Category Archives: Character Design Challenges

Your character design challenge for this week is to come up with an image with HeroMachine based on the idea of the Zodiac sign "Aquarius". To help you out, here's a bit on the history of the name from Wikipedia:

Aquarius is sometimes identified with Ganymede, a beautiful youth in Greek mythology with whom Zeus fell in love and, in the disguise of an eagle (represented by the constellation Aquila), carried off to Olympus to be "cup-bearer" to the gods. Aquarius has also been identified as the pourer of the waters that flooded the Earth in the ancient Greek version of the Great Flood myth. As such, the constellation Eridanus the river is sometimes identified as a river being poured by Aquarius.

I usually think of Aquarius as being closely related to water, so pretty much anything aquatic-related would work on this one like a mermaid, or a mutant with water-control powers. You could also do an undersea research station, or the Aquarius Torpedo, or some other tech- or magic-related item if you don't want to do a person. You could play off the "cup bearer" concept if water doesn't appeal to you, or even riff off the great hippie tune "Age of Aquarius" with a peace-and-love poster homage to that era.

The contest rules are the same as usual:

1. Use only a HeroMachine applet (no PhotoShopping except for basic cropping) to create a PNG or JPG of your entry, named as [your name]-[character name].[file extension]. So DiCicatriz, for instance, would save his "Bayou Belle" character image as DiCicatriz-BayouBelle.png.
2. Post the image to a publicly accessible website (ImageShack, PhotoBucket, the UGO Forums, etc.).
3. Enter the name of your entry and a link directly to the image in a comment to this post. The image cannot have been used in any previous HeroMachine character design contest.
4. The link to your image should 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.
5. I'll choose a winner next Monday, who will receive his or her choice of any item or a portrait to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 program, or a "Sketch of the Week" style black and white illustration (you pick the subject and I draw it up however I like).

No limit on entries this week, so knock yourselves out. Good luck everyone!

Every good organization needs henchmen, those loveably expendable front-line shock troops referred to in times gone by as "cannon fodder". Whether you're talking about "Marked for Death" Star Fleet Red-shirts or the tunic-wearing green-clad losers with giant yellow "H" suspenders Hydra runs out to get their butts kicked by Captain America, these guys and gals put it all on the line every day knowing full well they've got a snowball's chance in Hell of making it through any scrape unscathed. And yet, they strap on their ginormous yellow AIM helmets anyway and gamely soldier on.

Not that all organizations with henchmen are evil. I say nay nay! S.H.I.E.L.D isn't shy about trotting someone's weak-kneed little brother out there in a midnight blue jumpsuit to get blasted to death, either.

Your challenge this week is to create henchmen for some larger comics organization. You could use an established group like A.I.M. or the Justice League, or you can use a group entirely of your own creation. Either way, we're not talking unique one-off heavy hitters, we're talking front-line soldiers who dress in uniforms here. For instance, Back in the Day buddy John and I were involved in a long-running Champions campaign. My criminal organization was "Leviathan", built along nautical themes while taking their motivation from Hobbes' vision of a humanity badly in need of someone to take charge. Their lowest level of front-line goons were called Piranha:

The heavy-hitter units were called Squids:

That's the kind of thing, in general, I'm talking about. Here are a few more henchmen to give you an idea of the kind of thing we're talking about:

The contest 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.
• You cannot use any other image-editing software (like Photoshop or GIMP) to create your image (basic cropping excepted).
• 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, who will receive his or her choice of any item or a portrait to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 program, or a "Sketch of the Week" style black and white illustration.

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

Despite recent attempts to subvert the sublime perfection of the modern Zodiac system with the discredited "sidereal" horoscope model, we here at HeroMachine central remain committed to our stated goal of doing a Character Design Contest for each heavenly sign. This is our last chance to honor Capricorn, the sign of the Goat, so off we go!

Remember, the goal here isn't necessarily to create a character named "Capricorn", though you could certainly do so if you wanted. Rather, the goal is to be inspired by any aspect of the name, history, or images associated with the sign to create something that looks awesome. For example, since the symbol is a goat (sometimes with the rear end of a fish), you could do something related to the animal portions. Or you could find examples of famous Capricorns and do a character based off of them.

From Wikipedia:

The constellation is usually depicted as a goat with a fish's tail. One myth says that when the goat-god Pan was attacked by the monster Typhon, he dove into the Nile; the parts above the water remained a goat, but those under the water transformed into a fish.
Capricorn is sometimes depicted as a sea-goat, and sometimes as a terrestrial goat. The reasons for this are unknown, but the image of a sea-goat goes back at least to Babylonian times. Furthermore the Sumerian god Enki's symbols included a goat and a fish, which later combined into a single beast, the goat Capricorn, recognized as the Zodiacal constellation Capricornus.

"The symbol of the goat rising from the body of a fish represents with greatest propriety the mountainous buildings of Babylon rising out of its low and marshy situation; the two horns of the goat being emblematic of the two towns, Nineveh and Babylon, the former built on the Tigris, the latter on the Euphrates; but both subjected to one sovereignty."

For more inspiration, you could go to Google Images and do a search for "Capricorn". Or just click that there link, to save yourself some keystrokes.

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, who will receive his or her choice of any item or a portrait to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 program, or a "Sketch of the Week" style black and white illustration.

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

Your character design challenge for this week is to create the coolest looking, most interesting character using HeroMachine 3 that fits the concept of a "bounty hunter". The person I judge as submitting the best entry will win his or her choice of a) any item or b) any portrait to be included in HeroMachine 3.

• 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, who will receive his or her choice of any item or a portrait to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 program, or a "Sketch of the Week" style black and white illustration.

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

Granted, it's called the "Hero" machine, but let's be honest -- the Flash programming environment is fairly value-neutral. Which means it's time for you to unleash your inner bad-guy!

That's right, your character design challenge for this week is to create the baddest of the bad-asses, the scummiest of the villainous scum, the evilest of the evil overlords! The person who submits the coolest looking, most awesome, absolutely dead-on killer criminal character will win his or her choice of a) any item or b) any portrait to be included in HeroMachine 3.

• 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 -- we had an "Angels and Demons" contest and a "D&D Character" contest a while back, for instance, and I don't want repeats of stuff you already did for those;
• 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, who will receive his or her choice of any item or a portrait to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 program, or a "Sketch of the Week" style black and white illustration.

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