This week's "Power User Profile" features multiple Character Design Contest winner DiCicatriz!
- A photo (or drawing) of you in "real life":
- Online name used in HeroMachine environs: DiCicatriz
- Real name: Diego
- Real city/state/country: Sunny California
- Real job: Bookseller/Cafe Worker
- Real age: 23
- Gender: Male
- Married/single: Four years and counting with my wonderful partner, Mike.
- Online archive of your creations (if any): http://s1126.photobucket.com/albums/l607/DiCicatriz/
- The best piece of HeroMachine art you've created:I'm particularly attached to these six portraits I made, of characters from a comic I've been working on and tweaking for a while now. Clockwise from the top left, we have: Howl, Foundry, Sad Bastard, Maximo, Rift, and Wraith. I don't really know why I find myself more attached to these images than any others I've created. I think it might be the time I spent developing these characters, their back-stories, their relationships together, their abilities, etc;. In any case, I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.
(Click to embiggen.) - Favorite all-time geeky movie if any: I went crazy for the Lord of the Rings movies. If I had to choose one out of the trilogy it'd have to be Fellowship of the Ring. Between the Shire, Rivendell, the big reveal moment in Moria, Lothlorien, and the Pillars of the Argonath; it just had so many awe-inspiring visual moments.
- Favorite all-time geeky book if any: I'm a big Samuel R. Delany fan. He does a lot of amazing envelope-pushing stuff, dealing so intelligently with taboo and controversial topics. I recommend his Tales of Neveryon series or any of his space operas (Empire Star, Nova, Babel-17, or even Trouble on Triton if you're in the mood for an existential headache).
- Favorite all-time geeky TV show if any: I can go on Simpsons quoting benders for hours on end. Greatest show ever.
- Favorite all-time comic book character: Thor! Anything Thor. It makes sense considering my nerdiness is heavily rooted in fantasy and mythology. The fact that he's such a badass helps too 🙂
- If you could have one super-heroic power in real life, you'd choose: Practical teleportation. Living in Southern California has made some serious dents in my relationship with freeway driving.
- In your leisure time you like to: Write, tweak my HeroMachine designs, read the books I never got around to, and when I'm not entirely consumed with anything else a good round of drumming always puts me in a good mood.
- Character design turn-ons (things you love to see that make for a good design): A nice and cohesive color palette, trying new things, something in which the effort that went into the design is really evident.
- Character design turn-offs (things you hate to see that make for a bad design): Blatant errors that could've been easily corrected with a little effort. Anything that shows me the designer didn't enjoy any part of making the piece.
- Best tip for a HeroMachine newbie: Patience! If something goes wrong or doesn't turn out how you envisioned, roll with it. Sometimes you can end up with a really cool element to your image by accident. Some of my favorite poses came to me just tinkering around.
- Any personal message you'd like to share with the HeroMachine community about Geek Life: I've truly and honestly enjoyed myself as a member of this community. I don't post too much outside of the contests, but everyone has always made me feel welcome. Jeff has provided us with an awesome creative outlet and being able to share it with everybody is the icing on the cake. I mean after all, what's the point of accumulating all this geeky knowledge if you have nobody to talk about it with? 🙂
Congrats on the profile! Cool characters (the name Sad Bastard made me laugh), and great advice about the random mixing and posing. Also, your turn-off is a great example of why I only enter creator contests when I like the theme: when someone can’t get into the work, it really shows in their art…
great profile DiCicatriz, your pieces always make me say wow:)
I guess I missed those six characters somehow when you first posted ’em. They are freaking AMAZING, especially Rift and Wraith. The effects are astounding.
And I hear ya about SoCal freeways. I lived in and around the Riverside area for years, and it was enough to make you want to keep a bazooka in your car to clear traffic out of your way. 😀
I often admire the colors you use in your compositions DiCicatriz!
Pretty happy to be able to see your creations, they are great! I’m impressed both at your skill and your imagination.
I always enjoy seeing your work and Rift is especially awesome.
Wait, no glasses? No facial hair? Early 20s? This is a Power User profile, right? Whaaaaa?
Okay, seriously, I often worry about coming off as way too fanboy in appreciation of others’ work here, but DiCicatriz, you really put out some amazing stuff here. And I certainly feel less self-conscious about coming up with some of my better stuff unplanned when you admit to the same thing. Congrats on the profile.
DiCicatriz – Your images are among my top FAVORITE ALL TIME HM creations. Every contest I wait for you to post your entry. Iv learned a lot of new techniques from looking at your characters from contests past and present. Keep it up! Don’t let me down! 😉
Wow, prolific profile! Lots of good stuff. I really like DrengrF and Maximo Huitzilopochtli.
Welcome aboard.
@Myro: C-c-c-c-c-combo breaker!
In all seriousness though, thanks for your kind words. It’s nice to know you guys get a little happiness from my characters and this was a very nice thing to come home to after work 😀
Ok, suddenly I don’t feel quite so young now that I know I’m not the only one on here who’s 23. Great stuff. I gotta say that of the 6 you posted, my two favorites are Howl and Wraith. Both fairly simple in design and yet astonishing. I’m also working on a comic series. Mostly dealing with story so far, have all of the basics nailed down and the back stories of the principle characters. Keep us posted on how yours comes along. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s looking forward to it.
Congrats, Di.
Dude congrats, you really deserve to be here.
A peak at the genius behind the curtain! Thanks!
Great works, theres some stuff on your page you made that are really interesting. It makes me wonder how you did it and if theres anything I can learn to assimilate something in my own way into my style of design. I think its good to never stop growing and learning in my art from whatever or whoever I can. Keep the art coming.