Hero Prime

I've got a steampunk character in City of Heroes named Steamshot. His real name is Sir Templeton Montebank, III, and until recently he was a big game hunter in the English Royal Court in the dimension known as Celadon Earth. In the late 1800s, however, he was assisting his unnaturally long-lived friend, Charles Babbage, with an experiment when Babbage's assistant, the young H. G. Wells made an error in his calculations, slingshotting Templeton across time and dimensions.

The "Nemesis Rifle" he carries with him is a Sullivan & Drake Gemini Mark VI Automated Ammunition Adjusting (AAA) Steam Rifle (with all the most pertinent upgrades, of course). He also uses a pair of powered gauntlets that allow him a moderate amount of control over electricity.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes!

Wow! Thanks, Wogglebug! WOOHOO! ARTZ!

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I created a new template for those interested in adding a little color to their sections on friends and foes...

Behold, the AllyBox!

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I love the AllyBox! I just added it to Little Zoe's page and will probably be doing it to others after I finish up the other headings on her page that aren't quite done yet.

For action Hero Prime can often be found in the Rikti War Zone, fighting off the invasion not only of the alien threat we know, but of the secret invasion by the Iradu, a religious faction of the Rikti from the far future sent back to retrieve their secret weapon.

Hm. I've got about 1000 gold, but it's on Sisters of Elune, and my account's inactive. Otherwise I'd go for this. Good luck to you!

(And if anyone is doing this for INF on Virtue, lemme know!)

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As to ownership, intellectual property will always be different from real property, which is why copyright laws exist. Its harder to value, but easy to illegally profit from. You also don't get to move into your house without a contract. The builder is agreeing to give you ownership, just like an artist COULD, but that doesn't generally happen.

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Right. And that's what I was saying: As art director of a small magazine in Minnesota, we would only commission pieces where we had full rights, so this wasn't ever an issue. Photographs, on the other hand, were generally purchased either from a stock photo supplier or bought under First Rights contracts.

Having worked in the publishing industry before, I don't think I'd ever commission a piece if I wasn't sure of Full Rights. No offense intended, but artists are fond of comparing their craft to other professions when people ask for free work, but get a little uptight when people who pay for their work want to use it in their own way. If I've commissioned you to do a piece, that piece is mine, and I'll do with it what I please. The artist's connection to it shouldn't keep me from being able to do just that any more than a company like Ford can tell me I can't mod out a new (or used) car once I buy it.

Now... if they're going to give you a better rate because you're only getting First Rights or some other variation on the rights over the piece, and if you've signed a contract stating that you'll abide to those rights (or their website includes a disclaimer providing for those rights), then you might be in a bit of a bind.

Very nice stuff. *Adds Ysa to list of watched artists*

If you want to add my character, Hero Prime or my wife's, Jade Ohm, we would be honored. There are reference shots toward the bottom of their Virtueverse pages.

Not Ssafe For Work.

Basically, anything you might get in trouble for looking at while at the office - possibly including scantily clad characters, depending on the tenor of your workplace.

Definitely... I love the styling.

These really look great!

Oooh... thanks for the comments, all!

Let's see... from goldbricker:

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Question: are you really a newbie artist? Your preamble sort of makes it easy to jump to the conclusion that you're just starting out. But maybe you only mean you're new to posting here, and really you have significant practice with art. The quality of the anatomical proportions and the pen strokes in the piece definitely suggests you've got a leg up on drawing.

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My apologies... I've never meant to leave the impression that I've never drawn before. When I was younger, I used to doodle quite a bit, and occasionally I pick up a pencil and try again, but mostly I'm met with disappointment in what I am doing. So no, I'm not "new" to drawing, as in "just picked up a pen for the first time". But I'm not a regularly practiced artist, either, especially when you consider that my doodling days ended when I was in Junior High, some 22 years ago.

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Question: are you really trying for an anime style? The eye is huge in proportion to most other anatomical details (especially the mouth). That's common to anime pieces but maybe you are a newbie artist and weren't sure what you were doing.

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Yeah... the piece was pseudo-anime-ish. It seemed to me an easier style to work on, though perhaps I should work on something mroe realistic first, then develop my own style after forming a solid skill base...?

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Question: was this done with a freehand technique, or were you tracing over top of another piece? (First it's important to say that tracing is good practice for an artist for many reasons.) Much of the quirks of the outer lines (like the v-shaped points at the bottom of the cape) almost look like they're compensating for details that would have conveniently fit within the boundaries (like flowing cape folds). It seems strange that there's so much nice detail work in the eye but the technical detail in everything else is almost nonexistent.

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This was done freehand, in pencil, then inked with a cheap felt-tip micro-point pen, then scanned in. Here's what it looked like before I smoothed it over in Photoshop. I know... not pretty. As you can see, I removed the Z from her chest and shifted the far bun in her hair back a little from the original. As far as the shape of the cape goes, if you've seen the special edition cape you get with the DVD version of City of Heroes (back in 2005 or 06), you'll find it has the staggered points like that. You can see it on a screenshot of Zoe here.

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If I were to unrestrain my natural paranoia, it might suggest an explanation that the general body was done in one very-simplistic style (such as an outline trace) and the eye was done separately and with a very different technique, (possibly even a graphic editor copy-paste from another piece). Being good with multiple diverse techniques like this is another point that runs counter to the idea that the artist is new to this kind of art.

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Go ahead and restrain your natural paranoia. *grins* The whole thing was done freehand, by me, detain or no - though I will admit to having some inspiration from a piece I saw recently at DA, which might explain the detail in the eye, as that's the one place I've always considered a "problem area" for me, and where I spent a reasonable amount of time making it look right. (No, I didn't trace it or manipulate it or do anything to it except look at it and get some ideas).

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Ok, by now I'm scared I might have given too much of an impression that I'm being accusatory of something untoward. Hopefully I'm trying to only say that I'm confused about what you're trying to achieve with this piece, and thus I don't know how to judge what you put into this piece.

And my wild theorizing could be entirely wrong, in which case I apologize.

But, if I don't let myself think about it too much, it is indeed a nice piece.

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Don't worry about it... after all, I put it here looking for critique, right? And how can you critique the art without critiquing the artist? No harm, no foul.

And from Blood_Wolffe

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I also have to ask if you are new to drawing or new to the boards.

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See above! *grins*

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As far as critique, if you flipped the eye upside down it would be perfect I think. I actually flipped my laptop over to make sure. I think I am right. Also, the neck goes forward, not back. I'm not as firm on that one though.

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Okay... neck back and flip the eye. I take it that's because of the lashes?

You know... I've been wracking my brains for a couple days trying to figure out how I can help. I'm not an artist; I'm just now teaching myself how to draw, and frankly, it's going to take a whole lot of work, since my instructor is a newb. But what you guys are doing is just awesome, and I can't help but want to be a part.

To that end, if anyone needs webhosting for these images, I'd be happy to set up a gallery where the artists here are free to post what they want. I mean, obviously you already have Deviant Art, so it's not like you need this for a service, but the offer is there.

I don't know what else I can do short of just sit here in awe of you folks and your generosity.

Okay... so this is the second drawing I've put up here, and I think I'm making some progress. Obviously it's cartoonish, and I don't have any colors (or all the details) to it, yet, but It's coming. At this rate, I'll be passable as an artist by the time I'm 50.

Anyway... here it is - and open for critique - Little Zoe in line art.

Thanks for taking a look!

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OK.

Gotta set this out for folks to know.

It's one thing to put an in-character comment on your page about an adversary. But there comes a time when it turns into OOC sniping.

If you wish to engage in that kind of behavior, please, go start a blog someplace. VirtueVerse is not for that kind of OOC player versus player nonsense.

If you can't settle such things amongst yourselves, then the sysops will step in... and we won't be kind, we'll just remove references wholesale. And, if our edits are reverted... we'll simply lock the page once we 'fix' it again.

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Why? People can just ignore the page or the comment. Just seems like more work for the Sysops to police that kind of trivial stuff. There is a page that refers to someone eating Grae Knight's brain. I found it kind of funny. IMO someone should have the freedom to include whatever RP they desire on their page even if it is not very good (within the bounds of the terms of use of course).

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While I'm not privy to the reason behind this decision, it's very likely for legal reasons, Grae. Sad as it is, in many states a bit of flaming text deriding another person or a personal attack of some sort or another can be considered grounds for legal action - which means anyplace hosting such comments has a degree of culpability and is therefore subject to being on the receiving end of any potential lawsuits.

VERY well done. Yours is a style I'd like to see Little Zoe done in! It's beautiful, with just a touch of sadness in the strokes. I love it.

I'm not on that list, but I do applaud you and anyone who takes part in making sure those who were get something instead of... well, whatever it is they wouldn't be getting if it weren't for the artists who are taking their time to fill this void.

Great job, too, as always.

I just ordered a picture of my wife's character, Jade Ohm, from that artist, Nadya. Thanks for posting it!

Oh wow.

*adds Wassy to list of people he wants doing art for him when he can scratch up the extra green*

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...I thought BaBs looked a little too light-skinned as well to the point that, at first, I didn't realize it was him. He looks great, though, and I love the sneer.

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Well, at this point I'm writing it off to differing monitor gammas - on my system, he looks good. I used a stock texture and face morph to create his appearance, so any insinuation that I consciously lightened his skin is just silly.

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To be fair, I wasn't so much as insinuating as asking. *chuckles* If it's a matter of differing gamma, I reckon that's cool, too. It still looks incredible.

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It's a great piece, but is there a reason you decided to lower BaB's melanin count and bleach his hair?

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Not particularly. Does he look too light skinned? Is the lighting making him seem pale? It looks fine to me.

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Don't get me wrong, man... I really like it. I just didn't know if it was artistic license that gave him blond/brown highlights and made him Caucasian. I don't have any problem with it, it just made me wonder a bit.

Reference

It's a great piece, but is there a reason you decided to lower BaB's melanin count and bleach his hair?

Hey there, LJ. If you're interested, there's always Hero Prime, who's got the build to be a model. There's a reference shot on that Virtueverse page, with one caveat: The symbol on his chest shouldn't be the Vanguard symbol, but instead the silver H on the Hero Prime banner at the top of the page. Ugh... I wish the game allowed for custom chest symbols!

*sighs*

Anyway... there you go.

Oh! And because my wife doesn't often visit these forums, and she really loved the Mr. Zen & Kaijitsu piece you did, I'd like to suggest Jade Ohm, who also has a reference shot on her page. I hope that doesn't count as multiple requests, but in the case it does, discount the one for Hero Prime.

Thanks!

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Did I mention I updated Jack Slayton's page!?!

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Yeah? I'm in the process of working through Little Zoe's page, too!

EDIT: Now with hot banner action!