Congratulations to the winner of Caption Contest 82, by a margin of 66 votes to 55 — Galactic Ketchup!

Ketchup, let me know what you’d like as your prize either via email or a comment to any post. And thanks again to everyone for entering!

Since the latter item meant it took me three hours just to download half the entries for Character Contest 41 and the former item means I feel like death, I am not going to post the individual images of the Finalists like I usually do. Instead I am going to put them all into a gallery, where you can click through to each one.

Congratulations nonetheless to all of our Finalists, however — Alex, Blue Blazer, Decolda, Gargoyle323 (x3!), Imp (x2!), Kaldath, Knitesoul, Morzan, Mr. Q., Phatchick, Rosco, Watson Bradshaw, and Zyp. Well done, all of you! Some of these I liked a specific element or technique, others were great designs, and others were just fun. I will leave it to all you healthy people to figure out which was which, and why you think these made it to the Finalist status, in the comments.

Somehow I managed to put each one in twice. I don’t know how I did that, or how to make it stop, so get ready for twice the lovin’.

Finally, out of all those I had to pick one winner. And I had to agree with those who exclaimed in the comments how awesome this one is, because I just love it. All of the effects work, the design is spot-on, and the character just looks utterly fantastic. Definitely one of the best entries we’ve had in the history of this series, just a great, great job by Morzan with his “Junkie”:

Morzan, let me know either via email or in a comment to any post what item or portrait you’d like as your prize. Thanks for the illustration and congratulations!

I believe we had the most entries ever in a HeroMachine Character Design Contest this time around, but I’ve finally sifted through the excellent submissions, distilling the Finalists and our overall Winner for “Character Contest 41 – Art Martial“! Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter, I had a lot of fun looking through these.

First up is Atomic Punk’s “Blacklight Tiger”. What really caught my eye about this one was the background. Coloring the figures like he did made for a very striking and novel effect.

Next is BNE’s “Rnzhdsh”, which also stood out for its background. The effect of hanging the weapons on the wall as if on a rack was inspired.

“Eviscerator” by Brambles is a great “Road Warrior” style pugilist, or possibly one of the cast of a “Mortal Kombat” sequel.

I’m not quite sure how Decolda got this flowing cape effect on “Venus” but I really like it.

DiCicatriz made what is, for my money, the definitive six-limbed blue-skinned Indian martial artist, “Santulana”. I love the background, the tattoos, and the pose. A great all-around illustration.

Ian Healy’s “Feng Shui” made me laugh, as always, but it’s also a very good illustration. The setting is uncanny, a superb setting of the scene.

I chose two entries from Imp this week, starting with “Golden Phoenix”. All of the details are great, from the sized leg wings to the green hair to the swirling grayed-out flame pattern. The only tweak I’d have made to this is to have put the flames over the weapon, made slightly transparent. Still, I really like this one.

His “Sam Adams” is wonderful, too. I love the idea of a Revolutionary War brewmaster ninja. Awesome.

Kabare’s fantasy-based fighting elf “Alyne Sundier” works well, particularly the nice patterning of her outfit. Consistent colors and a tight composition make this a keeper.

Krimson also went for a “Road Warrior” style look with “Anaal Nathrakh”, a very menacing looking fellow to be sure.

Martian Blue did a great posing job on “Shaolin”, with a solid design to boot.

Me Myself and I used a tattoo-like effect very well with his simple, but affecting, “Tiger Claw”.

First-time entrant “Morzan” did a fantastic job, with the only entry this week that made me say “wow” when I first opened it. I love the tiger logo used as a head, and it’s perfectly matched with the fur collar to make a convincing effect.

Rancid’s “Lady Thorn” has a lot of great elements, from the flower design masked onto the leotard to the simple but nice background. I particularly love the griffin colored and patterned to look like a building gargoyle, though, that’s very neat.

SpiderCow2010’s “Ka Pao” is a great scene coupled with a well-designed character. I really like this one, and the “Damn” in the background is just perfect.

Von Malcolm’s “Jade” is a wonderful overall illustration, not just the character but the surrounding elements as well.

Finally, Von Malcolm took a more light-hearted approach by drawing the cast of my favorite show, “Seinfeld”, as martial artists. Hilarious.

Which brings us to this week’s overall winner, who receives their choice of either any item they like, or a portrait, to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 version. And that winner is none other than the very talented Gargoyle323, with “Geisha”!

Congratulations, Gargoyle, it’s a well-earned victory. I thought “Geisha” showed a great sense of personality, a fantastic use of the program to make unexpected effects, and a solid composition. Good job!

Thanks again not only to all the Finalists listed here, but to everyone who took the time to submit an entry. This was a tough week to judge, there were an awful lot of worthy illustrations.

The votes are in and you the readers have spoken — the winner of Caption Contest 81 is Frankie!

This makes three pending contest prizes for Frankie, so I’ve given him the option of combining the item rewards into a custom black and white character illustration instead, if he wants. If I don’t hear from you, Frankie, I’m going to assume you don’t want any of the prizes and instead revert them to some sort of community-choice kind of thing.

The response to Character Contest 40 was great, I appreciate all the hard work and time y’all put into this. I especially loved the chance to read up on some Southern legends I hadn’t heard before, so special thanks to everyone who provided links to the myths and legends that inspired your creations.

Having said that, let’s get to the Finalists!

First up is Alan Bates’ “Bell Witch”. There’s a nice technique here with the green to black gradient as the background, with the contrasting red of the dress int he foreground, that helps this image out a lot. Nice use of color theory there, Alan.

Next is Atomic Punk’s “Bonnie Blue”, based on a flag used at various points by rebellious states. He has a really nice back story for the character and I like the use of history.

Cliff’s “Big Mama” makes great use of color and proportion to make a convincing character not based on the traditional super-hero stereotypes, which I like.

Danny Beaty put together a fun and kick-ass looking “Daisy Duke” type of character with “Swampwater Molly”. On an unrelated note, I sure see a lot of red-heads in the country, both in Texas and here in Colorado. Why is that?

Despite not being a US resident, I think Decolda did a nice job capturing the spirit of New Orleans with his “Saints Necromancer”. I can totally see this guy as an actual super villain, using his mandolin to lure the dead from their graves to dance in the streets of the River City. Very cool.

DiCicatriz always has great illustrations, and furthermore he (along with rancid) posted their links perfectly. You right-click on the link, choose “Save Image As” and the file’s perfectly formatted with the name, a dash, and the character name. Love it. No having to wait for ImageShack to load, no having to click through three times to get to the character, it’s just right there.

Anyway, technical details aside, I was prepared to hate “Mrs. Ippi” just on the name, but he really pulled it off. The use of the water integrated into the clothing and the cool cape effect of the waves behind her make this a very cool looking lady indeed.

I also liked DiCicatriz’ Uwasa, particularly the very subtle way he’s position the feet to make the character not head-on.

Now, as I said, I’m from the South (born and raised in Louisiana), so I’m a little sensitive to the stereotypes Americans sometimes have about the region. But I still couldn’t help but laugh at Gargoyle323’s excellent “Redneck Ranger”, especially his adorably-named canine sidekick “Hush Puppy”. In fact, he bears an uncanny resemblance to the local news’ food critic I grew up with, the “Cajun Chowhound”. Very funny!

Ian Healy’s “Thunderbird” looks like something out of a “Cannonball Run” or “Smoky and the Bandit” nightmare. Or fantasy. Whichever, somewhere Burt Reynolds is smiling — not that you can tell through the massive amount of plastic surgery he’s had, but still, a very fun and cool looking character.

It wouldn’t be a contest without me showing some Imp love, and this week is no exception with “The Gracelander”. The pants don’t quite work for me, but I loved the background a lot, which made up for it. Nice job!

Me, Myself, and I put together a great looking aquatic-themed character. The masking of the wave item onto the costume just works wonderfully, and the whole composition is a winner. Great job on this one.

“Phatchick” submitted “The Flamingo”, which is a great idea — flamingos are definitely a Southern thing without being stereotypical — and came up with a great Zorro type of vibe I really liked.

Finally, the winning entry this week is one of the strongest overall illustrations I’ve seen in a long, long time. The character herself is great, with a combination of tattoos and energy effects and clothing that all work well together. Then you’ve got a wonderful background and setting, all with a somber and dark color palette perfect for the swamps of the South. Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present your winning entry for the Southern Fried Contest, Haz’s “Mysterious Swamp Woman”:

Haz wins his choice of either any item he likes, or a portrait, either of which will be included in the final HeroMachine 3 release.

Congratulations to Haz and all the other Finalists, nice job everyone!

The votes are in, and the winner of Caption Contest 80 is none other than Hammerknight!

He wins his choice of either any item he likes, or a portrait, either to be included in the final HM3 version. Congratulations Hammerknight!

I know there was grumbling last time Hammerknight won a contest (Character Contest 22) because he’s a frequent contributor to the site with his Recipes, but this was a completely blind vote — no one knew who put in which entry, and it was open to the general public for a vote. So it’s fair and square and completely aboveboard, and a well-earned victory. He’s not an employee or anything like that, just a guy who’s good with the app and who’s willing to share what he’s learned. So no complaining!

Actually, on that note, anyone is welcome to send me a recipe you’ve come up with. Format the image(s) at no more than 620 pixels wide and send them to me (afdstudios@gmail.com) and I’d be happy to post them if I have the time and space.

Congrats again to HK and the other finalists!

The votes are in for the most popular DinoMarines, and I’ve chosen the top 6 to form the Omega Squad (in honor of the original dinosaurs being wiped out, the DinoMarines rank their units starting with Omega and working backwards from there). If you have a good idea for their squad nickname, let it rip in the comments. I put the cut-off there because that seemed to be the major break point (38 votes vs the 33 for the next spot) that would allow in enough members to be a team, without so many it got unwieldy.

The totals were:

You’ll note that the top spot was a tie, with both Sergeant Cody “T-Dog” Thompson and Skyrazor getting 14.61% of the vote. As a result, I have cast the deciding vote and chosen “T-Dog” as Omega Squad leader! That means his chronicler, Tango, is our winner for the week, receiving his (or her) choice of either any item, or any portrait, to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 release. Congratulations!

I thought T-Dog’s personality really came through more than any other entrant, and the illustration itself is great, from the background to the foreground to the character himself with the goofy helmet and back-slung mega-weapon. Just an all around awesome picture.

Backing him up is the guy who almost beat him out for the top assignment, Rancid’s aerial specialist code-named “Skyrazor”:

Next up is Haz’s Elizabeth “Bug” Daleski, an illustration I just loved and probably would have chosen as the overall winner if I were picking (although it would have been close with T-Dog):

I loved Marx’s camo design and the way he made “Fargo” look like he is stepping right into the frame, giving the whole image much more dynamism:

Gargoyle323 gives us the next squadmate, the communications specialist Nick “Rockpile” Lowe, who in addition to being a cool looking character is also, like Fargo, in a great setting (note T-Dog on-screen in the background barking for an update):

Bringing up the rear is Imp’s no-nonsense Sergeant Bronto, the sixth and final DinoMarine in Omega Squad, featuring the usual Imp-brand high level of color cohesiveness and character design:

A great job by all, thanks again for the wonderful entries. Y’all rock! I hope you got a kick out of the team and I hope one day one of you puts out the definitive “DinoMarines” comic book.

Caption Contest 79 was won by one vote, and the winner is … Jack Zegler!

Jack wins his choice of either an item or a portrait to be included in HeroMachine 3. Congratulations!

For the curious, the runner-up by one vote was the also very funny SteveM:

DinoMarine finalists coming up later today, and another Caption Contest as well. Thanks for playing along, everyone!

Good luck everyone!

Congratulations to Rancid for winning Caption Contest 78 with this gem of a panel:

Rancid wins either any item he likes, or a portrait, to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 version. Congratulations to him and to all the other finalists!