Category Archives: Character Design Challenges

Last week you were charged with the task of creating the hero team's speedster. And man oh man, you guys did not disappoint.

Honourable mention this week goes to Kellkin. Really like the simplicity of the costume, and the creative masking of the lightning bolts.

Runner-up this week goes to AMS. Love the fact that you made him look younger and resubmitted him. The care you put into your work shows every single time you create something. Damn near a "threepeat".

And the win this week goes to...

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The premise of this contest is that over the next number of weeks we will build a team of superheroes and a team of villains. Each week I will supply you with a role, name, or list of powers of one of the team members and you will use HM3 to create the character. The winner each week will win a version of their character created on HM by yours truly.

Your challenge this week is to design the hero team speedster.

While speaking at an International Justice symposium in Berlin, Totem was made aware of a very special local boy. 16 year old Eriq von Stroh was born with the gift of supersonic speed. Orphaned at 12, he turned to stealing to feed himself, but when he inadvertently broke up a human trafficking ring by busting through the wrong door, his future was sealed. A local newspaper nicknamed him MACH 20 and he attained almost instant celebrity status. He is wilful, and quick to anger, but was equally quick to take Totem’s guiding hand when it was offered. He now battles evil at her side around the world as MACH20.

Please follow the instructions below regarding the naming of entries.

Enter a often as you like!

Rules for posts, contests, and challenges: Original characters only, no copyrighted characters, no characters based on copyrighted characters, no characters based on RPG’s or other games. The characters must be your own design and not based on any character that might be copyrighted in any way. Please keep all submissions PG13: full or partial nudity is prohibited. I have the right to delete any post that I believe crosses this line without warning. Only post characters that have been created solely using Hero Machine, and that you know for certain have never been entered in a contest before. If you aren’t certain, don’t enter it, because I’m not going to go back through all of the contests and check.

All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like the HeroMachine :,ImageShack, Deviant Art or whatever);Do not use Photobucket.

• Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
• No copyrighted characters please – they will be deleted.
• Please name your filesas [your name]-[character name].[file extension] before you upload it. 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).

This contest will close at 9am Eastern on Sunday, May 26th.

Good turn out this week folks!

Honourable mention this week goes to Kellkin. The mask is great, but I find some of the elements, ie. multiple spikes and belts, unnecessary.

Runner up this week is Ubiquitous Pixel. Once again, the mask is beautiful, and I love the cape. The stance and shading are also well done. My only criticism is the same as it was for Kellkin; some areas start to look "busy".  Just my opinion.

And the win this week goes to...

Continue reading →

The premise of this contest is that over the next number of weeks we will build a team of superheroes and a team of villains. Each week I will supply you with a role, name, or list of powers of one of the team members and you will use HM3 to create the character. The winner each week will win a version of their character created on HM by yours truly.

Your challenge this week is to design the villain team leader.

Jack Zee always fancied himself an anarchist. He spent his youth protesting and battling big business, big pharma, and big oil. Quite by chance, while searching a used book store for something readable, he was drawn to a book on Egyptian mythology. He opened the book to the story of Seth – the god of chaos, and was transfixed. He rushed home and spent days reading and googling everything he could find about Seth. His interest was quickly becoming an obsession. He fashioned a grotesque mask based on the character and when he put it on something changed; his anger would turn to violent rage. As Seth he trolled the streets of Chicago seeking out the angry, the disenfranchised, and the lost, enlisting them into his army, where their true gifts could be perfected Seth’s costume can best be described as 10% steampunk, 10% heavy metal, and 80% whatever is clean.

Please follow the instructions below regarding the naming of entries.

Enter a often as you like!

Rules for posts, contests, and challenges: Original characters only, no copyrighted characters, no characters based on copyrighted characters, no characters based on RPG’s or other games. The characters must be your own design and not based on any character that might be copyrighted in any way. Please keep all submissions PG13: full or partial nudity is prohibited. I have the right to delete any post that I believe crosses this line without warning. Only post characters that have been created solely using Hero Machine, and that you know for certain have never been entered in a contest before. If you aren’t certain, don’t enter it, because I’m not going to go back through all of the contests and check.

All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like the HeroMachine :,ImageShack, Deviant Art or whatever);Do not use Photobucket.

• Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
• No copyrighted characters please – they will be deleted.
• Please name your filesas [your name]-[character name].[file extension] before you upload it. 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).

This contest will close at 9am Eastern on Sunday, May 19th.

This week's runner up is Meniukas.

Nice use of items and decoration.

And the win this week goes to...

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This week's honourable mentions go out to...

Brons for Jinn With Sword,

and Nighthawk for Sparrow.

Great work guys.

And the win this week goes to...

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