Artistic Challenge Ideas Thread

[Carravaggio]

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.

Fair enough. I already see a lot of posts to the effect of "i'd like to participate, but i can't draw," which is unfortunate, cos participation is key, not ability (as you've said many times). 
Although if done positively, i still think it could work. i saw a bunch of people sign up for the amalgam challenge that i've not seen post art before. i'm therefore assuming it was the content of the challenge that go them motivated to try something outside their ususal sphere.
wouldn't the idea of an AV redesign/nemesis etc. be even more motivation to get involved? even newbs could get in on it and participate,  I'm not trying to be argumentative or anything. i just think there are some cool characters on this forum, and it'd be fun to utilise some of them beyond simply nominating them for the names list.
Regardless, i look forward to seeing the new challenges you cook up for us, pyroclasm...

cook...pyro, fire guy/cooking...eh?eh?
Bah, tough crowd... :P

[Pyroclasm]

wouldn't the idea of an AV redesign/nemesis etc. be even more motivation to get involved? even newbs could get in on it and participate,  I'm not trying to be argumentative or anything. i just think there are some cool characters on this forum, and it'd be fun to utilise some of them beyond simply nominating them for the names list.

That comment that I bolded is an example of what I'm talking about.  Some Cool Characters  Exactly.  Not all the characters are "cool".  Many of them don't have any more depth to them than the one image used in a portrait.  So, if participants nominated other people, they would most likely nominate a) the really cool-looking ones  b) The ones with the most interesting potential  c) the ones belonging to a prolific & popular poster  d) a friend.  And as I've seen before when I ran the Skinning Challenge, it will always be the same batch of avatars with a few variants.  (Probably because those few avatars meet most of the above criteria.)  That leaves the board members who really believe their personal character is the coolest, flapping in the wind.  Also, what if "Board Member Z" doesn't want anyone "improving" upon his design or would take insult to their character given a "trailer trash" template?  Would we then have to PM every nominated person and tell them what the assignment is going to be, and if that's ok with them?

I'll leave avatars to voluntary participation and random chance, so no one gets the shaft.

[Alaric]

Speaking as a non-artist who has occasionally participated in artistic and skinning challenges, I really, really like the idea of having an "avatar permission" thread, from which avatars can be randomly assigned for challenges like this- the same idea (with a different thread) could work for skinning challenges, too. I also like the idea of an "avatar's enemy" challenge- I don't think itshould be phrased as having to be the avatar's arch-nemesis, though- it should be up to the person the avatar actually belongs to whether the character created is their arch-nememis or just one of their enemies. Having other people create enemies for someone's avatar could be a lot of fun- anyone remember the "create an arch-enemy for Kid Freedom" contest?

[Blkcasanova247]

Having other people create enemies for someone's avatar could be a lot of fun- anyone remember the "create an arch-enemy for Kid Freedom" contest?

Yeah! I can dig that!  :thumbup:

[Revenant]

Had a different idea for the Amalgam randomizer - participants choose a mainstream character, and get randomly assigned a Freedom Force member.  You have to then create an Amalgam character combining the two.  In the case of too-obvious similarities (you pick Captain America and get assigned Minute Man) we'd either reshuffle, or you can go with it, but make it a bad guy instead.)

[Panther_Gunn]

Had a different idea for the Amalgam randomizer - participants choose a mainstream character, and get randomly assigned a Freedom Force member.  You have to then create an Amalgam character combining the two.  In the case of too-obvious similarities (you pick Captain America and get assigned Minute Man) we'd either reshuffle, or you can go with it, but make it a bad guy instead.)

When I first read this (*just* before I got to the Cap example), the first thing I thought about when you said "similarities" was Nick Craft & MJB.....each has the health of a sick chiuaua!  :lol:

[UnkoMan]

Listen, there's been some talk of avatar stuff... I think the answer is fairly obvious.

If you sign up for the challenge, then your avatar is now in the pool. When you sign up you will provide a picture of your avatar, and any information you deem necessary. When you randomly assign avatars, you check them over to make sure nobody got their own. If they did, simply swap their's with the next one down.

I do like the "create a random villain from their rogue's gallery" thing. I think that could be very swell. If the person isn't really into it, they could never bring it up, but for some people... well they might be inclined to include it into their avatar's mythos.

OR, there's the classic evil Bizzaro world version... but that's really part of the randomizer. You could do a special avatar edition of the randomizer.


How about updating FF characters for modern times? People always seem to like doing that, or redesigning them for whatever time period you want (being assigned?), or doing their origins not with the Energy X factor but with blah blah something... Okay, maybe not that last one.

[Mr. Hamrick]

by the way, I second the pro-wrestler theme that Sword mentioned

[Pyroclasm]

It's already on the list.  See the Challenge #15 for the current list.

[Pyroclasm]

For the Amalgam challenges, I've been focusing soley on the Marvel & DC universes mainly because that was where the concept is derived from.
I was wondering what people thought of these additional versions of the challenge:
1) Participants name a comic character regardless of universe.  They are given a random avatar to make the Amalgam.
2) Participants name any two comic characters regardless of universe.  They keep the first, the second is randomized.
3) Participants choose two characters from differing universes they intend to Amalgamate.  The twist is they get a theme from the randomizer table.

[zuludelta]

I like the second idea best... seems to be the easiest to implement. You should throw in a condition that says that the second, randomized character can't be from the same fictional shared universe as the first one though. So if a dude has, say Leonardo the ninja turtle as their first character, and then gets, I dunno, maybe April O'Neil, for his second character, the challenge organizer has to re-roll until the artist gets someone from a different fictional universe.

The third looks to be the most interesting in terms of offering up a challenge, but it all depends on how clear the themes are... like say, my idea of a "Bruce Timm/JLU" or an "anime/manga" theme might be waaay different from somebody else's... it would be better if the themes were to revolve around simpler concepts... like say, one theme would restrict the artist to using a monochromatic palette, for example, although I don't know how well restrictions like that would be received by the participants.

[Pyroclasm]

I like the second idea best... seems to be the easiest to implement. You should throw in a condition that says that the second, randomized character can't be from the same fictional shared universe as the first one though. So if a dude has, say Leonardo the ninja turtle as their first character, and then gets, I dunno, maybe April O'Neil, for his second character, the challenge organizer has to re-roll until the artist gets someone from a different fictional universe.

The third looks to be the most interesting in terms of offering up a challenge, but it all depends on how clear the themes are... like say, my idea of a "Bruce Timm/JLU" or an "anime/manga" theme might be waaay different from somebody else's... it would be better if the themes were to revolve around simpler concepts... like say, one theme would restrict the artist to using a monochromatic palette, for example, although I don't know how well restrictions like that would be received by the participants.

The themes are regularly used in the "Randomizer" challenges.  You can find an updated list at the beginning of this thread and at the start of Challenge 15's thread.  Themes refer to character types, time periods, etc. rather than art style.  So for option 3, for ex., if the participant declares wanting to combine Spawn with Emma Frost, the randomizer might tell them they need to make the amalgam come from a Victorian Era.
I actually found number one to be easiest to implement since it doesn't matter what the first character's universe is since the second would be an avatar pulled from the permissions thread (The Freedom Reborn Universe, if you will).  The only thing I'm worried about is the poor turnout for the last avatar challenge.  People asked for it, many signed up, and very few actually made the art.
I found the second choice to be the hardest one to implement because of not knowing what would be placed first or second.  If participant 1 names Marvel then DC, and Participant 2 names DC then Marvel, the only possible combination would be Marvel/Marvel & DC/DC.  If each participant would have named 2 of the same universe it wouldn't be an issue.  However, add in more than 2 participants and a true "random" would be hard to do.  I would probably be forced to "tweak" the results manually.  Probably the easiest way to fix it would be that both names are randomized.


Here's yet another idea.  Instead of randomizing the characters:
Participant 1 names the chaaracter he is keeping, and one for the last person who signs up.  Participant 2 names one she is keeping, and one for Participant 1 to use.  Each person repeats, naming their keeper and assigning one to the previous poster.  Once the challenge officially starts, the last person to join has to combine their choice with the one Participant 1 assigned them.  Each person just makes sure the character they assign to the previous person is from a different universe.
Here's an example:
Participant 1: I'm using Superman, and the last person needs to use Silver Sable.
Participant 2: I'm using Nick Fury, and Participant 1 needs to combine Superman with Juggernaut.
Participant 3: I'm using Witchblade, and Participant 2 has to combine Nick Fury with Green Arrow.
So on and so forth.

[UnkoMan]

I like the idea of crossing a mainstream character with an avatar. Hopefully not limited to just Marvel and DC. I know, I took a while to do my avatar. I just wasn't having any luck, but I would love to give it another shot.

As for your current idea... How about this? Participant 1 names his/her character and the character for the last person. Participant 2 names his/her's and the character for the SECOND last person?
Of course, you run into the same problem of both possibly being from the same universe, but I don't think that is really that much of a problem.

Also, I notice Carravaggio is doing these 30 minute challenge things. That might be an interesting idea to look into.

[Pyroclasm]

Also, I notice Carravaggio is doing these 30 minute challenge things. That might be an interesting idea to look into.

Each artistic challenge runs approximately 30 days.  Carravaggio is doing 30-min speed sketch/design that would not work well under the umbrella of a month long challenge.  Another thing that didn't work well before was giving everyone the same assignment.  In addition, I'm not inclined to take someone's ideas if they themselves did not suggest it in this thread.

[BentonGrey]

May I humbly suggest that people could re-design a DC hero or villain as their opposite, to work in conjunction with my own quasi-challenge? 

[Revenant]

Heroes NBC character design challenge:

You pick a character from the show, aaand...

1. You have to draw them as a costumed superhero/villain
2. You can opt for an art style or theme as an additional challenge, i.e. Western, Cyberpunk, Victorian, Timmverse, etc.

[Revenant]

Got a new challenge idea...

In the vein of heroes and villains like Batman, Catwoman, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Black Cat, etcetra... They're based on members of the animal kingdom, even though they fight crime the urban jungle.

the challenge I propose is that each challenger picks a powerset and nominates an animal, and then gets randomly assigned an animal from the nominees.  They have to design a hero with their chosen powers, who models themself after that random animal, or has traits of the animal.  I think it would be cool if the name of the animal is used in the character's name somehow...

One thing I thought of was the possibility of silly animals being nominated for comedic value.. Like the Wombat, Peacock, Chihuahua... you know what I'm talking about.  Maybe the entrants could specify a "no silly animal's, please" clause if they so choose?  Ehhh.. maybe the wimps should have to do it anyway.

[Pyroclasm]

I think a "No Furries" clause would be in order.  I think the key would be that the characters take the name an model themselves after the creature rather than them being a hybrid or humanoid animal.  (For example the difference between Batman & Man-Bat.)  I think perhaps the powerset should be up to the artist while they are assigned an animal from the nominations.  Sounds promising.

[Revenant]

Yes that's exactly what I was thinking -- they don't necessarily have to be a hybrid human-animal; they could just be like Batman, whose costume is modelled after the animal.

Maybe the powers should be chosen after the animal is assigned.  Otherwise you'd get things like "Electric Wolf" or "Fiery telepathic Elephant"

[UnkoMan]

It would be really neat TRYING to force powers onto certain animals... But ultimately, yeah... choosing your own powers is better. I really like that idea though.

How about this one... A random origin blurb and random powersets? By blurb I mean like "bit by radioactive animal" or "stranded from another planet" or something. Actually, I could see potential for problems, but it's still interesting.

[daglob]

It would be really neat TRYING to force powers onto certain animals... But ultimately, yeah... choosing your own powers is better. I really like that idea though.

How about this one... A random origin blurb and random powersets? By blurb I mean like "bit by radioactive animal" or "stranded from another planet" or something. Actually, I could see potential for problems, but it's still interesting.

Hmmm... Super-Skrull runs into.... Earth-Skrull!

Lost as a child on a backwater planet, an infant Skrull is raised by loving human foster parents to man... uh... Skrullhood to become the defender of Truth, Justice, and the Terran Way!

That actually has some crazy possibilities... like if he became a SHIELD agent, and had access to all that advanced technology.

Although bitten by a radioactive platypus...

[captainspud]

I used to do a challenge in the Chat Shack with Tater Tot where someone would suggest a name, and we'd both run off and design a superhero with that name. It was neat to see how two people interpreted the same information.

So for a full challenge, everybody signs up and suggests a name, then you pick half of them which are the most interesting and assign names to a pair of artists. If there's an odd number of people, give one to three people.

[psychopanda]

I like Spud's idea. I also like the animals thing, at first it made me think of the JLApe (and other DC comics) where the heroes became apes. That would be neat, but not all of us can draw animals.

Here's an oddball mixing: take an existing hero and redesign them as another archetype (class). Archetypes/classes would be such things Brawler, Tank, Psionicist, etc.

So you could have weird things like:
"What if the Thing was a Brain?"
"What if Batman was a Brute?"
"What if Flash was an Energy Blaster?"

[Pyroclasm]

I like Spud's idea. I also like the animals thing, at first it made me think of the JLApe (and other DC comics) where the heroes became apes. That would be neat, but not all of us can draw animals.

The Name Challenge was added to the list of upcoming challenges back in post #13 when I first mentioned it.  :P
As for the animals, that's exactly what that challenge won't be.  No Furries.  Just guys (and gals) who take on the animal name but are not animals themselves (other than human animals).  Solves the not being able to draw animals problem. ;)

I think it's time to do another Randomizer.

[zuludelta]

Seems like all the suggestions so far are superhero-centric, which is to be expected from this board, obviously. How about a challenge that involves drawing scenes based on vaguely descriptive, random phrases? Like say, phrases like "world's biggest loser" or "last day of school" or I dunno... "too much tofu" or something. I bet we could come up with a pretty interesting list. Participating artists are free to skew their work towards superheroes, of course, but it also leaves open the possibility of doing non-superhero influenced images.   

[Sevenforce]

Oh, so sort of like Marvel's Powers, where they imagined the superheroes as everyday-schmoes? That sounds interesting. Of course, I might have the wrong end of the stick.

[zuludelta]

Oh, so sort of like Marvel's Powers, where they imagined the superheroes as everyday-schmoes?

Ahhh... not quite. More like the art class exercises I had when I was in grade school. My art teacher (who also happened to be the janitor/school handyman/substitute music teacher!) would just come up with a random phrase or sentence and just let everybody run with it as a theme. Maybe we can do something similar, maybe use some of the filters/criteria outlined by Pyro to give the work some direction. 

[psychopanda]

How about a team-up sort of challenge?

The first thought I came up with, was having one person write the background on a character and another person drawing it (they could work this out at the same time, or maybe someone does one part before the other?).

You could also do a layouts/finishes idea as well or sketch/color.

[UnkoMan]

If you do a layout/finishes or sketch/colour sort of thing would you get to choose which side you sign up for?

Granted, this could cause problems of too many for one, not enough for the other.

[psychopanda]

If you do a layout/finishes or sketch/colour sort of thing would you get to choose which side you sign up for?

Granted, this could cause problems of too many for one, not enough for the other.

If it was me, I would have preferences but be open to anything. But for the pairing of others...I can see where this could be a problem. Not all people play well together or even want to play together. The other problem is time, like if one person has to wait *forever* on the other person. I think it's a cool idea, but it's Pyro's game and he might not want to deal with all the issues behind it. ;)

This sort of thing would probably work best as an "option". Like the random art style or random theme that can be tacked on  to a Challenge.

Edit to add: the whole idea sprang partly from the assembly line comics approach. It's interesting to see a Ditko layout pencilled by Byrne or vice versa. In cases like Byrne/Austin or Miller/Janson, the pairing was often better than the sum of its parts. Another part is that there are so many great people here at FR, that I think it would be fun to collaborate. It might even give the chance for someone who doesn't draw to team-up by writing the back-story.