Character Of The Week: Nug- Cyber Mask

Difficult decision this week. There’s been at least 3, maybe 4 pictures that could have been featured this week, but I’m going to go with this one by Nug because it gives me a bit more to talk about.

Lets kick off with the best bit shall we. As I’m sure everyone has noticed, the colour on the visor here is truly stunning. The warmth and the depth is gorgeous, it really adds to the sunrise reflection effect that is being portrayed here. It also doesn’t drown out the rest of the reflection, nor the face beneath the visor, which is good, making the image seem more realistic. I also like the fact that Nug put small highlighting shines in some of the hexagons on the visor. It’s a little detail that just adds that little bit of polish to the image and just takes it that little bit further.

Nug said on his thread that he wasn’t to happy with the hair on this picture. I personally can’t see the problem. The slight glow that he has added makes the hair seem more natural than it would if it were just left unshaded. That combined with the fact that you can actually see the individual hairs for the most part gives a natural looking hair style with an un-natural edge, a very pleasant and eye-pleasing juxtaposition.

However, we now come to something I haven’t done in a while, what’s wrong with the picture. Nug is right, this picture isn’t perfect, it could be improved. And for me, it’s the jaw line. The metal part of the helmet is made from a cyber-torso, which is fine and the item works well for its purpose, but I don’t like how Nug just left the bottom edge as it was. It gives the character an oddly shaped square jaw and it looks odd when you look at the characters chin. If he had masked the torso item to the same female head he had used for the chin, Nug may have been on to a real winner here. But just that one bit makes it fall short of perfection. But only just.

Open Critique Day #3

Alright! It’s time for another Open Critique Day! If you’re wondering why I doing this today on a Friday instead of on a Saturday, I just want to make sure that this gets more participants than just 3-5 people, as the last two OCD’s had only a few.

As for how this goes, you post a work of yours, finished or WIP (aka work in process, for those who are new to abbreviations), and then others give you critiques on your work.  I do not mind if you post the occasional non-HM picture or piece of writing, but keep in mind that, though there are some, not all of us here are writers or do art outside of HeroMachine. All I ask is that you only post pictures that are your own design and not any that copyrighted or based off of copyrighted characters. As for pieces of writing, I’m not sure about whether fan fiction is allowed, but for right now, just in case, don’t post fan fiction either.

Also, again, if you post a work, it is highly recommended that you also give someone else a critique. Throughout the day, when I’m not busy with class, I’ll also post critiques.

HM3: Blazing Swaddles (Contest Prize)

The Nate asked for a swaddled baby and I obliged. No questions asked. I just assumed that there was some crazy weaponization of a baby involved. This piece (2 pieces actually, swaddling and baby head) can be found in ItemRight/Miscellaneous. Enjoy this new bundle of joy!

BabySwaddled_TheNate

 

The Big Question ♯27

You know guys, the 200th Contest got me thinking, we’ve had two contests now where we’ve been asked to enter what we think is our best ever work. But what would enter if you had to pick someone else’s work? What is you favourite piece of heromachine artwork that someone else has done?

It’s not an easy decision this one, I mean there’s been so many great artworks all the way from the classics from people like Zyp, AMS or djuby, to the more recent additions from ‘machiners such as Valyndril, Jeimuzu or Stulte. But having considered it long and hard, personally, I’m gonna have to go with this one by SeanDavidRoss.

You know how, last week I said about when I first found the blog side of the site. Well this was one of the first pictures I stubbled across when I did find the blog. It looked like it was hand coloured then and still does. Ok, looking at it now compared to some of the more clean and neat shading styles that people have adopted since, it does look a bit rough in some places. But that really doesn’t matter. It’s still a stunning piece of art.

So that’s my pick, now it’s over to you guys. You can mention more than one if you so wish, I’m not that mean, I’m just interested and I don’t have anything better to post today.

Kaldath’s Caption Contest #51

Your challenge this week ladies and gentlemen is you give your best replacement dialogue for the following image:

DP 1

The normal rules apply, which are: You are limited to Three (3) entries which are due by 1:00 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday November 18th.  Of course I as always expect you to keep your entries no worse then PG-13 in nature and that you follow all the normal rules of the forum when writing your caption for the above image. That being said I wish you all Good luck!

A Word About Copyrighted Characters

Greetings Ladies and Gentlemen,

I felt the need to take a moment to explain to you all our rules on Copyrighted characters as it relates to Heromachine art and all sites Owned and Ran by Heromachine founder and creator Mr Jeff Hebert,

 

Now while this information is posted all over our forums ( Stickied to the top of each sub forum ) I know we have a lot of new members as well as many members that do not frequent the forums at all so:

Firstly the Rule:

It is strictly forbidden for you too post pictures created with the use of any version of Heromachine to any official Heromachine site ( This website, the Facebook page, etc ) of any and all copyright characters (including amalgamations of copyrighted characters ).

Now for the reasons for this rule:

If you create a Heromachine picture of a character from a comic book, game, movie, or other existing work (i.e., Wolverine, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, etc.) it has the potential of causing legal issues for Jeff, whom has already had threats of lawsuits in the past over Heromachine.  Jeff does not want any additional legal troubles and so he forbids the use of his program for copyrighted characters and while he can not actually stop you from using the program to violate this rule he can control what content is posted to his sites.

Now I know some of you are thinking to yourselves that the fair use clause in the copyright laws should protect heromachine, and that Jeff would win any lawsuit brought forward against it, I will just say that this is not necessarily the case since Jeff makes money off of heromachine through ads. But let us assume for the moment that it is 100% assured Jeff would win a legal battle, he does not have the deep pockets that a Marvel, or DC Comics, or a BBC, etc does; which could grind him into the dust with delays and other legal moves designs to drain his pockets before  the case ever reaches a court room. But again Let us assume Jeff has the money to successfully fend off a legal challenge he simply does not want to headache of having to do so thus the likely result of such a lawsuit would be the closing down of this site and all Versions of Heromachine forever disappearing. None of us want this to happen and so we have rules in place to help prevent it!

 

It is my Job, and the job of all my fellow moderators to be the bad guys and see that our rules are adhered to. I know that sometimes our decisions are unpopular but believe we when I say we do not delete or edit your posts for the fun of it. We do it to protect Jeff and to keep our community alive!

 

 

Kaldath’s Caption Contest #50 : Results

Last week I asked for you best dialogue for the following image:

Donnie 1

Of the entries received these are the top five as judged by me:

*****

JR19759
You know, you’re not exactly what I envisioned when I ordered a strip-o-gram.
*****
Herr D
If that’s a hare in your pocket, I’ve already won the race!
*****
redligerwing59
I cant remember is it side to side or turtlewax on turtlewax off?.
*****
Viper
Ever seen a turtle pole da- err vault? Pole vault?
*****
Skybandit
I use this to scratch itches under my shell!
*****
And the Winner is …………………………………………….

Continue reading

Character Design Contest ♯98- Starting At The Beginning

This one’s going to be interesting. What I want you to do this week is very simple. I want you to do is create a character. They can be anything, hero, villain, alien, male, female, strong-man, speedster or techie, does not matter. BUT, you can only use Heromachine Version 1…

Have fun. Oh and also, by entering this contest you are giving permission for the character/ characters you enter to be used in a future contest in two weeks time, ok?

As per usual, no limits on entries this week and the contest will close at midnight Saturday (blog time). The winner gets to claim a custom made item from dblade to be put into heromachine, so long as the item conforms to his prize rules, which you can find here: https://www.heromachine.com/forum/the-heromachine-art-gallery/dblades-whiz-bang-item-dispenser/. Please read the contest rules before entering, have fun and good luck.

Rules for posts, contests, and challenges that I am hosting: Original characters only, no copyrighted characters, no characters based on copyrighted characters, no characters based on RPG’s or other games. The characters must be your own design and not based on any character that might be copyrighted in any way. I have the right to delete any post that I believe crosses this line without warnings. Only post pictures and images that you have either created for this contest specifically or you know for certain have never been entered to a contest before. If you aren’t certain, don’t enter it, because I’m not going to go back through all of the contests and check.

Character Design Contest ♯97 (The 200th)- Poll

[polldaddy poll=”8434997″]

Unfortunately there were some people who didn’t name their entries properly, and so didn’t make it onto the poll. Still, I think there’s enough creations on there to give everyone a hard time deciding.

So, here’s how this is going to work. You can vote for your top 5, once a day, for a week. The result will not show when you vote, because I’m mean like that, and it helps build the tension. NO CANVASING FOR VOTES, anywhere. Share the poll by all means, but don’t directly ask for votes. If you’re found to do so you will be disqualified. Other than that, good luck, may the best ‘machiner win.

Character Design Contest ♯96 (Mad Scientists & Monsters)- Winner

As suspected, there was a much lower voter turn out for this contest than last weeks, but it was still a decently close contest, with only 6 votes separating the top 2. But, of course, there can be only one, and this week that one is Skybandit for his Monster. Congrats Skybandit, please make sure you speak to dblade about your prize, and well done to everyone who entered.

96 Skybandit- Monster