Darkjedi

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Hey Spino -- Yep, that CyberLynx, captured by the Malta and stuck in a tube! HERE'S a screenshot of his "in-game" look. He's also on the last page of issue #12

Man, I wish I knew all you guys back when I was drawing the book for Blue King Studios -- there would have been guest appearances from ALL you guys

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That would have RULED to get Light-Speed into the comic. Ahhh, the good ol' days...

Great work, Jomaro! Fishnets can be a real b*tch.

/would love to take a stab at Katfood

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It looks awesome! Thankyou so much!

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You may want to reconsider your text color. It's very difficult to read.

I have an Intuos 2, 6" x 8". I LOVE it, and have zero complaints. I rate it a 10. It only has 512 levels of sensitivity, but that's more than I need since my hand only has 3 (I can press light, medium, or hard).

If someone tries to tell you bigger is better, don't fall for it. Most drawing is done from the wrist, and 6 x 8 is more than enough real estate.

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OMG! Necrophilia! Or is Doug secretly the reanimator amassing his army of 3D zombies?! gah!!!!!

*runs screaming*

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Only from the mind of Graver...

/wishes he could port his toons over witout havng to replay all those damned levels.

Since the contest seems to be geared towards screenshots and not original art, I think I'm going to sit this one out.

Of course, if the comic creator guys are interested in 3D works or slick comic-style art for their tutorials and web samples, I can be bribed... *cough*

Art samples are located at both my website and my DA account, listed below in my signature. /grin

A few things to consider;

1- DON'T blur anything when you paste your screenshots together. The game doesn't blur anything ('anti-alias'), so adding a blur will make your paste job MORE apparent, not less.

2 - Take advantage of the screenshots' natural pixelation. If you're dedicaed enough, you should be able to select and delete the parts of the screenshot you don't want down to the pixel level without any negative effects on your character's outline.

3 - Pay attention to your camera height. Nothing screams 'bad photoshop job' like having a person's feet not match the street they're standing on.

Ack! I just read this part...

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"... It must be recognizable as consisting of screenshots taken from City of Heroes or City of Villains..."

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Does that mean we HAVE to use screenshots? Can we use our own art as long as we still assemble the panels in the comic creator? Please clarify.

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Time to see what happens when 3D meets comics...

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I think Doug should be banninated from the contest. His stuff is too good.

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LOL, thanks =)

If I'm asked to gracefully bow out, I will with no hard feelings. My professional background could easily disqualify me as a 'fan artist'... even though I love COH.

Time to see what happens when 3D meets comics...

The bottom line is, Cryptic needs to have an *official*, Cryptic-supported fan-gallery that promotes the game. Having artists post art on non-official sites makes it difficult for new players to find inspirational imagery... and fan-art goes a long way towards promoting games.

COH is based entirely off the comics genre, which requires art in every single panel of every single comic - so it's never made sense to me why Cryptic doesn't capitalize on art for additional promotion by supporting fan-artists directly.

Blizzard has hundreds of pieces that draw people to the website daily. They've learned to use fan-artists to their advantage and didn't outsource them anywhere (whether it's Curse, DA, or anywhere else non-official).

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Hello guys,
I've been lurking for a while reading your responses. You know, one thing struck me as I was summarizing your opinions... why not use both?..."

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My difficulty is that Cryptic should have a fan-art section of their own. I don't mean a forum, but an honest to goodness database that encourtages people to send in their art for an administrator to approve and upload.

Blizzard does it with World Of Warcraft. Cryptic should do it with COH.

Instead, the approach offered is to outsource the art to another location. While not bad on the surface, it will be difficult for new fans of the game to find. Cryptic should instead take advantage of the free game-related artwork the fans are making and promote it on their own site.

I've never heard of Adesso, so I can't speak about their tablet quality. However, I will strongly advocate sticking with Wacom. After using Wacom tablets for 20 years and not having a single one go bad, I'd say they're worth it.

Secondly, if the consideration is the difference in price, I'd submit that 9 x 12 is not worth the extra expense no matter which company you choose. You should be able to find an 8 x 10 Wacom for $150ish, which is more than you'll ever need. Really. DO NOT fall into the misconception that bigger is better with tablets because most drawing is done with the wrist, and the wrist only moves a few inches per stroke.

Thanks Lighthouse.

I'm not sure I want yet another location to be placing my art, but at least it's a nod from Cryptic that we fan-artists are here.

Question for you, Lighthouse; you mentioned that having Cryptic offer a similar service has prohibitive legal issues... but I've long wondered why Blizzard hosts a huge fan-art section with hundreds of pieces in their gallery, while Cryptic doesn't have anything. Comics are inherently art-based... so why not have a section of the COH website that's dedicated to art? It seems only natural for a comics based game. 'Prohibitive legal issues' seems like an overly broad explanation.

If the answer is manpower, then I volunteer to help administrate and ensure pieces are proper for public consumption.

Keeping the fan-art administration at Cryptic allows you guys to retain some degree of creative and quality control, while turning it over to an outside source can (and probably will) result in strange or inappropriate pieces appearing that don't represent COH at it's best. In someone else's hand, you can't manage the presentation of blood, gore, or sexual content.

Great work, Brandon. Where do you find the time?

A couple recommendations;

1 - If he's moving fast enough to leave a cool trail from his hands, you should have his hair blowing as well. Since his hair is black, it's easy to paint some strands flying back.

2 - I'd recommend adding some blur lines to the back of his cape and feet. The trails on his hands and the blurry backdrop say 'motion', but the sharp lines on the back of his cape looks too static. If he was rendered on a seprate layer, fuzzing out the back of the cape should be cake.

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Man you guys have a better head start than me lol. I have only concepts for what I want to do for Crimson Storm, Cyberlynx and Battle Angel. I gotta put them down on paper... err, digital pad soon.

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Hey Gill - HERE'S the rough for the piece featuring you and your lovely wife.

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Brandon, that looks really cool! I love all the action you get into your shots. Once our collaboration is done (wink wink), I'll need to get out my Gill/Lush models and revitalize my work on them.

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Gee, thanks Bay

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Moggie, Bayani was complimenting the piece by comparing it to a wonderfully classic image of Jim Henson looking ino a mirror and seeing his alter ego, Kermit the Frog.

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Man you guys have a better head start than me lol. I have only concepts for what I want to do for Crimson Storm, Cyberlynx and Battle Angel. I gotta put them down on paper... err, digital pad soon.

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Don't feel pressured, Gill. I started my 3D models back when you put out the call for fan-art and figured I'd put in a surprise entry. I tried to get my stuff together, but the timing was bad and I didn't complete my project before the deadline. The cool thing about digital art is that I can pick it back up whenever I need to.

And I'd *love* a rendition of Battle-Angel, if you get a break in your schedule (haha, I know, I know...). I'd put it on the wall right next to my Graver.

I'm liking this piece! It's so different from the usual super-pose.

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Nice! It's cool to see some of my favorite community artists collab and trade like this. Good work all around.

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LOL Gill, I have a rough of you and Lush that's been sitting on my table, 95% complete..."

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You too?!? I started modelling Gill and Lush in 3D a while back. I have them about halfway done.

Here's a few of my main, Light-Speed;

LIGHT-SPEED in game

LIGHT-SPEED in action

LIGHT-SPEED when I hit 2000 posts on my guild boards

LIGHT-SPEED during her visit to South Park

OK, you get the idea...

Looks cool! I'm looking forward to my chance to render Ms. Frost as well.

I love Gill's work. Even his sketches are so clean. Great job (as always)!