Character Design Contest ♯117- Inspired By Music (Again)

Eeyup, we're doing this one again, because it's always great fun. The idea, for those of you who don't remember, or weren't around last time, is that you create an image to fit a piece of music of your choice. So you could create a serene background scene to fit with a piece of soothing orchestral music or you could create a random colour explosion to some dubstep, the possibilities are limitless. I will be judging the entrants on how well I feel their images portray the music they have chosen, so I must ask that you include a link to a youtube video or sound cloud page where I can listen to the song, not to a page where the song can be downloaded. If you don't include the song, I can't judge your piece and it will be disqualified. I don't care what music you chose, I have a very broad taste in music  and I won't mark anyone down for their music choice. That being said, I'd rather not have to sit around for 10- 20 minutes just staring at your pic because that's how long the song is, no matter how good either are, so please try to keep the song choices less than 10 minutes long please.

Anyway, I've decided to put a limit off 5 entries per person this week (because if judging each picture takes 5 minutes on average due to song length and we get 12 entries, that's an hour of judging) and the contest will close at midnight Saturday (blog time). Please read the contest rules before entering, have fun and good luck.

Rules for posts, contests, and challenges that I am hosting: Original characters only, no copyrighted characters, no characters based on copyrighted characters, no characters based on RPG’s or other games. The characters must be your own design and not based on any character that might be copyrighted in any way. I have the right to delete any post that I believe crosses this line without warnings. Only post characters that you have either created for this contest specifically or you know for certain have never been entered to a contest before. If you aren’t certain, don’t enter it, because I’m not going to go back through all of the contests and check.

About JR19759

Email: jr19759@hotmail.co.uk Twitter: @jr19759 Deviantart: JR19759 Deviantart HM Group: Heromachine-Art

27 Responses to Character Design Contest ♯117- Inspired By Music (Again)

  1. hawk007 says:

    Mine. Rise from the Abyss. The song is Heart of Courage by Two Steps From Hell.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRLdhFVzqt4
    http://www.heromachine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Rise-from-the-Abyss.jpg

  2. cliff says:

    Entry #1
    OK talk about serendipity.
    I just recently made satyr raver Justin McKinney’s living room loft
    when I first made a HM3 satyr party animal , he was just a concept with no actual name or story.
    Since then I took some inspiration from Queer As Folk and fused 3 parts Brian Kinney with 1 part Justin Taylor, a dash of McKinney, Texas a town close to my hometown, and mixed with Changling the Dreaming.
    So Justin McKinney is all about partying, drinking,smoking grass and doing E, one night stands and is stuck on himself, as illustrated by the tasteful artistic framed nudes of himself on the wall
    and of course this song from one my last music contest entries was the perfect inspiration.

    http://i795.photobucket.com/albums/yy240/Cliff_HM3/Cliff_Music_SaturSong_zpsrby403zf.jpg

    Pleasurekraft – Satyr Song
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvsy6Ibtb0U

    Entry #2
    Here is party animal Justin McKinney, a wilder satyr raver.
    Justin almost always wears a half shirt of some kind and blue jean cutoffs along with friendship bracelets and/or neon braclets.
    Justin has a maple leaf tattoo on his left arm since he was so stoned when he got it he thought it was a marjuana leaf.

    at the changeling club “Elysium”

    dancing with Justin is Cat Pooka Kit Kat

    and red cap Vik Vicious

    to the psytrance magic of DJ Sylver Sidhe

    http://i795.photobucket.com/albums/yy240/Cliff_HM3/Cliff_Music_SatyrDemon_zpsb9qdz7hv.jpg

    Tryambaka – Satyr Demons

  3. Sabrina says:

    @hawk007

    LOVE Two Steps From Hell! I was thinking of doing one of their pieces, but you may have taken the best one. 🙂 But everything they do is amazing…

  4. hawk007 says:

    Ha, sorry. :/ But yeah, they’re great.

  5. PMD_Warrior says:

    Its kind of scary because last week I was actually thinking about the music theme contest.
    any way here’s my entry I couldn’t think of a song so I put my phone and shuffle and this song came up.
    art- http://pmd-warrior.deviantart.com/art/Straight-Lines-526841517?ga_submit_new=10%253A1429005972
    song- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47P3bzefCVI

  6. iscarioto says:

    So I might be violating a couple of rules – firstly, I think I made this about two years ago (but I don’t think I’ve entered this in a compo before), secondly, it’s quite heavily influenced by the music video.

    But whales.

    My entry:
    http://www.heromachine.com/wp-content/legacy/forum-image-uploads/iscarioto/2013/02/Iscarioto_WhispersWastedInTheSand.PNG

    Inspired by Woodkid ~ I Love You:
    https://youtu.be/KQu8FOjJXdI

    Cheers guys

  7. Malfar says:

    I wonder how you will judge a character based on a song which isn’t in English. Still, I will try.

    All those characters are quite old (very very very old, like 2010 year’s old) but I never entered them in contests before, so why not. I can’t win anything with those anyway and just sharing some of my favourite songs this way.

    1. Master of the Forest. Character – http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/263/0/e/malfar_forester_by_malfar-d2z5z5l.jpg
    Song: Korol i Shut – Master of the Forest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQgbuHxeMjk
    The song tells about an undead guardian of some forest. He has a knife, a crossbow, he lives for more than 1000 years, animals and forest imps obey him.

    2. An Evildoer and a Hat. Character – http://orig14.deviantart.net/b491/f/2015/105/6/c/an_evil_man_and_a_hat_by_malfar-d8psbw5.jpg
    Song: Korol i Shut – An Evildoer and a Hat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLYZl1wNHDs
    The song tells about an evil guy who bought a magic hat and lost a head trying to take the hat off.

    3. A Fool and a Lightning. Character – http://orig11.deviantart.net/28e6/f/2015/105/c/7/a_fool_and_a_lightning_by_malfar-d8pscwk.jpg
    Song: Korol i Shut – A Fool and a Lightning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5QZ85TuAio
    The song tells about a stupid guy who tried to catch a lightning and hide it in his bag.

    4. Trader of Nightmares. Character – http://orig04.deviantart.net/4925/f/2015/105/c/c/trader_of_nightmares_by_malfar-d8psdik.jpg
    Song: Korol i Shut – Trader of Nightmares https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP3AiXb4FkI
    The song tells about a guy who sells nightmares made of phosforic paint and scary masks.

    5. Richard Gordon. Character – http://orig10.deviantart.net/35da/f/2015/105/5/9/richard_gordon_by_malfar-d8pse8g.jpg
    Song: Korol i Shut – Richard Gordon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6pzg0ETKSE
    The song tells about a guy who hunts undead creatures, but struggles to find those evil things because they don’t exist.

  8. Hexadecimal says:

    Bête Noire
    http://www.heromachine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Bete-Noire.png

    Song: Theme from the movie “Saw” (by Charlie Clouser) – A wonderfully crafted piece of chilling music

  9. Thundersong says:

    Teresa Teng (The Nighthingale of China) one of her most beloved song: Yue liang dai biao wo de xin – The Moon Represents my Heart

    http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l274/Healingbear/The%20Moon%20Represents%20my%20Heart%20Thundersong_zpsjbpwriv1.png

    Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv_cEeDlop0

    Translation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B5gAczFJps

  10. cliff says:

    WELL CRAP!
    I was about to post my 3rd Entry, but after Thundersong’s The Moon Represents My Heart, I almost don’t want to bother LOL
    It is SO FRIGGIN LOVELY!
    I bow before you.

  11. cliff says:

    I worked on it too hard, to not post it, but SHEESH!

    Entry #3

    I made my first HM3 pic of Koi on Oct 15, 2014
    from a concept I wanted of a Japanese Aqualad type
    character in a koi patterned speedo,
    I did this pic of Koi about 3 days ago, after I posted Justin
    McKinney, constantly tinkering till it wouldn’t let me anymore
    since the majority of koi have pattern on them and was
    REALLY slowing me down, I came up with the background
    story in the last two days. working on background character
    names all day yesterday from name meanings or mashups of
    famous people in whatever career I needed. Koi’s story is still mostly storyboarded and not actually written out yet, but have to post it sometime.
    I’m laying most of my cards on this one entry (of three,
    maybe four if I’m lucky) this time, instead of the 30? I did last Inspired By Music contest. LOL 😀

    Koi
    (or Nishikigoi in Japan)
    Real Name: Gosanke Taisho
    Other Aliases: “Ningyo”, “Subject”, “Ichirou”, “Ichi-kun”,
    “Ichi-chan”, “Sakuraba”
    Relatives: Hattori Nagato (Paternal DNA donor)
    Momochi Chiyome Maternal DNA donor)
    Kangofu Kenta (Surrogate “father”)
    Maeda Naomi (surrogate “mother” deceased)

    Affiliation:
    Base Of Operations: Fort Worth, Texas

    Status
    Alignment: Good
    Identity: Public Identity
    Citizenship: Japanese/American
    Marital Status: Single
    Occupation: Adventurer

    Characteristics
    Gender: Male
    Height: 5′ 8″
    Weight: 175 lbs
    Eyes: Brown
    Hair: Black

    Origin
    Place of Birth: Nagaoka, Japan

    SKILLS:
    Languages: Japanese, English (more to be determined).
    Diving,
    Swimming,
    Acrobatics, Gymnastics, Tumbling,
    Jumping,
    Climbing,
    Running,
    Stealth: Move Silently, Hide, Concealment,
    Tracking/Trailing,
    Survival,
    Observation,
    Spotting, Setting and Disarming Traps,
    Martial Arts,
    Weapons Master,
    Meditation,
    Tea Ceremony,
    Bonsai (miniature tree pruning),
    Ikebana (flower arranging),
    Haiku poetry,
    Calligraphy (painting and writing brushwork)

    POWERS:
    Amphibious Nature: Koi can breathe both water and air, but
    must return to the aquatic environment at various intervals;
    this length can be prolonged by the humidity in the
    atmosphere. Koi breathes by extracting oxygen from the
    water through tiny pores in his skin.
    Enhanced Sight: His ability to see in the murky depths of the
    ocean allows him exceptional night vision while on land. Koi
    has excellent close range vision and he can see particularly
    well in low light.
    Enhanced Hearing: He has several times more acute than
    human capacity. His sense of hearing is particularly acute,
    although, because the rate sound travels on dry land is
    different than beneath the water, his hearing is directly linked to his vision.
    Enhanced Physiology: His bloodstream is filled with an amino
    acid that keeps his body from freezing in the ocean depths,
    although his own temperature is naturally quite high, allowing his muscles the heat they need to swim at such high speeds.
    This physiology means he can survive indefinitely underwater
    or on land (though he would still need occasional contact with water to survive) this length can be prolonged by the
    humidity in the air.
    Superhuman Strength: He can lift approximately 8 tons.
    Superhuman Stamina
    Superhuman Speed: He can swim at speeds of 97.76 knots
    (or 85 MPH).
    Superhuman Durability: He can survive at depths of up to
    3,400 feet below surface level. His body contains fluids that
    adjust to give him buoyancy at varying depths. His body also
    produces gases that push out against the ocean pressures
    as heavily as they push in, preventing him from being
    crushed at great depths. His body is also highly impervious
    to physical injury.
    Marine Telepathy: Koi has a form of telepathy which works
    on other aquatic life.

    HISTORY
    Nagaoka, Japan

    Top Secret Project NINGYO

    Lead by General Kobayashi Kotarō

    Kihara Yusuke a male Geneticist
    Maeda Naomi – female Psychologist – Basic Skills Teaching

    Katayama Hiraku a Computer Technologist/ Engineer
    owns several cats, he is a videogame playing, manga/anime,
    sci fi, fan boy nerd. Came up with Subliminal Teaching
    machine from concepts of Matrix and other Sci Fi media.
    Hiraku usually ribs Kenta about his name meaning Nurse and
    the hentai manga.anime Warau Kangofu suggesting Kenta must be “taking
    advantage” of Ichi-kun when Kenta is on shift since the man
    is gay.

    Ishikawa Jinichi – Teacher – (Ninja Training)

    Kangofu Kenta – male Medic to monitor the condition and
    feed the teaching programs into the cybernetic teacher
    some of the scientist were told it was a project to make a
    aquatic adaptable human to win gold in Olympics swimming
    and diving,
    of course the real goal was to use the specimen in espionage
    and military.

    5 year program to grow a specimen to the equivalent of a 20
    year old

    DNA was taken from two agents
    Hattori Nagato a ninja trained assassin
    and Momochi Chiyome a Computer Espionage Expert

    each year the specimen would age 4 years
    every 3 months the subject aging the equivalent of 1 year
    new subliminal teaching technology was developed (from
    Matrix and other concepts) for knowledge subjects and skills
    as well as physical training for body/muscle memory and
    development

    During his sleep cycles the boy was fitted with the
    subliminal teacher and keep learning and then kept in a
    gestation capsule, filled with fluids which continued to work
    and develop and monitor him till the end of the fifth year of
    the experiment.

    The experimental boy was called “Ningyo” by General
    Kobayashi,
    “Subject” by geneticist Yusuke and teacher Jinichi (and
    “Subject” always had to call Jinichi “Sensai”),
    “Ichirou” and eventually “Ichi-kun” or “Ichi-chan” by
    psycologist Naomi and medic Kenta,
    and “Sakuraba” by computer tech Hiraku based off a
    computer game .

    Medic Kenta decided to teach subject some cultural skills to
    give him some balance

    Psychologist Naomi decided to add to skill set to balance him

    Computer tech Hiraku decided to add to skills to give the
    subject some humanity

    During the beginning of the last year, Subject Ningyo
    equivelent to a 16 year old
    he was a given new black wet suit to cover him from neck to
    foot.

    one day sensai Jinichi
    came back suspecting the subject’s training had been
    tampered with as subject was reluctant to perform killing
    blows.

    Jinichi caught psychologist Naomi teaching the subject
    Ikebana flower arranging

    Jinichi killed Naomi, slitting her throat

    Ichirou went berserk and fought his ninja sensai
    surprising Junichi with maneuvers he did not teach, as well
    as his superhuman strength, speed and endurance.

    General Kobayashi came in with security guards

    Ichirou leaped over them and ran

    the general received a report that the Subject escaped the
    complex, taking out several people and guards

    Jinichi was sent after him

    Koi fought his sensei again for a long time
    but after a long savage battle eventually defeated him

    He eventually made it into the ocean

    and swam away

    the remaining scientist on the experiment were concerned for Inchirou since he still had teaching to learn on some basic
    subjects and skills as well as more procedures to slow down
    his growing so he would live much longer than a human as to
    be virtually immortal. As it was Ichirou would continue to age 4 years for every one.

    Ichirou ran afoul of a toxic pool from the massive tsunami cIt
    contained oil, radioactive waste and other deadly chemicals
    which ate through his wet suit and before long left it in tatters

    disorientated and weak due to the chemicals

    dolphins helped push Ichirou out of danger

    made it to America

    As he crawled out of the surf his wet suit fell away and
    the unique chemical coctail had strangely stained his swin
    trunks

    He stowed away on a plane in the cargo hold

    the plane flew away across the United States.

    Eventually the plane landed

    Ichirou snuck off,
    subduing a worker

    made it to military plane
    jumping onto wheel and getting into plane as wheel retracted

    landed at Fort Worth Military Base

    escaped from the plane and hanger

    taking out several military personal
    Theodore “Teddy” Straton,
    Robert “Rob” Washington,
    Arthur “Art” Werner

    was shot by sniper Mark Pearce
    a graze across the temple

    he jumped the fence

    ran across road to Jack In The Box

    hide in truck bed under tarp with with supplies

    was driven to Fort Worth Botanical Gardens

    heard Japanese music

    snuck out of the truck bed

    jumped fence

    hid in bamboo

    end of day for Festival

    people left

    made it to water
    passed out and fell in

    next morning found swimming in a koi pond at the Japanese
    Gardens.
    He had no memory of who he was or why he was in the Koi
    pond, but says he was talking to the fish.

    Japanese American photographer Ken Mihama took pics

    Japanese Wedding wedding party along with other Garden
    patrons took cellphone pics

    Koi pond gardener/attendant Natsumi “Nat” Koka asked him
    his name,
    which he didn’t know, and wasn’t even sure what a name
    was.
    Nat told him his name, and the photographer told his name

    and some of the guest told their names.
    the boy didn’t know why but felt a comfortable familiurarity
    with the photographer’s name.

    Nat named him Gosanke after a catagory of Koi after the koi
    like patten on his Speedo and him supposedly talking to them

    and Taisho Sanshoku being a variety of Gosanke Koi, The
    boy liked Gosanke Taisho with the Japanese surname being
    first, and given name second

    people asked him to prove he was talking to the fish

    he told them to go back, then come up, to go left then right

    someone accused him of using hand signals
    he pointed left but told them to go right, they went right
    told then to go back put pointed forwards they went back
    told them to go left and pointed left
    they went left
    etc
    Ken took pics
    patrons took cellphone pics

    the people were amazed

    Was taken into custody by Officer Frank Starr for his own
    welfare and to discover who he was and where he was from.

    John Henry Wyatt – Tarrent County Medical Examiner
    checked him out

    Taisho growing irritable at being called a subject to the point
    of almost becoming violent.

    Taisho’s story and photo was written up in the Fort Worth

    Star Telegram newpaper

    the US Military read about Taisho in the paper

    US Military liason Mike Crawford got Taisho from jail

    US Military Doctor Benjermin Jones

    US Military Scientist James Franklin King

    US Military General George Appomattox in charge of the
    project
    and tested him and his capabilities with marine fife
    physical strength
    endurance
    time capable of staying under water
    swimming rate
    as well as IQ and education
    ethics and morals
    for a huge gaps in his knowledge of some very basic
    information

    became a US Government project

    Escaped

    went back to Japanese Garden and dived into the koi pond

    Met Japanese Garden’s gardener “Nag” again

    and Ken the photographer
    who thought me might find Taisho there again

    Ken wanted his story

    Taisho wanted to find out about Americans
    and their culture

    Ken took him to his apartment

    Taisho was captivated by Ken’s apartment
    Taisho was surprised to see the well appointed aquarium with gravel, live plants and several goldfish swimming lazilly
    around, which became more excited and active, swimming to
    the top when they saw Ken who fed and cooed and kissed at
    them

    Taisho then surprised Ken by looking intense at the fish and
    nodding several times then looking at Ken with a smile and
    saying the fish said he took good care of them,

    Taisho was likewise very interested in the bathroom sink,
    toilet and with the shower/tub which he wanted to lay in
    but Ken told him they had other things for sleeping

    Taisho looked like a child in a candy store at the waterbed
    which he pounced upon
    and soon he fell asleep on it.
    Ken realizing he would have to sleep on the futon in the living room and he should have let Taisho sleep in the tub after all.

    I have some ideas of further adventures tor Koi
    his learning of America and it’s culture, and friendships he
    makes as well as Japan’s culture
    and rediscovering who he is and where he came from
    as well as meeting those from his distant and recent past,
    and the gifts and curse of his powers.

    http://i795.photobucket.com/albums/yy240/Cliff_HM3/Cliff_Music_Koi_zps9tjrmdlk.jpg

    This music is ONE of several that was inspiration for, during
    and of Koi, since JR said “less than 10 minutes’ and some
    were complete Japanese albums.
    Sadly this music clip does end abruptly but I think it most
    reflects Koi.
    (I do have a great cover of Lady Gaga’s Telephone done on
    koto and Sakuhachi Flute by Team Kozan I would like to do
    Koi dancing at a Japanese/American club … hopefully before
    the contest deadline, but today is dialysis, so maybe Friday.)

    JAPANESE KOI POND FROM THE FISH DVD KOI POND

  12. wyldwarrior says:

    Shine Over the Light
    http://www.heromachine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Shine-Over-the-Light.png

    song: Valley of the Damned- by Dragonforce

  13. hawk007 says:

    Nice choice, Dragonforce. Wouldn’t be my personal choice, but still a good song.

  14. wyldwarrior says:

    Decided to do another one.
    Go to Him
    http://www.heromachine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Go-to-Him.jpg

    Song: Don’t Fear The Reaper- by Blue Oyster Cult

  15. JR19759 says:

    @Thundersong- I know I shouldn’t be saying this, being the judge and everything, but that is one of the most beautiful Heromachine creations I’ve ever seen.

  16. Thundersong says:

    Heyla!

    Thank you for the compliments. I have always been a “fan” of the Asian artwork painted on huge fans. When I first saw the video, I was much inspired to create my own version of a “painted fan”. When I saw this weeks contest, I decided to put this one in along with the song. Music that touches people, does inspire creative visuals as I’ve seen in the entries this week. Very awesome job for all of us. Thanks again for the compliments!

    3LF, Thundersong

  17. JR19759 says:

    Ok guys, this weeks contest is closed. The poll will be up shortly.