I have to say, the latest Pop Quiz (featuring the teddy bear item) might be my favorite one ever. You all outdid yourselves, putting together some truly inspired creations. I'm going to post every one (at least, the ones that were posted properly) below with a few comments on each.
Iscarioto's "Batteries Not Included" is awesome. I love the colors, the incredible eye blasts, and the way the main bear really looks like he's rampaging through a city. It's just a great illustration all the way around.
Fuzztone's "Wonderbear" is indeed wonderful. The motion lines are a great touch and I like how he made his own forward-pointing arm for the hero. I do wish he had a bit more color to him but it's a very fun concept and execution.
Webpulp took on the ballet in his composition, with some great sneaky tricks to trick out each of the dolls. I'd say the teddy is "ripped", but I bet to a stuffed toy that's a deadly insult.
With record heat across the US, Trekkie's "Summer Bear" looks like he'll be happily kicking it back on the beach.
Tigerguy786 brings us "Mr. Angry Eye", a movie poster that I am pretty sure the makers of "Ted" are already booking for the sequel.
Speaking of action movies, Skybandit has a kick-ass in-your-face Seventies style scene, complete with a mustachioed and mutton-chopped main character. This image has at least five kinds of awesome fun. I would, though, recommend that Skybandit use PNG as the export format, as the JPG converter tends to really butcher red areas.
Thanks to Harlequin, who posted the correct link (without which this entry would not have been included at all), we get to enjoy Sir Awesome's "The Ladies Bear". I can imagine this dapper fellow kicking back with a bottle of Courvoisier and laying on the charm for some lucky gals.
JohnnyGear put a lot of work into these nested bears. I love the design of the outer shell, it's a really neat concept and execution.
Ryan went more for the grim side with his "Extinction".
NHA247's "Super Teddy Bear" has a lot of super goodness about it.
Newerlie's "The Spartan" would, I'm sure, make Frank Miller and the 300 proud.
Myro's "Sherlock Bear" is soaked with gothic, foggy goodness. I could see a whole PBS series based on bears playing famous roles.
Mr. Vampire's "Grouchy" has run his bear through a glue factory before ejecting him into a trash can full of lawn clippings.
I love Logosgal's "Teddy Warhol" homage. This is really well done.
Kytana's "Pirate Teddy" will make you go "Awwwwww!" even as it shivers yer timbers.
Jester's "Teddy Told Me To" also went more on the grim side. This is why you don't let your Barbie play with your other toys.
Jep2000316's "Commando Teddy" is equal parts squee and squawk. I love the wingman Raggedy Ann.
When I first opened Jack's "Teddy Date" I literally went "Awwww!" right out loud. Luckily I was alone so I avoided the embarrassment. Just look how sad the little guy is, and after he put on his best bow tie, too!
Harlequin's "Teddy Loves You Forever" is a great illustration filled with emotion.
Gene's comment on this one was something like "Even Cthulu needs a hug sometimes." Very funny!
Firecracker's "Terminator Ted" might also be in the running for the official movie sequel. No way Arnold could have melted this cute little guy down!
Barbario's "Bar-BEAR-ian" is all kinds of awesome. Mel Gibson wishes he could be this simultaneously frightening and cute!
Finally, Hammerknight gives us "Fourth of July Bear", a fitting tribute on the weekend before the anniversary of the US' independence.
In my personal opinion, the "A+" performers on this Pop Quiz were Skybandit, Logosgal, Jack, Iscarioto, Harlequin, and Barbario. Out of those, I would say the highest marks (and the prize) go to ... Barbario! I loved the way the essential teddy bear-ness still shines through all the armor and weapons. The addition of the manga eyes was an inspired touch and all of the gear is sized appropriately for the big-headed toy. The simple burst background frames it all nicely without taking too much attention away from the bear, which should be the star of the piece.
Well done everyone and congratulations to Barbario, the first win I believe for this great creator!
Gratz everyone. Now i know why i member of the Stab the Teddy Club. A lot of Nice and Cute picture. KILL EM ALL.
But without Jokes.
I really like Kytana Pirate Bear – Captain Teddy Revenge. Yarrrr. Love it.
Trekkie – Beach Bear – Nice piece.
Ryan – Extinction – Maybe you also member, but i missing the knife in the teddy 😀 – Great picture.
Jack – Very emotional Piece. You shown well the sad feel. Thanks to show it.
Iscarioto – The eye beams are lightsaber lights? Strong Piece.
HK – Great composition.
Barbario – Great item useage.
Congrats, barbario! He’s got a lot of great touches: the stitches, war paint, heterochromatic eyes.
Lots of good stuff. My standouts are:
iscariato – My favorite. Color-scheme, layering, blast and smoke effects
Gene – I so want a Cthulhu bear!
Harlequin – Love the rain effects
logosgal – Almost every artist has a version of Warhol’s “Marilyn Monroe.” Yours really “pops.”
Myro – Too cute
Missed the deadline this week. Heck, still trying to design an Alchemist. Too much going on with my mom in the hospital, cutbacks at work, not to mention my own “get-off-your-butt” list.
And without Spam.
The Atomic Punk after post a picture for the deadline.
So that picture theme is so sad and some other way happy. Happy to a little thing give smile for in a bad situation. Very emotion and nice picture. I gratulate, i want to shown deep emotion, but your picture not only show the emotion, the deep meaning also very strong for me.
I really gratulate and thanks to shown for this piece.
Good point on the JPEG/PNG. I tried it, and you’re right, thanks.
Actually started out doing a Teddy Biker, but when I switched from the chopper to the crotch-rocket, it walked off with me in a different direction.
Thought sure that Iscarioto would carry the day, but I can see why Barbario’s unBEARable pun tipped the balance. Excellent competition forces all of us to improve on every contest. Congrats to all.
Gratualtion the Bar-BEAR-ian creator. Very nice illustration.
I hope for the next pop quiz you take the doll!
Wow, I was not expecting an honorable mention! 😀 I only settled on the Warhol idea because I was feeling uninspired…
Congrats to Barbario! That really is an all-around excellent concept & illustration. When can we expect to see these in stores? I want one!
I really enjoyed JohnnyGear’s “Nesting Doll Bears,” Myro’s “Sherlock Bear,” Iscarioto’s “Batteries Not Included,” Newerlie’s “The Spartan,” Fuzztone’s “Wonderbear,” and Ryan’s “Extinction,” too. And all the others. I have to agree with Jeff, I think this was one of the best Pop Quizzes yet! Awesome job, all around!
Congrats to Barbario with your BarBEARian! I loved it.
This was such a great pop quiz- I went ‘aww!’ at every entry.
nice!
Jeff– did we ever have a black-and-white contest? that would be cool.
“…decided to go black and white for this contest, which I think was a brilliant choice. In fact, I’m considering that for a future contest theme — whatever you want, but done in black and white.”
I haven’t ruled it out yet, but no, I haven’t yet committed to it.
Congrats Barbario. The pun, the little logo on his chest belt thing, the beard. Fantastic piece! So well thought out!
Also loved Skybandit’s image, I don’t know, but I’d almost say the jpg format almost sells the Tarantino/Seventiesesque indy action sort of idea! Mint!
Myro, that smoke is fantastic, the layering!
Jack, that’s just heart breaking!
Harli – emotional and fantastic as always
Johnny Gear, yours is probably my fave, the concept is just so out-of-the-box, or should that be out-of-the-russian-doll?
Well done everybody! Love these comps, so interesting to see everybodies creativity and their own unique ways of interpreting ideas!
Awesome contest, with a lot of great entries. Congrats Barbario, bar-bear-ian was great!
holy crap! i won! oh my god! i never win anything! i kinda had a good feeling with this one but i didnt think id win! thanks so much! and thanks eveyone for the kind words! so i win a prize or something?
Yep, you can either request a Sketch of the Day subject, you can request a specific item to go into HM3 (assuming it’s not copyrighted), or you can request a portrait of yourself to go into the Head-Winners set.
cool! i am so excited. so i probably want the winners head one. do i need to email you a picture of me or something?
That works great, yeah — afdstudios@gmail.com
And it should be taken from an angle that makes sense, like a passport photo.
Who the hell is that Harli? – Dude my name is Harlequin 😀
So i’ really depressed i only see one picture when someone stabbed the Teddy bear. That is not good. Really not good. 😀
Hmm i start to like that “Always” that shown me to good what i do.
THX.
yes sir. i am an actor and stuntman so i have great headshot
sent. subject: barbario
I want a Bar-Bear-ian and a Tedthulu as my plushie companions now!
well thanks people i was really trying to go for cuteness but i didn’t think of any ideas for the bear so i was like ah forget it. i will make this idea a bit more darker than people imagine and you are right harequin. it would of been cool if i just put the most bloodiest knife in the picture or some kind of corpse that wasn’t a skull and still had flesh. and also i should of add sand or dust to make it more interesting. dang it i forgot about the zombies too
sweeping power outages had me unwebbed and busy, too–good work everyone! Now I have to try to go find if anyone commented on my entry for OCD. House power back on–dmgs done.
Congratulations all round, and especially to Barbario! That was a right laugh. My personal favourite (just because I’m a fan of the stories) is the Holmes/Watson bear partnership, which I hope to see on sale in shops on Baker Street soon….
**chuckle** he-he! “plushie companions” 😀