Category Archives: Challenges

Caption Contest 2: Bird Brains

Posted on March 11, 2008 by | Comments Off on Caption Contest 2: Bird Brains

First, the winner of Contest Caption 1 was ... Hades! There were a lot of really good entries, but for some reason this one made me actually laugh out loud. I know, I'm weird.

Steak n Shake

Hades, if you don't get an email from me shortly, please get in touch so we can start on your drawing. Hopefully it'll turn out well, and I'll post it next Tuesday.

And now, here's your challenge for the second contest, the winner of which will also receive a free black and white illustration:

Caption Contest 2

Like last time, please leave your entry in the comments below, with an indication of which dialog goes where. For instance:

Half-Brain Guy: You mindless twit!
Crow-Head Guy 1: ME, mindless!?
Crow-Head Guy 2: I think you should step over to this mirror, Gary ...

I look forward to seeing what you all come up with this week, thanks for playing!

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Posted in Challenges

Write Your Own Caption Contest!

Posted on March 4, 2008 by | Comments Off on Write Your Own Caption Contest!

UPDATED: This contest is now closed, and the winner is Hades! You can see the final panel here; thanks for the great entries, everyone. If you want to try again, Caption Contest 2 is now underway!

How would you like to show the world how smart and witty you are, be entitled to call yourself (in whatever minor way) a comic book writer, AND win your very own drawing, all at the same time? Thanks to the Miracle of Science, now you can!

Here's how it works.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Challenges

Contest final custom illustration

Posted on January 31, 2008 by | Comments Off on Contest final custom illustration

Scorp has approved the final version of the contest-winning Mideios' final illustration, so without further ado, here he is:

Mideios final color drawing

And just to refresh your memory, here was the contest entry itself, direct from the HeroMachine:

Mideios - original web

Many thanks again to all the entrants, and to Scorp for giving me such a fun character to illustrate.

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Posted in Challenge Prizes, Challenges, Cool Characters, News & Updates

Progress on Mideios

Posted on January 30, 2008 by | Comments Off on Progress on Mideios

The illustration for Mideios, the contest finalist, is going very well. I've gotten approval on the black and white lineart, and though you might like to see how it's going so far (click the image for a larger, non-pixelated version):

Mideios in black and white

The black and white drawing is done in Flash in layers as I've described elsewhere. I fill the inside bits with white, then export it as a high-resolution Adobe Illustrator file. Now I'll import that Illustrator file into Photoshop for the color work, which I'll post as soon as it's approved. This is fun!

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Posted in Challenges, Cool Characters, Digital Illustration Lessons, Fantasy & Sci-fi

And the winner is …

Posted on January 28, 2008 by | Comments Off on And the winner is …

The winner of the first HeroMachine "Free Custom Character Portrait Contest" is ... Mideios! Congratulations to Scorp, he did a great job. I'll be working with him over the next couple of weeks to create the custom portrait, and when it's completed of course I'll post it here.

Many thanks to everyone who entered, and especially to the other four finalists.

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Posted in Challenge Favorites, Challenges

Just three days left to vote!

Posted on January 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on Just three days left to vote!

You only have three more days to vote for your favorite HeroMachine character, with the winner getting a free custom portrait of their creation. If you haven't voted yet, the poll's there in the right column, so get clicking!

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Posted in Challenges

Contest Finalists – Vote!

Posted on January 21, 2008 by | Comments Off on Contest Finalists – Vote!

February 1, 2008: This contest has ended, so comments on this post have been disabled.

After receiving a staggering 136 entries of exceptionally high quality and spending hours agonizing over them, I've settled on the top five finalists for the "Win a Free Character Portrait Contest". You can see all 136 entries in this Picasa web album, and the 46 "Honorable Mentions" in this one. I'll list the finalists after the jump.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Challenges, Cool Characters

Just three days left in contest!

Posted on January 18, 2008 by | Comments Off on Just three days left in contest!

You've only got three days left to get your entry in for the "Free Custom Character Portrait" contest! Entries close at midnight this Sunday, so get yours in before it's too late. There have already been one hundred characters submitted; yours might end up being the best of all, but you won't know if you don't enter.

Hope to see your creation in my inbox soon!

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Posted in Challenges

Win a Free Custom Character Portrait!

Posted on January 7, 2008 by | Comments Off on Win a Free Custom Character Portrait!

Note, February 1, 2008: This contest is over, so comments on this post have been disabled.

I am pleased to announced the first ever HeroMachine Custom Character Portrait Contest! The winner will receive a free custom, hand-drawn digital illustration of their character by me, Jeff Hebert, professional illustrator and bald guy. Here's how it works:

  1. Send in your HeroMachine character either via the HeroMachine.com Contact Form; via direct email (afdstudios@gmail.com); or as a comment to this post. You can attach your character either as a JPG/GIF/PNG or as just the HeroMachine save string, whichever you prefer. If your HeroMachine image is already posted elsewhere (i.e. on the UGO forums), just send in the link to your artwork.
  2. You can use any HeroMachine version you like.
  3. No more than three submissions per person.
  4. In two weeks, on January 21, I will select from the submitted entries the five I think show the most creativity and originality. I will publish those three submissions here on HeroMachine.com, and create a poll so visitors can vote for their favorite.
  5. The entry with the most votes as of midnight Central time on January 27 will be declared the winner, with the announcement to be made on the morning of Monday, January 28.
  6. The winning entry will receive a custom digital illustration of the winning character (meaning on the computer only, not a physical drawing), with input from the creator. The completed illustration will be displayed on HeroMachine.com, but the artwork will belong to the winner to use as they see fit otherwise.

You can see examples of HeroMachine creations turned into custom illustrations in the posts I've made previously about Kubota, Hangman, and Talena.

The final artwork will be created by me, Jeff Hebert, original HeroMachine artist whose work has been published in numerous super-hero gaming supplements and magazines. This is a real custom illustration just like those that would cost you hundreds of dollars at a convention or via an artist's commission.

So get busy with the HeroMachine and let your imagination run wild!

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Posted in Challenges, News & Updates, Super-Hero Stuff