“The Last Phoenix” by Toxicdiopside

Character Of The Year 2013 Winner

“Ninja” by Moognation

CDC 100 Winner

Character Design Contest ♯98 (Heromachine 1)- Poll

[polldaddy poll="8452378"]

Character Design Contest ♯97 (The 200th)- Top 5

As you might expect, this weeks poll got a truly monstrous amount of votes, over 800 (resists urge to make a Dragonball joke). And considering that there were so many entries, I thought I'd give you guys a run down of the top five before I unveil our winner. Please bear in mind I'm not going to be saying any of the other results other than the top 5 here (because it's not going to feel very nice to find out you came last is it, and unfortunately someone has to come last), so please don't ask. With that out of the way, lets jump right in at number 5.

5. CosmicComics- The New Passanger/ RobM- Mars Shuttle 950 To Nix Olympia: 43 Votes

cosmiccomics- thenewpassengerRobM-Mars-Shuttle-950-to-Nix-Olympia

 

The 5th position was incredibly hard fought, there were 4 people fighting over it all week, they all finished within 3 votes of each other in the end, and, as if to prove how close it was, 5th place ended in a tie with CosmicComics making up a few votes in the last day to match RobM's tally of 43 votes.

4. JR19759- Lili & Danni The Kiss: 50 Votes

JR19759-Lili-Danni-The-Kiss

All I can say here is thanks for all the votes guys. It was kinda nerve wracking for me, I've been able to see the votes all week, but fourth ain't bad, 2 places better than I got in the 100th. And when you look at the top 3, I have no complaints about where I came.

3. Valyndril- Prophetess Of The Moon: 88 Votes

Valyndril-Prophetess-of-the-Moon

 

And now for the ridiculous jump in votes to our top 3. These 3 ran off with it from around Tuesday and from then on, there was no catching them. Unfortunately for Valyndril, she just wasn't able to keep up with the top 2 in the final stretch. But that's still a Bronze Medal in a "Best Of" contest, and that's no mean feat.

2. Candruth- Paladin: 96 Votes

candruth- paladin

Ok, whose jaw just dropped to the floor. When the poll first went up it seemed everyone and their mother had bets on this winning. And for much of the week it was a dead heat between this and our eventual winner, literally. They were tied on votes practically every time I looked at the vote count, maybe 1 or 2 votes here and there at points, but it was so close, until Candruth lost a bit of momentum yesterday and that was it, game over.

And finally…. our winner. Coming in with 105 votes, my personal favourite from this contest, by one of my favourite 'machiners (that had nothing to do with why he won by the way), the winner of the 200th Character Design Contest is...

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You don’t say?

onfire

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.

Open Critique Day #3

Alright! It's time for another Open Critique Day! If you're wondering why I doing this today on a Friday instead of on a Saturday, I just want to make sure that this gets more participants than just 3-5 people, as the last two OCD's had only a few.

As for how this goes, you post a work of yours, finished or WIP (aka work in process, for those who are new to abbreviations), and then others give you critiques on your work.  I do not mind if you post the occasional non-HM picture or piece of writing, but keep in mind that, though there are some, not all of us here are writers or do art outside of HeroMachine. All I ask is that you only post pictures that are your own design and not any that copyrighted or based off of copyrighted characters. As for pieces of writing, I’m not sure about whether fan fiction is allowed, but for right now, just in case, don’t post fan fiction either.

Also, again, if you post a work, it is highly recommended that you also give someone else a critique. Throughout the day, when I'm not busy with class, I'll also post critiques.

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.

Kaldath’s Caption Contest #51

Your challenge this week ladies and gentlemen is you give your best replacement dialogue for the following image:

DP 1

The normal rules apply, which are: You are limited to Three (3) entries which are due by 1:00 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday November 18th.  Of course I as always expect you to keep your entries no worse then PG-13 in nature and that you follow all the normal rules of the forum when writing your caption for the above image. That being said I wish you all Good luck!