The Nerdmudgeon Podcast
Three middle-aged nerds (including yours truly!) review all of the MCU movies in chronological order. Short, funny, and full of good vibes, check it out and let us know what you think!
Nerdmudgeon.com
Author Archives: AFDStudios
Pop Quiz: Rag Doll
Happy Saturday, folks! School is starting, and with that comes the heartbreak of leaving behind childish things. Thus your one-day quick-fire challenge today is to create an image that uses the rag doll from ItemRight-Miscellaneous (pictured above). You can make her huge (tip: manually enter a number in the Scale control to get past the drag-control’s limit) and dress her up, or you could have someone holding her, or you could make a tea party, whatever you like. But the rag doll must be visible and relatively prominent. In other words, don’t open your Captain Awesome illustration and drop her in the background!
You only get one entry — that’s right, just one! So make it your best. Most of the other rules are the same as for a regular challenge, but instead of a whole week I’ll announce my favorites either tonight or tomorrow morning. Elaborate backgrounds aren’t necessary, though if you’ve got one it’s fine.
- All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like ImageShack, PhotoBucket, the HeroMachine Forums, whatever);
- Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
- Please name your files as [your name]-[character name].[file extension]. So DiCicatriz, for instance, would save his “Bayou Belle” character image as DiCicatriz-BayouBelle.png.
- Please make the link go directly to the image (like this) and not to a hosting jump page (like this). Here’s a quick-start guide on how to do that for various image hosting services.
I’ll pick one entry as my personal favorite, which will get to be featured in the side bar to the right for ultimate glory! As a bonus you’re allowed to say you won the Internet for a few days.
Good luck!
Posted in Challenges, Pop Quiz
The beautiful synergy of comics
I am criticized from time to time for not doing more positive stories (a very fair criticism, I hasten to add), so I wanted to share this example of comics done exceptionally well. It’s from a daily comic strip that predates even my ancient time called “Gasoline Alley” by Frank King. In its day it was as big as Spider-Man or Superman are today. But what caught my eye (thanks to a friend on Facebook) is the way the shadows define the forms here without requiring actual outlines:
The last two panels are just breathtaking in their elegance, simplicity, and effect. You barely notice that the figures are made of nothing but shadows and negative space, a wonderful rendering technique just on its own. But the magic of comics comes from the way the effect works with the dialog to enhance the sense of foreboding the creator is striving for. There is beauty in their upcoming marriage just as there is beauty in the forest, but some darkness awaits as well. Either the words or the art by themselves are still good, but when combined they achieve a kind of beautiful synergy that only comics can provide.
(Original artwork and a great essay are from “Hooded Utilitarian“.)
Posted in Randomosity, Retroviews, Things I Like
Everybody run, the new GL has got a gun
I am utterly ignorant of current DC storylines, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. But I just saw the announcement that the new GL will be an Arab (which is cool), along with this image:
You’re wielding one of the most powerful weapons in the universe. So why do you need a gun? Did I fall asleep and it’s 1995 again?
Posted in Bad Super Costumes
Open Critique Day #45
My full-time (non-HeroMachine) job might keep me from actually getting to these before this evening, but it’s time for another Open Critique Day!
If you have a HeroMachine illustration or another piece of artwork you’ve done that you’d like some help with, post a link to it in comments along with your thoughts on it — what you think is working, what you’re struggling with, etc. I will post my critique of the piece, hopefully giving some tips on how to improve it.
Of course everyone is welcome to post their critiques as well, keeping in mind the following guidelines:
- Make sure your criticism is constructive. Just saying “This sucks” is both rude and unhelpful without giving specific reasons why you think it sucks and, ideally, some advice on how to make it better.
- Each person should only post one illustration for critique to make sure everyone who wants feedback has a chance.
- I will not critique characters entered in any currently running contest, as that doesn’t seem fair to the other entrants. You can still post it if you like for the other visitors to critique, but I will not do so.
That’s it! Hopefully we can get some good interaction going here and help everyone (me included!) learn a little bit today.
Posted in Open Critique Day
Goebbels is why you can't go snipe hunting any more
(From “Daredevil Battles Hitler”, 1941.)
Posted in Daily Random Panel
You're Going to Die IV
If you’re just tuning in, our goal is to write our own Choose Your Own Adventure where every choice is twofold, with one leading to further adventure and the other to a gruesome death. Last week featured:
B: Shrug and continue eating:
Meh. Whoever this guy was, he didn’t have a great taste in tattoos, but he did have a GREAT TASTE. You finish the bag off, and lick you fingers. You scrumple up the Jack’s Links packet into a ball, and proceed to throw it into the waste paper bin on the other side of the office. It runs along the ridge of the paper bin twice before finally falling in. Hey, this is great! You think you’ve just invented the latest sport: waste paper golf. You’re surprised nobody has ever done this before. God, you’re an absolute genius. You’re about to scrumple all of your important legal documents into balls to continue your newfound sport, when Angeline walks into the room and sits in her cubicle. You know Angeline is like, really into you, because she was totally checking you out at the last Christmas shindig. Well, either you, or the tall, handsome guy standing next to you. Nah, it was definitely you.
You’re now conflicted. Do you:
A: Continue honing your paper ball throwing skills.
OR
B: Walk over to Angeline, and give her your best pick up line.
All five entries were very fun, and I encourage you to go take a look when you get the chance. But the official continuance comes to us by BenK22! But first, here’s what would have happened had we gone with trying to give Angeline a pick up line:
Posted in RPG Corner, You're Going to Die
You should've thought of that before you left the house in a rubber suit and spiked belt
(From “Daredevil Battles Hitler”, 1941.)
Posted in Daily Random Panel
