Category Archives: Challenges

Pop Quiz: Halloween Masks

Posted on October 20, 2012 by | Comments Off on Pop Quiz: Halloween Masks

With Halloween in the U.S. fast approaching, I wanted to share this awesome article from Lifehacker about making your own custom vacuum molded masks. It sounds like so much fun! But since I can't code that into HeroMachine, instead I'll challenge you to create your own Halloween mask in the program. To be clear, I just want the mask, nothing else -- no bodies or backgrounds, no elaborate full costume. All I want is an image of a mask you might find in a store that someone would wear to a Halloween party.

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 challenge, but instead of a whole week I'll announce my favorites some time tomorrow. Here's how to make an entry:


(Click to embiggen.)

I'll pick one entry as my personal favorite, which will get to be featured in the side bar to the right for ultimate glory! As a bonus you're allowed to say you won the Internet for a few days.

Good luck!

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Character Challenge 102: Speedster

Posted on October 15, 2012 by | Comments Off on Character Challenge 102: Speedster

Super heroes have certain kinds of archetypes, and one of the classics is the speedster. You know what I'm talking about, it's folks like The Flash, Jessie Quick, Whizzer, and Quicksilver.

So your challenge this week is:

Create an awesome speedster character!

I'll pick my personal favorites when the week is over, with the one I like best being featured in the right column for the week. The rules otherwise are the same as always:


(Click to embiggen.)

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

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Posted in Challenges, Character Design Challenges

Pop Quiz: Chimera

Posted on October 13, 2012 by | Comments Off on Pop Quiz: Chimera

Happy Saturday, folks! Your one-day challenge is to create a chimera, a creature formed by combining two other creatures. The classic Greek mythological example was the Chimera, a lion's body with eagle's wings and the heads of a dragon, a goat, and a lion:

Your goal is not to recreate this specific monster, but to take at least two items from the Head-Animals set and combine them onto one creature. It could be humanoid like a minotaur with an extra head or entirely animalistic like the classic chimera.

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 challenge, but instead of a whole week I'll announce my favorites some time tomorrow. Here's how to make an entry:


(Click to embiggen.)

I'll pick one entry as my personal favorite, which will get to be featured in the side bar to the right for ultimate glory! As a bonus you're allowed to say you won the Internet for a few days.

Good luck!

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Posted in Challenges, Pop Quiz

Caption Challenge 131: Gorilicious

Posted on October 8, 2012 by | Comments Off on Caption Challenge 131: Gorilicious

It's time for another new Caption Challenge! This week you're tasked with coming up with the best caption for this comics panel:

I'll pick out some as my personal favorites to highlight in a post next Monday, and then I'll choose one of those to bear the standard as the "Featured Creator of the Week" atop the right column.

All entries must be left as a comment (or comments) to this post. Keep ‘em clean (appropriate for a late-night broadcast TV show), but most importantly, keep ‘em funny!

No limit to entries, but please, self-edit and only put up ones you genuinely think are good!

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Posted in Caption Challenges, Challenges

Pop Quiz: Fall

Posted on October 6, 2012 by | Comments Off on Pop Quiz: Fall

Happy Saturday, folks! The colors have changed here in Colorado, and my wife and I will be taking them in while on a hike today. So your one-day quick-fire challenge is to create an awesome image using the leaf aura from ItemRight-Energy:

You can use it once or a hundred times. It can be front and center as the main centerpiece, or a background element, so long as at least one copy is in there somewhere.

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 challenge, but instead of a whole week I'll announce my favorites some time tomorrow. Here's how to make an entry:


(Click to embiggen.)

I'll pick one entry as my personal favorite, which will get to be featured in the side bar to the right for ultimate glory! As a bonus you're allowed to say you won the Internet for a few days.

Good luck!

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Posted in Challenges, Pop Quiz

Character Design Challenge 101: Gamma Madness!

Posted on October 1, 2012 by | Comments Off on Character Design Challenge 101: Gamma Madness!

via Redditor Skitchbot.

When I was in high school, one of my favorite RPGs was "Gamma World", a post-apocalyptic setting where you could get the most random and bizarre creatures you've ever imagined. Playing a three-eyed human-plant hybrid with psychic powers and a bird leg growing out of his back was pretty much de rigueur. It was about as surreal as a game could get, and it's what inspired me for your character design challenge this week:

Create an awesome character portrait based on a randomly generated Gamma-World NPC via this great web site. Include the text description you're given in the comment where you post your image link!

You will get ten random character descriptions, from which you can choose one or all. I'll pick my personal favorites when the week is over, with the one I like best being featured in the right column for the week. The rules otherwise are the same as always:


(Click to embiggen.)

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

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Posted in Challenges, Character Design Challenges

Pop Quiz: Small Gods

Posted on September 29, 2012 by | Comments Off on Pop Quiz: Small Gods

Happy Saturday, folks! One of my favorite authors is Terry Pratchett, and one of my favorite books of his is "Small Gods". It's a comical fantasy that deals not with the powerful world-shattering deities, but your everyday ones like Moog the God of Hairballs or Fred the Lord of Lowered Zippers. Your one-day quick-fire challenge today is to create an awesome image showing your idea of a Small God.

This week you can enter as many as you wish, but I'm going to put you on the honor system and request that you only post images you make today (or tomorrow if I don't get to them until then). Most of the other rules are the same as for a regular challenge, but instead of a whole week I'll announce my favorites either tonight or tomorrow morning. Here's how to make an entry:


(Click to embiggen.)

I'll pick one entry as my personal favorite, which will get to be featured in the side bar to the right for ultimate glory! As a bonus you're allowed to say you won the Internet for a few days.

Good luck!

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Caption Challenge 130

Posted on September 24, 2012 by | Comments Off on Caption Challenge 130

It's time for another new Caption Challenge! This week you're tasked with coming up with the best caption for this comics panel:

I'll pick out some as my personal favorites to highlight in a post next Monday, and then I'll choose one of those to bear the standard as the "Featured Creator of the Week" atop the right column.

All entries must be left as a comment (or comments) to this post. Keep ‘em clean (appropriate for a late-night broadcast TV show), but most importantly, keep ‘em funny!

No limit to entries, but please, self-edit and only put up ones you genuinely think are good!

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Posted in Caption Challenges, Challenges

Character Challenge 100 Vote!

Posted on September 24, 2012 by | Comments Off on Character Challenge 100 Vote!

Thanks to everyone who entered an illustration for Character Challenge 100, which asked you to pick your single favorite creation with HeroMachine. I've collected all of the entries into one huge poll, and now the job is yours -- pick your top ten favorite images! The top five vote-getters as of midnight Sunday will each receive a Jeff-drawn version of their submission.

I've left off the name of the creator to be as fair as possible. You can click on any image to see it at a much larger size in a new tab or window.

If your entry has something wrong with it (like I didn't title it correctly), please let me know. If you submitted an entry but don't see it here, you probably either didn't title or link it correctly. If I couldn't tell what the character name, or your name, was by looking at the file name, it was disqualified.

Good luck everyone! Please feel free to speak up in the comments to discuss your favorites. I'm really proud of the quality of work you all have put together for this centennial edition of the Character Challenges.

[polldaddy poll="6556014"]

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Posted in Caption Challenges, Challenges

Pop Quiz: Humanoids

Posted on September 22, 2012 by | Comments Off on Pop Quiz: Humanoids

Happy Saturday, folks! Your one-day quick-fire challenge today is to create an awesome image using one of the new Companion-Humanoids I posted a couple of days ago:


(Click to embiggen.)

You can use one of them, or all of them, or anything in between. You can use just a piece of it (via clever masking) or the entirety of it, so long as there's at least one of the new ones in there somewhere.

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 challenge, but instead of a whole week I'll announce my favorites either tonight or tomorrow morning. Here's how to make an entry:


(Click to embiggen.)

I'll pick one entry as my personal favorite, which will get to be featured in the side bar to the right for ultimate glory! As a bonus you're allowed to say you won the Internet for a few days.

Good luck!

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Posted in Challenges, Pop Quiz