We had some great entries for Character Design Challenge 96, which tasked you with designing a "big bad" type of villain, something that could take on an entire team of super heroes. I want to take a moment right at the top to welcome the many new folks who chimed in for the first time this week, it's great to have you sharing your creativity with us!
And on a more unpleasant bookkeeping note, among others who submitted entries that were invalid for not being named properly were excellent ones by Alphaalpharomeo, Joel, Blaq Aries, the creator, and DC Lover. Please name your files properly next time so your great work has a chance to be considered.
I encourage you to go check out the entire submissions thread because while I'll choose my personal favorites in a moment, there are many more that are stellar that you might like better.
However, since all I have is my opinion, here are the ones that I personally enjoyed the most.
AMS is one of those creators who could win every week, and you can see why with "Lamprey". This is a genuinely spooky design.
Ariana Iris' "Aborrhym" has a great body build, cohesive color scheme, and a mean vibe.
Several folks made use of this cityscape for looming menaces, but I thought Armour did a really nice job with it, from the clouds to the lightning striking the buildings.
This is a potential winner titled "Cthulu", but unfortunately whoever created it didn't put their name on the file and it's therefore ineligible. Which is really a shame since it's a nice piece.
I got a chuckle out of djuby's "Aunt Pam".
FRM's "Vitali" is just a really nice character study. I don't necessarily get "Big Bad" from it, but I think it's lovely.
Harlequin always makes beautiful compositions, and his "Bloody Night" is no exception. I particularly like the way the vampire is looking at the viewer, I think that gives this an edge that works very well. That will not stop him from complaining about not winning if he doesn't, but I can't let that get in the way of my honest opinion that I like the illustration.
Haxx gives us "Xdjirax the Magnificent". I liked his use of the small figures below to give us a sense of scale.
I like the name "The Tangle" from HerrD. The building top getting knocked over is a great effect, as well.
The looming shadow and terrified hero work great in Hyperanthropos' "Overshadow".
This is another fun piece that is ineligible due to a file name without the creator identified in it. Another shame.
If I'm remembering properly, I think this is Livewyre's first challenge entry. And a great start it is! The beast fits well together, and I particularly like the hooves on the rear leg, that's a nice touch.
Madpac's "Hell From Above" features a really nice use of a two-color (well, three technically) logo type of design that works great.
Marquis Samedi is another one who could win every week, the designs are just that good. The idea of a space-traveling giant robo-beastie with a city on its back in "Ixodidus" rocks. Granted, Bender sort of went there in "Futurama" but this is much more terrifying.
Marquis Samedi's second entry is "Locomortis", which is as awesome as its name sounds.
Meniukas' gray-scale looming monsters in "Project Kronos" shows that you don't have to go nuts with color when you have a good composition. I particularly love the water effects and the characters on the black foreground.
MisterDinoMan's "Hyperion" is one of the nicer "Big Chest" sorts of illustrations I've seen in a while.
NHA247's "Shadow Conjurer" has a ton of great effects, from the veins in the upper chest to the slightly hunched pose to the energy daggers to the excellent posing of the multiple arms. Again, you don't have to go nuts with backgrounds to have an exceptional piece.
On the other hand, sometimes a fantastic background is ... well, fantastic! Ploughed Jester's "Asmodeus" is both an excellent character design and an awesome environment.
Skybandit's multi-panel Big Bad works wonderfully.
I could go on and on about the many exceptional parts of Thundersong's "Melinoe", but I think the use of the white space of the canvas to come into the design as energy, while also having the creature break the circle of the design to enter the whitespace itself is design at an extremely high level.
VectorMan316's "Squish" pretty much speaks for itself. Ouch!
I believe this is Vesk's first challenge to enter as well, and I think he captured a great Kirby-esque sort of feel with "Vestrion".
Webpulp's "Big Bad Baby" made me chuckle.
Finally, YouAlreadyKnowWhatIThink's "Massive Thret" was one of the best close-up sorts of entries. The colors and the glow, along with the trippy giant hand, all work well together.
Out of all of those, if I were to pick the ones that were at my personal top of the list, I'd have to go with Thundersong, Ploughed Jester, NHA247, Meniukas, Marquis Samedi (Locomortis), Harlequin, and AMS. And out of those, going with just one I'd choose ... Ploughed Jester. But all of those, honestly, are about equal for me, they're all fantastic.
For what it's worth, though, congratulations to Ploughed Jester for creating my personal favorite!
Those are the ones I personally liked the most, but I'm very interested to hear which ones were yours.
Nice work everybody!
Personally, I like Ams, Meniukas, Ploughed Jester, Thumdersong and Harlequin. It’s a toss-up between Ams and Thundersong for my favorite.
What not i win, this is scandal. How the hell to i not win with my entry wich entry only a little bit perfect for the contest theme. OMG. OMG.
So without joke. Thanks Jeff the nominations. I really have no idea for this contest i only pick up a picture wich is near for the contest theme. Thanks for kind words, and i really happy to i’m in the finalist list.
I also gratulate everyone whose enter and nominated, and especially Ploughed Jester. I don’t follow this contest but this picture is very cool theme and the execute is so cool. Long ago to i like a picture.
My favourite pieces in this contest: Meniukas – Grey Scale and Ploughed Jester – Asmodeus.
And i go for the corner to cry. :D:D:D
gj everyone :3 and sorry harlequin if u felt bad for not winning but i thought your entry wuz one of the best and one of my favorites just becuz i cant be as artistic as u xD
congrats, Plough and fellow finalists. Thanx Jeff & glad you’re better!
My favourite, by far, was Meniukas’. It’s Hall of Fame material.
Some very good entries. I personally liked Meniukas’ “Project Kronos” from the moment I saw it.
Awesome entries this week. Congrats to Ploughed Jester and I’m still trembling at Webpulp’s “Big Bad Baby” pic. That is scary stuff! Cheers!
Great job everyone!
I personally loved Vectorman316’s Squish! Gross!
I regret I could not do justice to the idea I had. Basically, I called him “Black Hole”. An astronomer who got sucked into a black hole, spent time in an alternate Azathothic universe, and came out crazy and with black hole powers, i.e. absorbing everything he touches, including light. Most of JLA is screwed, because they can’t harm him at all. Only Superman would survive, but just to be locked in combat for potentially eternity, as neither could harm the other.
Sadly, the only idea I had for his costume was just a black costume with neon-green outlines symbolising radiation.
A little sorry. Meniukas – Projekt Kronos. Thanks and sorry.
ARGH! I can’t believe I forgot to include my name! *kicks self*
My personal favorite of these was Armour’s entry, titled “Zeus, God of Lightning.” The clouds and the cityscape were crafted very well, but most of all I enjoyed the cool glow effects on the character himself.
Congrats, Ploughed Jester and finalists! Creative stuff from all!
Personal favorites (no particular order):
* RobM’s Apophis – The shadow is a great detail & BadKitty… oh, don’t I know…
* borntobealoser’s Grendel – The head is really good, so are the main forearms
* deadpooljay’s TheLeague – Complementary and prismatic
* Hyperanthropos’ Overshadow – Hunting down heroes one by one
* Iscaratio’s Leviathan – Nice rendering. Off-topic, more people need to read Leviathan and works of the Enlightenment. ReduceReuseRecycle – The building reflections
* MarquisSamedi’s Ixodidus – Great concept. Well executed. Locomortis – Crazy good. Shadow of Death – T-shirts, please!
* meniukas’ Project: Kronos – Just a great mix of War of the Worlds and The Day the Earth Stood Still ethos
* nha247’s Shadow Conjurer – Creepy
* Ploughed Jester’s Asmodeus – Pose and setting. The reds don’t run into each. Great contrast
* SkyBandit’s Big Bads 4 & 9 – Heroes in Action
* SonOfOdin’s Final Storm – Great lightning effects
* the creator’s Demonic General – Fearsome and great example of the latest dblade items
* Thundersong’s Melinoe – Great color contrasts and hair
* Vectorman’s Cthulhu – The ship for size relation and overall great representation of the star demon & Squish – Beat me to it!
* Webpulp’s King Terror – Kaiju, American-style
Jeff, haha that high-five was unrelated to the competition and not made in HM, another user was knowledgeable about an entry I made so I thought he deserved a high-five.
Heh.
In future though, I should remember not to post non-entry related things in a design contest post.
Good work to all the finalists! Awesome competition!
I agree with my esteemed colleague.
Heyla!
Totally awesomely done fellow HM’ers! (I’m going PC!) I would not be able to pick an absolute favorite, since there were many that caught my eye. Ploughed Jester’s entry…very awesome! Harlequin, again a totally awesome entry!!! Just to name a choice or two. I am going to have to start writing down names when I look at the entries, so I can remember them! Although a few you just pretty much know who would have created them, like AMS’s entries and Marquis Samedis’ and Harlequins and a few others (bad with memory for names! But I know the entries when I see them!). For me, those entries are the absolute tops. So for me to be considered with theirs is awesome for me!!!
Congrats to everyone who enter the contests! Because just entering is a feat of itself, when looking at the awesome entries! I’ll stop typing now. As you know, I can go on and on.
Normally I’m not so nitpicky, but Vectorman didn’t make the Cthulhu picture. I did, and then promptly forgot to attach my name which burns me more than anything. Putting that aside, I’m still very happy that it ended up being shown, and I’m also quite happy that you seem to like it so much:)
Gratualtion winner(s)!
The chimera entry is a little bit… hm ordinary for me. I dont know why. *_*
The last time i was by the winners is months ago…it strikes me.
Maybe i need a rest for a while.
Ditto
Thanks for the shout out.
I do like your Cthulhu as well. Don’t get me wrong. However, I was referring to Vectroman’s entry:
http://i1254.photobucket.com/albums/hh615/vectorman316/Vectorman316-Cthulu.png
Wow, thanks for the kind words and good job everyone! I had an absolute blast making this one… almost too much fun really. My personal favorite entries follow:
– wwebpulp’s big bad baby terrifies me, though I think supers would be ok. Love the out of the box thinking and fun level in this one.
– The Creator had a neat entry of a self aware computer system… unfortunately it wasn’t named correctly. Still a fun, out of the box idea.
– Harlequin does stunning work as always. I’m not big on the seductive vampires thing but the side view people use custom shape combinations to create great visuals. Super complicated yet time and time again Harlequin makes it look effortless.
– Thundersong’s Melinoe is a great piece that uses composition very well. In addition to great color use, it simultaneously uses the business of some parts to draw the eye to the important parts. A brilliant visual skill that is hard to do so well!
– NHA247’s shadow conjurer makes great use of shoulder pieces as the mask lined up perfectly with the snarling mouth. The face is what gets me on that one. Plus, the evil goatee… always bonus points!
– DafydMacBrian’s Merrick is a simple yet enjoyable lich bad guy with a horde of undead shades… Nobody else did that. Super cool. The expressionless mask works great.
– Last but not least, AMS’s Lamprey… that face is terrifying! Some intricate masking to wrap the lampreys around his arms was required for sure. The scariest part is realizing that the pink miasma steals your powers… then another lamprey bigger than a house devours you from behind while you’re powerless. Didn’t see that coming did you? Awesome.
Work has me crazy busy right now so if possible I’d like to get back to you in a few days about a prize choice. Thanks as always, and Cheers all!
Unfortunately we don’t do prizes any more. But you’re featured as a Creator of the Week at the top of the right column, so that’s something!
Oh, well fantastic then! You, sir, just saved me time!
Ohhhhh, okay that makes more sense. I guess great minds think alike, this time right down to titles. And yes, Vectorman’s Cthulhu is really cool.
Alrighty then, moving on…