Open Critique Day 7

It's time once again for another Open Critique Day.

If you have a HeroMachine illustration or another piece of artwork you've done that you'd like some help with, post a link to it in comments along with your thoughts on it -- what you think is working, what you're struggling with, etc. I will post my critique of the piece, hopefully giving some tips on how to improve it.

Of course everyone is welcome to post their critiques as well, keeping in mind the following rules:

  • Make sure your criticism is constructive. Just saying "This sucks" is both rude and unhelpful without giving specific reasons why you think it sucks and, ideally, some advice on how to make it better.
  • Each person should only post one illustration for critique to make sure everyone who wants feedback has a chance.
  • I will not critique characters entered in any currently running contest, as that doesn't seem fair to the other entrants. You can still post it if you like for the other visitors to critique, but I will not do so.

That's it! Hopefully we can get some good interaction going here and help everyone (me included!) learn a little bit today.

RP: Life before the Comics Code Authority

(From "Four Favorites" number 10, 1942.)

HM3: Raptor helmet and whip sword

I've published the first two items from the "replacement contest prize" list to the HeroMachine 3 Alpha, a raptor helmet in HeadgearStandard:

And a whip sword in ItemRightBladesTwo:

Enjoy!

SOD.223

Look, it's actual pencil! On PAPER!

HM3: Hairy and emaciated bodies

I've just completed two prizes for DiCicatriz, one for Character Contest 38 (Random II) and the other for Character Contest 50 (Random III). Apparently "random" is his middle name. Anyway, the first is a somewhat unique addition to Body-Male-Standard -- body hair:

I've color-coded this screen capture so you can see what I mean. "LineColor" is the torso hair, "color1" is the arm hair, and "color2" is the leg hair. This will allow you to use one, two, or all three of the hair areas by changing the alpha value of the various bits. So if you just want chest hair, turn color1 and color2 to 0% alpha. If you want leg and arm hair only, change line color to 0% alpha, and so on. I thought it was a neat solution, hopefully you'll like it too.

The second is an emaciated male body for Body-Male-Alternate. I have to admit a morbid curiosity to see what DiCicatriz is going to use this for ...

Enjoy!

Wonderfully bad

What if Amazons were actually Hell's Angels motorcycle gang members, and instead of being based on the Greeks they were modeled after S&M enthusiasts, and then their Princess Diana came to the Man's World to investigate new ways to use straps and bad leather clothing? Well then, my friend, you'd get this version of Wonder Woman:

Holy Minerva, that's a lot of useless costuming bits! My favorite is probably the ingenious use of the bra straps meeting at the sternum, where according to my vast engineering knowledge, they would offer approximately zero support. In fact, I bet wearing a bra like this would actually make the breasts sag more! But that's ok, because there isn't anything even remotely accurate about this woman's anatomy in the first place, including her unfortunately broken hips. Maybe that's the reason for the otherwise puzzling waist straps.

I mean, the reason other than "straps are hot" according to the fevered adolescent imagination of your average comics fanboy.

The painted-on biker shorts are just ... I don't have words for that. Wow.

Finally, I don't know why she bothers having the separated "=W=" logo on those jacketless sleeves, as there's no way in Hades she's ever going to get both sides of that thing to meet up over her chest. Maybe if there were a few more straps and a winch she could manage it, but otherwise, no. Which is probably by design, because clearly the last thing anyone working on that book would want would be to cover any more of her chest than absolutely necessary.

On a side note, I had no idea just how extensive Wonder Woman's costume history was until I stumbled upon Carol A. Strickland's impressively anal-retentive (her words, not mine!) index. If you can swing a few minutes to check it out, it's interesting reading. It makes me feel bad for the Amazons -- all those women on one island and so little fashion sense to go around. Pity.

(Image ©1995, DC Comics.)

RP: Must be a mutant gene side-effect

(From "Ultimate Spider-Man" number 67, ©Marvel Comics.)

Poll Position: Let’s get ANIMATED!

I've been lucky enough to have spent the last few weeks catching up on the wonders of Marvel Digital Comics, and along with finally watching some of the new "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" I've been doing a lot of thinking about what makes for good super-hero entertainment. And animated TV series are definitely a huge part of that.

So I want to know:

{democracy:162}

Discussion to follow!
Continue reading

HM3: New Right Hands

Finishing up Imp's prize from Character Contest 33, I've converted these three hands from the Modern Warrior mini to HeroMachine 3 Alpha:

Thanks for your patience, and for the suggestion, Imp!

HM3: Common female fantasy tops

I've just posted the "Tops-Female-Fantasy-Common" set to HeroMachine 3, a conversion of the previously released male items to fit the standard female body. As usual, if you don't see it on the list, clear your browser cache. Enjoy!