Character Contest 19: The horror … the HORROR!

The season of silly costumes, a year-round affair in these parts, has reached critical mass in the world at large with the advent of that crazy holiday, Halloween! People from all walks of life will, for just this one night, release their inner geek and dress up as everything from the classic sheet-over-the-head ghost to an AT-AT Walker from Star Wars and everything in between.

As the advance guard of the Costume Design Revolution, however, it is incumbent upon us to lead the way, to show the regular citizens of this fine world what is possible. And so your challenge this week is to create the scariest Halloween costume/monster/getup you can using any version of HeroMachine you like.

I'll grant you, people dress up as non-scary stuff all the time for Halloween, but at its core the holiday is supposed to be about being scared. You don't have to go bloody, necessarily, but Tinkerbell ain't gonna cut it. Unless she's actually cutting it, "it" being the horrified neck of one Peter Pan, Esquire, for instance.

So get busy, folks, and make with the horror!

  • You have one week, starting today and ending next Tuesday.
  • All entries must be left as links to an image or images in the comments to this post, and all images must be 100% HeroMachine-generated (any version).
  • The winner will get to choose either any item he or she wants, or their caricature, put into HeroMachine 3 for all to see and love.

Good luck everyone, I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

If you don't know how to do a screen capture, and for some reason are not happy with or can't use the "Save as JPG/PNG" button in HeroMachine 3, Hammerknight put together a how-to for you.

P.S. As a special, rare sneak preview, next week's contest is going to be you submitting a photo of you (or someone you know) in their Halloween costume, along with that same costume rendered in HeroMachine. So if you were on the fence about planning something for Halloween to wear, maybe this will be the kick in the pants you need!

Caption Contest 63 Winner

I am happy to give you the winner of Caption Contest 63 AND the choice of either a caricature or any item they want ... Bixlord!

contest63-winner

I liked the idea of corporate villains getting socked by well-meaning but perhaps misguided consumer advocates in tights. Congratulations to Bixlord!

I also wanted to highlight the following Honorable Mention entries which I thought were outstanding:

  • Danny Beaty: Girl, where did you get those bitchin’ thigh highs?
  • johny: lets put a frown on that face!
  • TopHat: “Quit pushing! You’ll get to eat some of the villain after I’m done!”
  • Bael: Excuse Me! Coming through! Clear the men’s room! Taco Hell Emergency!!!
  • Patrick: It’s true … no matter how they look, singers always get the girl!
  • cavalier: “One way or another, I shall win the Bad Costume Contest!”
  • Frankie: “Why don’t you take this Scooby-Doo weregator ghost and chow down on some hamburgers, Jughead. Veronica’s my girl.”

Nice job and many thanks to all who entered!

Poll Position: Honey Don’ts

A day late, but here you go:

{democracy:105}

Discussion after the jump. Just don't tell your significant other.

Continue reading

Random Panel: Why print is dead

bulletman-5-1941-murder

(From -- you guessed it -- "Bulletman" number 5, 1941.)

Random Panel: When bullet-shaped helmet demos go wrong

bulletman-5-1941-awkwardhelmet

(From "Bulletman" number 5, 1941.)

HeroMachine and Michael Freaking Chabon

How utterly cool! In this New York Times "Style" section article, Michael Chabon (author of 2001's Pulitzer-winning “Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” which is a fictionalized account of the start of the super-hero comic business and a fantastic read) is described thusly:

On a recent day, Mr. Chabon scrambled to depart for the airport while the two youngest children busied themselves on HeroMachine, a software program that lets users build their own superheroes. Abe triumphantly held up a printout of a muscled hero who borrows superpowers from animals. “Look,” he said, “Animal man can take power from a seagull and fly.”

How cool is that?! Wow. I might've gotten slaughtered in my fantasy football league today, but this helps make up for it. I loved that book and to know the guy's kids are out there having fun with something I created ... wow. That's a pretty good feeling.

Random Panel: Plus it’s buy one pair, get a second pair free week!

bulletman-5-1941-glasses

(From "Bulletman" number 5, 1941.)

HM3: Hover chair

I've just updated the Companion-Vehicles set for HeroMachine 3 with Niall Mor's prize for winning Caption Contest 60. It's in two parts, the front and the back, so you can position a figure as if it's sitting in the chair:

chair2

Thanks to Niall for picking a great item to be included! And now, on to Texas-OU and the (hopefully) complete domination of the Sooners.

Random Panel: Surprised != impressed, Cosplay Kid

bulletman-5-1941-cosplay

(From "Bulletman" number 10, 1941.)

HM3: Driven

I've just updated the Companion-Vehicles set for the HeroMachine 3 Alpha with the following new items:

vehicles2

A couple are direct requests from the last thread, and the bottom four are a result of someone asking for vehicles that had a more frontal orientation so you could pose the character inside it. The motorcycle and the Jeep are more obvious, but I left out the seat and windshield of the convertible so your dude'll show through, and the horse should be workable with a bit of body-dividing and layering.

I'm not sure what I am going to work on next ... I am strongly inclined to do a bit of programming to clean up some of the messier bits, or to follow the suggestions Mark came up with through a usability study he did, or to complete more of the contest prizes, or tweak the save code, or any one of a dozen other things that need to be done in the non-drawing arena. I was crushing it during that abortive mini-version, and now this week, and I think I need a break for a few days from actual illustration. I'll let you know for sure on Monday.

Plus, hopefully the female base template will be done soon and I can pick up with that when ready. No promises, but I'm hopeful.

So, anyway, have a good weekend and hope you like these seven new vehicles!