Real Name: Richard Baden
Powers: super-strength, ability to influence emotions in others (specifically, able to create states of extreme terror), radically slowed aging
Bio: Jacob Sarne was a physicist working at a US government installation in Wyoming in the late 70s. He was a brilliant scientist, a likeable guy, and had the love of a good woman. Unfortunately, Sarne’s girlfriend’s ex, Richard Baden, was the jealous sort… and a just a bit sociopathic. One night this guy broke into the base where Sarne worked and confronted him, demanding that he stop seeing his girlfriend. Sarne refused, and the two fought. During the struggle, a key piece of machinery was damaged, subjecting the two to strange, extra-dimensional particles.

When the smoke cleared, the two fighters also discovered that the woman they both loved had died during the conflict. Each blamed the other, and a decades-long grudge was born…

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Nice job Hammerknight and everyone who submitted a self-portrait!

Once again, Happy New Year everyone!

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Caution: Lots of big image files follow, so if you’re on a slow connection, beware. Images are in order of the weekly themes, going Super Hero - Sci-Fi - Fantasy - Open.

Aaron:

Superfan1:

Danny Beaty:

MartianBlue:

Hammerknight:

Gene:

Hakoon:

Imp:

SongBird:

KingMonkey

(These entries missed the deadline, but they’re awesome so I am putting them in anyway):

Kyle:

Michael Benton:

PhoenixTalion

(also too late to be included in FNF, also too cool to not include here):

Kaldath:

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Firecracker:

MegaGoober:

Blue Blazer:

Zyp:

Phew! You can see why I’m glad I didn’t have to personally choose any winners, because they’re all so good. Great job everyone, take a bow and thanks for sharing your creations with us!

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(Click to embiggen.)

Kaldath wins a custom color illustration by yours truly of whatever he likes. Each of his rounds was a blowout, so either he’s just that awesome, or he has lots of friends who like to vote, or a combination of the two. Well done, sir! For those of you who don’t know, Kaldath also won the very first HeroMachine character design contest a while back.

To further honor his success, here are his other three winning FNF entries (click to see at their original size).

Week 1, Super-Hero (Ramses):

Week 2, Sci-Fi (General Falgar):

Week 3, Fantasy (Jenel-LaDamor-DeCaye):

Our runner up, and the winner of a black and white custom character illustration, is none other than Imp! As always, his characters showed a lot of originality and excellence. Here are his four entries:

Week 1, Super-Hero (Crescent):

Week 2, Sci-Fi (Rough Night at the Office):

Week 3, Fantasy (Barbarian Queen):

Week 4, Open (Little Death Machine):

Both of you guys were definitely worthy finalists, I am pleased as punch at the high quality of your entire slate of characters. Thanks to you both for sharing your creativity with us!

The same goes for so many of the other fourteen competitors as well. This wasn’t an easy challenge, and there were some truly inspirational illustrations submitted. I salute each of you.

I did, however, want to particularly single out Zyp, who won the “West Coast Avengers” Open contest with his absolutely fantastic “Inferne”:

(Do yourself a favor and click to see full size.)

I mean no slight to the other great entries, but this may be the best thing I have ever seen come out of HeroMachine. Zyp wins any item or a portrait to appear in the final HeroMachine 3 version.

Congratulations to Kaldath, Imp, and Zyp, as well as to all the great folks who participated! Hopefully we can have another set of Friday Night Fights after the holiday. Until then, keep creating!

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Aaron created three characters, and I chose to highlight “Puss in Boots“. I think it’s a nice take on the “Shrek” Antonio Banderas version, if a little on the plain side:

Alexander submitted “Aesop’s Crow and Pitcher“, and I commend him for his knowledge of the classic fables. Not a lot of folks remember this one.

“Little Red Riding Hood” was a popular fable, and I really liked Anarchangel’s take on it. She looks saucy and strong at the same time. The severed wolf’s head really adds something here, as does the nice background and foreground work.

Brons as usual does an outstanding job, this time with “Father Frost“. I love the duo-tone color scheme and the subtle patterning effect on the leggings. The green background helps set the image off as well.

“D” has a nice take on “Three Blind Mice” by way of either “Reservoir Dogs” or “Pulp Fiction”. Either way, I suspect the dialogue “Whatever the hell it was we were trying to feel up, it’s dead now” would make an appearance.

Danny Beaty had a clever take on “Androcles And the Lion“, complete with crocodile lion tears!

Gene’s “Billy the Kid” made me laugh, but I have to highlight instead his “Red Riding Hood” for the neat way he co-opts Robin Hood into the story as well. And think about it, they must be related somehow, because they have the same last name, right?

Gero put together several nice entries, but I am showing his “Fox and the Grapes” because it was a fable I hadn’t heard before, and that’s cool.

Gregg sent in “The Boy Who Cried Wolf“, and I like it because you so rarely see young people getting torn asunder by something as simple as a rabid wolf in today’s PC world.

Haydnc95 does great work, and I really like this “Alice in Wonderland” take. The use of gradients and the nice coloring effect on the hair make for a very strong composition. Well done, sir! Note particularly that he has turned basic body parts into fishnet clothing by using that pattern. That’s why I didn’t include dedicated fishnet items in the Dresses release. The only thing I might change in this particular illustration is the darker coloring on her face, which comes across as kind of like five o’clock shadow.

Hammerknight has been on a toy soldier kick recently, and you can see why in this really nice interpretation of “The Nutcracker“.

(Click to embiggen.)

Kyle also took on “Red Riding Hood”, although I think perhaps the relationship between her and the Wolf is a bit more … adult and complicated than in the original

I suspect Mark won’t be submitting this as the next official University of Maryland team mascot, but his “Tortoise and Hare” is a lot of fun regardless.

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Rancid has a lovely (if a bit on the “grope-y” side) “Beauty and the Beast” illustration. I like the mask on hte Beast particularly, and how they have placed their hands lovingly in one another. Really nice effect there, Rancid.

Rozenstal submitted a Little Red Riding Hood illustration as well, this one along a more classical, innocent line. I am not sure how he did the basket, but it’s a nice piece of work.

The Creator also submitted a story I’d not heard of before, so thanks to her for broadening my horizons. From yer comment, here’s a bit of info on the “Kludde”:

In Belgian folklore, a water spirit which roams the Flemish country side. This creature, called Kludde, hides in the twilight of dawn and sunset and attacks innocent travelers. Warned travelers listen for the only sound which betrays that Kludde is in the vicinity: the rattling of the chains with which the spirit is covered.

Kludde usually appears in the shape of a monstrous black dog that walks on his hind legs. The faster one walks, the faster this monster follows, often swinging through the trees like a giant snake. No one can ever hope to outrun or escape this creature. The dog is not the only shape in which it can be seen. It can also assume the shape of a huge, hairy, black cat or a horrible black bird.

She’s chosen to show the creature attacking an unfortunate Belgian here, which is kind of cool.

In the interest of keeping a theme going, I am choosing to include TJ’s Red Riding Hood, but I also really liked his “Gift Giver”. He also went with a severed wolf head, but I think it’s neat to compare the various attempts to see how little changes make a big difference.

Finally, I think Vampyrist did a great job on this “Midas” cover. I particularly like the way the wrench appears to be transforming as he’s holding it. Plus, “Fool’s Gold” is a nice story title for a “Midas” comic!

Looking over those once more, I am going to go with Brons’ “Father Frost”, as I think it’s the best overall illustration of the bunch. Well done on your second win, Brons!

Thanks and congratulations to all of the folks listed above for taking the time to enter, I appreciate your work very much.

Having said that, let me know what you’d think about my taking a break with the contests until after Christmas. People are really busy, I know, and I don’t want to add to the holiday stress.

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I’m going to go more or less in alphabetical order this time out, because I’m nothing if not alphanumeric. That gives us our first entry, “Eris” by Ahserian, which I liked because of it’s nice inner glow effect and the innovative use of wraps as a pseudo-toga:

I chose two entries from Anarchangel, both of which show excellent mult-figure compositions. The Aphrodite one in particular looks great, but I like “Hades and Persephone” quite a bit as well.

“Capricorn” by Blue Blazer is just a very strong and simple super-hero character design. There’s nothing super fancy or flashy about it, but all the colors and elements work together to give a very strong sense of someone you’d want to know more about.

Crinold’s “Avatar of Zeus” I liked, although it borders just on the edge of “too busy”. Still, it’s a very creative use of the application and has a lot to recommend it:

Like Blue Blazer’s entry, Dennis’ “Satyr” is very simple but effective. You don’t have to throw a thousand items and use advanced tricks to put together a good character so long as the separate elements work well together and the color scheme is well thought out.

We’ve all enjoyed Hammerknight’s creative uses of the application and helpful guides to reproducing some of his techniques. This week he put it all together in this great “Apollo”, using flipped and duplicated horses to great effect and essentially building his own sun chariot from scratch. I wish I’d put a better sky to serve as a background because the character design deserves a better setting.

(Click to embiggen.)

Iago Valentine always manages to infuse his compositions with an almost other-worldy sensibility, and his “Hunter” is no exception. I love the colors and the way the background uses a dark gray line color instead of black to make it look like it’s more in the distance. It’s a subtle but very effective trick. I also liked the way he used multiple background elements to make a whole new scene.

Several different versions of Hercules were submitted, but I liked Kaldath’s the best overall. I think he stretched the shoulders out under cover of the furry shoulder pads, which makes him look more muscular and demi-god-like.

I cannot encourage you enough to check out Lawrence’s frankly staggering HeroMachine-assembled comic book. I can’t imagine what a pain this must have been to put together, and I heartily applaud how far he was able to push this thing. It’s pretty darn amazing, thank you Lawrence! Here’s the cover image to hook your interest, which is a great image just on its own. I love the use of the lightning pattern to suggest an ancient Greek urn.

Martian Blue’s “Atlas” is a good design, but what I love most is the chest harness. That big metallic “A” chest buckle just rocks. Plus, it was his idea for the contest in the first place, you gotta love that!

Superfan1’s “Nyx” is a great use of black and white to achieve a really fun and impressive effect. I like the multiple capes and the cool sleeve ends, too.

(Click to embiggen.)

Vampyrist’s “Artemis” was one of the better modern reinterpretations of a Greek mytho, with a strong color scheme and concept. I should take points off for her holding the bow palm-out like in that Liefeld Babewatch poster, but putting a wolf in the picture will absolve a lot of sins.

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Finally, our last Honorable Mention goes to Zyp for his outstanding use of color and composition in his “Achilles or Something” illustration:

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All of which brings us to this week’s overall winner. After making so many great contributions to the community, I am pleased as punch to give you a winner at last for none other than our Thursday Recipe Man, Hammerknight!

I’ll grant you that many of those pieces were more or less designed to work together, but the coloring and overall conception elevate this above a simple cut and paste job. The real clincher, though, is that helmet. Yes, yes I know Artemis actually had an owl as her bird companion, but that’s a wicked cool helmet and you know it! Plus I can’t figure out how he did it which is always a big bonus. I liked the overall tight design and effect she has, and am delighted that this one came out on top.

Well done, HK, and all our Honorable Mentions!

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Mr. Vampire always has fun and innovative takes on these contests, and while I thank him for the nostalgia engendered by his Asteroids composition, I had to profile this winged brain, which I think is both fun and cool:

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Martian Blue somehow managed to put together this very convincing electric guitar from spare parts, which was most impressive:

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Kyle had a host of entries again this week, but I thought “Ghost Chief” was particularly well done. Although maybe I have a thing for see-through characters, I don’t know …

If this had been Image Week, Kingmonkey would have walked away with the win for sure. As it is, this is a great illustration that literally made me laugh out loud:

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On a more serious note, Kingmonkey also delivered “Platinum Girl”, which in addition to being a nice illustration also has my favorite use ever of that satellite dish icon insignia, used as a belt buckle:

Kaldath had two excellent female entries this week, but I think Gold Girl has the edge for overall design:

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Imp has a fantastic entry this week of “Purple Devil”, with a great bit of dialog about what it must be like starring in B-List publisher’s lineup:

(Click to embiggen.)

Hakoon also had multiple excellent entries this week, but while “Brother Torpedo” isn’t the flashiest of them, he is the coolest. The idea of a robot priest packing massive nuclear weapons tickles my imagination just the right way.

Although it’s a simple design, I think Blue Blazer’s “Doctor Tornado” has a great expression and the wind effect is just perfect:

Anarchangel’s “Crimson Falcon” has some excellent features. I love the overall character design, with the consistent black and red color scheme. The wings fit, too, and the pose is great. But the best technical feature (besides those awesome clouds) I think is that shirt. I can’t quite figure out how it was done, but it’s really cool. Just a very good character, top to bottom.

Finally, although Anarchangel and Imp made it really tough, I finally went with Brons’ “Bronze Dragon”:

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I like the design and the colors and the pose, it all works well. I think what really sealed the deal for me, though, was the framed Japanese print on the wall. It’s a simple touch, but really added to the whole effect.

Congratulations to Brons, who wins either a portrait or any item he likes to be included with the final version of HeroMachine 3, and to the other Honorable Mentions!

Thanks again to everyone who entered!

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Blue Blazer submitted a lot of entries, but this one caught my eye for the position of the head and how he was able to make the character look like he was screaming upwards. It’s a really nice effect. Plus I’m all for anyone who’s even hairier than I am.

Similarly, Johny posted a number of good entries but I liked the humor of this one. Bonus points for evil bunnies too. I’ve long suspected something that cute in nature must in some way be a walking avatar of death.

The last of our multi-multi-multi entries was Kyle, who’s entered this one before. But, it was so appropriate for the occasion I just had to put it up.

Lawrence put together two stellar images. The first is a great scene, full of fantastic details like the moonlight shining through the window onto the floor; the posing of the character; the great use of a mirror; the items on the counter; and much more. Just a great, great panel.

His second image is so evocative I find it amazing it was done with HeroMachine. I think this is a great example of how, if you have the eye of an artist, it doesn’t matter what tools you use — you can still create something powerful and moving even when (as here) the individual bits were actually drawn by someone else.

Rancid sort of did both of those at once, combining a wonderful Halloween scene with a memorable and striking character design.

Hammerknight brought it this week (although I think maybe this was done earlier?), with a great spooky design that really creeped me out.

(Click to embiggen … if you DARE!)

There can be only one winner though, and this week I thought hands-down that winning entry was from Kingmonkey:

The design of the base character, the color selections (both in the outfit and the lineart), the fantastic moon in the background, the creepy trees on the horizon … just awesome. A wonderful effort, Kingmonkey, and well worthy of a win, thanks for entering it! He wins either a portrait of himself or any item he’d like to be included in the HeroMachine 3 full release.

Thanks to all who entered!

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(Click to embiggen.)

Having said that, I thought the following submissions were great examples of good illustrations that also fit the contest concept. Well done all!

First up are a couple of entries that I thought were very clever or which made me laugh. Gene’s “Monkey Business” was a very clever idea of a detective duo with that name where one of them is actually a chimp:

In a similar vein, Mr. Vampire’s “Fish & Chips” features a singularly unlikely duo that I thought was very funny:

(Click to embiggen.)

SongBird’s “Ebony and Ivory” was sort of a cross-over for me in that it’s funny, but I also think it’s a good idea. I know I’d much rather see this pairing than McCartney and Jackson. Plus, bonus points for use of the car. I can totally see this as a “Starskey and Hutch” remake.

Imp turned in his usual strong effort, which might have won if the word pairing were more of a phrase. I think the actual character designs are stellar, with a lot of great detail and personality.

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BlueBlazer also turned in two very strong character designs, and their pairing was more what I had in mind, featuring “Smoke and Mirror”, a more common phrase rather than two words which are often used together. I especially liked the effect of Smoke’s body snaking out of his uniform, that’s cool.

KingMonkey turned in “Shock and Awe”, which I thought was a good pairing. What nailed it though was the background on Shock, which I think is one of the best I’ve seen yet.

Rancid won the last multiple-character contest, and he came darn close again this time around, with “Crimson and Clover”. Their uniform designs are outstanding, particularly the use of the colored piping that is similar for both of them while still being distinctive on each. I also liked the energy effects behind Crimson, it gives the illustration a lot of interest and depth. Very well done, Rancid, on both!

Finally, our winner. I really liked this illustration’s “mood”, which is a difficult thing to achieve. Everything works well, from the improvised clarinet to the characters’ distinctive personalities to the background colors and font choices. Drummergirl’s “Rhythm & Blues” really hit the mark of the contest concept, and is a fun and original composition to boot. Well done, Drummergirl!

As the overall winner, Drummergirl will get to choose either one item or a caricature of her face to be included in the HeroMachine 3 final version. Congratulations!

Thanks as well to everyone who entered, there were some great drawings and I really appreciate your time and talent being shared with us.

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Before getting to the more serious entries, I wanted to present Hammerknight’s succinct summary of the biggest change from the Golden Age to today:

And with that, awaaaaaaaaay we go!

I thought DementedClown did a great job capturing the essence of Golden Age, Silver Age, and Modern Age comics through a set of three covers featuring “Buzz Kill” through the years:

(Click to embiggen.)

Not only is each character very reminiscent of the era, but the cover designs and blurbs are as well. I can’t even imagine how much time that all took, great job!

Lawrence also has alternate cover-style shots, featuring the same basic scene with two very different feels. There was definitely a “darkening” in tone and art both over the decades between the Golden Age and now, and Lawrence captured that very well with this duo:

(Click to embiggen.)

Fishpants did something similar, though the big “Movie Premier” revamp poster is saved til the end. It tells a pretty good story of how comic book characters have been treated by major media outlets since the Forties, though.

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Next we have two different people submitting a character with the same name, which I thought was kind of funny. The treatments are different, but work really well. First up is Kyle’s version of “Flyboy”:

I particularly liked the Golden Age version, I think it captures the era very well.

Next up was Zyp’s take on the name. I think both of these illustrations are stellar, from the color choices to the basic character design to the fantastic falling scream in the Modern version. Really nice job on all this, Zyp!

Finally, I have had a very difficult time deciding between these final few submissions below.

MartianBlue’s “Warden”:

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I like the clear difference from the one version to the other, with the modern guy much sleeker and more detailed. I think the Golden Age Warden is perfect, a great embodiment of what characters from that time were like.

Matt’s “Furnace”:

These are both stellar illustrations. I don’t quite get the jump between them as strongly as some of the others; although the Golden Age diver-suit guy is perfect, the demon version doesn’t quite follow it and could be almost anywhen. Still, fantastic looking drawings, with lots of excellent color choices and well-suited elements.

Kaldath’s “Jersey Devil”:

(Click to embiggen.)

I particularly like how the Golden Age version is done in HM2, I think that’s very clever. And it looks like that time period as well, with the neck-mask and the horns and the more somber colors. The modern one is just as strong, I like the wings and the pose and the brighter red and just the overall more refined look.

Brons’ “Men in Red”:

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A great progression. I get a very “Phantom” vibe off of this, the reds ally them all strongly, and the designs are each great, which is hard to do that many times in a row. You can definitely see the evolution of the character through the decades.

TitansFan’s “Red Wing”:

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Our first gender bender! Like Kaldath’s, the use of HM2 here for the earlier versions is clever and well done. I like the changes in the modern version, it’s a very clean and appealing drawing. The giant blades are very Image Modern, too!

And finally, Rancid’s “Hawk”:

I like both of these illustrations very much. The colors, the costume elements, the way they echo each other but are still distinct, it’s all just superbly well done.

I keep changing my mind every ten seconds on this. They’re all so good. Aaaagh! Must … choose … one …

All right, that’s it — I’m going with my gut and choosing Rancid as the overall winner! Ultimately it just came down to each of the two illustrations being very strong on its own, and their working so well together. So congratulations to Rancid, who wins any custom item, OR a caricature of his or her face, to be included in HeroMachine 3. Well done!

Thanks again to everyone for making this such a great week, the entries were phenomenal. I am exhausted having to pick just one! I hope you enjoyed looking through them all, and even if you didn’t make the list above, that you’ll try again next time.

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