Although I'd prefer to do the old-style, all in-line images for our Character Contest 84 Finalists with commentary for each, the constraints of the day job mean I have to keep doing these galleries. I hope you'll take the time to click through these wonderful Finalists to get a sense for how awesome they are.
Without further ado, here are your Finalists from Atomic Punk, Barbario, BekK22, Cliff, Dangerfish, Diazmydiaz, Felipe S. Card, Gendonesia, Headlessgeneral, Jack Zelger, Jessica, Joel, Kaldath, Kaylin88100, Kingslaughter, MaDPac, Marquis Samedi (times three!), Myro, Papa Krok, Rhinoman, Roccopi Cuccurullo, Skybandit, Tarkabarka, TOOL, Vampyrist, and Wrinkley Walrus.
As for our winner, I had a very tough time making a decision. From Jack Zelger's Western-flavored mood piece with the great environment to Skybandit's hilarious Dwarf Vader to Rhinoman's delightfully proportioned Tinker to Papa Krok's always awesome work on Mage Mech to Myro's militant Fairy to Gendonesia's great elfin sniper (great background/rooftop on that one) to many more, I had an embarrassment of riches.
But I have to pick one and only one as the overall champion. So this week I went with ... Marquis Samedi's Mechadragon:
I love the Trekkie-style robot treatment, done beautifully here with a crazy mix of items. The anatomy looks very convincing and the energy effect totally works. The grayscale-and-green color treatment pops off the page and gives the whole composition a lot of oomph. I thought this was among the best thematic treatments of the contest concept and was a beautiful illustration in its own right.
So congratulations to Marquis Samedi and many, many thanks not only to our other outstanding Finalists but to everyone who entered for sharing with us your creativity and courage.
Great job by everyone! Congrats to the winner, Marquis Samedi!
Cheers!
Congrats to the winner, I kinda just shot that last pic out last night, I thought other entries of mine were a little better but thanks for the mention.
Congrats Marquis Samedi! Great dragon, did you base it on one of the dragons from Companions?
Thanks for the mention, Jeff 🙂
Grats for the finalist.
Some guys and gals make some awesome entries.
My favs of the creators
Headlessgeneral, Meniukas, AMS, Vampyrist, PapaKrok, KingSlauther, and Tool, And my Blacksparrow and Kyru picture.
I have got a few problem Jeff.
1. I think this is the character contest 85
2. My picture don’t pop up in full size.
3. I personally i don’t understand one thing. You wrote me in the greed contest my picture is awesome but don’t join for the contest theme. (I wrote it how join thematically), but now you choose a dragon for winner . Ok i know dungeons and dragons, but i play a lot of medieval rpg games, and never meet any dragon. I think this contest about the archetypes.
“Your challenge this time out is to create a science-fiction version of a “standard” D&D style archetype. So you might do a “Sci-Fi Ranger” or “Sci-Fi Dwarf” or “Sci-Fi Sorcerer” or “Sci-Fi Mapper” or “Sci-Fi Kobold”.
I don’t want to start any flame war this but i don’t understand the reason of the winner picture.
Thanks the answer.
p.s. Personally thanks for all the more than 500+ pageviews of my 5 picture. DOMO ARIGATO – Köszönöm Szépen.
Marquis Samedi, that picture is fantastic! Congrats for that win!
And congrats to all the finalists- really great stuff this week!
Some are far better than anything I have ever done. Some are so so. I think you can tell which is which!
Hmm, I see my name mentioned twice, but I don’t see my picture. I had done a quick scan first and was initially disappointed to think I was passed over, but now that I read the article, it seems Cpt. Petalborn was meant to be up, and just got missed.
If this is the case, Jeff, I understand. Running the site while holding down a full-time job can’t be easy, but when you have time, could you at least fix this over-site?
Congrats to the other finalists, and big congrats to Marquis Samedi. I wanted to do a robot dragon initially, but I couldn’t get it to work, and you nailed it.
Oops, sorry about that Myro. Fixed now. I also had one from Rhinoman in there twice, which has been corrected as well.
The group upload thing crapped out on five of them and I thought I’d manually re-added them, but clearly I missed yours. Sorry again.
Congrats to Marquis Samedi! And to all the finalist, great job!
I wanted to make of Top 5, but there were so many great entries that I couldn’t narrow it down. So here is my top ten.
Gendonesia’s “sniperelf”
JackZelger’s “Sci-Fi-Ranger”
Kingslaughter’s “Cyber_Rogue_final_version”
MarquisSamedi’s “ogretank”
papakrok’s “MageMech”
roccopi-cuccurullo’s “SCI-FIORC”
Skybandit’s “SpaceDragon”
tarkabarka’s “Disonia-Elf-Techno-Mage”
and my two finalist “scifi cleric” and “SciFi Elf”
And my overall favorite is tarkabarka’s “Disonia-Elf-Techno-Mage”
Again, great job everyone!!
Gratz to winner! Great job. I’m surprised to see ams’s dungeons and dragons didn’t make it.
Congrats to Marquis ! And to all the finalist, great job!
Gratulation the winner (what a dragon is a archtype? dam…i have my dragon alrighty post at this time)
I feel that you dont notice my entry. Sf-theme is not my strong side( like my english) and my better entry came too late. So…Pech halt…
And i think it was to much light effect.
*be envious of tarka
Yeah and i also like skybandits Dragon and myros fairy makes me nervous. I hope its not a tooth fairy!
Thanks Jeff
This is only my second time entering a HM contest… and makes me very HAPPY to see one of my creations as a finalist.
Hats off to the winner and all entries!
I really struggle to understand.
Many of the finalists deserve to have been awarded as winner.
But when I see some good results, I hallucinate.
I really struggle to understand.
Many of the finalists deserve to have been awarded as winner.
But when I see some good results, I hallucinate.
great job everyone!
Great job everyone!! Thanks Jeff for the mention! On to the next!
Great job everyone and congrats to Marquis Samedi! Thanks for the mention Jeff! On to the next!
Congrats, Marquis Samedi! Like Jeff said, great use of Items, color choices, and flame effects. And Ogre Tank is fun. I couldn’t get my “cloak of invisibility” idea to work as effective, so I dropped my Rogue entry.
Thanks for the nod! I went for simple color aesthetics. Was very satisfied with the result.
This contest was a new level of awesomeness. Yes, it just keeps getting better! I’m going to run through some personal favorites. If I miss yours, don’t be offended. Heck, even ask what I like and dislike, I will try to offer critiques.
Personal notables:
* abominal401’s “Legacy” – awesome pose
* barbario’s “lilgreen” – love the 1950s matinee vibe
* borntobealoser’s “Space Orc Veteran” – battle damage is a nice touch
* gendonesia’s “Snipper Elf” – pose, great shadow effects
* gurong7’s “SciFiXDeathside” – quirky
* headlessgeneral’s “SciFi Elf” – pose, awesome zyp’ing
* Jack Zelger’s “Sci-Fi Ranger” – pose, color, detail of the rifle contrasts the overall basic design
* Kytana’s “Assassin” – lots of action, love Assassin’s facial expression and pose
* Meniuka’s “Tiefling Rogue” – cluttered, but every item belongs in the picture.
* Myro’s “Captain Petalborn” – One tough steampunk fairy
* PapaKrok’s “Naga” – Absolute overkill. Love it!
* Rhinoman’s “Strafe” – Inspiring!
* SkyBandit’s “Space Dragon” – “Space” and “Dragon” says it all
* Sohier-Legrand’s “Goblin” – I like the little dude on the toxic drum
* Tarkabarka’s “Sword Dancer” – great pose and arrangement
* TJ’s “Elven Swashbuckler” – great ensemble, the blue contrast on the boots
Tip of the gasmask:
! Tarkabarka’s “Disonia” – My favorite design of yours thus far! The description is a great teaser.
Congrats to all the Finalist! I’m just glad to be part of the group.
I always like to read the comments as to why the images were selected, but I understand time constraints.
Well done, Marquis Samedi!
Oh wow. Thanks everyone. I just enter these contests when I get inspired to make a concept, and this theme was inspired a lot of great stuff (that cyber rogue is amazing), I wasn’t counting on winning and don’t have a prize in mind. Could I offer the prize up to the community, or … ?
Kaylin, yeah, I based it off one of the dragons in there.
And Atomic Punk, it didn’t make the finalists but I loved your temple guardian. I would’ve never thought to use the mech body like that, but it works! Where did that logo come from though, I can’t place it.
Thanks for the support, Wrinkley Walrus!
If the prize goes up to the community I say we get some interchangable body and head type piercings. Like some rings and bars that would be good for a belly ring, nipple ring, ear, eye brow, or whatever. So ugh DBlade are we doing a random dice winner thingy for this contest too 😀 ?
So my english and late night grrrrrr.
Ok. Jeff i read more patiently the description.
“It’s up to you, but the goal is to translate something familiar from the fantasy genre into space.”
So my third point is not alive. Now i know the reason. Sorry the english is not my main language, and it always don’t understand well the contexts. Next time i read more carefully the contest description.
So in this case i gratulate for Marquis Samedi.
Jeff my problem for my picture is to i click it the little picture, and shown in only 900*150 or 900*200 not in 900*600. Could you fix it if you have time.
And the roll of the d31 dice is “10″. Headlessgeneral (the Chosen One) is the winner of dblade’s Random Finalist Consolation Prize!
1. The Chosen One can choose one new item to be created for any existing category in Hero Machine 3 with the exception of these categories: Backgrounds, Companions.
2. The new item must be applicable to the default body type. No specialized items for alternate body types (turned head, 3/4 torso, back view, etc…)
3. I reserve the right to ask the Chosen One to pick another item if the request is beyond my ability or inappropriate for Hero Machine 3.
4. Reference images or a really good description must be provided so I can fulfill the request with the minimal amount of heartache and frustration.
So there you have it. As many of you are familiar with my contributions you know I can handle a wide range of art requests so don’t let the guidelines scare you. I do have limitations (damn you, Human Hair!!) so please be understanding if I have to decline a request.
So, headlessgeneral. The ball is in your court. Choose your art asset…and DIE!!!! Eeeeeh, I mean choose your art asset and I will try my best to get it done. Yeah that’s the ticket.
Congratulations, MarquisSamedi. Mechadragon was very cool.
And congrats to all the other finalists. There were some entries that made me envious of the mad HM3 skillz at work.
grats on the mech-dragon! this was my first contest and im psyched to even have art in the finals! and thanks to atomic punk for the props!
woohoo! i’m back on the list! 😆
congratz everbody! what a refreshing contest afterall 😛
special congratz to marquis, u really deserve to win!
Wow I love the mechdragon. we should have one in the pets section
I tried manually editing the page, then deleting and re-adding the image, but it still shows like that. I don’t know why, I’m sorry.
Regarding your complaint about the winner, even language differences can’t account for how someone could think a robot dragon wouldn’t qualify for a science fiction dungeons and DRAGONS contest. Seriously. I think you need to spend less time worrying about the results — especially about how other people do — and more time just enjoying the creative process.
Maybe i in bad mood, or i a little bit lunatic, or tired, but somehow now i tell my opinion. I agree with you. 100% percently agree. Yeap i worried about the result. (Not the finalist result, because i really don’t care about i’m in the list or not, or who win or not win, now this is not the point of view of my opinion).
Yeap i work a lot of these pictures, and i enjoy every min of the process. I love to create new face, manga style eyes, headshape, bodypose, clothing, or new items, and unique coloring with the work of the light and shadows. And i love this contest theme, i more prefer the fantasy and the sci fi, than the superheroes. But some pictures which are choosen are hurt my feelings, brings me down, a gives me the feel why i want to shown something extraordinary if a “simple pose, with the standard head” is equally for my pictures.
In the lust contest for me also hurt the eyes of the winning picture, but i accepted the decision why you choose it. But now i really dissapointed, to see to a lot of good picture missing the list, and some ordinary is in, and i don’t accept this. I feel this now, and now i think for my feelings don’t changed in the future.
I don’t envy (if i envy i don’t give the txt formule of Blacksparrow in the forum to everyone see it, or use it if they want it.) If someone want to know i give the txt-s, to yes this is made by HM3 not using any other programs. (I use paint after the screen capturing, becasue i want to shown the widescreen picture.)
Sorry for that Marquis Samedi what i wrote it, but i don’t lie for you, i acknowledge you work a lot of that dragon, and don’t want to disturb your feelings but for me that is a “simple work”, and i don’t see the “OMG that is cool” factor. Personally i don’t like that dragon, but i gratulate for the contest win.
To avoid this problem in the future, I promise, I only make pictures for the Contests just for fun, and I want to ask it you will not choose any of these of the finalist list. I love to make pictures for theme and fun and i only want to shown it what will be make in HM3.
And a personnal thing. Jeff for me this is a critique for my work. In OCD-s you give me great and not so great critiques, and one time full negative critique. (I never see to someone you give full negative critique) I try to accept the advices, and give my best to make better and better works. In my case i think my works are art pieces not only simple picture what makes in a internet based program. For me this is a hobby, fun, and something where i shown my creativity. I glad to find HM3 and i don’t want to finish it, because i love this stuff, and the whole community. But sometimes i only feel to i fight against the sea and i tired to no see the chance to win against the water.
I know a little bit long, but i don’t forget to give thanks for Atomic Punk and Headlessgeneral.
Thank you guys. No more word.
Thank you Jeff and the whole community.
Tarkabarka I think Jeff has said this once before to another community member, but even if I am wrong I am certain I am correct on the point itself. During the OCD’s the better your artwork is, the more he will zero in on what he didn’t like about it then on what he did. This is not to be hurtful but the better you are the better you have already demonstrated your skill, so he focuses on what he thinks is not working to help you improve in that area.
Complexity does not equal better. The goal isn’t to do the most tricks or display the highest level of skill in doing crazy stuff. The goal is to make a good illustration. Sometimes a perfectly executed character study (a body with a head stuck on) is much more successful than a complete scene with a thousand things going on.
Make a good illustration that conveys the message you want to send and screw what everyone else (including me) thinks about it. If a certain style isn’t to your liking, that’s fine — it’s a big world with plenty of room for differing opinions.
As for complaints that I have never done an entirely negative critique of anyone else but you, that’s frankly bullshit.
Ugh, this whole conversation is making me want to spit. I have to walk away from the site for a while and regain my equilibrium.
@ Tarkabarka – You need to come down to happy land again. Relax, enjoy the forum. These rants after every contest are getting tiresome. You are taking this whole concept to seriously and instead of having fun with it, it seems you are ticking off our host and others. This is an escape “hobby” for alot of us, not a pissing contest! Chill out!
Yeap i think i need a little break and out a little for the contests. Need Too relax, and enjoy the fun of picture making.
Sorry Jeff i don’t want to do this. The whole community need your work. I don’t want to insult you and the community.
I sorry really sorry.
@ams: nice, i would like to send “like” in ur post, unfortunately, HM doesnt have it, or can u make it happened Jeff? 😛
Hmm, There used to be a way to “vote up” a post if you were registered on the site ( registration option on the right side tool bar at the bottom of the options ) but it seems to be gone now. Don’t know if Jeff took it down on purpose or if it just got disabled in the last site update.
I removed the “vote up” plugin because it wasn’t getting any use. Given the amount of server overhead it required, I decided it wasn’t worth it.
Also, I took it down like three weeks ago and this is the first time anyone noticed, so that kinda makes the case 🙂
Congrats, Marquis Samedi! That’s a really excellent dragon! I can’t believe I got an honorable mention! I’m critical of my work and I thought it could have been done better. Unfortunately, I really suck at posing but I keep trying to learn. Also, Kaylin, how did you get the glow effect on the arrows? I would really like to learn how to do that.
If you’re feeling a time crunch on these, maybe you could rejigger the schedule? I doubt that it is graven in stone in some Texas wasteland that all contests must be judged on a Tuesday. Though that would be awesome if it was.
Yay. I’m the chosen one! Dblade, I’ll get to you on the UGO forums about what I want.
Actually, I was logging in to give “thumbs up.” I reserve my comments until the end of contests, when you post the finalists and winners. The thumbs up is a nifty acknowledgment during.
I am curious about the ad banners. None of them say that there is “that one weird trick” that will get me women at reduced car insurance rates.