Freedom Force – Part 10

This is the last of my retrospectives on my time as a Freedom Force skinner. Don’t lose hope though, faithful reader. I’ve actually taken up skinning again to keep up my skills in Photoshop. You’ll be seeing more from me in the future.

This is one of the last version of Ewzzy. By this time the character took a twist as an international man of mystery. I am so glad that I shopped together a cummerbund and bow tie in order to give it that tuxedo feel. This version of me was pretty definitive as far as starting the transition from detective to secret agent. That line leads to our next two.

This black-ops stealth Ewzzy has a real Sam Fisher vibe to him. Freedom Force as a game doesn’t allow for being too stealthy but as a character and skin this one was a big accomplishment to me. I can imagine this Ewzzy leading a team of agents into a villain’s lair and doing what other heroes are afraid of doing.

This is it. You’ve met this version of me before, but not in such fidelity. Between skins, I bulked up a lot and added lots of armor and a big gun. This is probably the most complicated skin I had ever done. Everything but the face and hands were drawn completely from scratch, something I hadn’t ever really tried. This is the Ewzzy that could go toe to toe with a real super villain and come out on top.

Freedom Force – Part 9

In this edition of my tour down memory lane we’re examining some of my more experimental designs for Ewzzy. I spent a long time trying to figure out my character, these are some of the failures.

This was the golden age version of Ewzzy. The idea being that if I was a legacy hero from the 1940’s this is what I would have looked like. The big problem here was that the character wasn’t that different and my skin barely changed anything from the base. I look very mysterious though. That’s a good thing for a 1940’s psychic detective.

If the last version of me was from the golden age then this would be me from the future with enough pouches that Rob Leifeld had to have drawn me. This was another one where the original skin was so close to what I wanted that not enough changes could be made. Also, the blonde hair looks so stupid on me. I’m just not a blonde.

The problem with this skin was that I didn’t have a solid idea of what I wanted. The Hitman mesh had just been released and it looked like it was perfect for my character, but at the same time, It just didn’t work. I was just trying to recreate my other look for a new mesh and it didn’t hold up well at all.

Freedom Force – Part 8

I want to be upfront about this. I didn’t make these. Calm down. I said calm down! These were guest skins made by others during events on the Freedom Force Forums. I regret that I don’t know who made them anymore.

This was made as a favor for another (much more talented) skinner by the name of Next Legend for whom I hexed together some animations. Sorry if that doesn’t mean much to you, but it’s how it went down. I was giddy when I received this. It was like Ewzzy had been sent to the Matrix. Too cool.

This skin only makes sense if you know the secret origin of Ewzzy. As a character I had a secret identity running WZZY rock radio in Liberty City. For a re-imaging contest, another skinner created an alternate world me where I was born in England, loved cricket, and rand WZZY Sports Radio. The coolest part was the custom mesh they made so I could have a cricket bat.

This was from the Amalgam contest where different forum members were combined into new characters. A forum member named ‘Agent’ was amalgamated with myself to create ‘Agent of E.W.Z.Z.Y’ as a brand new character. The idea being that in 40 years, when my vigilante work gets to be too much, I form a new crime fighting organization called E.W.Z.Z.Y. and that Agent’s son would be one of my recruits. Needless to say, I loved the idea.

Freedom Force – Part 7

What’s this? Our hero returns with more foppish Freedom Force frippery? Yes it’s true! I fount images of even more of my old skins. These ones are of my avatar. Lets see Ewzzy through the ages.

This was my first version of ‘Ewzzy’ as a character. The green eyes are because I was possessed by an energy being. If this skin seems good at all it’s because I didn’t change much. I had the theme down right as far as "packing heat” and “psychic powers” went, but lord knows I didn’t know what I was doing yet.

This was my second attempt. Most elements are hand drawn. This resulted in a very sloppy look. If “super hobo” was what I was going for then I had it down pat. It is then unfortunate that I was going for “detective noir” and this look just didn’t work. To be fair to my younger self. I had only used Photoshop for a week or two before this skin was made. The good side of this, is that the character in my head was getting nailed down. I dual wielded pistols, hidden in the coat and used a ridiculous agility stat to avoid all attacks to simulate my precognitive powers.

I used this look for a long time. He was the official Ewzzy avatar with a much more stylish look and a well defined idea. Notice the goatee which I sported in real life all through high school. This skin is based on the same character model as the one directly above, but it looks so different. They were created a month apart. My skills in Photoshop were growing very very fast.

Freedom Force part 6

Bonus time here the Ewzzy blog. I only have one original character left and he’s obscured by my overly creative typefacing. That means you get three bonus copyright infringing skins!

Tide is another character with a fairly common power. He could turn parts or the whole of his body into water. The difference between him and other aquatic characters was his size. At the size of the Incredible Hulk he was a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield of Freedom Force. I recall giving him all the area attacks that I could so he would destroy all the buildings around whenever he attacked. I believe there was a power so that fire hydrants in the game would erupt in his presence.

Hal Jordan. Green Lantern. This is one of the few skins I made completely on my own with no base textures for the muscles and face. He was a real challenge and one of the last characters I ever skinned.

Kyle Rayner was always my favorite Green Lantern. When he debuted this costume I re-installed Freedom Force just so I could skin him. Ron Marz’s writing of the character is what got me reading comics on a regular basis. When he left the series so did I.

The very first skin I ever made for Freedom Force was actually of Guy Gardner Warrior. To finish off my career as a skinner I created this skin to see how far I had come. I wish I could find my original, because in three years I had grown in leaps and bounds. Though, I apparently still felt the need to toss some lens flares in for good measure.

Freedom Force part 5

It’s time for another round of Freedom Force retro recap. Let’s dive right in.

This is Lucas. I’m glad his lightning powers are covering up his secret shame. He’s based on Lucas Barton from the movie The Wizard and yes that is a Power Glove on his hand. I didn’t have to tell you that. I could have just claimed that was his name and moved on. That looks like any old magic glove in this shot. You can’t tell how I lovingly rendered each detail of the Power Glove. You would never have known!

This was the healer of the group. His name is Patron. He looks sad because I used more lens flares. He is so sorry for me. I really just changed the colors of the default skin for this character model and then fixed up his face. I removed a mustache. Maybe that is why he looks so sad.

This is Shell. He had the power to change his size from normal to small or gargantuan. He’s a fourteen year old super genius. In the large size he was stronger but slower. Obviously. In the small form he was much faster and could scale walls and jump high,  but he wasn’t very strong. The ability to switch out character meshes mid battle came along late into Freedom Forces lifespan with a fantastic mod. Creating characters and making them work within the game mechanics like this was such a fun creative exercise.

Don’t mock me when I tell you that this is named Teppes. Yes, for all intents and purposes I drew Dracula, and gave him a sword. I’m pretty sure new energy draining powers were just added to the game and I created this knock-off just to test them out.

Freedom Force part 4

I have another lineup of characters from my days as a skinner for the game Freedom Force. I found all of these images when I opened my Geocities account for the first time in five years and lo-and behold these were still there. Lets have another look shall we?

This wonder of my early creative mind is known as Impervious. I know for a fact that his impenetrable aura did appear in game and that his only power was invulnerability. Based on his ill-drawn jeans, cowboy boots and gloves I’ll bet he used to be in a Rodeo. Lets make up an origin story. Shall we? Eugene Coffey was born special, but he didn’t know it. Working rodeo shows since he was just a kid he never showed any fear. That is, until one day he faced off against a bull bigger than any other he had ever known. Showing fear for the first time in his life, he cowered before the bull, on instinct a glowing shield popped up and saved him from certain doom. The bull however died in the incident. Fleeing from the confused and angry crowd Eugene took the name IMPERVIOUS and struck out on his own.

That was fun. The next one on our list is… Jessi. I’m pretty sure this one is based on my girlfriend at the time. I made characters for all of my friends, but this is the only one to survive. Just like I don’t look much like the FF version of Ewzzy I don’t recall her looking a lot like this. I also don’t remember her ever doing Tai Chi on the beach. I clearly spent a long time on this one, because female skins were a billion times harder to make than guys. The chest geometry stretched out any texture you made.

I’m proud of this one. La Prisa had a pretty cool back story. The name is Spanish for “The Rush” and as you can tell she has super speed powers. I distinctly remember her story was that she was very religious and that she believed that her powers were given to her by god. Nothing could convince her otherwise.

I wish I had more of a back story for this one. I think she was supposed to be a love interest for Ewzzy but I could be way off. The only detail I have is that her filename was lora.jpg so we’ll call her Lora. I bet she thinks she’s sneaky hiding in the shade of the otherwise well lit downtown.

Freedom Force part 3

Today we focus on the good guys here on my retrospective of Freedom Force creations. Some are better than others so remember that this was when I was just starting up learning Photoshop. Be merciful oh ye gods of the internet.

Ember was the total powerhouse of the team. He was made of fire. I am still super impressed with how the effect turned out. I wanted to make a fire character that didn't look like a flat orange Human Torch that other artists had made or one that relied on the game slowing particle system to make him look fiery. As for a back story I don't think I ever made one for him. Sorry.

This lady is named Heir. I know that because of her file name is heir.jpg and that's good enough for me. If I recall, she was supposed to be from another planet claiming that her father once ruled Earth and that it was now hers. She ended up being a hero after helping stop Demagogue when he tried to take over the world she demanded was hers.

This dude is Hayden. He's named that for a mysterious spot in Hayden, Indiana where gravity doesn't work properly. Naturally his power was control of gravity. He had temper control problems so when he got angry he could lose control of his powers. I'm surprised that I was able to accurately depict this within the game but it worked out pretty well.

This is me as a well dressed gangster. The reason for my longtime gangster kick was my role in the 8th grade production of Guys and Dolls. I played Big Jule a legendary gangster from Chicago. This left a long lasting impression on me. For a long time my online handle was Big Jule. This unfortunatley made me look more like I like show tunes than being a gangster.

Freedom Force part 2

I'm back with more Freedom Force fun for all my fantastic friends and rambunctious readers. This round is made up of what I believe to be the villains who fought against the ever-vigilant Ewzzy. It's hard to remember on account of my creating them when I was still in high school.

This is "Coda" You can tell by the musical marker on his chest. I'm pretty sure I just thought the symbol and word was cool. No worthwhile significance. I have also no earthly idea what his power may have been but his left side is made of metal. His head being somewhat rusted, I can tell I just threw some textures on him and called it a day. I'm glad I got all the lens flares out of my system when I did. Now I know never to use them.

This guy is Demagogue named for Demagogy the strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears and expectations of the public. How that relates to his ability to fly and wear skulls I certainly don't know. I do know that this skin is based on the character model for Spawn. He was supposed to be the insidious main villain to face off against Ewzzy but I never really delved into what he could do. I know that he lead the other guys on this page but that's probably about it.

This is one of Demagogue's drones. I didn't actually skin this. The character model didn't have any texture mapping and was actually just a black wireframe mesh. I used a hex editor to change the values of the character model and remove the head and change the color to a shiny green. If you know what that means then you win the no-prise. If you don't then I'm sorry that I confused you.

 

 

 

That stealthy fellow under the moon  is Eclipse. He's another example of a barely skinned hack. What a terrible way to start the week. He is actually a reflection map designed to make the black and white shift depending on how you look at him. It's a really cool effect in motion. Too bad there isn't a way for me to show you that. Sorry. As a character I can tell you that his clothing weapons and armor are all made of the same shape-shifting material. Eclipse uses this ability to hide a vast array of weapons to keep Ewzzy on his toes.

Freedom Force part 1

If you read this blog you'll note my love of Photoshop. There are few problems that it can't solve. What you likely don't know is how the love story began. In 2002 Irrational Games released Freedom Force for the PC. The game allowed for skinning of the character models to create your own heroes. The immediate use of this was to put Batman and Spider-Man in the game. I used my school's copy of Photoshop to join in on the fun.
So I'm going to spend the next week or so walking you through my work as skinner for Freedom Force. These are some of my earliest works in Photoshop and will likely shame me for how bad they were.

That guy to the left is supposed to be me. Everybody made avatars of themselves for the game and I was a black-ops guy with the ability to see just one second into the future. Just long enough to dodge a bullet. At night in dreams the power was stronger and would allow him to see into more far flung futures.

You can tell I spent a lot of time figuring out this guy. I went through about 13 different iterations before this one. The others were mostly gangsters in zoot suits.

Forgive me Homer

When I was a freshman in at Jennings County High School I did a project of The Odyssey that resulted in me drawing anime versions of the characters. These are those drawings:

I am so ashamed. Truly this era of my life couldn't have ended sooner.

Ephemera pt 3 - Driving Pass

Part Three of the Ephemera series returns us to High School.

High School is a weird time. Not as weird as middle school, but pretty weird nonetheless. I was lucky in that my school had a TV program. It wasn't too advanced, but it was much bigger than we deserved. I was able to learn so much there that I still use today. Naturally, looking back on what I made then, I dip my head in shame but at the time it seemed great.

By the I was a senior all I was doing was TV. I was taking the actual class, I was a teachers assistant, and to round out my day I was an intern. Most interns were out of the school so we all got driving passes. Mine was used mostly for delivering/retrieving tapes from local churches and picking up Chinese food. Any time spent in other classes was remedied by pink excuse slips that I had access to. Good times.