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 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 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.

As usual, I’ve picked out the submissions I thought were particularly noteworthy for one reason or another, and present them after the jump. Plus, this week we have TWO winners, who you’ll find at the very end.

Congratulations and thank again to everyone who entered!

“Alien Bane” by VonMalcolm: I loved the use of the multiple tentacles gripping swords. The background is psychadelifunky, too.

“Micro Queen” by Rancid: Excellent stage-setting and use of props here.

“Deathtron” by Rancid: Yes, in some ways this is your standard cyborg skeleton robot death-dealer, but he has a clockwork crotch. I can’t help but wonder if he pees motor oil through that thing.

“Gut Baroness” by PRiegel: I wish I could have seen the look on PRiegel’s face when “Gut Baroness” came up in the random name generator. Excellent job with a tough assignment, this is a character I’d be more interested in learning about if I saw the visual.

“Ghost Spinner” by Me, Myself, and I: A very simple but effective character. I love the glowing web stuff between his hands, that works really, really well.

“Canine Fang” by Me, Myself, and I: MMI deconstructed this a bit, separating out the two name words into two separate characters, which is pretty clever. I like this duo a lot; nothing too fancy, but just right.

“Ruby Cutlass” by ManiacMick: I love the swashbuckling look of this character. I can see her starring in a Golden Age book next to Phantom Lady and Bulletgirl.

“Flame Mistress” by Kaldath: I particularly like the use of the word balloons and dialog. Very cool.

“Deadly Howler” by Imp: What would happen if a werewolf got really, really bored during his transformation?

“Malachite Paw” by Gargoyle323: This was one of the tougher word combinations I saw, and masterfully rendered. I love the smooth transition from the monster paws to the forearms and the simple, clean costume design. But the expression on the thing’s face is what really sells it for me.

“Ghost Screamer” by Galactic Ketchup: A cool concept not based on the human figure.

“InfernoMech” by Doomed Pixel: I love the fact that the midriff is just flame, that’s totally cool. The glow effect around that is awesome, too.

“Spectral Deceiver” by Decolda: Great use of negative space here.

“Emerald Rain” by Connor: I know we’ve seen the green glowing effect before, but combined with the name and the character’s simple but nifty modern outfit, this really works well.

“Mini Blade” by Cliff: Very funny! “Always bet on Short Stack Black”!

“Cold Grip” by Brian: Definitely one of my favorite designs of the week, the tight color scheme and concept go perfectly together.

“Animal Thought” by Brian: I appreciate that Brian took the time to go back to this random combination, even though at first it was too tough to figure out. This idea is outstanding and more than a little creepy, since I am surrounded by animals at all times.

“Pyrotaur” by Blue Blazer: What a great name and composition!

(Click to embiggen.)

“Sword Sorceress” by Bloodless Rose & Uesugi Warrior: This illustration brings a whole new class of RPG character exploding to life in my mind. Love it.

“Brain Freeze” by Alex: I really like the head on this guy. It’s like Validus had a baby.

“Brainscreamer” by Alan Bates: The background masked onto the body works great here, and the big mouth moved down onto the neck is fantastic. A very effective and creepy composition.

Which brings us to our winner! Or in this case, winnerS. First, I wanted to make a Special Achievement Award to recognize the outstanding efforts of those who submitted not just one or two random characters, but the full slate of ten they generated. That was way above and beyond the call of duty, and no mean feat. So a big thank you to Atomic Punk, Cliff, Grip, Gargoyle323, Me Myself & I, and Rancid for going that extra mile and for reaching such a high level of quality with all of their submissions.

One other person did the same, and overall I thought his ten were great even among that group of outstanding designers. So the Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Randomosity — and his choice of HM3 item — goes to DiCicatriz! Here are a few of his that caught my eye in particular.

“Spear Scream”: I love love love the insignia used as a tattoo. Totally cool. Everything about this character design is great.

Lupolion: I love the flag, and the name — like if Napoleon had lycanthropy.

“Fever Conjuress”: I feel like maybe I’ve seen this one before, but it sure is awesome.

“Beast Stone”: Tough, dominant, and totally cool. Love the glowing insignia in the chest and the bigger arouns outside the smaller ones to make them look beefier.

Finally, the overall individual winner for this week goes to Doomed Pixel and his outstanding “Clerical Raptor”, which I feel certain Robert Kirkman could totally turn into the best comic series of the year if he wanted:

Doomed Pixel wins his choice of either any item he chooses, or a portrait, to go into the final HeroMachine 3 version. Congratulations to him, DiCicatriz, and everyone who submitted such great characters!

First, I’d like to thank Boox909 for serving as a Guest Judge this week, he did a great job and picked some fantastic finalists. He also deserves a great deal of thanks for being one of the folks who keep GoldenAgeComics up and running, helping all of us stay in touch with those classic characters from the dawn of the comics medium. Keep up the great work there Boox909!

Second, thanks to everyone who entered. You did a great job as always and I am impressed with your creativity and imagination. Not to mention your ability to think of some outstanding Golden Age characters!

Without further ado, on to your Finalists and winner, direct fromBoox909 along with his commentary!

The Big Score (in other words, the WINNAH!)

Platinum Bomb
Artist – Cliff

Comment: This is a classic Golden Age bad girl. The design is functional and the execution fits perfectly into a Golden Age motif. No, the art is not the best, but that is part of the point and presentation when we are talking about the Golden Age era. Cliff has managed to capture something here in Platinum Bomb that I believe works and would make a good addition to any retcon publication ala Big Bang Comics. Ultimately, Platinum Bomb won me over, and is my choice for the winner of this contest. –Boox909

1st Tier Runner Ups (in no particular order)

Halo
Artist – The Doomed Pixel

Comments: I love the design here. A lot of potential.

Britomartis the Huntress
Artist – Hammerknight

Comments: This is my third choice. The spirit and theme came through and this would be a fine feature in a retcon publication.

Lady America
Artist – Me, Myself & I

Oh Canada!
Artist – Me, Myself & I

Comments: ‘Lady America’ & ‘Oh Canada!’ are pretty nice to look at, eh? The best of the patriotic submissions by far.

Torpeda
Artist – spidercow2010

Comments: ‘Torpeda’ if not for ‘Platinum Bomb’ this lass would have won the contest. There is so much that can be done with this character. And I hope that Spidercow2010 will develop her.

2nd Tier Runner Ups

Lady Satan
Artist – Mr. Q

Blue Belle
Artist – Cliff

Barbara Blaze
Artist – FelipeSCard

BARONESS BRUEKER
Artist – Sutter_Kaine

Lady Deathbolt
Artist – The Imp

unidentified spider female
artist – rancid

DANGER GIRL
Artist – Gargoyle

Honorable Mention

Lady Justice
Artist – Maniac Mick

Sapphire
Artist – Me, Myself & I

Amerykka
Artist – Connor S.

Frankie Gray
Artist – Ian

Brit Girl
Artist – Bloodless Rose

Rocketina
Artist – DiCicatriz

And that’s it for this week. Thanks again to both Boox909 and all of you for the outstanding work.

I have chosen the entries that I thought were particularly outstanding and am presenting them below as the Finalists. At the end I’ll announce the overall winner, who receives any item they like, or a portrait of themselves, to be included in HeroMachine 3.

We had a number of “Big Scary Monster” types of entries, but something about this one from Alexander G caught my eye. It’s almost too much, but I like it.

Cliff gave an angsty Goth teen with mental powers, which I think is a pretty fun idea for a Superman villain. I like to think “Headcase” would have him storming off in a huff, weeping for no reason, and changing out his blue tights for black.

The thing I like best about Danny Beaty’s “Mistress Voodoo” is the glowing flame effect on the skull staff. That’s cool.

DeColda’s “Krypto” is another in the Big Scary Monster series, and I like the way he’s put together. The pattern in the arms and legs also looks great.

I actually liked all three of DiCicatriz’ entries so much, I put them all in! So without further fanfare, I present Iliakos, M2, and Solarium. They’re all great designs.

Me, Myself, & I also has multiple Finalists, with “Angel of Death” and “Gaia”. I really like how in the Angel illustration he limits the size of the background so the wings break its boundaries, that’s a nice effect. Contrast that with the way there’s really no background at all with Gaia, and yet that works just as well. I also think both character designs are excellent.

MScat’s alternate reality “Lana Luthor” was one of a number of kryptonite-themed characters, which makes sense when you’re trying to figure out someone who can go up against Superman. I like this design’s simplicity, the use of the two honkin’-big gloves with the glowing kryptonite energy, and the flyaway hair.

Rancid had one of the most unusual, and thus effective, entries of all with Zyphoriom. I’m pretty sure a glowing green tentacle brain floating in liquid is bad news for Big Blue.

Rico’s voodoo-themed “Mowjo” has one of the best faces I’ve seen in any entry to date. Really nice job on that.

I think Tango did everything well in this illustration of “Solarite”. I love the line coloring and effects on the “fleshy” parts of the body, especially as contrasted with the hard metallics of the containment suit. The mouth looks like real fire, too. The background being washed out works great, and of course the little detail of the streak in the sky rocks. Great job all around, Tango!

Finally, I wanted to include VonMalcolm’s “Wehrwolf” as a reminder that you can still get a great-looking character out of HeroMachine 2!

Which brings us at last to our winner, which shows that you don’t necessarily have to throw everything and the kitchen sink into your illustration to make it effective. I love the simple, clean lines of the costume, the DCAU-style cutouts with chainmail showing through, even the way the hair blends into the top. You also see the same close-crapping of the sky as in the “Angel of Death” above, so that the background becomes not just part of the image, but a framing device for it.

Great job on “Kes Nal”, Jack Zegler, and congratulations on your win!

Thanks again everyone, and if you didn’t win or place this time, never fear — another contest started earlier today, so take a crack at designing a Golden Age Heroine!

Before we get into them all, though, I wanted to start out with one that made me both laugh and wish that there were a movie or comic in the works for the featured character. I think it will get things off on the right foot, so I turn it over to Ian Healy’s “Undead Elvis of the Apocalypse”:

And away we go!

Alex’s “Walker” is very well put together, and stands on its own even without any sort of background. I liked the scarf with the embroidered looking logos, the mouth wrap, and the tattoos particularly.

Coyote’s “Creature” kicks butt, and the overlay of the city background on the web works great.

Another entry in the “Creature” column is Decolda’s “Tank’ed”, one of the most impressive chimera-like creations I have seen to date, it has a real sense of menace and presence about it.

Doomed Pixel nails the whole holocaust vibe with his “Scavenger”, especially the Aztec calendar in the sun and the streaking fireballs.

I liked all three of E_N’s related characters and their stories, but ultimately I chose “Radd” not only for the overall effectiveness of the composition, but particularly for that awesome cleaver staff. That’s the exact kind of thing I’d love to see in a post-apocalyptic scene, I just love it.

Felipe S. Card’s “The Outlander” was the first one I came to that made me give an audible “Wow!”. He’s got a real Jonah Hex by way of Mel Gibson feel to him, especially with the robot arm and half metal face, cowboy hat, and rifle over the shoulder.

(Click to embiggen.)

I liked these two Gargoyle323 characters so much, I couldn’t decide which to include. So I am using them both, sue me! They both ooze personality (literally, I suspect) and while the color scheme is the kind of thing that would usually turn me off, it works here. Outstanding work. First is “Big Bang Benny”, then “Happy Jack”.

I love Imp’s use of the motorcycle here to infuse the composition with life and oomph. The character’s pretty great, too, and then the name just brings it all home. Here’s “Chief Quickdeath”:

Nathan said he didn’t have any story in mind, but just “threw together” all the Mad Max type stuff he could find, but you certainly can’t tell there was no plan with this guy:

Neon Sequitur made great use of Anarchangel’s steampunk guitar, with the addition of a flamethrower and a hot (again, literally) pink motorcyle for a gal you’d definitely not want to aggravate, his “Guitar Heroine”.

I don’t think I need to say anything about Rancid’s pig man, other than “Pork it up, pal”:

I’d say how much I like the head on Rhinoman’s “The Drifter”, or the nice custom weapon, but who are we kidding — I’m a sucker for a mutant chimp. Always have been.

(Click to embiggen.)

Rico’s “Spyke” is a good character, but I chose it as a Finalist because of that background. It rules. Along with Doomed Pixel’s, these are the best backgrounds of the contest, really selling the idea of a world after a horrible holocaust.

Sutter Kain’s vaguely stunned “Feral Errol” has a lot of character to it, and definitely stood out from the other entries as a unique take. Not everyone gets to drive motorcycles and wear spiked shoulder pads, you know!

Which brings us to our overall winner. The character overall is strong, with all the elements working. The use of a couple of spotlight colors to relieve the brown and beige palette adds punch to the whole illustration. And I love the use of the flared coat bottom (I really need to add a version of those for Doomed Pixel’s prize in the HM2 contest). The clincher for me, odd as it sounds, is the face. It’s not even as if there’s anything super radical about it, I just like it a lot. It says to me this is a guy who’s been through hell, and come out the other end having kicked ass and ready to take some names.

I give you Bloodless Rose’s “Marcus Caine”:

I will say this was one of the closest contests in a long time, I could easily have (and almost did!) go with any one of six of the other Finalists, but this one just hit me the right way. Congratulations to Bloodless Rose, who wins either any item he or she likes, or a portrait, to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 version!

And thanks again to everyone who entered, you all did a fantastic job.

The first pair of Twin Finalists is from Alex are the immortal monster-hunters, “Scavenger & Scout”. I dug their pulp-ish look and overall sensibility. The posing was well done, and the colors just right.

Anarchangel had an unusual entry with “n85″, a self-replicating character with a sense of humor. It’s amazing how that many bad haircuts all in a row look pretty good.

Anarchangel also submitted “Sugar & Sin”, which I was thiiiiiis close to choosing as the overall winner. The environment, the poses, the outfits, the colors, the item choices, all come together to make a really convincing and fun illustration. A great job all the way around.

Danny Beaty once again manages to creep me out with this very bizarre, very cool, very disturbing duo he calls “Bobby Boy & Big John”. Is that the banjo player from “Deliverance” I hear in the background … ?

DiCicatriz consistently puts together intriguing and visually arresting compositions, and his “PsyTwins” are no exception. I love the glowing blue chains and energy manacles, the masking of the energy pattern onto their bodies and coat, and the way the figure on the right really appears to be floating slightly. The belts sized up and masked to make a strapped miniskirt effect is also awesome.

At first I thought Gargoyle323’s “Sunburst & Twilight” were from HeroMachine 2 before I realized you couldn’t do these kinds of things with 2.5. They look great, though, I like their contrasting powers. The costume design on Sunburst in particular I think is great, it looks very flametastic.

Unfortunately ineligible for a win due to the non-HM font, I still loved JRansom’s use of blades to make animal-like legs for Blade. I never would have thought of that but it works perfectly. “Guns” I think is too dark to make out clearly, but his sister’s great.

MartianBlue pays great attention to detail in his compositions and it really shows in “Billy Yank & Johnny Reb”. Check out the braid on Billy Yank. And while he could have gone with a generic shoulder strap on Johnny Reb, Blue instead went the extra mile to (I think) rotate, mask, and scale the sash from Belts for a much cooler look.

Our last Finalist is Me, Myself, and Irene for “Chrimson & Emerald”. I am providing the closeup of the faces, because I think that’s the real “money” on this illustration.

(Click to embiggen.)

Which brings us to our winner for this week. This gentleman is, I believe, the first three-time winner of the weekly contests (not counting Friday Night Fights or special one-offs), and as I’ve often said, I sometimes think we share a design brain. This particular illustration doesn’t blow your socks off with fancy tricks or complicated tricks, but it nails all the details. From the name, to the changes in the costumes, to the nice gradient and effects on the names, to the cool lightning in the twister tails, I just love the overall effect. Once again, congratulations to Imp!

(Click to embiggen.)

Thanks again to everyone who entered; to our select panel of Finalists; and to Imp, who, if he chooses another caricature of my head, will be banned from further consideration!