This weeks Power User is the master of creating comic book covers on the 'machine. He also managed the silver medal at the last Friday Night Fights. So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome: RobM
Online name used in HeroMachine environs: RobM
What is the secret origin of that name: My online name was rocketed from the doomed planet Krypton to Earth where it was bitten by a radioactive spider with an adamantium skeleton. Realizing that with great power comes great responsibility, it adopted the imposing persona of RobM, because criminals, by nature, are a cowardly and suspicious lot. (For the real story see the answer to question four.)
A photo (or drawing) of you in “real life”:
Mmm…beer.
Real name: Rob McKercher
Real city/state/country: Tucson, Arizona
Real job: Document Specialist for an observatory design project.
Real age: 513 months
Gender: Male
Relationship status (married, single, in a long-term relationship, dating someone, “it’s complicated”, etc.): Married - conveniently to the same person with whom I’m in long-term relationship.
Online archive of your creations: I have two galleries on the forums
- RobM’s Machine Works for General Stuff - http://www.heromachine.com/forum/the-heromachine-art-gallery/robms-machine-works/
- RobM’s Sentinels Comic Covers - http://www.heromachine.com/forum/posters-covers-cards/robms-sentinels-comic-covers/
The best piece of HeroMachine art you’ve created: Moonrise – it looks cool (IMHO) and it’s exactly what I imagined when I started it.
Favorite all-time geeky movie if any: It depends when you ask me, but right now it’s Highlander. I’m both a fantasy and Queen fan, so it hits me where I live.
Favorite all-time geeky book if any: The Sleeping Dragon, not particularly well written, but it dovetailed nicely with my D&D obsession at the time I first read it.
Favorite all-time geeky TV show if any: Super Friends!
Favorite all-time comic book character if any: Not a character so much as a property – Legion of Super-Heroes. And always use the hyphen in super-heroes, friends, or risk a lecture from hardcore Legion fans.
If you could have one super-heroic power in real life, you’d choose: Teleportation; I’m an impatient and cranky traveler.
In your leisure time you like to: Watch and talk about baseball. Read and talk about comics. Play with my dogs. Write a little bit but not enough; my wife is mad at me for not finishing my novel. Tell the truth I’m mad at myself about that.
Character design turn-ons (things you love to see that make for a good design): Minimalism and unconventional use of items. I also like when a character design tells the story on its own, but without being obvious or clichéd.
Character design turn-offs (things you hate to see that make for a bad design): Sloppiness – if you’re going to post it, have enough pride to avoid obvious mistakes. But then, who the h*** am I to judge?
Best tip for a HeroMachine newbie: Experiment. HeroMachine can be much more than an electronic paper doll.
Any personal message you’d like to share with the HeroMachine community about Geek Life: There’s no “I” in team, but if you rearrange the letters you get “meat.” Is anyone else suddenly hungry?
Congrats Rob. Again, I’m surprised that you hadn’t done a Power User Profile before, I could have sworn you were already a member of the club.
Also, for some reason, I could go for a steak right now.
Welcome to the Club Rob.
I’m glad you’re in a long-term relationship with your wife! ^.^
Congrats! And yeah, lets have beer and steak sometime.. 🙂
Congratulations RobM.
RobM! Finally someone besides me referred to hm as an electronic paper doll! Welcome to the club, man.
Oh, and about your novel? You can tell your wife that the only group of writers I knew IRL outside of school had something in common. All of them had one novel they never finished. I think all but one of them said it was the first one they started.
Actually how do you become a member of Power User profile? I mean are you nominated or do you have to do a specific action or picture to allow you the right?
There’s not a set thing you have to do exactly. It’s just basically do the best stuff you can and be a notable member of the community and hope that you’ve made it onto my list (which if you’ve been nominated by someone else you probably will have).
Unfortunately I’ve got a bit of a backlog at the moment so I won’t be asking new people for a few weeks.
Belated salutations, RobM! “Moonrise” is one of my favorites. It doesn’t even look like it was done in HeroMachine. Amazing light and shading technique.
Thanks, folks; it’s truly an honor to be recognized for good work by such an esteemed and talented community. This site is a great outlet for a little (or a lotta) creative mania; but the bonus is the esprit de corps.
Most of you have probably figured it out, but for those who haven’t, I’ll share my Moonrise silhouette technique. I strategically positioned all-white copies of items behind all-black counterparts. Simple but it was kind of an “aha” moment.