We had a huge response for Character Design Contest 93, which asked you to choose someone to redesign from the archive of Public Domain Comic Book Characters. Do yourself a favor and go through the whole set of entries in the comments to see some really great designs.
I've chosen the top 15% of all the submissions for you to enjoy that I thought had something extra special about them. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I present your Finalists!
There are too many here for me to go through individually, so I'll have to restrain myself to just the one I chose as the overall winner. And that person is ... Marquis Samedi's "Black Mikado"! First, here's the original:
And here's Marquis Samedi's new version:
I love the black shroud with the white designs sewn into them, the chained fan, and the mean expression on his face. It's a great updating of the character concept, without losing its essence. I could definitely see this guy in a modern take on the Golden Age comic.
Shockingly, given the high quality of all of this entries, this is only Marquis Samedi's second win.
Congratulations to him and to all of our Finalists, as well as a big thank you to everyone who took the time to share their creativity with us by entering!
Awesome work everybody! And I’m not just talking about Jeff’s Finalists. There are a lot of the others that I would have put in my top bunch.
Congrats, Marquis Samedi. The shroud is great!
I’m happy to see one of my entries among the finalists.
Congrats to all of them!
I agree with Dblade. Every entry I saw was amazing, and there were plenty of really neat and clever updates of the classic characters.
Congrats Marquis Samedi- wonderful work. That entire design looks great!
Very good work. This asia-guy is realy cool!
And the roll of the d31 dice is 15! Jack Zelger (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. I also reserve the right to exclude monster bodies, but you can try me on this one. Sometimes I will take the bait.
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 Jack Zelger, choose wisely and carefully! The fate of the universe may very well depend on it!!!!!
On a side note there are a few people who haven’t claimed their Random Finalist Consolation Prize. If you are one of those people please chime up and tell me what you want.
I believe I’m caught up on the claimed Random prizes but if not give me a holler and remind me. I should really put together an excel file to keep track of these things. 🙂
Ugh, tell me about it! I have the super advanced text file that I use. But I added color text to it so I could really kick it fully into the late Eighties.
Damn. Tried to edit last post. Something went wrong and time ran out….
Here is what I wanted to say….
On a side note there are a few people who haven’t claimed their Random Finalist Consolation Prize. If you are one of those people please chime up and tell me what you want.
Other than Jack’s Cargo Shorts, I believe I’m caught up on the claimed Random prizes but if not give me a holler and remind me. I should really put together an excel file to keep track of these things. 🙂
I want to wrote down disgusting things and want to humilate also the finalist and everyone, but i rethink the things a lot and what happens if i do this, nothing, more guys hate me, and i really not needed this. So grat for everyone whose enter. I only wrote this. Bye Bye.
Good choice, because if you did that I would ban you forever.
I do think you need to take some time off to get your priorities straight. If all this process does is bring you negative feelings and agony maybe you need to find something else to do instead that will bring you joy.
Wow everyone did great. I tried looking at each one along the way but can see I missed alot of good ones….woohoo I made the top 15 🙂
Wow everyone did great. I tried looking at each one along the way but can see I missed alot of good ones….woohoo I made the top 15% 🙂
Congrats Marquis Samedi on the win. I do not envy Jeff on having to narrow it down; there were so many entries. Good job everyone.
Wow I am honestly surprised that I made it into the finalist list! While I liked my version of Sea-Devil I don’t feel its one of my best and had planned on making a couple other entries but end up with just the one in the end due to being uninspired because of pain issues from my job.
Great job and congrats to Marquis Samedi. Many awesome pics and a good source for inspiration to create something new. This contest theme should be revisited again and again! Cheers!
Oh you 15 Percenters really chap my hide waving your fancy HM3 medals around! Keepin it real in the 85 and lovin it!!!! 🙂
Great work everyone, there were a lot of great redesigns. I degree with ams we should revisit this contest again.
Congratulations to the Finalists, especially Marquis Samedi and Jack Zelger.
On a side note, Jeff, I think you used the original picture of Black Mikado in your list of Finalists, instead of Marquis Samedi’s entry. 😕
On an even less related note, I don’t think I’ve got a finished version of my Seal Tail yet… 🙁
Don’t want to sound negative… but did any of my posts even show, ‘cos i thought i had a shot at being at least one of the finalists. Only asking so that in future contests i can work around any problems. and if my files are named incorrectly please tell me, i am more than happy to rename them =)
If you don’t win don’t make angry howler monkey sounds, try again next time and make happy human sounds 😀
But i’d also like to say congrats to all of the other contestants and those who got through =)
Here is the finished version of the Seal Body, Kaylin88100. I posted it on the UGO site a while ago. I’ve reposted to the Hero Machine forums for convenience.
http://www.heromachine.com/wp-content/legacy/forum-image-uploads/dblade/2012/06/Body_Seal_SHOW_03.jpg
And on a related note I plan on submitting ALL outstanding pieces to Jeff this weekend.
Congratulations to the finalists and to Maquis Samedi. And Good job to the other contestants that I thought were great, but didn’t make it.
It was a lot of fun, I was able to make three designs in one week, which was the faststest that I’ve ever heromachined. I would also like to see this contest again, but unlike CKnap, I don’t degree with Ams. I use Gillette, Right Guard, Power Stick, or Speed Stick and I do it by myself.
Well played, Frankie. Well played.
*groan*
Does that mean there will be a fleury of new items soon?
And an idea for the Pop QUiz contest on weekends. How about releasing a new item for each quiz to build with? Everyone would check on Saturday mornings to see a shiny brand new item and be encourage to use it to try and win another new item. What do you think?
Great work Samedi!
Some pretty incredible characters all up in there! Well done everybody who worked so hard and churned out so many decent designs!
Your naming is fine (username and artwork name). I would reconsider posting both a full and headshot version of each piece though, unless you consider the headshot a separate entry. It may not bother Jeff though and could just be me. 🙂
I would say just keep entering the contests and keep getting better. This contest was a MOTHER of a contest with so many entries that it was inevitable that some good pieces would be excluded. I for one enjoyed your work and I would consider some (like Zambini) Finalist material in my book. Alas, as Jeff would tell you, it’s one man’s opinion so take everything with a grain of salt.
Jeff releases my submissions on his own schedule when he has the time so I have no control over this. It takes some time to put each piece into HM3 so even if I submit everything I can’t imagine Jeff tackling all of these at once. With that said, I need to get my butt in gear so at least Jeff has the option of putting all of these items into the mix! 🙂
Congrats, Marquis Samedi! That cloak is very inspiring! Thanks for the nod, Jeff. I’m overall pleased with my Wilderfire’s bodysuit.
I am not at my home laptop, so feel free to correct, but I believe I borrowed TOOL’s Pose recipe to give her flight.
With so many entries, why not re-visit this contest as a Friday Night Fight? We can vote on which five public domain characters to re-design or simply go head-to-head with our favorite five.
Though I only submitted three. To bring it up to five, I would mix previous entries with new ones for FnF or design a whole new set.
There are many entries that I want to give props to, but I am at work and my mom is in the hospital. So, I’ll leave it at “great job everyone!”
Gratulation the winner!
A Friday Night Fight were cool.
@The Atomic Punk, don’t sweat it, I borrow pose or item ideas sometimes too, but I don’t believe that particular pose is mine.
Thanks. At least i know that all my file names and uploading and that was fine and that makes me feel better. Completely agree with you, if i didn’t get in the finals then all i have to do is get better: “Challenge Accepted” =)
Thanks for including one of mine in the finalists, Jeff! Nice to see it in there next to the other great entries!
Actually, I was kind of expecting one of mine to be in there, but I figured it would be the one you commented on when I first posted it. 🙂 It was probably also my favorite of my own entries.
At any rate, this was a really fun contest with so many ideas to choose from.
Hey, thanks, dblade! Very nice to have a consolation prize. Let me think about it a little and I’ll have a request for you very soon!
Should I be posting it in this thread?
Oh my. Great job, MarquisSamedi! That’s a great update. Only the hands and the random chains bother me a little, but it just works so well overall.
Stupid auto correct on the iphone -_-
You can post it here or in my dblade Whiz Bang Item Dispenser thread in the Hero Machine forums on this site. The thread is in the Hero Machine Art Gallery section. Here is a link if you go that route…
http://www.heromachine.com/forum/the-heromachine-art-gallery/dblades-whiz-bang-item-dispenser/
I know your pain.
Oh wow, thanks everybody. My entry is also heavily based on the Gilbert & Sullivan Mikado here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mikado
For my prize I’d like a hand viewed from the side, fingers curled slightly, pinky facing us. Something like this:http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/angel_a/angel_a0803/angel_a080300052/2730991-male-hand-typing-on-black-keyboard.jpg
Oh like you haven’t gotten enough trophies on your shelf LOL
Looking forward to the new items.
That would be cool and it would make it easier, I think, for Jeff because he would have something to focus on for Pop Quiz and only have to add one item a week. Itempaloozas are cool too though. Whatever’s good for you Master Jeff.
I hate my T9 LOL, you should look up Daniel Tosh from Tosh.0 on search engines when his woman tries to look up Apples I believe.
Thanks, I’ll post it over there very shortly.
Congratulations to the Marquis.
That idea for the pop quizzes having a completely new item might be a great benefit to someone like me who is constantly suffering from jamais vu and memory lapses. There are times when it’s ALL new to me.
Heyla!
Congratulations to Marquis Samedi for the overall win! Jack Zelger for the Consolation! And the finalists for the honorable mention!
congratulations to Marquis Samedi !
Again, one of my entries are in the finalists. I don’t lose hope of being the winner of a future contests! hehe ^^
Finally back at my laptop and want to thank properly. It was Worf’s “Female Bow Pose” recipe that gave me a big assist.
Personal favorites (alphabetical):
gendosia’s Guerilla Girl: awesome pose
Harlequin’s Miss Masque: very smart (personal appeal: stop being such an emo!)
Iscarioto’s Menthor: it reminds me of the “Do I commit suicide or go bowling” t-shirts circa 1988 (we call them “memes” these days)
JohnnyGear’s Lars of Mars: solid comic book, but the simple UFO wheels with green lights steal it
Marqui Samedi’s Airmale and Stampy: the envelope-edge red, white, and blue is awesome (true airmail!) (and all your entries are awesome)
Mr. Vampire’s Atomic Rabbit: MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE OF THIS CC!!!
NHA247’s Black Axe Man: great pose (and The Avenger is good, nice touches with the electric shocks and fuming gun)
rancid’s Black Venus: well-composed
tolkienhiste’s Kitten: love the action angle
TOOL’s Mighty Mite: the scaling, translucence and color scheme pop
Watson Bradshaw’s Captain Midnight: nice use of the Baroque wings as shoulder items.
Wow. Surprised I made it to the finalists stage at all, considering I don’t go for the level of posing and artistry of most of the others who participate.
It’s not all about flashy effects, Deadeas. Good character design trumps all gimmickry.