SOD.071 – Potion Roulette

The old D&D rules about the crazy possible consequences of drinking two active magic potions at once used to fascinate me. I don't know what is about to happen to this fellow, but it ought to be fun finding out. For us, if not so much for him.

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I'm still trying to learn how to do color for comics-style panels using Photoshop. I found a couple of tutorials with good tips, so on this one I was trying to figure out flats (big blocks of single colors that serve as the base) and having line art on a separate layer with no white fill for coloring, and so forth. Some day I'd really like to learn how to do a full-on painterly style of image, without black lineart, but just color serving as the borders of the shapes.

RP: Close doesn’t count, Jim

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(From "Master Comics" Number 57, 1944.)

Hammerknight’s Posing Tips

Many thanks to Hammerknight for putting together recipe cards for two more poses. Let him know in the comments that you appreciate his work putting these together, and any requests you might have for additional help topics. Click on any one of these to embiggen it.

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HM3 Coat

I am finally getting to the many back-logged contest prizes I owe people. The first to get approved is this Rocketeer-styled aviator jacket for Ian's Caption Contest 67 victory:

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When I get to converting all the various Male tops over to the Female template, this one will go along with them.

Thanks for the request Ian, I think it's a great addition!

SOD.070 – Batbreak

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You KNOW he's got sandwiches in that utility belt somewhere ...

RP: Guess who’s about to die

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(From "Master Comics" number 57, 1944.)

I’m the Whizz!

If your super power involves running away, there are two things you want to avoid when it comes to setting your your heroic identity.

First, you want to avoid choosing yellow as your primary color, because (news flash!) in our culture, yellow is the color of cowards. You rarely want to combine running-away powers with cowardice.

And second, on the off chance some dim-witted criminal misses the whole "I'm bladder-voidingly afraid" vibe, you probably don't want to name yourself anything even vaguely reminiscent of, in fact, pissing yourself.

And yet, I give you "The Whizzer":

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Super-heroes use costumes to send a message about themselves, whether that message is "I'm a bright icon of hope" for Superman or "I'm about to kick you in the face and you won't even see it coming" in Batman. It ought to go without saying -- and apparently, tragically, it most definitely went without saying where The Whizzer could hear it -- that you don't want to send a message that says "Please don't hurt me or I'll pee on both of us." I would bet you'd have a hard time inspiring fear in anyone besides the men's room attendant with that kind of look.

But let's say somehow you have attracted a Rogues' Gallery of epically clueless proportions, who have, against all odds, completely missed the fact that you're depicting yourself as a galactic-level coward. In that unlikeliest of events, the very last thing you would want to do, the absolute worst way you could possibly reinforce the unfortunate stereotype of your moniker, would be to mount a chicken on your helmet. And yet:

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Oh sure, he'll claim that's an eagle, but I think the preponderance of evidence would clearly show it's a chicken. Because I've met eagles, my friends, and I can assure you, not one of them would be caught dead hanging out with the King of Wee. Even future guests of KFC have more pride than that.

(Many thanks to reader Kate for once again pointing out an awesomely bad Golden Age costume!)

HM3: The hands of a good woman

I'm very happy to announce the release of the latest set of items for the HeroMachine 3 Alpha -- HandRight Female! They're just like the male set only, you know, for the female template, properly positioned, rotated, and scaled for your ease of use. Many of them are redrawn to look more feminine, too, with more slender fingers, longer nails, and fewer interior lines.

Niall, if I don't get at least one SQUEE out of you, I'll be crushed.

Next up, Instruments! If you have requests for specific musical items you want to see, let me know in the comments. Also, holler if the Hands present a problem.

SOD.069 – DOOM!

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After the discussion with Imp in the last thread, I wanted to try doing all the coloring in Flash. It can handle gradients, but for nicer shading you really need Photoshop.

RP: Sadly, it’s a short sword

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(From "Smash Comics" number 2, 1941.)