Author Archives: AFDStudios

Timing is everything in romance

(From "Target Comics" volume 2, number 2, 1941.)

Slayer vs. Player. Who wins?

What would happen if Buffy the Vampire Slayer met Edward The Vampire from "Twilight"?

I'll keep this short and sweet: Vampires. Don't. Sparkle.

I would pay cash money to see Buffy kick this pale-skinned glitter-ridden hipster's ass. You?

[polldaddy poll="6288562"]

(Image via the very talented Joe Eisma.)

Phrases you never want to hear: "Receive a sample of my gases!"

(From "Target Comics" volume 2, number 2, 1941.)

Caption Contest 123: Not for Teacher

Your challenge this week is to come up with the best replacement dialog for this comics panel (courtesy of the Mighty God King):

The best entry (as judged by yours truly) wins the author's choice of either any item they like or any portrait to be included in HeroMachine 3′s final release, or a custom black and white “Sketch of the Day” style illustration (you pick the subject, I draw it however I like).

All entries must be left as a comment (or comments) to this post. Keep ‘em clean (appropriate for a late-night broadcast TV show), but most importantly, keep ‘em funny!

No limit to entries, but please, self-edit and only put up ones you genuinely think are good!

Character Contest 92 Winners

Due to this conference taking forEVER and cab rides in Manhattan at rush hour being endless, I'm awfully late getting the results of our last Character Design Contest posted. My apologies. Time constraints are also keeping me from doing a writeup for each Finalist, which I regret, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Your challenge was to come up with an illustration showcasing a common soldier from any genre. Not the high and mighty generals or the one-off super hero, but your line grunt, the kind of man or woman (or orc or robot or ...) that fights on the front line against the enemy. All of the entries were great, but I picked out a handful that each had something special, unique, and/or spectacular about them.

I also wanted to send a special shout out to all our new folks, as well as returning stars Sean David Ross and Superfan1. Good to see you guys back!

Ladies and gentlemen, your Finalists!

Continue reading

The safe word is 'Ow'?

(From "Target Comics" volume 2, number 2, 1941.)

Pop Quiz Shield Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered the last Pop Quiz! We had some fun entries, which I am happy to post here for your enjoyment and convenience.

As always, there can be only one winner, and this week it's ... Iscarioto:

I thought this was a very creative entry that looked great both active and inactive. Even though there's a bit of a person showing, like with some of the other entries I think it's necessary here to show what the heck the thing is.

Great work everyone! Thanks for sharing your weekend creativity with us.

META: Traveling and Open Thread

I'm winging my way to New York City today for a conference, so the Pop Quiz will remain open until this evening when I am safely ensconced in my hotel room and can get to judging. Behave yourselves!

Feel free to treat this as an open thread to discuss whatever you like.

I like my heroes with a reservoir tip

(From "Target Comics" volume 2, number 2, 1941.)

Pop Quiz: Hammer Shield Time!

Happy Saturday, folks! Your one-day quick-fire challenge is:

Make a shield!

You could go for a classic Medieval battle shield, a far-future photon protector, a super-heroic Captain America style barrier, or anything else you can think of. But it has to be just the shield, no character or background or anything.

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 contest, but instead of a whole week I'll announce the winner tomorrow evening (since I'm getting this post up a bit late).

  • All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like ImageShack, PhotoBucket, the UGO 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.

The winner will receive their choice of either one item or one portrait to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 release, or one Sketch of the Day style drawing where you pick the subject and I draw it how I like.

Good luck!