I got my start as a designer by building small web-sites for the various gaming clans and guilds I used to be in during the early years of the Internet. It wasn't easy. There wasn't much documentation or coursework for a curious 15-year-old that wanted to elevate his web and Photoshop skills to something better than a starry background. After I realized I wasn't getting many "hits" on my first GeoCities page, I figured I'd volunteer on larger, established sites to practice my craft. Mostly this involved making images and logos to accompany the stories that went up. 
 
It was under that spirit (and let's be perfectly honest, my own laziness) that I started asking our community to help out making the top slot promos that show up on our sites for live-shows and big events. In concept, it's just about the stupidiest thing a growing company can do. Let's give our users access to the most important part of our homepage! In practice though, it's turned out way better than I could have ever imagined. Each week we get at least a dozen really well done promos submitted by our fans for events like Thursday Night Throwdown and The Screening Room. 
 
Not everything is great. Remember, most people are submitting these for the same reason I did when I was 15. They just want the practice and to have their work seen and critiqued. But many of the promos are extremely well done. There have definitely been a couple weeks where Ryan and I had to get a third vote to pick the winner.  

The above image for Bad Company 2: Vietnam's TNT by Giant Bomb user cookiesforbreakfast is probably my favorite ever submitted. While there's no doubt that it is one of the most polished, it's more the attention to detail and Giant Bomb lore that caught my eye. Note the following:  

• The pac-man pin on ryan's helmet.
• The nine of spades, a reference to a bum card trick we tried to pull on camera.
• Not only does the cigar looks natural, but the smoke from it and the guns sits on a plane that fades into the background.
• The shadow from the helmet that covers his face and the trickle of blood escaping his brow.
• The fact that you'd never know those aren't Ryan's hands.
• Lastly, the god-damned awesome highlight work on Ryan's face that perfectly match the lighting on the guns.

 
When we started accepting user promos I thought I'd get some interesting Photoshop mash-ups and the usual bad cut-outs. I never thought we'd get submissions that were better than something that I'd be able to create myself. So much for ego. Here's a scattering of promos from the previous year in case you missed them while they were up. If you're interested in helping out, there's a whole bunch of users on a shared Dropbox that can give you an invite. It's a pretty chill crowd.