Artistic Challenge 19: Names + Randomizer - Assignments Posted!

[psychopanda]

Here's another take on The Detiorator. I had originally though about asking my old friend Train Wreck to take a stab at coloring big D, but figured he might be too busy. Well I figured wrong, chatting with him one day, and promising to send him a po'boy, netted me this nice recolor! Now if only I can convince TJ to let me nifskope his Wolverine mesh... :P

[UnkoMan]

Wow... he's managed to become even MORE disgusting.

But, dude, Trencher! I always wanted to read it, however whenever I picked it up I got way too lost in the art to ever read. That comic was the essence of unnecessary lines. I couldn't tell what was what!

Also, another picture by Panda AND me should be up some time next week.

[Panther_Gunn]

I like the recolor on the Deteriorator better than the first.  I felt the first one looked too close to Plasmus with that color scheme.  This one definitely seperates it, and doesn't even bring him to mind.

[psychopanda]

I like the recolor on the Deteriorator better than the first.  I felt the first one looked too close to Plasmus with that color scheme.  This one definitely seperates it, and doesn't even bring him to mind.

Plasmus, Ripper (Champions rpg villain), and Golgum (COH toon of mine) were all inspirations for the character. Plasmus (at least as I knew him from Perez's work) was more mountainous and didn't have the exposed musculature areas. There are similarities, but enough of which that it didn't bother me. Besides there are about a million Superman and Batman clones out there, one character similar to Plasmus isn't going to hurt.

I'm not sure if Train Wreck knows who Plasmus is, so he probably didn't have the same inspired source. I really like what he did though. We've bounced ideas around before, and he always tops me when it comes to coloring. Had I seen his version outside of the Challenge, I probably would dub him "Corpuscle". :)

[daglob]

Here's our buddy Shocktrooper:



Believe it or not, under this spoiler is the SHORT version of the origin.

:spoiler:
[spoiler] What was he becoming?

When Georg Spatz stepped from Der Ubermenschmachinemachine, he felt infused with a power he had never known before. He delighted in seeing the electricity crackle from his fingertips, and it was pure joy the first time he loosed a bolt of lightning into the inspecting Amerikaner soldiers.
   He had wanted to call himself The Red Baron, after his favorite war hero, Manfred von Richtoffen, and in his mind he viewed himself in a blood red, black, and silver uniform, a swastika emblazoned upon his chest, a chrome helmet with a spike on top on his head, something like a mask with goggles over his eyes to make him look more fearsome. Yes… that would strike fear into the Allies, with their fledermausmechen, Amazon floozies, and ubermenchen, spurious captains and inhuman firebugs, night haunters and metallic adventurers
   But his superior officers insisted that he merely be Shocktrooper, and gave him a slightly modified uniform that hid some lightweight body armor. Over his face they insisted he wear a hideous gasmask to hide his identity. It also allowed others to masquerade as him when they decided they wanted to create the illusion that there was more then one of him. These imposters were fixed up with some kind of static generators that allowed them to put on silly light shows to impress people. At that, they kept him in reserve. At first, his powers were good for two or three really big bolts of lightning, or a dozen or so smaller ones. He compared them to the difference between a field piece and a pistol. Slowly, there was a slight loss in power, and they feared that he was returning to normal.
   Extensive (and often uncomfortable) studies were performed on Spatz, and they came to a conclusion: although his body, through some as yet unknown mechanism, generated massive amounts of electricity, it was drained out slowly by casual contact with grounded objects or even high humidity.
   That led him to this.
   He was in a room of wood-walls, ceiling, floor, and furnishings everything except his porcelain chamber pot and the rubber air mattress he slept on. There was the constant hum of a refrigeration unit that both took the moisture out of the air and kept his cool. This latter was necessary because he was now doomed to live in a rubberized suit to keep him from losing his charge. He felt like a fool dressed as he was in black rubber with bakelite fasteners, but he had no choice.
   Then came the night in the steeple…
   He was glad for the activity. One of the uber-soldiers of the allies was leading a thrust into an area, and Shocktrooper had one order: kill him. War was war, so this order didn’t bother Spatz at all. He put the Shocktrooper uniform over his ridiculous rubber suit, donned the gas mask and helmet, and went out to do his duty.
   There was a company of enemy soldiers who had, so far, had an easy time of it advancing toward the small town. Spatz blasted the armored units that accompanied the soldiers, and then went after the infantry. It was near the small town church he encountered the American super-soldier. Dressed up like an American flag, the man was no more a captain than Spatz was. Still, he was a challenge. He either dodged Spatz’s lighting bolts or shielded himself from their effects.
Somehow, apparently with little rhyme or reason, the fight between the two super-soldiers drifted into the church and up the winding stairs to the top of the steeple. As rifle bullets rang the bells, and storm clouds gathered above, Spatz knew the joy of blowing the railing out from under the American, and watching him tumble out into space. Spatz ran to the blasted opening, expecting to see the shattered body of the other man. Instead what he saw was one of the other super-human allied operatives streaking out of the sky like a comet to catch his flag-wrapped foe.
   Spatz was furious. He began to build up a charge that would lay waste, if not to the ungrounded uber-humans, then to the pitiful company of men foundering on the ground.
   That’s when the lightning bolt hit.
   The electrical potential had been building during Spatz’s battle with the American, but neither man had noticed it. The top of the steeple exploded, the bell actually melting slightly. Parts of masonry and slate roofing rained down on the surrounding area, forcing the invading soldiers under cover.
   And in the center of the lighting bolt, said to be as hot as the surface of the sun, was Spatz.
   It was power on a level he had never known before. He could feel it coursing through the air around him, through his body. He wished, oh how he wished, he could contain this much power.
   Then the bolt was gone. In the deepening gloom and rain, no one noticed Spatz, his uniform in tatters, float gently to the ground. Like a man in a daze, Spatz walked with uncanny accuracy back to the rendezvous point. He managed to mumble out the basics of his mission before he fell asleep.
   He awoke back in his room, dressed again in the rubber suit. Something was different, though. Then Spatz realized: the lightning bolt was still inside him!
   I was like a sleeping dragon, coiled inside him. He looked at his hands, and realized he could sense the faint drain of electricity that the suit slowed, but didn’t stop. If he could hold onto a lightning bolt, Spatz reasoned, why couldn’t he hold onto this? He concentrated and the leakage stopped. He lay still again. Slowly he realized that he could sense the electricity that powered the lights in his room, and even trace it to the source outside.
   What else could he do?
   When he concentrated he could hear a rumble of voices in his head. With very little practice, he realized that he could sift thorough the confusion and hear individual voices. When he recognized the voice of the announcer giving the weather at a nearby town, he realized that he was listening to radio waves.
   This was wonderful!
   He could sense little electrical charges in the room. If he concentrated, he could move those charges around. For fun, he collected all those charges in one spot… and created a cloud.
   Spatz was amazed. He had never heard about water having an electrical charge. He stirred the charges in the tiny cloud, and jumped when a miniscule lightning bolt struck the end of his bed with a “Pop!”
   He closed is eyes and discovered that he could sense the faint charges in the air for some distance around him, even outside the little trailer that housed his room.
   This was more than what Der Ubermenchmachenmachine had done. But was it something that developed because of the lightning, or had the U-Machine started something, something which was evolving within Spatz?
   There was a knock at the door. It opened, and one of the orderlies told him that he was ordered to the Kommandant’s office. Spatz dressed quickly, putting on the Shocktrooper uniform.
   Just outside the Kommandants‘s office there was a welcoming committee. There were several soldiers he did not recognize, a couple of officers, and one of the Shocktrooper impostors, along with his Kommandant.
   Then he realized, whatever the man dressed as Shocktrooper was, he was not exactly an imposter. Spatz sense in him a level of power that he would have envied before he was struck by lightning.
   Suddenly, his Kommandant spun and started wrestling with one of the other officers. Spatz was astounded to realize that he officer had been holding a pistol to The Kommandant’s back.
   “They are trying to kill you!” shouted the Kommandant. “RUN!”
   Then the gun went off. The Kommandant’s face seemed to cave in around the hole just below his eye.
   Before Spatz could recover from the shock, the other Shocktrooper fired a massive electrical discharge at him. It knocked him of his feet and sent him flying, shredding his clothing and charring most of the rubber suit to ashes. Spatz stopped his motion, and took stock of his surroundings. Everyone was staring at him, suspended half a man’s height above the ground.  Then the soldiers began to fire their weapons. Spatz erected a wall of electricity between them and the bullets ricocheted harmlessly away. The bogus Shocktrooper fired again, but this time, Spatz was ready. He reached out with his mind and drew the electricity from the other man... all of it. Then he returned it. The other Shocktrooper exploded in flame. He ran away screaming, his rubber suit and gas mask melting from the heat. Spatz fired electrical bolts at the riflemen and the officers, all but one. Some died, some merely fell unconscious; Spatz didn’t really care.
   Spatz flew slowly over to the officer who had shot his Kommandant. Thunder rumbled in the suddenly cloudy sky, and Spatz reflected that no rain was predicted.
   “Why?” he asked the officer.
   The man responded by drawing a dagger and driving it straight towards Spatz’s heart. The dagger blew up. Molten metal spattered the officer’s face.
   Rain started to fall, and the wind picked up. Spatz smiled. His body cracked with energy, but it was static-none was leaking away, none was “earthing” in the soil.
   Spatz moved more of he little charges in the air, and the wind picked the officer up and raised him to eye level.
   “I asked you WHY”, his voice punctuated by a thunderclap.
   The officer sneered at Spatz.
   “We had found a more suitable replacement. You are weak, silly, loyal to your Kommandant and your country when you should be loyal to The Reich.”
   “Germany is my home…” Spatz said trying to make some sense of things.
   “Dumbkoph! Germany is NOTHING without the Reich. The Reich will last a thousand years! It will last TEN THOUSAND! It will be here long after Germany has faded from memory. And YOU! You are a stupid farm boy whose parents are little more than the swine they... “
   He was cut off by a lightning bolt. Unlike Spatz, the officer did not seem to be able to harness it.
   Spatz dropped the smoking corpse. The wind lifted him up into the storm itself. It was of his making, and his to use as he willed. Lightning struck him, rain washed over him, the wind tossed his hair.
   It had all begun with Der Ubermenchmachenmachine. It had either set this evolution in motion, or primed him for the lightning. The new “Shocktrooper” was evidence that it might be duplicated again. The storm moved east, toward the village where the lab that housed The U-Machine was hidden. Spatz felt that it might be too dangerous a thing to allow to exist.
   He rode on the winds and smiled.
   Maybe he never would get to be The Red Baron, and perhaps he was no longer Shocktrooper, but soon everyone would know the name Storm Trooper.
[/spoiler]

And here is what he evolved into:


I may yet do a picture of him as The Red Baron.

[Hiroki8]

Banner man



Bob was once a proud soldier working for the American government under their super agent program, he was the first of his kind and many have since followed in his footsteps to become the first line of defense of the country. He was outfitted with wrist blasters that allowed him to shoot star-spangled photon blasts as well as an antigravity suit that allows him to fly. This status however is not without its downside as the process that gave him enhanced endurance, durability and speed also increased his aging process, in fact Bob is a 35 year old man who is living in the body of a 65 year old. He doesn't regret his decision however and even if this means he will only have a maximum of 5 years left to live, he still feels honored to have served his country as one of its elite protectors and is content with the fact that even if he may be dying there are still men and women being trained to replace him and serve America.

[daglob]

Me, I liked the original Deteroirator. Neither is at all bad, though.

Expector 8 reminds me of something from 2000AD-the English comic magazine. Just the general look, really, kinda like Nexus the Warlock. I like it.

I also REALLY like Banner's star-spangled power blasts. What's his story?

[Pyroclasm]

The entries so far are great.
Psychopanda, I actually like your pink version better.  I think it fits the overall look.  I really like his "old school" design.
Unkoman, it really has that "Extreme" vibe to it.  Was wondering how you'd pull it off with having to deal with being given name, theme AND style.  Guess I shouldn't have doubted you.  Cool.
Daglob, what can I say?  You went above and beyond by rendering two different levels of power for the character.  Both are great.  Excellent story too.  Loved the unnamed references to other heroes.
Hiroki8, I really like the clean look of your image.  Looks vectored.  Interesting take on the "aging hero" bit.  Nice job and welcome to the challenges.

[psychopanda]

Thanks for the comments, folks. I took another stab at coloring my challenge and added it to my first post. I think after seeing TW's shades and getting some feedback my brain kinda clicked on what it wanted to do.

Banner Man and Shocktrooper look pretty cool. Love the star blast effects on Banner Man. The first design for Shocktrooper is really cool. I would probably drop the lens effect in the image, as the art is really cool without it. I like how the background almost forms an evil face.

[UnkoMan]

I never even noticed the face... But yeah, that's a great image. The Kirby bubbles look amazing.

And Hiroki... I love that way of colouring. If you did what I think you did it seems like it'd be pretty easy, but still looks quite good. I'll have to give something similar a shot. Plus, great character design.

These Artistic Challenges are really getting rad.

Anyhow, here's one Panda and I layed down. It's Windshear and Firegnat, two totally extreme '90s characters. Backstories? Who cares? They are too busy fighting for that. I threw in a bit of '90s cartoon design in mine (Biker Mice From Mars, Cowboys of Moo Mesa, Bucky O'Hare, etc), so he'd be even more wild. PLUS, a totally confusing, way too linely background!



Can you tell how much I dislike mainstream '90s comics yet? ...I loved the retarded cartoons though, I can admit it. And actually, this was insanely fun to draw.

[Hiroki8]

you guys really seem to like the star-spangled blast. as for the drawing it wasn't vectored its just the way I ink my stuff but believe me its way better looking here than it really is lol. Unkoman what method would you do to make a similar effect? just curious

[psychopanda]

you guys really seem to like the star-spangled blast. as for the drawing it wasn't vectored its just the way I ink my stuff but believe me its way better looking here than it really is lol. Unkoman what method would you do to make a similar effect? just curious

Odd, because I feel like my inks look better on paper than when they get posted. Could be my black-and-white preference or because I don't ink digitally. Do you use the pen tool in Photoshop (or something similar) to ink?

Unko, great job. My only lament is that ... I have to try to followup that coloring job?!? :P

[daglob]

Thanks for the comments, folks. I took another stab at coloring my challenge and added it to my first post. I think after seeing TW's shades and getting some feedback my brain kinda clicked on what it wanted to do.

Banner Man and Shocktrooper look pretty cool. Love the star blast effects on Banner Man. The first design for Shocktrooper is really cool. I would probably drop the lens effect in the image, as the art is really cool without it. I like how the background almost forms an evil face.

Face? Wait a minute... there's a face in there?
...
What do you know.
I had a Photoshop brush that did beautiful Kirby Dots, but I lost it somehow (like I didn't save my brushes and PS set everything to default on the first of the month). This is the frst step toward re-creating that brush.

Windsheer is one of four character I have in a Champion villan group called The Elemental Control (each having the powers of earth, air, fire, and water). I have heard that there is a Marvel character with the same name, but I wondered what y'all would do with the name.

[Hiroki8]

Odd, because I feel like my inks look better on paper than when they get posted. Could be my black-and-white preference or because I don't ink digitally. Do you use the pen tool in Photoshop (or something similar) to ink?

nope I don't ink digitally(no idea how to make it look as good)..actually it does look better on paper..but when it is at this size it still looks clean..just don't zoom in lol

[zuludelta]

Here's my entry:



I didn't really work up a backstory... just went with the first ideas that came to my head when I saw the name and style I was supposed to work in ("Joe Blow" + movie theme), so here it is, a Troma Films production, Joe Blow, a movie about a superhero powered by cosmic ray-irradiated cocaine, saving the world one line at a time!

[daglob]

Okay, that's funny.

And he has a backstory: he's a TROMA character.



Ahh... Sgt. Kabukiman, where are you?

[PreRaphaelite]

Ok, here's my attempt.
I chose 'Dr. Vile' and had to make the character 'Westerny'. I wasn't particularly sure which way to take it, so the story may be a bit contrived, but it was fun to draw.  :mellow:

  No-one knew much about the past of the woman known as Dr. Vile. Even the name, 'Dr. Vile', was no more than a label given to her due a combination of her uprbringing and the horrible butchery she performed on her victims. Some drunkards seemed to believe she was a demon, a cursed being doomed to walk the Earth, bringing suffering wherever she roamed. Others, however, put forth a different story. A story of a girl, raised as a medicine woman for her tribe, but falling to darkness. As naught but a teenager, her tribe was attacked by bandits during the night where she witnessed horrors as her tribe was mercilessly slain in front of her eyes. The lone survivor of this act of destruction, she vowed revenge on all who had drowned her in death that night. Revenge she would be given.

  Years later, reports were heard of strange beings lurking across the plains. Of creatures, butchered beyond belief, but still walking, clawing their way forwards. Among these rumours and tales came accusations of towns being wiped out, emptied, with no signs of life for miles around. The most sinsiter of rumours argued sightings of a woman, dark and menacing, who always appeared around these events. People began to panic, moving away from town, worried about their lives and the lives of their families (apparently in that order). It was not until a young boy, Rex Carpenter, went missing until people decided to band together to find this evil. They searched far and wide, as only an angry mob could, until they happened upon a sight both disturbing and twisted. The woman, standing still, amidst the hot sun, her face was shadowed, and her feet were bare. The mob was frozen, the towns-folk merely stared at her, unable to turn away. Slowly and sickly, shadows began to twist around her, unnatural in the full light of day. Shadows which seemed to take on forms of others.

  Demons? Devils? Or the missing. Diced and ruined, but ever moving, they moved for Dr. Vile.




Whoops! Forgot to mention. Great entries by the way guys! Really like these! (Even though Joe Blow keeps giving me a creepy look).

[zuludelta]

That's a fairly involved story you've got going on there PreR. Neat stuff.

And the recent entries by Hiroki, daglob, and Unko look great as well.

Okay, that's funny.

And he has a backstory: he's a TROMA character.



Ahh... Sgt. Kabukiman, where are you?

Never mind Sgt. Kabukiman... where's New Toxic Avenger and Mighty Toxic Avenger?

=O

heh love it.

Thanks iPS, glad you like it! For a minute there I was slightly worried I might get in trouble for working a drug reference in the image, even if it was done tongue-in-cheek and with humourous intent.

[UnkoMan]

But it's too perfect to get in trouble for. I could see this as a real movie. ...actually I have been looking for a new thing to do for a final project next year. Hmm. I couldn't afford the royalties.

And Dr. Vile... I like the use of a woman with the Dr. term in there. Even in this day and age, you don't see many female Dr. characters. Plus... she's totally creepy. Which is awesome.

[psychopanda]

Ok, got my version of the collaboration with UnkoMan done. I tried to stay as close to old Image comics coloring on the figures, with crazy highlights going everywhere. When I got to the background though, I just winged it on my own (because otherwise it would be a cover full of background lines!).



I only saw Unko's picture really quick once, then tried to blot it out of my mind. Looks like I succeeded, because I missed quite a few things. Mainly his metal behind. I was "this close" to coloring that metal, but thought "no, he's an insect...why would he have a metal butt??". Anyways, it was a lot of fun and neat to see how two people can color something so differently.

[zuludelta]

Great job, both of you guys (unko and 'panda) on your respective versions of the same image. You really nailed the worst elements of early-mid 1990s comics.

I think FireGnat needs more pouches, though. His pouches need mini-pouches on them. And he's begging for a cybernetic eye. And Windshear needs a leather jacket, or better yet, a trenchcoat with huge shoulderpads!. And a bitchin' superhero mullet peeking under his helmet. And don't forget to add stubble (I don't care if he's wearing a mask... all 1990's heroes must look like they forgot to buy new blades for their razors)  :lol: 

[psychopanda]

I think FireGnat needs more pouches, though. His pouches need mini-pouches on them.

Unko did a real bang up job on those. I kept finding more dang pouches to color on FireGnat as I went! "What the heck, there's one on his tail?!".  :banghead:

[UnkoMan]

Smaller pouches on the pouches! Of course! He does have a piece of metal around that one eye, though...

We ended up with some fairly similar colour schemes, in the end. Enough for it to be an actual miscolouring between different talents. The random highlights are great.

Also... Well, no, I'm going to keep that a secret for now.

[PreRaphaelite]

Awesome efforts guys.... but... does Firegnat have the leg of a chicken?

[Lionheart]

My apologies all for not hitting my assignment. I know it's for fun, but I hate to drop the ball. I was hoping this would get me back into drawing/skinning again, but there hasn't been much time for it.

[Pyroclasm]

No worries.  Share it if you ever get around to it.