Category Archives: Character Design Challenges

Great entries this week!

Honourable mention goes out to Primelionstar for this transforming take on the character.

And the win goes to AMS. Beautiful detail and an amazing take on a traditional Inukshuk. Well done you!

ATUQTUAQ KUMAGLAK was born in January of 1940 in the remote Qikiqtaaluk area of Canada’s high arctic. While his quiet almost spiritual demeanor made him an unlikely hero, it was his ability to physically transform that brought him to the attention of the ILJ.

When ATU senses a threat or sees others in distress, he transforms into Inukshuk, a solid stone creature sworn to protect all those in peril. He joined the ILJ in 1961.

Your challenge this week is to design two images of ATU; one dressed in his ILJ costume, and one as his fully transformed alter ego, Inukshuk. You can choose to do these as separate images or present both on the same piece.

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. 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, PhotoBucket, or whatever);

• Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
• 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 on Sunday, February 12th at 9:00am Eastern.

Your Design Challenge this week is to create a biomechanical character using HM3. You must include at least 2 examples of masking, and no less than four examples of highlighting or shading.

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. 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, PhotoBucket, or whatever);

• Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
• 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 on Sunday, February 5^th at 9:00am Eastern.

Another nice turn out! Awesome!

Honourable mention this week goes to Melmo44 for his cyberpunk fashionista.

And the win goes to Cliff for this stunning creation.

Please join me in congratulating Cliff on the win. Well done you!

Your challenge this week is to create an Avant Garde fashion design worthy of the Paris runway. There is no limit on number of entries this week.

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. 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, PhotoBucket, or whatever);

• Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
• 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 on Sunday, January 29th at 9:00am Eastern.

I can't even tell you all how great it was to see the number of entries you folks submitted this week. It was also very cool to see some unfamiliar names among the entries. I was considering shelving the CDCs, or at least limiting them to once or twice per month, but a turn out like this gives me some degree of hope for their future. Clearly the triple play format is popular, and that is good to know.

Honorable mentions go to Goku069 and Kellkin.

And this week's winner is Ross Wrighr. Great concept and very interesting character.

Please join me in congratulating Ross on his win. Well done you!

Your Character Design Challenge this week is to create a superhero or villain using the three items indicated in the photo above as part of your design.

There is no limit on entries this week.

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. 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, PhotoBucket, or whatever);

• Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
• 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 on Sunday, January 22nd at 9:00am Eastern.

Ching Tsu was born in August of 1925 in a remote province of Imperial China. The rumors of the young girl who could control the winds and rains were well known, but most considered her existence a fable at best. She met Major Patriot at a rally welcoming him to Shanghai in 1941, and was inspired to join him as the youngest member of the ILJ.

She named herself Feng Po Po, after the Chinese Goddess of storms

Your challenge this week is to design the costume for Feng Po Po.

There is no limit on number of entries this week.

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. I have the right to delete any post that I believe crosses this line without warning. Only post characters that you have either created for this contest specifically or you know for certain have never been entered to 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, PhotoBucket, or whatever);

• Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
• 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 on Sunday, January 8th at 9:00am Eastern.

Honourable Mention this week goes to Cliff.

And this week's win goes to HerrD because of three little words: reindeer antler propeller. Genius!

This was the final CDC for 2016. They will return on Monday, January 2nd, 2017.

Wishing everyone the happiest of holidays.

David