I am willing to bet one full-color professional illustration that you are a better super-hero costume designer than Jim Valentino, who in 1992 gave us Major Victory from "Guardians of the Galaxy":
Like most patriotic heroes, he sucks. From the knee-high red boots with badge-encrusted knee pads (planning on kneeling much, Major?) to the shield, the awful headband, and -- last but certainly not least -- the bizarre sleeveless trench coat, he'd be more aptly named as "Major Derivative".
I think you can do better. Upload your HeroMachine creation to the PhotoBucket group album I've set up (called "PatriotHero") and after one week, I'll pick the best five designs (free registration with PhotoBucket is required). I'll put up a poll for folks to vote on the one they like best, and the winner gets a free custom color illustration by yours truly of whatever they like. I'll even print it out and mail it to you if you want.
The rules:
- You can interpret "Patriot Hero Person" however you like, but I'll be judging entries partly based on how well they fit. Note that America isn't the only country that has patriots ...
- No more than three entries per person.
- The character design must be done in some version of HeroMachine, but you can use any one you like (including the kid-sized one at Shakti Warriors).
- Deadline is midnight on Monday, September 29. I'll pick the five finalists and post them on Tuesday the 30th. We'll have one week of voting and then I'll announce the winner.
- Character stories / backgrounds are entirely optional, although giving your character a name would certainly seem to be helpful.
If you don't want to sign up for a PhotoBucket account, just email me your submission and I'll take care of it for you. Or you can put a link to it in the comments, and I'll save it to the PhotoBucket group.
Good luck everyone!
Awesome idea! Hey, do the designs have to be unedited HM creations, or can we ‘tweak’ them a bit with photoshop, etc?
Good question Imp. They should be unedited.
What’s with the illustration in the upper left? He looks like he’s wearing a very floppy clown hat.
It looks like his head is being consumed by a leather handkerchief. Although, I’m more concered about the other guys in the picture. The guy on the left looks like he must have had an anvil dropped on his head. The guy on the right has got a fin on his head as long as his body. The girl in the middle forgot to wax this morning. And someone set off a fire cracker in the green-suited girl’s hair. She seems pretty happy about it, though.
I think he’s pulling off his mask. Granted, the mask in question looks like a doily draped over Grandma’s night stand, and double granted the character wears a bandanna instead of a mask, I think I like the clown hat idea even more.
The entire team is silly. The furry guy, Talon, actually fires his fingernails like arrows. Detachable body parts, now that’s commitment to the cause!
The fire-hair chick is laughing and grinning throughout the entire issue. I kept waiting for someone to shoot her.
And since when did the Spider-Man villain “Hammerhead” catapult into the future to become a super-hero?
I actually like fin-head-guy on the right, when he’s better drawn he’s kind of cool.
But otherwise, yeah, this is one of the most ridiculous super-teams to earn its own title in memory.
No PS, eh? Okee-doke, I’ll repost unedited versions of mine tonight…
This is awesome. I created three brand news ones just for it.
Imp,
Now that I look through the entries, I think a little Photoshopping would be all right, things like backgrounds or adding in the name or whatnot. Just nothing major, I want the meat of it to be from HM.
Jeff
The entries that are coming look awesome! *sigh* I feel small and uncreative…
So… how original can this be? I have an idea already, but everything regarding the hero, his name, his country, his planet, solar system, everything is from the backstory of a fantasy RPG I’m trying to make… none of it exists in reality. And another question, can ‘patriot’ mean more than a defender of the nation’s values? Because this guy is more of a rebel/revolutionary that wages a just war against the current evil government of his nation. Would that be acceptable?
I think it’s fine if you’ve got a character from an RPG, especially if it’s one you created or have helped create.
And I think you can take “patriot” any way you like.
I get it now… Rob Liefeld was a Yondu fan growing up.
This contest is a great idea! How a contest for a villain?
Excuse my ignorance; how about a contest for a villain?
Patriotic heroes? Did someone say patriotic heroes? Dude, I’m all about the patriotic heroes! For this contest, I’ve already submitted Celtica (wearing green, white, and gold and representing Ireland) and Lady Liberty, decked out in red, white, and blue, and representing the good ol’ US of A. She’s the leader of the Liberty Legion, “America’s Boldest Band of Champions,” (TM). Her other team members wear red, white, and blue respectively, but if I submitted all of them, I’d be over the three-character limit.
Thanks for mentioning the Shakti Warriors website. I’ve bookmarked it and now I can create pint-sized sidekicks for my adult-sized supers. I think the guys that run Hero-O-Matic want to add modules for kid and teen heroes, but those options don’t work right now.
Great idea Jeff, and lots of cool entries so far. I put in two of my own that I had made already and added a new one for fun. after I saw the Super Fly guy. Classic!
aww i didn’t see that we could email them and i was a little iffy about creating an account. oh well. but this was a great idea either way. good luck to all the entries