The only thing worse today than the massive head cold I am sporting is my craptacular internet connection. Thus I am at the library using their wireless network while spreading my germs to the other patrons. Don't say I never gave you anything, library lovers!
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!
Congrats Morzan a-freakin-mazing!!!! well deserved in my book.
Congratulations, Morzan. Your entry looks incredibly detailed, must have taken forever to piece this monster. O_o Also, kudos to all the finalist and to those who entered. =D Last, but not least, a special thanks to Gargoyle 323 for replying my question on his King Kong entry. Can’t wait for the next contest to start.
Mr. Q
This character made me say “Oh Wow!” aloud when I first saw him. Everything about this is brilliant. It looks like a professional illustration. I just use HeroMachine every once in awhile to make a picture of a guy (or gal) in tights and a cape, but this . . . This is art. Well done, Morzan.
Congrats to all! Great work as usual. Morzan… WOW!!! This is the best design I have seen since I started using HM. Your use of gray tones with just the right amount of color and the whole layout were outstanding! You really deserved this win! I have gone back countless times to look at your picture,and I am awed every time I see it. Just a terrific job!!!
Also,thanks Jeff for selecting 3 of my characters for the finals. I realized after seeing Morzan’s that he was the winner this week,so I was just hoping to make the finals.
Also,hope you feel better soon!
I might add I would so totally read a comic with this character on the cover–and I’ve never really liked Transformers or anything like that!
Great job Morzan. First time I saw that thought it was cool then I looked at it again and saw you did glow effect with the sun. Then I looked again and saw a shadow…Its like every time I look at it I go hey that’s a cool effect. Also a question on it. Maybe it has changed but last time I tried to use more then 7 items in any of the categories it didn’t allow it. 7 insignia for instance. Has this changed? Or does it just screw up on my computer.
Yay to being a Finalist! I was appalled when I saw that “Junkie” was among the finalists, instead of being the winner, so I was glad to see that was purely an organizational issue. Long live the Croquape! Look forward to more croquet-themed entries.
Wow! Junkie is amazing! Great job everyone. All entries look incredible.
I take it Kahzaal wasn’t very good? Eh, I need to start working on my backgrounds.
Again, great job to everyone who entered and Junkie absolutely blew my mind, a well-deserved 1st place! Congrats!
Who-hoa! I’m the winner? That’s great! Thank you guys for the compliments, thank you Jeff for the first place. I’ll mail about the prize once I figured out what it will be. Congratulations to all the finalist of course.
@Oquies (6)
I had no such trouble, everything ran smooth during the process. Maybe it’s ’cause I only coloured it at the end of the work so it didn’t slow down my PC.
Oh yeah, Junkie absolutely rocks!
Whoa. There are no words. Just … no words. That is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen come out of HM. The lighting, the coloring, the composition, the originality, everything. Incredible.
I think Jeff was spot on with the finalist this week. My favorites this week:
Morzan-No Brainer! Awesome job!
Imp- Warhorse was my second favorite this week. I think it may have won,if not for Morzan. Great,as always,Imp!
Zyp-Steel Kick was my third favorite. Glad to see you back!
Rosco-Croquape was hilariously good. Loved the outfit!
Kaldath-Freakshow was well composed. Nice job.
Decolda-BruteFairy is LOL funny!
WatsonBradshaw-The hole in the wall effect was very creative. I think it brought the whole picture together.
And nice job by all others! Good luck in the next contest!
Hey Jeff, In honor of this contest being “Brick”, maybe we could get a pattern of bricks(like a wall)added somewhere down the line? Just a thought.
Holy-freakin-crap!!! That is amazing.
Incredible work Morzan.
Nice job, everybody, and yeah, Morzan’s entry is…. wow.
good job Morzan really creative
@Jeff what is your email just in case i happen to win a contest or if i see a couple bugs
Well done everyone who won, it was still fun to enter and I managed to get a design for someone who beforehand hadn’t been that well thought out.
I would like to propose a limit in terms of submissions, because now it feels to us newcomers that we must submit loads of ideas even if they aren’t that good. PLEASE implement it soon, it would force everyone to think very carefully about what they do and would encourage more thought into stuff.
@Aaron (16)
There is a purple “Contact Us” button near the top right of each page which, when clicked, opens an Email screen that goes direct to Jeff.
Aaron (16): As MMI said, you can use the contact us link, although I also get email notification containing every comment to any post as well. Or if you prefer you can email directly at afdstudios at gmail dot com.
Bezerkoid (17): I used to have a limit of three each week, which I am happy to implement again if enough people want that. I stopped it when I went to character contests every other week instead of every week because I didn’t want people feeling like they had to sit on their hands or twiddling their thumbs all that time once they hit quota.
Having said that, however, note that the winner this week had only one entry and I think has only entered a couple of times in the past. Quantity is completely irrelevant, it’s quality that matters. Throwing up ten crappy entries just so you’ll have “more” or “enough” is a bad, bad strategy, you’re much better off doing one or two that are really good.
I don’t have a cap on the number of Finalists, it’s just whichever ones really catch my eye as I am going through the entries. That means that sometimes one person has multiple submissions I happen to like, sometimes it means really good ones get left out, and sometimes it doesn’t mean much of anything.
@mmi apologize didnt see it dont bother lookin over there actually
@jeff thank ya
@bezerkoid: (Jeff stole some of my thunder) I don’t necessarily disagree with you but keep this in mind: Morzan’s one Brick entry: Junkie, stomped my ten Brick entries into the ground! -and I didn’t rush a single one of them (though I had some stockpiled). Sometimes less is more!
Some of my other favs:
Kahzaal
Viking
Horseman
Cellblock
The Guardian
The Gelatinous Mass
The Cave Man
Arion Scotts
Eggedon Bichard
Zarog Warrior Dwarf
Avalanche
Dragon
Indestructible
Goliath
Congrats Moran!
Excuse my ignorance. Congrats Morzan!
My favorite part about Morzan’s “Junkie” is the sun and shadow which are not actually part of the character itself. Really, they make all the difference though.
Wow, that is an amazing entry Morzan. For a person who started early, you’re great! That shadow was frickin ridiculous. Great job man, you deserved it! And Jeff, how do I find the next Char Contest entry thing? I keep missing it lately.
Jeff (19): I know that quality decides in the end, I guess it’s just pressure I felt as a first tiem contestant. Still a fun experience, and if the next one begins in a week, I’ll be back for it.
Aha! That’s why HM kept crashing! After Morzan created “Junkie”, HM’s advanced artificial intelligence was basically telling me, “Forget it, kid.”
Again, just wow! Every time, I see something new. The complexity is amazingly minimalist. The use of light and shadow resonants.
As always, nice works all. Good luck next CC!
And my fourth paragraph to begin with the letter “A.” I learned something new about Flash this time around. Thanks again, Jeff. I wiped out all the extra Flash files in Application Data. My wee 40 GB laptop has been humming along since!
Wow… just… wow…. Morzan has a gift.
I agree w/Van Malcolm that Gelatinous Mass is too awesome to be ignored: http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o240/watson_kaboos/gelatinousmass.png
Congratulations Morzan, you really, really deserved this one. Junkie is incredible.