Without further ado, I present first the Finalists, then the overall winner, of Caption Contest 43 - Laborer!
Alan Bates has done something quite difficult with "Hard Work", managing to integrate a "normal" looking human face onto a creature torso. The blending is just great, and the design overall very tight.
Blue Blazer had a nice team of construction-themed characters, all of which were good but I thought "Wrecking Ball" stood out the most. I like the integration of the boots, which I know isn't easy to accomplish.
Cliff did a great job in "Firebird" with perspective, both with the figure and with the fireball explosion in the buildings. A very creative use of items there.
Danny Beaty had one of the cleverest names with his tough-guy "Helldozer":
DiCicatriz's "Seamstress" was exceptional both in concept and execution. I love the idea of a cloth-powered character, especially with those razor-tipped shawl edges. All the clothing choices are great and the coloring is right-on as well.
I love the retro-pulp vibe of Gargoyle323's "The Welder", from the painstakingly-created harness to the nifty mask choice.
Imp shows with "Rosie the Riveter" that you don't have to go super fancy to get a great-looking character. The item choices and coloring are all simple and clean, but they work perfectly. The bullet holes in the trademarked Imp circle gradient background are a great touch as well. The dog looks a little traumatized, but you can't really blame it.
OK, Joe's "Darth Fixit" is just hilarious. I think a lightsaber wrench should definitely be in the next Star Wars franchise.
I'm generally not a fan of glomming together a ton of items, but King Slaughter really pulls it off with his "Computer Analyst". I think the face sells it best, looking like a totally cool and funky "Max Headroom" type of thing. A really different, fun illustration.
I love Kyle's concept of Zeus as an electrician. That is really cool and funny. The outfit and design are great as well, a very tight and well-conceived character.
I don't know if the name "Kopy Kat" has ever been used for an actual published character, but it should be -- Phatchick did a great job with it and I think the concept is perfect.
Rancid has one of the best alternative-toon-body characters I've seen yet, with "Blue Basher".
SpiderCow2010 put together a fantastic composition with "The Lineman". I love the electric lines running into the center vanishing point, the birds flying off, and the layout of the figure. Such a cool illustration!
Another great composition is seen in Watson Bradshaw's "Firechief". I love the leg poking out from the smoke, the outreached hand, and the dialog.
Which brings us, at last, to our winner this week. VonMalcolm put a lot of work into this composition and back story, and the result is as nifty as it is disturbing. Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of this week's option of any item he likes, or a portrait, either of which will be included in the final HeroMachine 3 version, is "Mr. FixIt"!
Thanks to everyone who entered. Tune in next week for the next HeroMachine character design contest!
Congrats VonMalcolm, disturbingly well done! Also,good job by all!
Great job, all. Mine was nowhere as good as any of these.
Yep, good job VonMalcolm. I think the freakiest thing about that is the face on the big guy.
I thought Lineman was damn cool as well, and Darth Fixit was all around funny.
Congrats VonMalcom. You’re work rocks.
I just have to give this one to Lineman. That perspective and illusion of speed and motion is awesome.
Congrats VonMalcom!
@Jeff: Thanks for the honorable mention!
Oh, but congrats to the winner! I didn’t want to sound like I disagreed there! I was just struck by the cool pose for The Lineman. 🙂
Thank You: I sometimes wonder if I put too much work into these contests! -but then I realize these contests are fun and a good way to get out of a writer’s block! I’ve seen the sunrise a couple of times after being so engrossed making adjustments during the night.
I was wondering if I pulled Mr. Fix-It from my subconscious: perhaps he is a lost memory from some story that I had come across in my past, but have since forgotten. (His head is the hippo’s head for those who are curious.)
As for an item: How about an alien, monster or demon bursting out of a stomach, chest or head? If that doesn’t light your fire: How about the split head of a zombie: with and without the splitting Axe? If an actual Item is what you’re looking for: How about a barbwire bat (or barbwire anything: 2×4, fence post, etc.) or a scourge in mid-action? Any individual item from above would be cool.
@Jack Zelger: That’s okay by me: We all have different tastes/opinions! Here are mine for this contest:
My Top 5-10 (In No Particular Order)
Tech Support
Outage
Inkspot
Snowball In Hell
Grace
Satanic Mechanic
My Top 4 (In No Particular Order)
Miner
UPS
Copman
The Computer Analyst
-and, as always: there are many, many good entries that are easily top ten worthy.
See you all next week!
Baddie bursting from bowels is now on the list, sir, thank you!
Thank you VonMalcolm (9). I’ve been trying to work on my backgrounds a little more lately. Its good to know that some of that work paid off. Putting so much work into my own own characters helps me realize how much effort you must have put into yours VonMalcolm, commendable effort indeed. Oh, and very, VERY creepy!
Great job VonMalcolm creepy and detailed as all hell, and awesome work to all the other finalists. Others I really liked are
DiCicatriz’s Wrecking Ball and EL JARDINERO
Gargoyle323’s HIGH SCHOOL LUNCH LADY and ULTIMATE PROTECTION SQUAD(UPS)
Blue Blazer’s Knuckleboom
The Atomic Punk’s ahab’s Occupational Rehab
spidercow1010 The Lineman (love the perspective and real sense of movement)
Till next time.
Yeah, I tried to play around with it and recreate the pose for Lineman and dude, I have no idea how you did that.
I thought everybody’s entry was great. If I keep working on it, I’ll have one as good as the rest of you.
Congratulations to my fellow DeviantArtist Von Malcolm, and my thanks to Jeff for the HM and to all for their kind words.
Do Mr. FixIt and former governor Rod Blagojevich have the same barber?
@CPrime, the legs on the Lineman are actually just the standard ‘ankles-together’ Male legs, but scaled down in length, as I recall, and sufficiently obscured that you don’t really notice that they’re the fronts of legs instead of the backs. His heels are two circle insignias. The telephone wires, btw, are/is in fact the surfboard.
Hey guys this was a really fun and very interesting contest. I usually don’t have much time but the theme intrigued me to give it a try. Glad to see my Computer Analyst was in the finalists (although he was made quite spontaneously, and to tell you the truth I had more faith in Copman). Also congratulations to the winner, his creation was really cool and freaky like taken out of a horror movie (and I love those)… I also liked Lineman a lot because it was a design quite different than some others. I would also like to thank you VonMalcolm for including both my characters in your personal top 4… It is always good to know that people like your creations 🙂
Keep up the good work everyone!
@VonMalcolm: Congrats, and great prize choice!
@All: Fun stuff as always! Liked them all.
My standouts (alphabetical by creator):
Alan Bates – Captain Lumberjack
BNE – Demolition Man
Book Addict – Silversmith
Brambles – Tech Support
Cliff – Hercules
Galahad – Atlas
Gargoyle – High School Lunch Lady
MLS – Janitor
Rancid – Midnight Oil (which is also one of my all-time favorite bands)
nice job imp really good to von malcom hey if any of you guys could mabey give a few pinters that would be really great
sorry i mean pointes i forgot the o
@spidercow2010
Hmmm… there is a resemblance even beyond the hair:
http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/rod-blagojevich/news/278267
Did I mention Mr. Fix-It was born in the northwest side of Chicago and his surname is ‘Milroad’? Perhaps he is Rod’s less creepy brother from another mother!
how/where do we submit a character for the next contest?
Joe, character contests are every other week. Currently there’s a caption contest running, which is also every other week, they alternate. Click the “Contests” category in the right hand column for all contest posts.
can we please STEAL 3 of your people because were trying to make a comic book and we need ideas
@stealer: I am full of ideas, but, judging by the number of rejection letters I have received over the years, all of my ideas are bad!