Zekiran_Immortal

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UPDATE - The Costume Contest will now be held on the Training Room/Test server so that no matter what server you play on, your favorite character will be able to participate!

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WE LOVE YOU!!!

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Congratz on the anniversary and everything that is going with it!

I just have one question.... where does it say that the costume contest will be on Freedom? The events page still says 'Server to be determined'.

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I'm hoping that means they're considering doing multiple servers.

Oh AWESOME!

MAN I miss his work... He's done at least one piece for me (not coh) and I made it into the last issue he did for the comics. Those are just fantastic, and what a good concept!

I can just hear Mr Zorg, after a moment, say "ah think ah'm in luv".

I would definitely be willing to wait the extra amount of time, to be able to have my Protector or Virtue toons judged, actually.

So I'll definitely be looking forward to what the judges say about it!

And besides, by sticking with Freedom, you're missing out on the other great ideas that lots of folks have had elsewhere!

(See, I'm just nudging because one of my Protector toons was called 'damn good' the other day by some random person waiting for the tram. I like that kinda thing.)

Very nice work! I really sat there just ... watching the sketch-in-progress piece, that's so cool. It could stand to not be redrawn with every link click though.

Myself, I actually want to ask ... WHY? Why Freedom? I don't HAVE any of my 'good' toons on Freedom for a costume contest.

Why not the Test Server, so we can actually have a fair contest? I would imagine that most folks 'best' toons require a cape - which is something you can't just up and recreate on a new server if you don't happen to be ON that server for the contest.

Why not have individual server contests to narrow the field to semi-finalists, and then have those copied over to the Test server for a main prize event? I know that's a little work, but hey - it's not fair to a lot of folks who just don't have the time or friends online to help them get the toon they want, to participate only on one server.

That chart scares me...

You all must have seen how the good citizens of Paragon often congregate under Atlas these days. How sometimes they merely hang out, and sometimes they run scared into corners... Often they'll be doing dance routines on the stairwell:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...tairs4npcs.jpg

But this group I managed to snap a quick shot of before they ran off to doubtless catch some bad guy or other at the behest of a faceless guy only showing up to conference calls....

I call them Paragon's Angels.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...gonangels1.jpg

Here's another vote for PSP. Anything other than the current (X) version, ones which were actually manufactured and programmed by JASC and not Adobe. From what I heard version 10 is horrid compared to the ones they did on their own. (Adobe bought JASC and I cried. really I did.)

It's far simpler to use than Photoshop though admittedly its scope of plugins and thingamabobbers is more limited than PS. Most pros that I know of use all of the above and some you've never heard of..

Get a Deviant Art account, or link frequently here to a livejournal where you can post And yes, get used to critical comments.

I've known a few people who took classes that a friend of mine offers, and I've seen them progress amazingly well. What you might also think of is "where are your high points". You've got good perspective. Perhaps your area of expertise might be more along the lines of architecture or backgrounds.

My high school art teacher adored my loose furry-anthro drawings because he himself was terrible at curves. He'd been trained as an architecht. He knew all the basics - color theory, proportion, shading techniques, all that stuff. But when it came time to put pen to paper he felt most comfortable - and was quite good at - using a ruler and compass and other tools to get clean straight lines down.

Don't be afraid to use lots of reference materials. However - do cite your references, mmkay? For character refs, muscle magazines, health mags and fashion books (never mind the smell of perfume samples...) are excellent for poses, clothing folds, and anatomy.

What I will say is this: Do NOT expect to get good at drawing comic style art by copying comic books. The best comic artists learned *professionally* at art schools. The 'hot new' artists, many of whom had *terrible* work but were quite flashy and colorful, did not go to art school. Rob Liefeld for instance, inspired a lot of people to draw... And then 6 or 7 years later when those kids grew up and started looking back, they all unanimously declared that work to be absolutely crap. Proportions wrong, missing body parts, nonexistant backgrounds, etc.

You're much better off learning the basics as suggested before, because without those you won't really get much out of it. I consider myself to be 'adequate' as an artist. I can get my point across, and I know my limitations and avoid too much challenge because I'm *not* intending to be a pro. I do have 50 or so pages of a comic drawn. I do have other projects. I am a cyberpet artist. But backgrounds? Landscapes? I suxxorz at those, let me tell ya... And I can't do machinery. I can draw a dragon, but not a droid... So I stick to what I am comfortable with.
http://lethe-gray.deviantart.com/ that's my da account. If you create one, send me a note. I'm always online and I do critique with *improvement* not *flaming* in mind.

I don't think it sucks, especially if that's like your first tablet drawing. I can't do that well on mine - but then my tablet... is way too small and I really don't like drawing on it. Definitely invest some time in it, you've obviously got skill - develop it on the tablet and go far!

Hee! I wanted to put a list of my online persona AKA's on my badge.

But then i realized that would take up most of the bagde, my shirt, and part of a pantleg.

But yeah definitely - I think if there are convention appearances by folks who habit the forums? Nametags with your alias would be cool!

Nice looking toons! ... I.... miiight try the first one in lego.

Though it's entirely inappropriate for work or sharing online (content wise I mean), Poppy Z Brite's "Exquisite Corpse" used I believe THREE different voices. Two were first-person accounts from each of the main characters, and the third I believe (it's been a while since I've read it but I recall being impressed that I followed it perfectly) was a 3rd person omnicient. An excellent book - but *definitely not for everyone*. It was something that impressed me not only by the story which was being told, but by how it was *being* told.

Ooh very nice work! Nice clean lines!!

I might try this, but my hands hurt... nng. We'll see, he's cute!

I have seen several different perspectives and voices used in a variety of ways. Sometimes, using a different style visually will do it, switching from normal font to italic for instance.

But definitely make sure that there's some form of break between your omnicient and your personal narratives, something as simple as *** could work, depending on how casual the writing style is and the content of other parts of your story. Wouldn't want to use that for more than one thing at a time.

This is a very cool idea, Ian! And you're sexy!!


This is Retail Retali8r - my 'looks just like me' toon (witness the image with me and the toon). I can't currently play Costume 1 because it's got a huge bald spot. Costume 2 varies with my mood as to how much leather and such are displayed. Costume 3 is my catgirl fanservice outfit, and costume 4 also varies but I've currently got it set to 60s b/w retro.

My Defender powersets are empathy and dark, with emphasis on Offender type snipes, holds and buffing. Favorite powers: tenebrus tentacles and clear mind. Travel power: teleport (only, no hover).

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ay/coh/retail/

Since the demise of the 'leather strap coloration' I don't really want to go in and change Costume 1 (even to shrink the head down or try and get rid of that bald spot) for risk of losing the colors on the leather straps. Should I go with costume 2's original looks (without the buttondown shirt and tie)?

I tried RR out as a villain in Beta, but I couldn't get any powersets to work quite right - though I loved the full arm sleeve tattoos (as they're much closer to how I actually look).

With the new costume equipment, are there any other types of costumery I ought to try out? The only reason I keep Costume 3 as a catgirl is yes, I used to dress up just like that at the Comic Con every year. But it's flexible. Any hints on a new look? (and yes, I like black and red for costume colors, though greys and violet are not out of the question. My supergroup colors are red and blue, but I rarely use blue any more.)

The first two are definitely redraws or eyeballed copies of other works. I would suspect that the third is your friend's actual own style, which isn't bad and could be improved to a good level of artistic competancy. But I, like the others, wish that he'd credit his sources instead of claiming them (even to a friend like you) as his own. I deal with this a lot on Deviantart, crediting sources is very important.

He's got potential, but redraws of other people's work isn't using that potential.

Ah ha! Now we know how to bribe you! Pocky!!

Heck yeah that's cool!

Just got home and scanned the sketch that David Nakayama was doing (for FREE. FREEEEE.) of our toons.

Here's Retail Retali8r!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...tali8r-2k6.jpg

I met a couple folks in line I hope you scan and post too! I didn't get to see yours.

*cough* because I was first in line lol!

... you didn't win? With that? Sheesh!

Great work, very cute!

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Maaaaaan...

I'll be at the San Diego Comic-Con that weekend


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Me too, and for the first year in 14 or more, that I don't have to keep my shop open or anything. :/ I'm going to miss out on this? Suxxorz. I might try and come home (i'm local anyway) to squeeze in some play time but nothing like what I'd *want* to do.

It'll really only work if you can use a program like Paint Shop Pro (PSP) or Photoshop, Corel, or the ghastly MS Paint. You will want to have this program *open and running* while you're in COH. Hit Print Screen and switch to that program, and hit (something similar to) edit/paste or paste. Some require a new image to be created first, some just slap it down AS a new image. (corel needs 'new image' first.)

If you don't have a picture editor, you'd need to get one to do this.

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don't change eye-sore, you'll lose those bi-patterned big pants, won't you?

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Yeah I'd lose them! I didn't realize that we'd lost the 'upper' and 'lower' portions of colors on the pants! I would never be able to reproduce half the toons I have with neat patterns on their clothing now. I am sad!