Category Archives: Character Design Challenges

The very first character design contest was based on a random word I generated online, "Capstan". Imp won the affair, and thus was born a long, highly entertaining series of creative endeavors.

Today we're returning to that concept.

I've used the Random Word Generator to come up with an adjective that will guide your imagination this week. That word is:

Your challenge is to create a character that embodies the concept of "lissom". You don't have to name your character that, but he/she/it should exemplify the properties of suppleness, agility, nimbleness, of being lithe of body. Published characters I would think of as "lissom" would be Mr. Fantastic; Elektra; Spider-Man; Kitty Pryde; and Uma Thurman in the "Kill Bill" series.

Characters like The Thing, The Hulk, and Blok would be the opposite of what we're talking about here. I'm looking for illustrations that ooze grace, that spill forth an agile ability beyond the normal ken, that speak to lean, lithe power.

The rules are the same as usual:

• 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;
• The image cannot have been used in any previous HeroMachine character design contest;
• 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). If you see "preview" or "rotate" somewhere in the link you're probably doing it wrong.
• All entries must be in by next Monday, when I'll choose a winner.

The person with the winning entry as selected by our expert panel (i.e. me) will win their choice of a) a portrait to go in HeroMachine 3, b) an item to go in HeroMachine 3, or c) a custom black and white "Sketch of the Day" style drawing (also by me).

Good luck, everyone -- now go forth and create!

Your design challenge for this week is to create character or characters based on something related to sports. It might be something funny like "Catcher in the Rye" which is an actual baseball catcher on a loaf of bread, or a big 40's style goon named "Pinch" (for pinch runner) or a soccer-themed villain named "Sweeper". Or you could take a page from Stan Lee's book and design characters based on sports team names. You could design a team based around chess pieces or poker cards, or built around transforming NASCAR vehicles, or ... really, just about anything, so long as it's in some way related to something sporty! Just, you know, try to come up with something better than Superpro:

The rules are the same as usual:

• 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;
• The image cannot have been used in any previous HeroMachine character design contest;
• 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). If you see "preview" or "rotate" somewhere in the link you're probably doing it wrong.
• All entries must be in by next Monday, when I'll choose a winner.

The person with the winning entry as selected by our expert panel (i.e. me) will win their choice of a) a portrait to go in HeroMachine 3, b) an item to go in HeroMachine 3, or c) a custom black and white "Sketch of the Day" style drawing (also by me).

Good luck, everyone!

Recently we talked about revisiting past contest ideas, so this week that's exactly what we're going to do. Way back in June of 2009, we held Character Design Contest 6: Animalia, and now's your chance to do it all over again! Here's how the original announcement read:

Your character creation challenge for this week is going to be a bit more focused than last time: you must create a character (or characters) based on the animal kingdom. That might mean a super chimpanzee, or it might mean The Battling Beaver super-hero, or it might be a space-zombie-fighting intergalactic robot horse, or it might be your take on the Beastmaster, or a fantasy ranger with his wolf companion, or or or anything else you can think of, so long as it relates in some way to an animal.

We've updated the rules a bit since then, though:

• 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;
• The image cannot have been used in any previous HeroMachine character design contest;
• 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). If you see "preview" or "rotate" somewhere in the link you're probably doing it wrong.
• All entries must be in by next Monday, when I'll choose a winner.

The person with the winning entry as selected by our expert panel (i.e. me) will win their choice of a) a portrait to go in HeroMachine 3, b) an item to go in HeroMachine 3, or c) a custom black and white "Sketch of the Day" style drawing (also by me).

For old times' sake, the original winner of the first Animalia contest was Friday Night Fights Winner Martian Blue's "Eagle:

(Click to embiggen.)

Good luck, everyone!

We haven't done a "random name" character contest in almost a year, so I think it's about time we revisited this always-fun concept.

It's pretty straightforward and a great way to stretch your creative muscles.

Whoever comes up with the best character based on a random name generated by Seventh Sanctum Superhero/Villain Name Generator will win a) his or her choice of either any item they like to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 version; b) a portrait to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 version, or c) a "sketch of the day" style custom drawing. The rules are fairly simple:

The person with the winning entry as selected by our expert panel (i.e. me) will win their choice of a) a portrait to go in HeroMachine 3, b) an item to go in HeroMachine 3, or c) a custom black and white "Sketch of the Day" style drawing (also by me). The rules otherwise are the same as always:

• Go to the Seventh Sanctum Superhero/Villain Name Generator and choose "10" from the number of names to generate. Leave the other selection boxes at their default and hit "Generate". Your character(s) must be based on one of these generated names. Try your best to limit yourself to one spin of the wheel instead of generating names over and over till you get one you like!
• 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;
• The image cannot have been used in any previous HeroMachine character design contest;
• 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). If you see "preview" or "rotate" somewhere in the link you're probably doing it wrong.
• All entries must be in by next Monday, when I'll choose a winner.

No limit on entries this week, so knock yourselves out. Just make them good!

This week's Character Design Challenge brings us the conclusion of the Zodiac Cycle with the final sign, Libra!

Libra usually shows as scales, though sometimes that's joined to the Roman concept of the goddess of justice. You could design a character named Libra, or twins who are diametrically opposed (balancing each other out), or a massive weapons system code-named Libra, or a straight-up set of cool looking scales, or anything else you can think of that fits in any way into the name, concept, or history of Libra. This is your last Zodiac, so be sure to make it count!

The person with the winning entry as selected by our expert panel (i.e. me) will win their choice of a) a portrait to go in HeroMachine 3, b) an item to go in HeroMachine 3, or c) a custom black and white "Sketch of the Day" style drawing (also by me). The rules otherwise are the same as always:

• 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;
• The image cannot have been used in any previous HeroMachine character design contest;
• 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). If you see "preview" or "rotate" somewhere in the link you're probably doing it wrong.
• All entries must be in by next Monday, when I'll choose a winner.

Good luck everyone! Since this is the last one, no limit on entries. Knock yourself out!