Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Black Cat Finalists

Hector Barros
Superhero of the Month (SHotM) - Hector really delivers. From the nightvision goggles/mask to the "paw" boots, this Felicia is a high-tech wonder. She's got it without flaunting it. The cat-ear headphones are a nice touch, and I appreciate that she can work with and without the jacket.


Dan McDaid - Hector Barros delivered in spades here - a snazzy update of the Black Cat silhouette, sexy without being salacious. Love the offbeat approach to the hair, and the headphones are a terrific touch. I really dig that it's a jacket she's wearing, as opposed to spandex; she looks capable, dangerous and fun. A clear winner.


Dan's Comics - I really like the idea of the grappling hooks and harness clips being hidden by the costume.  It keeps it from looking awkward.


Robert Schilling Honestly my favorite redesign. Not only does Hector bring Black Cat into the modern age with this design, but also captures her attitude (another important quality when redesigning a character). The design itself seems well though out and practical. I could definitely see this in a comic or movie adaption.
Kiddy
Dan McDaid - Kiddy's entry is playful and daring, not to mention beautifully executed. Though she looks like she's having trouble with her heels. Never mind though - this is a favourite, and I'd like to see more from this artist.


SHotM - I love the stylization in this piece. The thigh-highs are a nice, different touch, and I love that they still incorporate the "fur" towards the bottom. I like the bodysuit; it kind of reminds me of Black Canary, which is a good thing, since she's another of my favorites. The only thing I'd like to know is if the sleeves are connected to the bodysuit, or if it's some type of jacket?


Robert Schilling - I love the style of this one. It's simple, yet very animated. The costume itself is actually quite a departure from the original, but many of Black Cat's key features are left intact and make her instantly recognizable. The collar and belt are also nice little flares that keep this design rather interesting.


Dan's ComicsI like the use of the hair to give at cat like appearance to her head, as opposed to some sort of head gear.  The eye gear being similar to Spidey ties her nicely to him, which makes a lot of sense with their relationship being as close as it is lately.
YestherDay
Dan's Comics - I enjoyed the overall style of this redesign. The high-tech head gear and footwear seem appropriate, and give her some new gadgets that will help her stay competitive with current high profile
criminals and villains.


Robert Schilling - Very nice anime-style twist to a classic character. The art style as well as the costume gives her a more modern look. I especially love the look of the mask.

Dan McDaid - She's cute; faintly ludicrous in that anime way, with some nice nods towards practicality - the grippy boots, the snazzy little cat-pouch. Liked this a lot. 

SHotM - A fun, flirty design. I like the alterations to the costume, particularly the high gloves and the boots, which again toy with the "paw" idea. I also think the sleeveless body suit fits Felicia's personality. The ears also are a nice touch, and aren't distracting. The one thing I'm not sold on, though, is the collar. But I love the piece.
Michael Lee Lunsford
Robert Schilling - Really like the approach with this redesign. This costume seems to fit her role as a young thief rather than the '80's seductress she currently appears as. Love all the minor details in the shoes and belt. Not crazy about the neon colors, but all and all a very successful redesign.


Dan McDaid - Michael delivered a cracking drawing - one of the best - but I'm not quite sold on the redesign; it's a little too fussy, with too many elements. And the "tongue out" cat mask skeeved me out a bit.


SHotM - I hands-down love this one. It deviates so much from Felicia's standard uniform, but I still think she's recognizable. I differ from both Dan McDaid and Dan's Comics in that I think the tongue is perfect. That tongue screams Felicia's fun personality to me. I also love the "claw scratch" on the hoodie and the boots, which I think are the closest to Felicia's regular uniform in this design. The only thing I think I'd like to see different would be darker clothes.


Dan's Comics - I like how this costume looks like plain street clothes instead of tight leather, making her seem a little closer to a common girl.  The bandanna is a nice touch, although I think the cat mouth on it might be a little too much.
Ernest Quek
SHotM - Ernest's little touches go a long way: the thigh-high boots, the glasses, the skirt, the belt. Minor, subtle changes that really give this Felicia life. And the hairpin weapons are a stroke of genius, I think. She looks beautiful and dangerous -- just like the Black Cat should.


Dan's Comics - I really like the use of the hairpins as part of the costume, as well as weapons. The costume also has a sexiness to it without being too revealing.


Robert Schilling - A very ambitious entry. I love the change in ethnicity, gives a fresh look to an old character. I also like the addition of hair needles as an accessory and weapons. The costume itself reminds me of a hired assassin or stealthy warrior.  


Dan McDaid - [The] rendering is spot on, and I LOVE the cat buckle, but I'm not sure about his "spiky" approach to the character.


Editor's Note: So there you have it! This was an incredibly difficult contest to judge. There was so much high-quality artwork to choose from, and we really were struggling to get it down to five. Thanks to our sponsor, Dan's Comics, our special guest judge, Dan McDaid, and the winner of our Angel contest, Robert Schilling, for joining me at the judge's table!


Be sure to cast your vote! You have until 9:00 MST on January 30! Be sure to stay tuned to Superhero of the Month for the finalist on January 31, and start gearing up for the Harley Quinn contest! We've already received some fantastic submissions!

18 comments:

  1. I'm not going to do this very often, because it's unfair to the other hard working and talented artists here, but:

    VOTE FOR HECTOR BARROS' DESIGN

    'cause it's made entirely of win.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Daniel, that's funny.

    And really, so everyone knows, I have no problem with people expressing their opinions on who they think should win in the comments (after all, people can vote as they choose) so long as everything remains respectful and bickering doesn't ensue.

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  3. Barros' design is the clear winner for me as well although it seems like it's missing something... I have no idea what though. Maybe a little more white somewhere.

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  4. The thing that bothers me about this part of the competition is it's a popularity contest. The most talented and creative design doesn't necessarily win, but the one that can garner enough of their friends or log on to enough computers to vote. Based on one's social abilities in a way, haha. I absolutely love Hector's design, but I feel like if he's not active in the internet community then it hinders his chances big time, which is a shame if that's what it takes to win. Just my two cents.

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  5. I promised myself not to say anything but...

    THANK YOU guys :) the fact that Daniel or Robert likes my design makes me feel like a winner already :)

    That said, I love redesigning, and I do it for the challenge, not for the prices. I´ll never tell my friends to vote me on facebook, because I dont want them to vote my friendship, but my work.

    Curiously enough, my personal favorite isn´t doing great in the race either... :P

    ReplyDelete
  6. !!! The voting count spiked!!!
    hmm... I gotta say so far my favourite 2 entries: Hector and Kiddy's are getting lesser vote than what I expected.

    I suppose getting more friends to vote is still fine by me to certain extend, but to log on to multiple PCs to get the vote up is just not for me... If it is indeed a popularity contest, it will becomes kinda pointless, specially if all the votes come from a single individual. Probably winning the contest means a whole world to the individual.

    haha well, that's the down side a online voting contest. I believe most of the participating artists in SHoM are aware that this is after all a popularity contests, so most of us would probably be fine with the result which ever way it goes. For the fun of it all.

    Regarding what Robert said about Hector being not active in the internet community, hindering his chances of winning. I believe Hector just wanna have fun doing good design, spending more time create great stuff and constantly improving his skills rather then spending time on sociallising with others just to win in periodical contest.

    Controversial creates hype. Any publicity is good publicity. I believe we have more people visiting the SHoM then ever before. haha

    PS: Hope that I didn't stepped on anybody unintentionally. :D

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have to strongly agree with Robert on this.

    But i also agree with Lee chen.It can't be helped that online voting in contests could be this way.

    In the end,Participating should be done for the fun of it,and nothing else should matter.

    Personally,i really hope Hector wins,votes should mean nothing on his entry ♥

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  8. @Robert Schilling - At least Hector will definitely win the moral victory ;)

    Personally, it didn't take long after I first saw Michael Lee Lunsford's Black Cat for me to know I'd be voting for it in the finals! The cat-mouth did exactly what I wanted to do with the Dr Seuss hat (identify with cats but not Selina Kyle) but wasn't as silly :D

    But everyone's submissions were solid!

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  9. if I had my way Hector would win this one.
    I agree with Robert, this can easily turn into "Who has the most friends"

    Its a nice try to do something everyone can vote on, but the internet isn't a really good place for that kind of contest. It'd probably be best (though a lot more difficult for the judges) for the judges panel to decide on the winner.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey, everyone. Thanks for the comments. I appreciate it, and I'm taking what you've all said into consideration.

    There is no "staff" on SHotM, other than myself, so I depend on you all to help me determine what direction the site moves in.

    That said, we may have a problem: When I checked the votes yesterday -- last night, in fact -- there were over one hundred votes cast. Today it's only showing (at the time of this writing) 68. Does anyone know why this is? What could have caused that drop? If the voting system is corrupted internally, I'm going to have to chuck it anyways, because the votes cast aren't accurate...Anyone have any ideas on this?

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  11. Yeah, I was wondering that too. I know you can change your vote, but you can't withdraw it can you? Weird, haha.

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  12. As far as I know, you can not withdraw your vote. Nor can I go in and delete them. Which leads me to think it's a Google/developer error of some kind, because they can't be edited by me or deleted by the user.

    In any case, I think things will change after this contest because of the voting system can be corrupted due to internal error, then the votes can't be trusted. I'll have to figure out how that will work, but I don't think it's fair to anyone involved if the votes suddenly get cut and I can't do anything about it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Alex,

    The Google help forum for Blogger seems to have several threads with respect to disappearing votes, all happening within the past day or so. http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/label?lid=0271191b4249689a&hl=en

    The trend I'm seeing is "half my votes are gone" which is roughly consistent with your 100+ votes reducing to 60ish.

    Looks like a widespread Google Blogger problem.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks, Richard. It's good to know. I don't think the votes are off percentage-wise, but it's still annoying that people "lost" votes due to a Google error.

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  15. GAAAH! It just lost MORE votes! What the...?!

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  16. These designs are sooo beautiful! I love Hector's the best!! It's both futuristic and sexy (without being scandalous)! The only thing I don't like (everything else is perfect =D) are the boots because it seems to clash with the rest of her sleek outfit. Maybe if they were fashionable boots with lines up to define where the claws would be. Kiddy! I love the high gloves and the knee stockings (especially the knee stockings <3 <3 )!! I like that you went with a medallion necklace to give a pet-license look. It would be hard to commit/fight crime in heels but Black Canary has proved that it can be done. I like how Yesterday gave her a popped collar and studded necklace to give her a tough look. I love the gloves (though I don't think you need to make the fingers a different color), the boots,and especially the Spidey puppet (I WANT ONE). I don't like the mask and the kitty bag. The kitty bag is creative, cute, and adds to the cartoony feel of the style but I just can't see people taking her seriously with it(unless she says "Yep, it's my precious bag - make fun of it and taste my claws" XP). While some hero's masks aren't very concealing (*cough*domino masks*cough*) they still wear them to conceal their features somewhat- your mask is so open that I can't how it covers anything. I think Michael's is the most creative. I love the boots (especially the boots =3), the kitty belt, the mask, and the kitty jeans. I love how it is both sexy and trendy yet normal enough she can slip into a crowd. I have trouble with the deviation from the set color scheme (though it's a redesign- you can do whatever you want) with the red and green; I can't seen any reason for the red strip down her back. Another problem I have is that the jacket looks like it's longer in the front then it is from the back. I like the little touches on Emest's, the glittery lipstick, the glasses mask, and the belt. I don't like how, from far, away her tights and her boots blend together so it seems like the white fur is just floating there. I like the skirt and Emest was right to make is stiffer because loose fabric would just rustle and give away her position. I like how the metal hairpins look like whiskers and act as weapons/possible lockpicks but I think there are too many. Her necklace looks like it was added last minute.

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  17. Hi! I am not sure if this is the right place to vote. im not even sure if the vote is over. I will give my oppinons in order.
    1. Hector Barros. I really like your ideas as it gives black cat a modern sexy spy look. it makes her look futureistic & I really like her domino glasses & headphones. I could just imagine her in Tokyo breaking into a high tech facility taking very important data for like shield or someone.
    2. Kiddy. first, I have to say I loke her hair, it looks amazing! I like how its stuck into cat ears. I really like the Bag aswell so she has somewhere to hide her gadgets & stolen goods. I like the furry socks/tights but i don't like high heels because they are impractical & loud.
    3. Yestherday. I like the cat shaped boots & the little spiderman puppet & the bag but the outfit is quite revealing. i know she felicia & she (like most marvel women) dont wear much but that is the only thing i dont like.
    4. Michael Lee Lunsford. My favourite design. She has an urban look & i like the mask covering the bottom half of her face & the neon cat mouth on it :3 . this is so different from the classic felicia but you can tell its her. She still has faux fur on which is good & i really like her jacket & boots. another thing i like is the little cat faces on her back pockets.
    4. Ernest quek. I like the hairpins, the mask/glasses & how she is now asian. She looks like a female ninja. I have to say i dont like her green makeup & i think the claws are copying X-23 or Wolverine.
    So There you have it!! My opinion of the Black cat costumes if you know how to vote & i have done it wrong then please comment on my DevianART (if you have it) and say why you have commented (just say from superhero of the month black cat) then say whatever!

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  18. sorry every1 my deviantART is thegraykitsune

    ReplyDelete

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