Character Design Challenge 101: Gamma Madness!

Posted on October 1, 2012 by | Comments Off on Character Design Challenge 101: Gamma Madness!

via Redditor Skitchbot.

When I was in high school, one of my favorite RPGs was "Gamma World", a post-apocalyptic setting where you could get the most random and bizarre creatures you've ever imagined. Playing a three-eyed human-plant hybrid with psychic powers and a bird leg growing out of his back was pretty much de rigueur. It was about as surreal as a game could get, and it's what inspired me for your character design challenge this week:

Create an awesome character portrait based on a randomly generated Gamma-World NPC via this great web site. Include the text description you're given in the comment where you post your image link!

You will get ten random character descriptions, from which you can choose one or all. I'll pick my personal favorites when the week is over, with the one I like best being featured in the right column for the week. The rules otherwise are the same as always:


(Click to embiggen.)

No limit on entries this week, so knock yourselves out. Just make them good!

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Posted in Challenges, Character Design Challenges

Caption Challenge 130 Results!

Posted on October 1, 2012 by | Comments Off on Caption Challenge 130 Results!

We had some really fun entries for Caption Challenge 130, which asked you to come up with replacement dialog for this comics panel:

The ones that gave me the biggest chuckle were:

  • DC-Lover: I TOLD YOU A TV RUNNING ON DYNAMITE WAS A BAD IDEA!!!
  • JR19759: This new 3D Tv is taking the Big Bang Theory a bit too literally.
  • Mark: AAAAAAAAA! Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo!
  • fuzztone: Wow! 4D TV!
  • DiCicatriz: ā€œWeā€™re sorry, but the program you were watching has been canceledā€¦ PERMANENTLY.ā€
  • dblade: Ugh. Another episode of the Real Housewives of Krypton.
  • ams: Wow, video really did kill the radio star!
  • William Peterson: ā€œAhhh! When they said Saturday Night was LIVE, I didnā€™t think they meant THAT Live!ā€
  • P.F. Bruns: When you said ā€œviolent television,ā€ I thought you meant the content!
  • gozuforce: I knew this movie bombed, but i didnā€™t take it that literally.
  • Renxin: Grandpa tried to program the DVD player again.
  • Myro: ā€œI guess weā€™ll call that myth confirmed, you can blow up a TV set by showing enough explosions.ā€
  • alphaalpharomeo: The Capitol tricked us with an exploding tv ā€¦ Worst Hunger Games ever.

This one was a real toss-up for me, I could easily have gone with any of those as my personal favorite. I would probably say that Myro, dblade, and JR19759 were my Top Three. Myro summed up my favorite show, "Mythbusters", really well. And JR19759 nailed the crossover of 3DTV and pop culture. But I'm going to go with dblade's entry, because I thought it was the cleverest actual show title that still made sense of the scene:

Thanks everyone for making us all laugh this week, I know I'm not alone in saying I needed it.

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Posted in Challenge Favorites

Character Design Challenge 100 Winners

Posted on October 1, 2012 by | Comments Off on Character Design Challenge 100 Winners

As you saw from the gallery of entrants, HeroMachinists are a very talented bunch. I'm glad it wasn't up to me to pick just five of the many entries for our centennial character design challenge! But you all stepped up to the plate, and after a week of intensive voting, the results are in:

Continue reading →

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Posted in Challenge Favorites

When did we weaponize thongs?!

Posted on October 1, 2012 by | Comments Off on When did we weaponize thongs?!

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

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Posted in Daily Random Panel

Pop Quiz: Small Gods

Posted on September 29, 2012 by | Comments Off on Pop Quiz: Small Gods

Happy Saturday, folks! One of my favorite authors is Terry Pratchett, and one of my favorite books of his is "Small Gods". It's a comical fantasy that deals not with the powerful world-shattering deities, but your everyday ones like Moog the God of Hairballs or Fred the Lord of Lowered Zippers. Your one-day quick-fire challenge today is to create an awesome image showing your idea of a Small God.

This week you can enter as many as you wish, but I'm going to put you on the honor system and request that you only post images you make today (or tomorrow if I don't get to them until then). 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. Here's how to make an entry:


(Click to embiggen.)

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!

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Posted in Pop Quiz

The insults were so much simpler in the old day

Posted on September 29, 2012 by | Comments Off on The insults were so much simpler in the old day

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

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Posted in Daily Random Panel

End of the Sidekick

Posted on September 28, 2012 by | Comments Off on End of the Sidekick

End of the Sidekick

By: Andrew Hines

We've strayed into a strange new world, where Spidey has a sidekick of his own creation. Ā It's been a 3-issue arc involving a kid who is arguably the biggest douchebag in comics history. Ā At the very least, he's on par with Cyclops. Ā At the least, this arc shows how much Peter values the tenets of power and responsibility. On the other hand, it also shows why he should never, ever, ever have a sidekick. We may see Alpha in later years, if/when his powers return, but for now I'm happy that he's gone.

Dan Slott has done a great job of writing ASM for over a year and a half now. Since Spider-Island, he's shown the wall-crawler's even deeper faith in power and responsibility. The writing on this makes it quite interesting to see how Spidey and Alpha deal with each other and the drastic up-turn that Alpha's power has taken. It's a decent ending that doesn't completely write off Andy Maguire's ties into the super-hero world. As far as the Spider-Man stories have gone in the last year or so, however, this isn't exactly his greatest and it's far from his worst.

Humberto Ramos' art has never been my favorite. Ā Despite that, the art has a great look to it. Teaming up with Victor Olazaba and Edgar Delgado on inks and colors, has brought out the good in his artwork. The art team hit some high notes on this issue that they didn't really reach on the last two issues. While good, it wasn't enough to push the issue over the top.

The combination of decent writing and good art earned the issue a solid "B". What I can say is that I'll still keep picking up ASM, especially for the next several issues, due to the reappearance of a classic foe.

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Posted in Super-Hero Stuff

Open Critique Day #47

Posted on September 28, 2012 by | Comments Off on Open Critique Day #47

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.

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Posted in Open Critique Day

It's a thin line between super-hero and creeper

Posted on September 28, 2012 by | Comments Off on It's a thin line between super-hero and creeper

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

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Posted in Daily Random Panel

META: New forum topic

Posted on September 27, 2012 by | Comments Off on META: New forum topic

I just added a new sub forum called "How Do I ...?" that's meant to be a central location where people can go to get advice on how to create a given effect they want. For instance, I just got a question from someone on the best way to do stripes on a shirt, but I use the program so rarely I don't really have a good answer.

So if you ever get stuck on a design and aren't sure what to do, that's your new home. Hopefully you pros will poke your heads in from time to time to answer the questions there as well.

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Posted in Meta