Monthly Archives: December 2010

Open Critique Day #6

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.

(Image ©2006, Harvey Levine.)

RP: Worst. Circus. Ever.

(From "Four Favorites" number 9, 1943.)

Chastity belts and fists don’t mix

Admittedly, "Night Fist" appeared in the pages of "Hitman", which means he's more of a joke than anything intended to be "serious", but I can't let the Greatest Bad Costume Element Since the Sword Gun pass without comment:

Those are giant wrist-guard punch-knife-style metal gloves with fists on the ends! They're fists you wear on your fists, like boxing gloves only even less functional. By my count, that's at least four kinds of awesome.

Throw in the faux Batman style metallic helmet and the chastity-belt leg chains (?!) and we've got a serious contender for one of the all-time worst costumes in comics history.

Setting that aside, how bad is the actual illustration? It looks like some of the more egregiously rank drawings in "Captain Canuck" from back in the day. His legs are a disaster, the torso looks like it had a bad run-in with an Imperial trash compactor, and I can't for the life of me figure out how he's pointing outside that metal fist glove.

Luckily he got shot to death by a bunch of criminals before the issue concluded, so at least the costume can lie in peace. Or pieces, which is even better.

(Image and character © DC Comics. Many thanks to reader Wesley for passing along this great image.)

RP: Oh my …

(From "Four Favorites" number 9, 1943.)