Pop Quiz: Setting the Scene

Happy Saturday, folks! Your one-day quick-fire challenge is:

"Rocky Background" by AMS

Make an environment or setting!

In other words, I just want the area where a character might be seen, but without the character. You can get some great ideas from the UGO Forums' Custom Backgrounds topic or the somewhat less-populated HeroMachine forum on the same subject if you need examples. Like the Fortress of Solitude without Superman, or a forest glen without the fairy, or a computer without a fat bald geek sitting at it writing this ... here ... paragraph. Hm.

Anyway. You only get one entry -- that's right, just one! So make it your best. Most of the other rules are the same as for a regular contest, but instead of a whole week I'll announce the winner either tonight or first thing in the morning.

  • All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like ImageShack, PhotoBucket, the UGO Forums, whatever);
  • Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
  • Please name your files as [your name]-[character name].[file extension]. So DiCicatriz, for instance, would save his "Bayou Belle" character image as DiCicatriz-BayouBelle.png.
  • Please make the link go directly to the image (like this) and not to a hosting jump page (like this). Here's a quick-start guide on how to do that for various image hosting services.

The winner will receive their choice of either one item or one portrait to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 release, or one Sketch of the Day style drawing where you pick the subject and I draw it how I like.

Good luck!

44 Responses to Pop Quiz: Setting the Scene

  1. ams says:

    And if I could add, save your backgrounds’ text strings and post in the forums so others can use your awesome concepts.

    Good luck to everyone. I’m off to run a marathon!

    Cheers!

  2. Jeff Hebert says:

    McKnight, do you think I should make the spray coming off that ship permanently white, as part of the uncolored portion? It seems weird with the water coming through.

  3. Johnny Gear says:

    I hope this came out right. Its supposed to be a planet seen from a near by sister planet, if that makes sense: http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/l512/JohnnyGear/JohnnyGear-PlanetRise3.png

  4. McKnight57 says:

    Yeah, that would work. Maybe just put some white around the top edges.

  5. CKnap says:

    Hey Jeff I plan on entering this contest im just not sure when I’ll be home to send in my entry as I’m working at the moment. Hopefully I’ll be done in the next 4-5 hours and then I will submit my scene.

  6. Thundersong says:

    Heyla!

    First time I can enter this contest. Didn’t quite come out right, but the parts that didn’t would normally be hidden by the character…

    http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l274/Healingbear/Thundersong-Asianbackground.png

  7. Kaylin88100 says:

    Had this already made, just needed to remove the character.
    http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h464/Kaylin88100/Kaylin88100-Crystal_cave_empty.png

  8. Skybandit says:

    The Gate of the Golden Lions.

    http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/af309/skybandit/Skybandit-GateoftheGoldenLions.jpg

    (Guards don’t count as characters, do they?)

  9. SpellCheckingQuill says:

    http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/4742/quillmarsbackground.png

    Welcome to lovely Mars, home of the tallest mountains on record and way too little atmosphere.

  10. Hammerknight says:

    Be awhile since I have entered a contest. Here is Nightmare Globe, picture your hero floating up from the grave, while the evil witch is looking deep into her crystal ball for seeing your hero’s death.
    http://www.heromachine.com/wp-content/legacy/forum-image-uploads/hammerknight/2012/05/Nightmare-Globe-by-Hammerknight-3.png

  11. Jack says:

    Okay, here we go, The Realm of the Ethereal Behind a Brick Wall.

    http://www.majhost.com/gallery/bobobo1/Rorschach/jack-etherealrealm.png

  12. Luclucluc says:

    Does an entry for one of these quizes HAVE to be made the same day the quiz is posted, or can an older creation be entered too? If entering older creations is alright, then here’s a pretty old attempt at creating a scene from a first person perspective

    http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=83075&stc=1&d=1338078858

  13. Jeff Hebert says:

    I prefer ones made today but I’ll let older ones slide.

  14. CKnap says:

    Heres is my entry, tried my best to created battle ravaged alley.

    http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m523/Chris_Knapman/CKnap-RavagedAlley.png

  15. Myro says:

    Inspired by Pitch Black (which is strangely cool in almost the same way that Chronicles of Riddick sucks), I made an alien landscape, complete with neighboring (possibly parent) planet and asteroid field.

    http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv217/Myrowire/Hero%20Machine%20Contest%20Entries/myro-alien-landscape.png

  16. McKnight57 says:

    Vampyrist:
    A gate made out of Brimstone that leads to the very depths of hell.
    http://www.heromachine.com/wp-content/legacy/forum-image-uploads/vampyrist/2012/05/Vampyrist-BrimstoneGate.png

    FYI, “brimstone” is actually an old-timey name for sulfur, which is yellow. Just sayin’. Good job on the gate though, looks badass.

  17. Vampyrist says:

    McKnight, I knew that going into making it, but brimstone gate sounded hellish and yellow is not that hellish, at least not to me. That and black works well for a hellgate.

    My personal favorites so far are MisterDinoMan’s, Trekkie’s and Myro’s.

  18. logosgal says:

    Oh, fun! Good excuse to start the background for the first scene in the story I’m working on. πŸ™‚

    In case anyone is interested in knowing about the story, this is the beach where a small band of con men camped the night before entering the town on the hill. They were caught within a couple of weeks and executed by being thrown off the cliff, but they survived because one of them turned out to be basically an ocean demigod (as well as being the main character and thus not allowed to die in his first scene).

    If you’re not interested in the story, it can just be a beach at sunset.

  19. iGusta13 says:

    Creation of the Sun

    – It all started when God accidentally poured the first galactic blue and red fire he created on a 1,989,100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilogram (4,385,214,857,119,399,823,317,774,893,056 pound) star . And the star began to absorb the heat . The star suddenly changed color and temperature . It became really really hot . It started bursting out light and fire loops we call Solar Flares . It generated elements like helium , hydrogen etc . God named it Sun . And until now it was used by Humans for their light .

  20. iGusta13 says:

    Creation of the Sun

    – It all started when God accidentally poured the first galactic blue and red fire he created on a 1,989,100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilogram (4,385,214,857,119,399,823,317,774,893,056 pound) star . And the star began to absorb the heat . The star suddenly changed color and temperature . It became really really hot . It started bursting out light and fire loops we call Solar Flares . It generated elements like helium , hydrogen etc . God named it Sun . And until now it was used by Humans for their light .

    Full

    http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u461/iGusta13/iGusta13-CreationoftheSun.jpg

  21. Myro says:

    Geez, Kytana. That almost looks like it was painted, not done with HeroMachine

  22. Vampyrist says:

    Kytana, you are a master, that is amazing!

  23. CKnap says:

    Nice job kytana that looks awesome!

  24. Alexander of Limbo says:

    Here is my first ever entry.
    It’s a kind of Irish highlands scene, with some other wordly elements.

    http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/5651/alexanderoflimboirishhi.png

  25. fuzztone says:

    That is good. Rather like someone asked Monet to illustrate “Lord of the Rings”…

  26. fuzztone says:

    Here’s my go. Old character (done in a day!) removed, leaving the background…

    http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj596/largebluecat/fuzztone-sunset.png

  27. Herr D says:

    um–logosgal, kytana, and fuzztone? If this was only a contest for sky, you three would obviously be my finalists. If meterology becomes applied meteronomy, I want to call you three.