Artistic Challenge Ideas Thread

[Pyroclasm]

Apparently the random themes challenge and the Amalgam challenge are popular with you guys (and gals).  I will definitely revisit them again.  However, I'm pretty sure that if I just alternated random themes and amalgam from now on it will start to get stale.  So I have created this thread to get some challenge ideas.  Also, below you will find the list of themes from the random themes challenge.  Perhaps some of you can offer additional theme ideas to add to that list.

Randomizer List:
Note: The description provided is only meant to explain the assignment title.)
1) Horror: Your character has been or is transformed into a creature of darkness.
2) Western: Your character came to be during the height of the Old West.
3) Ultimate: Reimagined for a gritty modern world.  This isn't your 616 kind of hero!
4) Child: Any age from baby to teenager.  Your character started his adventures at an earlier age.
5) Pirate: Forget modern times, your character existed durring the age of pirates.
6) Post-Apocalypse:  Some sort of disaster has ruined the world.  Despite that, your character continues to survive.  Conversely, perhaps the character came into being in this harsh new world instead.
7) Alignment Swap:  Good becomes evil.  Evil becomes good.  What would your character be like if he played for an opposing team?
8) Movie: Due to the success of a related comic character's movie, you've been given the task of redesigning this character for a mainstream movie audience.
9) Medieval Fantasy: Dungeons & Dragons, Lord of the Rings, Warcraft, etc.  You know the drill.  The character exists in a medieval world of magic & monsters.
10) Space Opera: Aliens, Space-age knights, Smugglers, etc.  Your character exists in a sci-fi fantasy universe or perhaps just a galaxy far far away...
11) Old: The character is just shy from living in the home of retired superheroes.  Perhaps this is at the tail end of the character's existence, perhaps how he/she would look on his/her last mission...
12) Robot: The character was built, not born.  It's abilities are completely artificial, perhaps being a robot, cyborg, android or other construct.
13) Next Generation: A new person has taken on the mantle of the character.  Maybe the character is related, hired, or perhaps just following in the footsteps of a legend...
14) Gender Swap: Make a female version of a male character or vice versa.  Not crossdressing but rather what if your character was born of the different gender?  Or what would someone else look like if they were mimicking the style?  Think Superman/Supergirl or even Captain America/American Dream.
15) Silver/Golden Age: Totally retro.  The character existed in comic's past.  Part camp, Part innocence, all hero.
16) Pet/Furry: Lycanthrope (Captain America as Wolf), animal hero (Underdog) or perhaps just the character's faithful companion (Krypto)...
17) HEROES: This is a world where the ordinary are extraordinary and vice versa.  Just regular people who come upon powers.  What would their job be like?  What would they look like in a world where the heroes aren't musclebound beefcakes and their identity takes precedence over their abilities?
18) Evolved: The character's abilities have been increasing and adapting.  Think how over the years some comic characters gain new abilities or mutate into new forms.  Perhaps their powers are forced into overdrive making them freaks among freaks...
19) Magic/Supernatural: All heroes in this world derive their abilities from a magical or supernatural source.  Magical items, deals with demons, magical spells, etc.
20) Pro Wrestler: The world has no superpowered people.  But the luchadors are the most popular form of entertainment.  When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants in your room... It's for fun...
21) Historic: The catchall category for other historical time periods not covered in other categories.  Ancient Greece, the Rennascaince, Ancient Egypt...
22) Steampunk:  Victorian era sci-fi adventure ala Jules Verne, Alan Quartermain, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen...
23) Megalomaniac: Not just a villain, but the uberpowered bast**d that destroys the world's supers for their cause.  If you get this theme and a megalomaniac, just try and push the envelope further.
24) Fascist: Cold and imposing.  Where heroes are enforcers and villains are dictators.  Everything you'd expect for a Cold-War Soviet Union, 1984, Logan's Run, V for Vendetta, Equilibrium, etc.
25) Failed Clone: Whether the result of genetic experiments, a duplication machine or a magical bolt of energy, the character was duplicated.  Only it didn't turn out so well.  The character may be underpowered, overpowered, or just plain ugly.

Disclaimer: I will consider every idea posted in this thread.  I will also consider everyone's feedback on those ideas.  I can't guarantee all of them will be used, however.

Edit: Typo
Edit: Added in some of the randomizer themes suggested in this thread. 5-06-07

[gdaybloke]

Employed: If the had to get regular jobs...

[Carravaggio]

'Evolved' where the character's powers have ascended to the next level, ie prof x with a huge noggin, supes as pure solar power, wolverine as a hulking man beast, ironman as a voltron sized armour etc. the idea could be either to massively increase their powers/theme, or evolve/devolve them several hundred million years.

'Power/theme swap' pick two characters and swap their theme/origins and powers, a good example of this is 'speeding bullets' where kal-el was found by the kents, and raised as bruce wayne, therefore becoming a superpowered batman after their deaths. this is not an amalgam, this is a complete reimagining of themes.

'**** destroys the *** universe', a version of the character who turns evil and kills off the rest of their world/universe. Kind of like a Maestro version of the character
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Future-imperf.jpg
Batman would likely be in a hulking suit of batarmour equipped with all manner of anti-powers defenses, Supes would regress to his cold, inhuman kryptonian heritage.

'TAS'-redesign the hero in the 'TAS' style (yeah i know that sentence makes no sense if you word the acronym out).

[Sword]

Anime: Design what the character would look like if it was a manga.
Magic: In a world where all power comes from magic, even these heroes do.
Pro Wrestlers: There are no superheroes. Just men and women in tights.

[Glitch Girl]

Historic: Whether it be Rennisance or Ancient Greece, this hero existed many centuries ago.

Adventurer/Steampunk: Victorian Sci-fi and daring action a la Alan Quartermain, Jules Verne, etc.

[BentonGrey]

I like those, GG.

[MJB]

How about along with the regular randomizer we add styles?

EXAMPLES

Character__	Subject__	Style__
Cap. America	Western	Anime
Superman	Wrestling	Jack Kirby
Madman	Medieval	Rob Liefeld

Since some people may not be comfortable imitating certain styles this can be optional. When you enter the challenge you can choose whether to use the style randomizer or not.

Here is a list of styles off the top of my noodle...

• Anime
  
• Timmverse (JLU)
  
• South park
  
• Jack Kirby
  
• Rob Liefeld

-MJB

[Reepicheep]

I would struggle if we added styles of any sort (including anime, although the south park idea goes gold for a whole new theme, IMHO). I'm not all that good at recycling the styles of other people into my own work, not sure about the rest of you.

And, I think, if we do get the choice of our own style, select a style or the randomizer, then theres no real need for it in the first place ... unless people would rather have that extra challenge?

[Pyroclasm]

I think what MJB was suggesting was that when you enter the challenge you either volunteer to get a random style if you want the added challenge, or you simply do the randomizer as usual.  You wouldn't pick the different style you'd use, only pick if you wanted to be told what style to do it in.  As a purely voluntary thing that wasn't forced on every participant, I think it has promise.  Obviously, if no one chooses to be told what style to use, it would end up a standard randomizer with no harm, no foul.  Unless someone can give me a strong reason why it shouldn't be offered, I think we'll try it in the next randomizer.

BTW, most of those randomizer ideas are pretty good.

[UnkoMan]

Well, Kirby or Timmverse I'd be fine with, but I wouldn't want to have to emulate those other suggested styles... Thus I would never choose style randomization for fear of getting something I hated instead of liked. Although, that would be a neat idea in and of itself, for a paticular challenge. Maybe not style but using a specific artist's feel to redesign a character. For example, a ton of straps and useless pouches for Jim Lee, or big guns and torso but no feet for Liefeld.

Back to theme and... I'm having a tough time thinking up something that isn't close to something already said.
How about...

Soviet Russia: In American you watch Heroes... In Soviet Russia hero watches you!

[Pyroclasm]

Just to clarify:  This thread isn't just for additional categories for the randomizer, but actual challenge ideas.  We have the randomizer and the Amalgam.  Is there something else you guys want as a challenge, or will everyone be satisfied with alternating the randomizer & Amalgam each month?

[Carravaggio]

So a challenge is something like draw a pic in a day or only with your left hand or only with charcoal, and the randomiser (AUS spelling!) is a theme?
I prefer to keep it theme based, and i don't even mind doing the same theme a few times with different characters.
A challenge is ok, but if its too restrictive you may scare people off.

[Alaric]

So a challenge is something like draw a pic in a day or only with your left hand or only with charcoal, and the randomiser (AUS spelling!) is a theme?
I prefer to keep it theme based, and i don't even mind doing the same theme a few times with different characters.
A challenge is ok, but if its too restrictive you may scare people off.

At the risk of putting words into someone else's mouth, that's not what Pyroclasm means. The whole "Randomizer" thing is a single example of an "Artistic Challenge"; artists are challenged to come up with pictures based on random themes. Most people in this thread have ben suggesting additional themes for the "Randomizer" challenge. Pyroclasm would like people to suggest entirely different challenges, as well.

[Pyroclasm]

Thanks, Alaric.  That's what I meant.

Here's new challenge ideas that I'd like to get feedback on:

Name Challenge--  Each participant enters by making up a character name.  The names then get randomly distributed.  The task would be to design a character to suit the name.

Power Challenge--  Each participant enters by listing a power or power set.  These then get randomly distributed.  The task would be to design a character based around the power.


Edit: Frellin' typos...

[Revenant]

I really like these, the primary reason being it would challenge us to create new characters.  that's always a good thing!

[MJB]

How about a variation of Spud's old 30 minute challenge he and someone had.

One name is given to all who enter. Then everyone would draw their version of that character.

Example: Miasma ([size=0]yes I'm using a former FR member as my example... sue me[/size])

Everyone who entered would have to draw their version of a character named Miasma. Lots of original ideas would be spawned.

-MJB

[Pyroclasm]

Seems not much different than last year when a random character was chosen from a list nominated by the participants.  Everyone drew their own take on the character.  That was fun the first 2 or 3 times, and then no one wanted to do them anymore.  IMHO, it appears that giving each person their own "personal" challenge works a little better.

[Revenant]

How bout a power randomizer where each person chooses their own  physical appearance, but gets a random mutant power, and has to draw the character in costume, and choose a name.  Everybody can submit mutant power ideas at the start.  No ubers.

We could do avatar nemesis, where you get a random name of another participant, and you have to create a nemesis (hero or villain) for that person.  then we could get to know each other's avs, as well as expand their universes.  It's always nice to get some input from a second brain, as well.

[Carravaggio]

We could do avatar nemesis, where you get a random name of another participant, and you have to create a nemesis (hero or villain) for that person.  then we could get to know each other's avs, as well as expand their universes.  It's always nice to get some input from a second brain, as well.

i REALLY like that one, Revenant

So a challenge is something like draw a pic in a day or only with your left hand or only with charcoal, and the randomiser (AUS spelling!) is a theme?
I prefer to keep it theme based, and i don't even mind doing the same theme a few times with different characters.
A challenge is ok, but if its too restrictive you may scare people off.

At the risk of putting words into someone else's mouth, that's not what Pyroclasm means. The whole "Randomizer" thing is a single example of an "Artistic Challenge"; artists are challenged to come up with pictures based on random themes. Most people in this thread have ben suggesting additional themes for the "Randomizer" challenge. Pyroclasm would like people to suggest entirely different challenges, as well.

Um...thats what i said, randomiser=theme/flavour, challenge=set of conditions/restrictions that dictate the creative direction of the image and/or how it is produced

Pyroclasm: I like both those ideas, especially as Rev said, it allows the creation of new characters.

[Alaric]

Um...thats what i said, randomiser=theme/flavour, challenge=set of conditions/restrictions that dictate the creative direction of the image and/or how it is produced

Uh, that's not what I said, however. A challenge can be a theme/flavor (for example, the entire challenge could be to draw a character in "Golden Age" style), and the Randomizer itself is a challenge, even with no additional conditions/restrictions. The point is to come up with possible new challenges in place of the Randomizer, not additional criteria for using said Randomizer.

I'm sorry if I'm misunderstanding you, but it looks to me like you're making a distinction where there isn't one.

[Reepicheep]

As I see it, the use of the word 'challenge' is just to point out that it isn't a competition, but something to do for the fun of it with no real reward (apart from the reward of participation. You damn well better make the most of it!). Just a more fitting word.

If not that, then the challenge of it is to keep to a theme, like the randomizer.

Is that right?


And thanks for clearing up the earlier comment - I understand now, and it is a good idea.

[Pyroclasm]

At the risk of putting words into someone else's mouth, that's not what Pyroclasm means. The whole "Randomizer" thing is a single example of an "Artistic Challenge"; artists are challenged to come up with pictures based on random themes. Most people in this thread have ben suggesting additional themes for the "Randomizer" challenge. Pyroclasm would like people to suggest entirely different challenges, as well.

Um...thats what i said, randomiser=theme/flavour, challenge=set of conditions/restrictions that dictate the creative direction of the image and/or how it is produced

You are not saying the same thing.  The randomizer is a challenge (which dictates what theme to use).  The Amalgam is another challenge (which dictates what character to use).  The new ideas I posted are yet other challenges (one dictating the name to use, the other dictating the powers).  All of them create a set of conditions that guide the creative direction of the image, and each has a set of rules that restrict how it is produced.
The "randomizer" is called that only because I liked that better than "Redesign your chosen character according to a randomly assigned theme challenge".  None of them tell you that you can only produce something in one specific fashion, but they all tell you what you are supposed to do, and what you are not allowed to do.
Notice each of the threads is called "Artistic Challenge", not "Random Theme of the Month".  That's what they were last year.  Apparently everyone hated that.  This year, it's all about challenging artist's creativity.
No one is suggesting that you can only use a specific medium or that you can only draw the character in a specific pose.
Are you saying you don't want the challenges to change each month?  That all you ever want to do is be assigned a random theme?
I don't think that will happen, because like I said at the beginning of this thread, it will get old.

I don't think we are understanding each other.  I don't know how else to explain it.

[Mr. Hamrick]

How about this . . .

there's a common theme amongst the challengees . . . like "medieval" time period . . .

and then an "added element" like the that the character is either in a specific style or the character is an avatar of someone here or an established character . . . but that element is given somewhat at random.

[Reepicheep]

I'd quite like to see a few more challenges based around avatars rather than mainstream characters. I would enjoy that a few bits more.

[Pyroclasm]

I have found that most challenges involving avatars end up "unfair" in some fashion.  People tend to nominate the most popular board members, leaving others ignored.  Also, each person has their own feelings as to how they like to be portrayed, and some may not actually want to have their character retooled.  That's not to say avatar-type challenges are not possible...

With that said, I had been contemplating a couple involving "avatars" but do not have them ironed out.

Step 1 would be to get signups among the artists for one week.  That way we will know how many avatar slots need filling.
Step 2 would be to allow that number of avatarless board members to nominate themselves for the project (This would probably require a crossposting in alternate avatars and general discussion).  This process will probably take place while another challenge is occuring.  Obviously first come, first served.
Step 3 would be to randomly distribute the avatars-to-be among the participating artists.  They would then have a month to design the avatar.  To be fair for their hard work, the ones who signed up to receive an avatar should use it as their board portrait for a minimum of one month after the close of the challenge.


Another way would be to create a thread that would indicate that if someone wants to allow their character used they can add them to the thread.  Then, I could distribute avatars randomly without concern for popularity/notoriety, or other aspects of the avatar itself.

[Reepicheep]

Another way would be to create a thread that would indicate that if someone wants to allow their character used they can add them to the thread.  Then, I could distribute avatars randomly without concern for popularity/notoriety, or other aspects of the avatar itself.

I like this idea. Avatars that have been used once could be placed in a temporary bin so that the next avatar-based challenge hasn't had the same names repeated. That can be recycled then as well.

I was gonna suggest using the avatars of the nominators, but thats unfair in itself.

[Panther_Gunn]

Another way would be to create a thread that would indicate that if someone wants to allow their character used they can add them to the thread.  Then, I could distribute avatars randomly without concern for popularity/notoriety, or other aspects of the avatar itself.

[2¢] I think this version of the avatar idea would generate more potential suckers....er, uh, I mean "candidates" ( :D) than the first one.  The downside I see happening with the first one is just not enough interest/participation from those that are avatar-less.  Having more av's to choose from than artists to draw them is better than the opposite, challenge-wise. [/2¢]

[Revenant]

'Evolved' where the character's powers have ascended to the next level, ie prof x with a huge noggin, supes as pure solar power, wolverine as a hulking man beast, ironman as a voltron sized armour etc. the idea could be either to massively increase their powers/theme, or evolve/devolve them several hundred million years.

'Power/theme swap' pick two characters and swap their theme/origins and powers, a good example of this is 'speeding bullets' where kal-el was found by the kents, and raised as bruce wayne, therefore becoming a superpowered batman after their deaths. this is not an amalgam, this is a complete reimagining of themes.

'**** destroys the *** universe', a version of the character who turns evil and kills off the rest of their world/universe. Kind of like a Maestro version of the character
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Future-imperf.jpg
Batman would likely be in a hulking suit of batarmour equipped with all manner of anti-powers defenses, Supes would regress to his cold, inhuman kryptonian heritage.

I don't know how I missed these, But I really like them!
They'd be fun whether done with mainstream characters, or the AVs of participants.

I like having a "bin" where the already-done avs can be retired until they've all had a go.  Then we can start again next challenge... But in order to have your avatar drawn in a challenge, you also have to enter the challenge.

[Carravaggio]

i get it now. the entire thing is an artistic challenge, and the theme of the month/randomiser was one of the challeges. this thread is a call for more challenge ideas, not more categories for the randomiser. there were a few posts above that referred to the randomiser as a 'theme' that additional criteria and challenges would be added to/optional. that confused me. it sounded like a theme+a challenge.

well i like the randomiser, i'm happy for more categories to it. a lot of the other non-randomiser challenges sound somewhat limiting.
i agree with Rev, i'd like to see more stuff incorporating AV's as well, and i think its fair for entrants in the challenge to have their Av's included. i've see ones where long inactive members got a redesign, when they clearly didn't need it, while active, contributing members got the shaft.
i doubt i'd participate in the 'imitate another artist's style' category. its a fine idea, but not my thing really, but don't hesitate to use it if people like it, i'll just take that month off to rest :)

[Pyroclasm]

We would not have any challenge that focuses on forcing you to draw in another style.  We are only considering it as an optional offer to an existing challenge if a participant wants the additional difficulty.  I don't think it will be popular, but I'm not going deny it to those that like a tough challenge.  Again, the style thing will be optional, so you need to ask for it or you will get your regular assignment as usual.

Like I mentioned in a previous, I won't run a challenge where avatars are nominated.  They tend to be unfair.  The only way I'll do it is if people sign up their avatars to a pool that I will randomly pull from.  I would also not limit the avatar pool to people who enter the challenges.  Doing so would only make the challenge "elitist" and that is not what they are about.