The simple word, MARINE, brings to mind the sea. How everything works in sequence, in motion, in formation, yet still remains mysterious and dirty and detailed. The sea has always amazed me, we drink what they breath, they breath what we drink, it's a cycle that has no boundaries, we rely on the same things, only on a different level, a different path to the same conclusion. With this piece I tried to capture the dirtiness, yet mysterious nature of the sea with text and lines and circles.

Colin Beagley's response to M. A. Turner's work: The sombre colours used for the type and grid structures certainly reflect the mysterious organisation that is the aquatic world but perhaps not its surprising fluidity. The white cleans it. I like the involved depth on looking closer at each structure and on studying the text. I share these feelings of escapism and disturbing anticipation, which stems from vulnerability and curiosity. A strong and yet sensitive approach.