Nato

Thanks Storn. I was in a bit of a mood last night and just start drawing this really exaggerated mecha guy. Then I thought I'd try out that all-one-line-weight-europeany-super-detailed-geoff-darrow kind of inking. I started with his left leg and worked counter-clockwise. You can see that I got sick of it at about his right arm and wasn't very clean with the lines. That'll teach me.

Sorry to take so long getting back to you Starlord. I plan on coloring most of the guys in CKC in time. And actually, a master villains WALLPAPER would be extremely cool. Maybe I'll work on that when I get some time. As far as coloring goes, I do it all in Photoshop - as do most comic colorists. Painter is also an option, especially if you want certain natural effects. Other programs you could use include PaintShop Pro, Corel PhotoPaint, and a free program called GIMP. Basically, any program that has support for layers will help you meet your goal. A brief synopsis of how the digital coloring process goes... 1) Scanning the artwork. Make sure you have it as clean as possible from stray pencil marks or smudges. As close to true black and white as you can get. Depending on the intended use of the artwork you will scan it at a certain resolution - usually referred to as DPI (dots per inch). Other tutorials can help you determine the best resolution to use. 2) Separating the line art. There are many ways to do this, but almost all of them include getting the line art to a separate layer and then coloring on a different layer. The easiest way for me is to use the multiply method. Multiply is a blending mode you can select that makes the lightest tones transparent and keeps the line in tact. The color layer is then set under the line layer and shows through under the line. Imagine drawing your lines on a sheet of acetate and then placing it on top of a paper that has color on it. There are more advanced applications of this method to be found in other tutorials, such as coloring the line to produce special effects. 3) Flat Coloring. Using a selection tool called the lasso or the magic wand, or the fill bucket, most colorists start by filling in areas with solid, flat colors. Those flat areas are then able to be selected easily for future steps 4) Rendering Shadows and Highlights. There are numerous methods or styles for this step. Some artists select a basic airbrush tool to apply shading and highlights. Others do strictly flat shading, also known as "cell shading" - similar in appearance to animation. Again others make selections or "cuts" with a lasso and then use the gradient to to transition from dark to light. Often the cuts overlap giving the shadows complexity and depth. Chris Stevens and many other professional comic coloring houes like Liquid use variations of this method.Many times all of the above techniques are combined. Oh, I've been using a lot of hard brushes with low transparency settings combined with gradients and airbrushing but that's a different story. That's pretty much the essence of the process there. Some things I recommend picking up... A graphic tablet, such as the Wacom Graphire or Intuos. http://www.wacom.com. This makes my life much easier, allowing me to color in a more natural manner. Don't know how anyone does any artwork digitally without one. Chris Stevens does his coloring via mouse. I'm not convinced that he isn't insane. "Digital Prepress for Comic Books" - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0967542308/qid=1050961512/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-8455802-6773629?v=glance&s=books&n=507846. Addresses a lot of the nitty gritty regarding comic production (not art instruction) and has a nice section on digital coloring. "Sketch" Magazine - http://www.bluelinepro.com/sketch.htm. Some nice art instruction specific to comics. Usually has a good article on coloring. Their online store has other books on digital coloring although I can't vouch for their quality. Adobe Photoshop LE - If you can't afford the expensive professional version, Photoshop LE has a lot of the features you would need for basic coloring. $100 bucks by itself, but often comes with a scanner for free. Links Comic Colorists Unite! Figma - Drawing Board Polykarbon Tutorials Atarctic Press Online Store Prosthetic Aesthetic Tutorial (NICE!) Learn some color theory! Hope that helps!

Heh. I'ts an homage to everyone's favorite Australian Ninja.

DUUUUUUDE. That rocks man. You're brilliant. I hadn't considered that kind of angle. Was thinking it would be a bad guy but I'm going with your angle. Thanks Hermizzle!

OpernRPG is much better in my opinion. Seemed MUCH less laggy and more stable. When I used WebRPG it crashed a lot (like if someone closed a characrter sheet that you had open - you'd go down) and just got slow. I got sick of it. Other than one buggy release that didn't like OS older than Windows 2000 (since fixed) I've never really had a problem with crashing or lagging.

Here's a robot I sketched for my Champs game. Yeah, kinda overboard with all the junk sticking out of him everywhere. So now all he needs is a name, origin, write-up, and a plausible explanation of all that crap on him.

Steve, this one's for you. Quirk's impressive stats are as follows... Hope that helps! BTW, I'm really enjoying the material in Freedom City. You've got some very cool concepts. Good stuff for any system. I got a big kick out of Mr. Infamy and right away decided to ingegrate him into my current campaign. Pretty easy to do considering his wide open nature, but definitely adds an great element. I thought it was cool how you tied White Knight's origin into Mr. Infamy and can see how any number of villains have similar origins. Thanks for popping by the Hero Boards!

Sorry Lord Laiden. It is my weak attempt at a joke. Mr. Infamy is a villain from the M&M Freedom City book. The odd thing about him is that he has NO stats. He's an interesting character, but mainly used as plot device. The GM just gives him whatever powers he needs him to have at the time so there's no need for the stats. It's cool - check him out!

Dang it. I forgot something. Here goes. There. Much better. Am I leaving anything else out?

Here you go, a conversion of one of the coolest bad guys from M&M's Freedom City Book. Enjoy. Comments welcome.

That's definitely cool of course. I've personally never had a problem with my players co-existing with the Champions, and I tend to use a pretty by-the-book CU campaign. I can see everyone's points but I think it mainly boils down to a per-game basis. If it is a stigma for one's players, definitely change them around.

OH dude, completely understandable. Thorn was someone i colored for my own personal game and sent to Ben to check out a long time ago. That's pretty much what all of these were anyway. In fact, I REALLY don't want to be offending any of my fellow artists. So If anyone is bothered, PLEASE e-mail me. In fact, I'm sure Ben would rather have the artists original colors if that is the case with some of the pics. So my apologies if I've stepped on anyone's toes. Not my intention at all.

That's definitely cool of course. I've personally never had a problem with my players co-existing with the Champions, and I tend to use a pretty by-the-book CU campaign. I can see everyone's points but I think it mainly boils down to a per-game basis. If it is a stigma for one's players, definitely change them around.

Sounds pretty cool. I love reading stuff like this. It never fails. I always think I have a good handle on the system and running the game, then I come up against something that makes me feel like a moron. I love tips and stuff on gaming. Perhaps a series of Digital Heroes articles? Or an eBook?

Yamo, I thought you didn't even care about superhero gaming.

Don't forget to give props to Chris Stevens who drew Dr. Silverback. He's got mad skillz. I just colored it, trying to stay in the lines as best I could. Big ups to JamMaster Chriznis.

Yeah, I've always pictured the Ultimates as being the Champions primary recurring villain team. In fact I've drawn them fighting a couple of times, as have others like Chris Stevens. BTW, If you want to see some kick-ass superfight pics, check out the upcoming UNTIL Superpowers Database book. Going to be filled with half-page pics of supers using their powers, and plenty of fightin'!

This thread rocks. Just chiming in so I can get the e-mail notices. Please continue.

Ok, also look at it this way. There was quite a long span between the 4th edition products and when the 5th edition, with new universe, came out. That's not really like a new comic writer taking over a monthly comic. It's more akin to a relaunch. Almost like the Ultimate line by Marvel. There's been years since 4th edition products. Now ownership has changed and a new product line is out. Yes, it is very different. I personally like the new universe. There's enough of the old, especially with villains, that it doesn't feel completely foreign to me. I personally enjoy the new Champions characters. Their backgrounds are much, much longer than the meager paragraph included for each member in the BBB. They seem more thought out to me. Whether you think they are generic concepts or not is one thing, but I think you have to agree that things like background, personaility, tactics, etc... are more fleshed out than in previous editions. I especially like CKC for the backgrounds, and plot seeds. I enjoy just sitting down and reading it. To me, it feels like a bunch of short stories, that I can use in my own games.

I don't really understand why this bugs some people? It's like saying you're upset that Hemmingway drew upon personal experience when writing his works. If you had the duty of writing a campaign universe, would you not use ideas from a successful campaign that you created? I think most of us would do the same. I don't see anything wrong with that. If you don't like the characters that's fine; that happens. I don't care for Morrison's take on the X-Men, even though it's still one of the most popular comics today. I don't like a lot of the new characters that he introduced, while removing some old favorites. Is this perhaps what you object to with the new CU? Side note - I also hate the way Morrison writes characters. These seem like the coldest, most heartless X-Men ever to me. I can't connect with any of them, including old favorites of mine such as Cyclops and the Beast. But I like Frank Quietly's art a lot so I pick it up now and again.

I'd actually like to thank you both for the great ideas on how to use the chips in stories! Good ideas.

Me three!

Me too.

I voted too.

Dude, want to read something down right bizarre? Check out Ellis' "Bad World" books. Whacky.