Category Archives: Character Design Challenges

Known as the Centaur or the Archer to the Greeks, and "The Soldier" by the Babylonians, your challenge for this week is to design a character based on the concepts suggested by the Zodiac sign "Sagittarius". Some of the traits of a Sagittarius are:

Positive:

• Optimistic and freedom-loving
• Jovial and good-humored
• Honest and straightforward
• Intellectual and philosophical

Negative:

• Blindly optimistic and careless
• Irresponsible and superficial
• Tactless and restless

But hey, we're not here to find a date, we're here to create kick-ass characters, right?! Obvious takes would be anything centaur-like, whether with a classic horse or some other beast (or cyborg, whatever), or anything archer-related.

Whoever comes up with the best character 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:

• 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!

Your character design challenge for this week is to create an alien. You could go all out and do examples of several different sub-species inhabiting a planet, or a super-hero with an alien background, or a fantasy alien invader (like the Mind Flayers), or a specific alien from literature (a named Green Martian from Burroughs, for example), or anything else you can think of that would qualify under the name "alien".

• 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.

I've decided that each month I am going to dedicate one character design contest to the Signs of the Zodiac, because I'm all about living your comic book like according to what the stars tell you. And I don't mean just Robert Downey Jr.

So your challenge for this week is to design the coolest character image possible with the theme of "Scorpio". You might design something around a scorpion (traditional animal symbol of the sign), or something based on the 1973 movie featuring Burt Lancaster, or a character that you think exemplifies the astrological profile of those born under the sign, or something completely different. It's up to you so long as it in some way ties into the theme!

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!