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Congrats toĀ Delirious Al for winning the last Character Design Contest. I thought it would be closer than it was, I must admit.
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Posted in Challenge Favorites
As promised, one of the new weekly blog posts. Now there idea here is not only to give Ā praise, but to look at good design features and highlight techniques that make the composition work. So without further ado, this week we'll look at Renxin's Kwan Yin.
This was entered into this weeks CDC, but I had to disallow it due to it contravening the 'no current religions' rule, however, it is certainly worth looking at more closely.
First off, let's look at the colour. Being a representation of a Buddhist god, the colours are very light and natural, none look out of place or overly dominant. Using only three colours is one of the best techniques for getting a good costume, you can often smoother a good design by using too many colours, no matter how well chosen they are. By using only the green, purple and white, it allows the foreground figure to stand out more against the background. The fading effect used on the colours of the lower dress (HINT: which is done by using the rectangle or circles on the last page of the Background-Shapes page and setting the first colour's alpha setting to 0% and then masking to the desired object) is a really simple but effective technique that can be used in lots of different ways (such as shadow effects or highlighting).
The lotus petals around the feet is a really neat way of using that insignia and by using a lighter outline colour compared to much of the rest of the piece, it differentiates these foreground objects from the main composition in a highly effective way.
The choice of items for making the clothes, whilst not highly innovative, is very effective. The skirts for sleeves is a good example of going to other categories to find what you need.
My favourite part of this piece however, has to be the face. I'm still not quite sure what item was used for the eyes (maybe the manga style nose? Do you think you could clarify for us Renxin, I'd love to know) but it works perfectly. The expression definitely says 'peace', which is the point of a depiction of buddhism. The choice of items for the hair and hairpiece were very well chosen and certainly add to the whole head area without drawing attention away from the face, much like the background 'halo'.
Overall, a wonderfully executed piece that looks very simple, with no masses of shading, because it isn't needed. Shame it wasn't eligible for the contest really.
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Posted in Challenge Favorites, Character of the Week, Cool Characters, HeroMachine 3, Things I Like
Well it is once again time to select a caption contest winner! Last week I gave you the following image to work with:
After going through the entries I have selected the following five as the finalists.
JR19759
āWhatās the point in having superpowers when I canāt even rid the world of Justin Beiber?ā
The Atomic Punk
The director cast Ryan Reynolds to play me in an upcoming movie.
Firecracker
Dang! Fired! And I really liked that TSA job.
Alexander of Limbo
ā¦and then Power Girl said: āwell at least i have a pair to flaunt!ā
Prof. Abercrombie Q. Anthrax
Itās always Marcia! Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!
All very good candidates for the winning spot so now I must select out one, and that one is ........
Firecracker for the clever play on my Tuesday random panel post from last week.
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Posted in Caption Challenges
This week on Anime Talk I am going to be doing a mini review of the 1987 anime series "Red Photon Zillion", the anime that got me hooked! Zillion takes place on the year 2387 on the planet Maris ( which humanity had apparently colonized at some point) which is under attack by a alien race called the Nozas whom wish to destroy all human life and claim the planet for themselves. The Nozas as practically immune to all normal human weapon systems, and the last line of defense against this threat are three human teens, JJ, Champ, and Apple known collectively as the "White Knights".
The White Knights are able to stand against this alien threat because they have been entrusted white the Zillion weapons systems, three mysterious guns that had recently be discovered on the plant and that run on a extremely rare power source ( Zillion ). Anything that is shot by the Zillion guns is instantly disintegrated, things just seem to wink out of existence when hit. Ā Now on the surface the premise of this show may sound a but silly, three teens fighting an alien army on there own with three magic guns but if you can get past that little difficulty of suspension of Ā disbelief I found Zillion to be a fun show to watch.
The show has as much action as anyone could want, as well a a nice helping of humor due to the interactions between the three main characters. The show is clean with no gratuitous sexuality to worry about and while having its fair share of violence since it is about an alien invasion after all, it is not over the top is that regard. The animation work being from 1987 Ā looks a little dated style wise compared to more modern anime but still looks fairly good at least in my opinion. In conclusion I would say that If you are looking for a light, non-complex, fun PG rated anime that you can watch with the family then I suggest you give Red Photon Zillion a try.
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Posted in Anime
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
For this weeks Poll Position, I asked for your help in picking a topic for the poll. There were some real good suggestions made but I am going to give the nod to The Atomic Punk for suggesting "Traditional or Pen and Paper RPG's vs MMORPG's". So this is what I want to know, given that they are two totally different experience, which of the two do you prefer to play? Please take a moment to vote for your favorite, and comment below with your reasons for your pick. As a bonus I would love to know which games you have played in the past?
[polldaddy poll="7203320"]
Myself I have played:
Pen and Paper Games: AD&D 1st edition, AD&D 2nd Edition, Heroes Unlimited ( a superhero rpg ), RIFTS, Palladium Fantasy, Mechton, and Vampire the Masquerade.
MMORPG's: Everquest, Guild Wars, Final Fantasy XI, World Of Warcraft ( for a very short time ), Shaiya, Dungeons & Dragons Online, and DC Universe Online.
All in all while I enjoy both experiences I have to say that if I had to pick a favorite I would go with the old school pen and paper rpg's. There is just something about getting together with some real good friends around a table that you lose with MMORPG's. to throw in a little bonus answer my favorite game of all the pen and paper games I hav e played would have to be RIFTS.
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Posted in Versus
Ok, for this weeks character design contest I want you to give me your interpretation of a god from mythology (none of the major world religions please, we don't want to cause offence, unintentional or otherwise). However, I'm going to give one rule......
NO GREEK/ ROMAN OR NORSE GODS
They've been done to death. There are plenty of other pantheons to pilfer from.
As I said, it is your interpretation, so it doesn't have to be historically accurate (you can do modern day superhero versions if you want), but keep the theme of whoever you're doing and please make sure I can tell who it is (links to wiki pages may help, I don't have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all mythology).
Anyway, you have until Sunday. No limits on entries. 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 RPGās 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 characters 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.
Comments Off on Character Design Contest āÆ29- Oh My Gods
Posted in Character Design Challenges
Well done to Mad Jack for winning the covers contest with 'Days of Annihilation 3'. Everyone did excellent work.
Comments Off on Character Design Contest āÆ27- Winner
Posted in Challenge Favorites, Character Design Challenges
For this week's pop quiz, your challenge is to decorate ONE of the items below.
All of the items can be found in Items- Right: Miscellaneous. I'm not really looking for anything other than the item being decorated, so you don't have to do a character to go with the item, just the item will do.
You only get one entry so be creative, and above all else, have fun!
All entries must be in JPG or PNG formĀ (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (likeĀ the HeroMachine forums,ImageShack,Ā PhotoBucket, or whatever);
You have 24 hours. Good luck.
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Posted in Pop Quiz
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
