Topic Ideas For Future Art Challenges. Got one? Post it here.

Feel free to post a suggestion for a future topic here that you would like to see tackled.

No guarantees they'll be used but I'd like to have a variety of subject matters to consider and choose from. I don't want to be the guy who always comes up with the topic.

I do have a couple of topics I've been considering, and both are sequential art challenges. The first I already mentioned in the Universal Monsters thread-

"Conceptualize and choreograph a slasher kill" challenge. Build a scene through sequential art (storyboards/comic strips) of your favorite slasher doing what they do best. I'd really like to get a sense of how the kill would play out in the film (from set-up to pay-off). Thinking a minimum limit of 4 panels. It could be done using a variety of techniques...Photoshop, MS Paint, drawing, painting, pen & ink, sculpting, cg modeling etc.


The other idea is based around coming up with a cliffhanger/resolution scenario from a modern Flash Gordon or Buck Roger's film in the form of storyboards smuggled out of the production offices. One subject I'm not going anywhere near for these challenges is Star Wars, but I was checking out the fan made Buck Rogers trailer posted on AICN and I thought it would be interesting to come up with a scene of pulp sci-fi derring-do complete with a "To Be Continued" slapped in between the panels setting up an imaginative dilemma and resolution. Would give a chance to design a huge variety of things: vehicles/creatures/characters/environments.

Finally depict in storyboard form the long fan speculated upon meeting between Maguire's Spider-man and Bruce Campbell's Mysterio in a prologue action sequence.

Although I fear anything to do with superheroes would make me feel like I'm on the superherohype forums.

Honestly, I'm just a bit wary of certain subject matters because I don't want this to turn into a collection of fanart contests -as in redesigning super villains and super heroes leading to a barrage of eye-melting photoshops of actors in capes and spandex. As with Star Wars, and Trek even, the internet is littered with an inexhaustible cache of fan designs derived from those properties, so I feel like we would be mining territory that has already been stripped clean. That's not to say we can't touch upon those subjects in future challenges, it's just that I, personally, would be more interested if we came up with more unique scenarios for challenges based around properties such as comic book characters and the big sci-fi franchises. Like above, where instead of going with Star Wars, we try are hands at a specific scenario found in pulp sci-fi adventures and establish the challenge around the concept of looking at "pre-production art/storyboards" from a film adaptation of an actual property.


This pretty much demands that it be done in movie poster form. For the sake of variety, I'd really like to see more ideas in this vein. Something that steers us away from just doing monsters, spaceships and superheroes all the time.

Like, say, Fredo's fallen for a gorgeous Vegas cocktail waitress he's been banging who fancies herself an artist. To keep her placated he gives her a commission - paint a Corleone family portrait for Michael's birthday. It's one of the worst paintings ever committed to canvas. What would this hideous thing look like?

How about instead of Trek we design something for a Galaxy Quest sequel?

The scenario: A rogue group of Thermian's comes to Earth to find an actor who played a very Khan like villain on an old episode of Galaxy Quest. They have based their philosophy around that character's sense of superiority and tyrannical desire for power and built a ship for him and themselves to conquer the galaxy with - a ship that adheres even more comically to the low budget, built from odds and ends design sensibilities displayed on the old show.

The challenge: Design the ship. Try to combine a humorous design with something that could also be threatening when the script calls for it.

I'm planning on keeping these challenges film related, though. While I appreciate your suggestion that sounds like we'd just be creating new comic book characters.

That could be interesting. Thanks for the suggestion.


Another Universal horror inspired possibility:

Dr. Pretorius Through the Ages

The Scenario:

Septimus Pretorius is long lived far beyond even the estimation of his former student, Victor Frankenstein. Well traveled, and well adventured, he has been known to employ specially grown and educated homunculi for a variety of situations. No doubt his cunning and knowledge of the dark arts and super sciences allowed him to survive Bride's explosive finale.

The Challenge: Pick one of the following short synopses to create a more detailed story around and also illustrate as a single piece of artwork.
1.Dr. Pretorius in Wartime - Septimus has been called upon to create a host of homunculi to be trained as spies, saboteurs and assassins for use against the allied forces.

2.Dr. Pretorius Arrives in the New World: Septimus has traveled to the old West with a myriad of bizarre schemes in mind to procure land and wealth for use in funding his diabolical experiments.

3.Dr. Pretorius in Search Of: Pretorius' special talents have caused him to be noticed by a group of pulp adventurers who want him to accompany them into the South American jungles in search of the _________ .

4.Dr. Pretorius in The Atomic Age: Harvesting the power of the atom alongside his great, great grandson Nigel Pretorius has allowed Septimus to finally perfect his homunculi formula. Now, not only can he grow them into normal sized humans, but he can also shrink them down to microscopic size or mutate them to monstrous heights. Useful in this age of giant, radiocative behemoths, invading aliens and mutated humans.

These could be thought of as possible spin-off films around the character that were just never produced. Or perhaps they were planned as odd little multi-part serials whose scripts were never filmed but were later adapted into a pulpy adventure book series.

I'm going to get some new challenges up and going within the next week or so. First couple will have a shorter deadline. Two weeks seemed like too much time for the subject matters. Probably one week allotted to each challenge.