Category Archives: HeroMachine 3

Character Of The Week: Nug- Cyber Mask

Difficult decision this week. There's been at least 3, maybe 4 pictures that could have been featured this week, but I'm going to go with this one by Nug because it gives me a bit more to talk about.

Lets kick off with the best bit shall we. As I'm sure everyone has noticed, the colour on the visor here is truly stunning. The warmth and the depth is gorgeous, it really adds to the sunrise reflection effect that is being portrayed here. It also doesn't drown out the rest of the reflection, nor the face beneath the visor, which is good, making the image seem more realistic. I also like the fact that Nug put small highlighting shines in some of the hexagons on the visor. It's a little detail that just adds that little bit of polish to the image and just takes it that little bit further.

Nug said on his thread that he wasn't to happy with the hair on this picture. I personally can't see the problem. The slight glow that he has added makes the hair seem more natural than it would if it were just left unshaded. That combined with the fact that you can actually see the individual hairs for the most part gives a natural looking hair style with an un-natural edge, a very pleasant and eye-pleasing juxtaposition.

However, we now come to something I haven't done in a while, what's wrong with the picture. Nug is right, this picture isn't perfect, it could be improved. And for me, it's the jaw line. The metal part of the helmet is made from a cyber-torso, which is fine and the item works well for its purpose, but I don't like how Nug just left the bottom edge as it was. It gives the character an oddly shaped square jaw and it looks odd when you look at the characters chin. If he had masked the torso item to the same female head he had used for the chin, Nug may have been on to a real winner here. But just that one bit makes it fall short of perfection. But only just.

HM3: Blazing Swaddles (Contest Prize)

The Nate asked for a swaddled baby and I obliged. No questions asked. I just assumed that there was some crazy weaponization of a baby involved. This piece (2 pieces actually, swaddling and baby head) can be found in ItemRight/Miscellaneous. Enjoy this new bundle of joy!

BabySwaddled_TheNate

 

The Big Question ♯27

You know guys, the 200th Contest got me thinking, we've had two contests now where we've been asked to enter what we think is our best ever work. But what would enter if you had to pick someone else's work? What is you favourite piece of heromachine artwork that someone else has done?

It's not an easy decision this one, I mean there's been so many great artworks all the way from the classics from people like Zyp, AMS or djuby, to the more recent additions from 'machiners such as Valyndril, Jeimuzu or Stulte. But having considered it long and hard, personally, I'm gonna have to go with this one by SeanDavidRoss.

You know how, last week I said about when I first found the blog side of the site. Well this was one of the first pictures I stubbled across when I did find the blog. It looked like it was hand coloured then and still does. Ok, looking at it now compared to some of the more clean and neat shading styles that people have adopted since, it does look a bit rough in some places. But that really doesn't matter. It's still a stunning piece of art.

So that's my pick, now it's over to you guys. You can mention more than one if you so wish, I'm not that mean, I'm just interested and I don't have anything better to post today.

HM3: Knee High and Fancy Free (Contest Prizes!)

Whiz Bang is clearing out the contest prizes!

We have...

T-shirts for Cliff (Tops/MaleStandard set).

Space Marine Torso Armor for Nug (Tops/MaleTech set).

Knee High Converse Shoes for Anarchangel (FootRight/Female set).

And now a unnecessarily colored preview image! Because Whiz Bang cares!

 

NewItems_110814

Important Item Creation Question

Fellow Machinists,

So, I’ve been doing some thinking about Item Creation. I currently offer my services to create prizes for the Character Design Contests, which are weekly events. In the past I posted item polls, with selections gathered from user requests and my own whims, to determine what item to work on next. When JR asked me to generate prizes for the contests I originally planned to alternate between prizes and polls from week to week. I had forgotten that the Character Design Contests were weekly though and I abandoned the polls with that realization. Now I am reconsidering the alternating item creation scheme, doing a CDC prize one week and then posting a poll the next week. The downside of this is every other week there would be no prize offered for the contests. The upside would be more people would have a chance to influence what items are added to HeroMachine. Either way there would be one item generated a week.

I’ve made a poll to get a handle on what people think. Please feel free to post any comments if you feel strongly one way or another.

Thanks!

Daryl "dblade" Blasi

[polldaddy poll="8432818"]

HM3: Indecipherable Rebus or Prizes? (Prizes!)

Here are some prize items for Valyndril (pointing fingers), Gargantua (sea shell), and Anarchangel (scifi helmet). And as a bonus, the first character to be created using the shell item —The Sea Witch. (Also an entry for the Females Only contest that was not completed in time, so my ego demanded that I share this with the unsuspecting Machinist community.) 🙂

The hand can be found in Hand/Standard. The shell can be found in Insignia/Nature. The helmet can be found in Headgear/Military

 

NewItems_101114

dblade_SeaWitch

HM3: Gem! Truly, Truly Outrageous!

Whiz Bang Boom! You can find these shinies in the Insignia/Shapes set.

Gem_PREVIEW

HM3: Mech Chicken Legs (Reward for CDC#71: Scenery)

These mech legs were a prize request from Extremely Epic for winning Character Design Contest #71: Scenery. They come in three separate pieces and can be found stomping around the Body/Mech category.

 

MechLeg_ExtremelyEpic

Whiz Bang Prize Update #2 (Backwards Bending Robot Leg)

UPDATE: Piece finished! Just need to do Color2. I updated the picture below.

Old: Here's an update on the leg. One more piece to go. I hope people don't mind me sharing the progress. Missing the forums at the moment. SAD FACE.

Leg_Mech_ExtremelyEpicFINAL

 

Whiz Bang Prize Update (Backwards Bending Robot Leg)

So I'm working on Extremely Epic's backward bending robot leg prize. This one will take a bit more time than usual. Thought I would share a working draft of the "foot" section. Ultimately the complete leg will be three separate pieces.

"Why not wait until you have completed all three sections before posting an update?" you may ask. I guess I'm feeling kind of lonely without the warm welcoming embrace of the forums.

Leg_Mech_ExtremelyEpicDRAFT