Yearly Archives: 2011

HM3: Pointy-headed Celt with a horny body

Posted on May 6, 2011 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

I've just uploaded the following items to HeroMachine 3 (clear your browser's cache if they're not showing):

From the top left, you have:

Cool Celtic knotwork pattern in Background-Shapes from Me, Myself, and I;
Legend-ary horns in Ears-Standard from dblade;
A male body in 3/4 view (along with appropriate arms and legs) as the prize for Blue Blazer's Character Contest 60 win by me.

As usual with body items, these are not fully supported with clothing and such -- you're on your own for making them fit. However, I did include a new leg with the hip rotated towards the viewer, and a new arm rotated away as it would be in a 3/4 view to hopefully help you "sell" the idea. I'm not sure how helpful this will be since you can't put insignia or pre-made tops on it, but I'm sure you creative types out there will figure out a way to make it useful.

Depending on feedback I get on this one, I'll be doing the same to the Female Body as SeanDavidRoss' Character Contest 62 win.

dblade also put together a cool Crusher-type head, now available in HeadMale-Standard:

Many thanks to guest artists MMI and dblade!

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Posted in Challenge Prizes, Challenges, HeroMachine 3

Sharing Day, Good advice edition

Posted on May 6, 2011 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

Since Mother's Day is coming up, I thought it would be appropriate to ask you to answer the following question:

What's the best single piece of advice you've ever gotten?

Because we all know moms love to give advice! But it certainly doesn't have to be advice from your mom, although that would be fine too. Maybe it was a book you read, or something your best friend told you, or even a segment on Oprah. It might've been as life changing as "You should take that job" or as mundane as "You'd probably look better without wearing that pink thong on the outside of your leotards, Hydroman."

In return for answering the question and telling us all a little more about yourself, you get the chance to either give me some advice:

I'd like to know what it is about the HeroMachine blog you like, or even better, what you don't like. What you think I do well or what you think I do poorly. What you want to see more of, or less of. What you think I should do to get more readers, or features you'd like to see added or dropped, or really anything else you like, so long as it's about the blog portion of the site and not the actual application.

It's your chance to tell the Man off! For certain values of "Man" that equal "Bald fat guy who writes this blog."

Anyway, here's my answer to the main question:

The best single piece of advice I've ever gotten was from my brother Joey. He said, "The opinions of worthless people are worthless." I've always had a horrible lack of self-confidence, and at one point was really depressed and angsty about what people thought about me. It kind of was controlling my life. When he told me that, I guess I was finally at a point where I could really understand it, because it totally clicked for me. I stopped spending so much time worrying about what people who I didn't even like thought of me, and started spending more time worrying about what the people I loved -- and even more importantly, what I -- thought of me. It was a very liberating conversation and set the stage for a lot of personal happiness.

Now it’s your turn to share the best single piece of advice you've gotten, and hopefully to then give me some advice in return about the blog!

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Posted in Sharing Day

I hate it when that happens

Posted on May 6, 2011 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

(From "Heroic Comics" number 29, 1944-ish.)

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Posted in Daily Random Panel

Next on Double Entendre Theater

Posted on May 5, 2011 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

(From "Heroic Comics" number 26, 1944.)

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Posted in Daily Random Panel

HM3: The Impossible Brons Renaissance Leech-Rabbit

Posted on May 4, 2011 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

I've just added the following items to HeroMachine 3:

From top-left to bottom-right, they are:

Brons missed out on his two prizes for winning Character Contests 21 and 23 (they ended up getting forfeited to the "Reprize Patrol"). We finally managed to get in touch and I have added his portrait to Head-Winners.
dblade requested a conehead (a la The Impossible Man), which is now in Head-Aliens for winning Character Contest 58. dblade, if you wanted just the top half and not the chin, let me know and I can make that happen.
Kytana wanted an "Alice in Wonderland" style hare for winning Character Contest 59, now available in Companions-Standard.
The bottom left item is a gift from dblade, who drew up the nifty leech mouth for "those of us who want to suck". Ha!
Finally, Doomed Pixel wanted a pair of Renaissance pants as his prize for being the co-winner of Character Contest 38.

Thanks to all those folks for their great ideas and particularly to dblade for drawing a custom item! Let me know if you have any problems loading these.

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Posted in Challenge Prizes, Challenges, HeroMachine 3

Marvel Movie updates

Posted on May 4, 2011 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

Besides being a good read about the role of scientists as advisors for the upcoming "Thor" Movie, this "Cosmic Variance" article drops a couple of cool tidbits. Namely (emphasis mine):

Kevin Feige, president of production at Marvel Studios, is a huge proponent of having the world of these films ultimately “make sense.” It’s not our world, obviously, but there needs to be a set of “natural laws” that keeps things in order — not just for Iron Man and Thor, but all the way up to Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme who will get his own movie before too long.

There's going to be a Doctor Strange movie! I always thought he was pretty cool. Also (again, emphasis mine):

One was constructing a coherent framework for the Marvel universe — ultimately, this story about Thor the thunder god is going to have to be compatible with Tony Stark’s Iron Man world, since the two characters are both part of the Avengers. (I also got to read the script for that, and yes — it is as great as the rumors suggest.)

Has there ever been a better time to be a geek? I mean, a geek who didn't found Microsoft, that is.

I am officially in "I can't hear you!" fingers-in-my-ears period regarding Thor. I don't want to see any more previews; I'm going to see it, I'm excited about it, and I don't want to know any more. I want to be as surprised as possible and just let the movie happen to me.

But this kind of background stuff is cool, yo!

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Posted in Movies and TV

HM3: Oriental Fan

Posted on May 4, 2011 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

I've just added the following prize for Iago Valentine's Character Contest 55 prize, an open Oriental fan now available in "ItemRight-Miscellaneous":

As usual, you may have to clear your browser's cache for it to show up if you've recently loaded that set.

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Posted in Challenge Prizes, Challenges, Character Design Challenges, HeroMachine 3

SOD.224 – The Wizard

Posted on May 4, 2011 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

I'm a big fan of Chris Samnee's work, and I've been meaning to try out Photoshop as my drawing app, so here's the first rough attempt. Clearly, I have a lot to learn 🙂

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Posted in Sketch of the Day

The worst super hero costume ever?

Posted on May 4, 2011 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

I've seen enough bad super-hero costumes over the years that it takes a lot to shock me. But I have to admit, Hydroman's unholy abortion of an outfit leaves me almost speechless:

First of all, you know you're in trouble if you let Rainbow Boy design your outfit. Because if you do, you're going to end up strutting around in white nylons with hot pink boots and shorts.

Second, how on Earth does a water-based character end up with a deep-see-diving collar surmounted by an aviator helmet?

I know that personally, I always protect my precious leather accoutrements by routinely dousing them in water.

At this point in the analysis, I had two distinct working theories on how this costume came about. On the one hand, I thought maybe he was drunk the night he got his powers and just threw together whatever he could find in his mother's closet. On the other hand, I thought it was a distinct possibility that his sidekick "Rainbow Boy" designed it for him.

Then I stumbled upon this view of his outfit and I was more confused than ever:

That's right, folks -- Hydroman is going around performing super-heroic feats in a hot-pink thong.

So you tell me, is that a result of a drunken revelry through Mrs. Hydroman's closet, or the puckish fashionista Rainbow Boy having a bit of fun with his straight-laced mentor?

(Images from "Heroic Comics" number 26, 1944.)

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Posted in Bad Super Costumes