Category Archives: Challenges

Your design challenge for this week is to create a character or characters based on something related to the current holiday season. You could go with something Christmas related (Santa, the elves, flying reindeer, turbo sled, Wise Men, a hero named "The Shepherd", a villain named "The Swaddler", etc.), Chanukah (Maccabeus, eight members of the "Menorah" team, someone named Shamash, etc.), or you could go with something winter related (Solstice, blizzards, etc.). Your choice!

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!

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!