HeroMachine Character Portrait Creator

You have some great pieces, here. If these are examples of the improvement you’ve made in just a month’s time, then you’re probably a power user in the making. *impressed*

The Progenitors are great. Totally b’dazz!

Awesome work!

Hey, great start!

I look forward to seeing more.

@Keric: Thanx! I read through some of the thread to get an idea of wtf this thing was allabout hahah

@Randall: TY for the welcome! Look forward to seein some of ur stuff whenever u get back!

@Herr D: Woo! Yay! Also… wow, that was like a super-thorough grading. I’m a lil intimidated at havin to follow that up in my response to the entries for my challange lol. Speaking of which….

HERE ARE YOUR ITEMS:

[img]https://s21.postimg.org/x1qdachrb/Screenshot_2016_11_21_at_4_23_53_PM.png[/img]

I can’t figure out how to do text yet (do I need to install some kind of expansion or something? That’s my takeaway from what I’ve read lol) but you can find them respectively in:

Item Right – Heavy

Eyes – Standard

Background – Landscapes

@Herr D: BTW’s, I have a gallery up now! ^_^

I don’t have any characters of my own (yet! 8D) to contribute, but here’s my take on Sveirj!

[img]https://s17.postimg.org/pidwwk8nj/Screenshot_2016_11_21_at_6_37_25_PM.png[/img]

Edit: Fixed some things I wasn’t totally happy with.

First off, thanx Randall, for letting us know not to worry. Good luck on your other deadlines.

Now. On to business:

Extra point for holiday season goes to each entrant right off the bat. I knew you could do it, you contest entrants, you.

–For those tuning in late, I’m all about ‘misusing’ items from the vast clip art treasure trove. That’s a one for findable with or without prompting / questioning. That’s at least a two for “abuse,” or leaving category in an emphatic manner. That’s a three for incorporating / manipulating in a way that makes it less obvious but still present and belonging to the pic.

Concision of design isn’t something I normally mention here, but C got all three items in the FACE OF ONE CHARACTER. I have no score bonus for that, and I’m beginning to wonder if that is an oversight on my part. A good design does tend to be concise, efficient.

Anyway, C’s items all left category behind and looked good. The Braided Beard item looked slightly less like it belonged to me. Maybe the coloring just struck me as wrong? A sparkle might’ve made it up, but I’m not sure. (Somebody posted a tutorial for those, gotta give him a plug for the new girl.)

K’s items? The mask was a mask, and it began to tell me something. If you’d had a backstory posted to ‘explain it to us westerners,’ that would’ve surged up. The BB was still hair, but topped the head and became part of the posing, enough to tie C for that item. The scarf was still clothes, but seamlessly became a different garment. Not as easy as it looks—your thread has examples of you doing that stuff.

Then there’s the general contribution category. The emotional content was noticeably different, but the item’s contributions to it were about the same. C pushed every button. K could’ve added a big performance smile to the skater or cheering arms to the crowd (or something else) for more emotional effect. Maybe an announcer looking impressed or flabbergasted at the ‘Triple-Axle-Tree-Trimming-Contest’ Champion?

Bells here means presence by virtue of item or holistic effect contributed. Pivotal, both of you. Nothing extraneous about the three items themselves.

Whistles is about minor pieces or features like placement, posing, shading, highlighting, etc. C did some great shading and placement. K did great posing, down to the hair. I wish I’d seen some ice fragments spraying up or the skater’s shadow or something. K would’ve tied her here, except for a sleeve problem.

Finally there are background and story. C managed to push every button again. If anything, a fewmore subtly-placed but specific details might’ve made that a 5. If there is anything there that shouldn’t be, it’s the Santa’s sleigh and reindeer. I hope you use it somewhere else. It took away from an otherwise perfect background somehow—didn’t belong. If it had been on a neighboring house or something . . . no worries, your point is safe. You seamlessly got there with the backstory.

K had no backstory. The minimalist background WORKS, though, for this. Did she win the T-A-T-T-C? I actually want to know.

C has a clear victory here. CHRISTIE S! Pick three items and post a deadline! You are the winner and so now judge of the next OPMC!

(Breakdown below)

Backstory score: ………………..C4……K0

Bkgd score:………..……………C3.5…..K3.5

Scarf:……………….…………….C4.…….K3.5

Braided Beard: ………………….C3.5……K3.5

Mask: …………….………….…C4….….K3

Bells: …………………….…….C4…..….K4

Whistles: ………………….…….C4………K3.5

Items-story:………………..……C5……..K4.5

Emotional:……………….……..C5…..….K4
Seasonal theme ….…………..C1……….K1
………………………………………C38…..K30.5

Bump?
Any one want some thing redrawn?

Hmm, I never ever EVER made an introduction in these forums (or the old UGO forums, even!), so I guess I’ll do it, now that I’m back to posting regularly-ish.

Well, my name is Josh. I’ve used the handle “darkvatican” (usually abbreviated as DV or “Vat”) since I was a teenager and I’m almost 34, now. I’m a bit of a lightweight, when it comes to sci-fi/fantasy. I don’t choose between the Wars and the Trek, for example, and I have only read the Tolkien/CS Lewis/Jordan series of fantasy novels within the last ten years. Both of those things make me a lightweight, right? 😛 I’m a superhero nut who doesn’t read comics anymore (too much continuity turmoil and dumb writing), and I don’t play and RPGs (of any variety) anymore. I used to play D&D/Cyberpunk/homebrew RPGs/console RPGs, but I gave it up years ago, after getting married. (There’s just not enough time in a day to do all the things I like, if I want to have a happy wife! 😉

I used the old HM2 and even purchased the program years ago (I think it was 2007 or 2008), and I began using HM3 when it was still in the early stages of the “alpha” build. I’ve recently begun doing HM3 character art again, after a long hiatus (about four-five years, I believe), although I had a few posts in that time and I still browsed others’ artwork. I primarily concentrate on creating (or reproducing) character designs that are distinct, but simple enough that they could be reproduced again (in other mediums and/or by other artists).

Anyways, that’s me in a nutshell. Cheers!