Project : Rooftop

Superheroes, Redesigned

Category: Site News

Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue Honorable Mentions!

Note: In the end, only so many people could win awards but we wanted to take time out to honor the other top contenders. These are the honorable mentions for Project: Rooftop’s Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue Redesign Contest. Congratulations to all! – Chris A.

Michel Mulipola

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Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue Winners!

Note: The following are the winners and runners up of our Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue contest! Thanks so much to everyone who participated, especially the professional comic artists that submitted who made this competition even more prestigious. The panel of judges included our regular P:R Contributors, frequent P:R artist Aaron Diaz as well as Invincible’s two primary artists — co-creator Cory Walker and current artist Ryan Ottley! And a special thanks to Lance Sells and the gang at Thwipster.com for providing the prizes! Congrats to the winners and runner-ups, and be sure to check back next week for the cavalcade of honorable mentions! – Chris A.

First Place Winner: Kris Anka!

Kris Anka

Total: 67.5 (out of 80)

Dean: 8.5. Another very nice look from Anka, who’s been doing a lot of solid superhero design work lately. I dig a lot of the choices here, and the seams and shapes are cool, and very much in line with the designer’s style. I love the mask, in particular. But as I’ve noted with some of the other entries, I think brighter colors would’ve made it a bit stronger, at least to my eyes, especially the blues. I wonder if the center “I” emblem should’ve been blue, as well. Anyway, a totally rad entry.

Chris: 9. So close, so very close. I’d wager if Kris got to live with this design for a couple more weeks he would have done some revisions to make it even better. But for designing on a deadline, Kris excels!

Jon: 9. More than anything, I’m in love with the palette – would’ve loved to see the blue repeat somewhere besides the traps, lower on the body, just to unite it.

Dean: I have to say, while I am hardcore about brighter hues, it’s hard to argue with the specificity of Kris’s color choices. It really does hold up as a unique look, every time I see it.

Vito: 8.5. I’m with you, Jon. The palette is exquisite. I love the way those colors mesh. However, I would love a stronger i logo. As it is, the i looks undotted, unless Mark puts his head down…which is interesting, in and of itself.

Glen: 8. Really? No one’s going to mention the pointing-at-m’crotch nature of the design? It falls to me? Fine. And it’s not just the emblem, it’s the hip-darts, which I don’t think I’d miss if they were gone. The color choices are great (I can’t make up my mind about the gray on the neck, though) and I’ve never seen a mask quite like this, which is saying something.

Aaron: 7.5. This design has me excited. I like the shapes and colors, and how everything emphasizing speed and liveliness. This is a costume that conveys a theme and personality very well, something that’s frequently lacking in modern superhero design.  I’d make only two changes: 1) The gray and black are too close together in tone, I’d drop the gray and incorporate more of the blue. 2) I’d change the shape of how the gloves meet the sleeves. Almost all the other color lines on the costume are coming at angles except for the gloves and it could be done a little sharper.  Overall, though, this one is really nice.

Ryan: I really dig this, Kris is a great designer and I love a lot of the choices he’s made. The two tone grays is a nice touch. The way the mask fits, I like how he incorporated the blue there. Really different. The “I” could be a little less dagger like. But other than that it’s pretty nice.

Joel: 8. A very good design. The lines play very nicely with the figure, bringing a little unexpected complexity, but without clutter. I surprised how well the isolated blue works along the neck, given how often we cite people for not repeating colors. The pin-up rendition brings black shadows into the darker gray, which is a good choice. The two grays need that extra boost of contrast. The mask looks like a brilliant design for a hero with a bird-motif. It subtly looks like a beak in silhouette. But, once I noticed that, it became very distracting for an Invincible design.

Cory: 9.  Kris is an amazing designer and 9 out of 10 things he does are flawless, but dang, you guys, I have to disagree about the placement of the blue.  It seems like an afterthought.  Would like to see the black body of the “i” a little broader inside the yellow border, but otherwise it’s a sharp design.

Editor’s Note: See The Rest After The Jump! - Chris A.

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Update on “Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue”

We’ve received several emails and comments from readers asking about the status of the Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue contest, so we wanted to share. Our P:R Staff and guest judges are putting the finishing touches on their reviews before we tabulate the results.  Thank you all for your patience – once you see these entries, you’ll be as excited as we are!

“Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue” Deadline in 7 Days

Note: Deadline is next Monday. For the full details, refer to our contest announcement! – Chris A.

Project: Rooftop and Thwipster Present “Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue” Redesign Contest

He may be still be seen by some as the new super-hero on the block, but Invincible has become an iconic addition to the super-hero landscape in comics. Created nine years ago by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker, the Invincible series is nearing a landmark 100 issues and Project: Rooftop wants to dress Mark Grayson up for the occasion. Sponsored by the innovative comics retailer Thwipster, “Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue” is the latest in a line of contests by Project: Rooftop, giving artists a chance to redesign a super-hero in a friendly competition for prizes, recognition and just plain fun.

“It’s definitely exciting to partner up with Project: Rooftop as they are an exciting, handsome site that’s a great blend of three things we love: Comics, Art & Design,” says Lance Sells, Co-Founder & Director of Thwipster.

Joining our regular P:R staff to judge these entries will be the two artists responsible for making Invincible who he is: co-creator Cory Walker and current Invincible artist Ryan Ottley. Both Walker and Ottley have contributed redesigns to Project: Rooftop in the past, but having their experience and expertise for this contest brings it to a whole new level.

“I’m excited to see everyone’s take on Invincible,” Ottley explains. “He’s actually an extremely hard hero to draw and make look cool so a re-design should be pretty challenging. Sleek, simplistic, and iconic. Those are the hardest things to create in a character even though it might sound easy. Good luck everyone, make it awesome.”

The prizes for this contest, provided by Thwipster, are:

First Place: Invincible: The Ultimate Collection Vols. 1 – 3 (retail value of $105).

Second Place: Invincible Compedium Vol. 1 (retail value of $65).

Third Place: Invincible: The Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 (retail value of $35).

Entries for “Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue” must be received by November 28, 2011 at midnight EST. As usual, check our guidelines, include your name and website, and send your art as an attachment in jpg, png, or gif format to projectrooftop@gmail.com. Thanks to Paul Milligan for designing our contest logo!

Chris Arrant Writes about Captain America’s Costume for Marvel.com

Note: Chris Arrant here. I recently had the opportunity to do an article for Marvel’s website about the iconic Captain America costume in light of the recent film Captain America: First Avenger. For this piece, I spoke with everyone from Alex Ross to John Cassaday, Chris Samnee and Steve McNiven, and even spoke with Cap’s co-creator Joe Simon himself. It’s not a redesign, but since P:R’s focus is also on appreciation of costume design in general I thought our readers would enjoy it.  Read on, and thanks to Marvel.com Assistant Editor Marc Strom for the opportunity!

Joe Simon's original design for Captain America

Joe Simon's original design for Captain America

Project: Rooftop Panel at This Weekend’s Mass. Independent Comics Expo (MICE)

Note: After the success of our panel at HeroesCon earlier this year, we’re following that up with another one at this weekend’s Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (MICE). Although neither Dean and I will be there, P:R regulars Joe Quinones and Ming Doyle will be there, along with Jennifer Ngan, who is teaching the Body Adornment and Fashion Drawing at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. MICE will be held this Saturday, September 24th in Cambridge, MA at Lesley University’s University Hall, and our panel will start a 2:45pm. They’ll be filming the panel, so those of us who can’t make it can see it later this year. In lieu of a professionally staged photo of the participants, here’s a picture of Ming cosplaying as Thor, hitting Joe. – Chris A.


Webhead 2.0 Winner Mike Dimayuga at Sponsor Flying Colors Comics Last Weekend

Note: Fresh off a big win in our Spider-Man: Webhead 2.0 contest, artist Mike Dimayuga happened to be in the neighborhood for contest sponsor Flying Colors Comics‘ Anniversary Event this past Saturday. Mike received his First Place prizes in person from store owner Joe Field. First place prizes include an Amazing Spider-Man Diamond Select Maquette and a copy of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #160. The bonus added today is a signed copy of Amazing Spider-Man #669 Flying Colors exclusive variant featuring Flying Colors super-hero mascot Captain Four-Color with art by Todd Nauck. Nauck was an in-store guest at Flying Colors to meet fans and sign Amazing Spider-Man #669. Joe told Mike this, and we’d like to say it too — “Keep up the great work!” – Chris A.


Spider-Man Webhead 2.0: Closed For Submissions

Note: After hundreds of entries and an extra week to turn them in, we’ve closed the submission window for our Spider-Man Webhead 2.0 contest. We’ll begin judging this week, so stay tuned for the contest results later this month! – Chris A.

Remembering Our “Captain America: Fighting Styles” Redesign Challenge

Note: With Captain America: The First Avengers hitting theatres today, we thought we’d highlight the fantastic redesigns we received when we did the Captain America: Fighting Styles redesign contest last fall. We had a number of notable entries including the winning piece by Daniel Heard seen below. Check out the winners and honorable mentions at those links. Thanks! – Chris A.

Daniel Heard