Category: About
Challenge Day #2 – Ichiro Higama
A dark swordsman from our present day. He seeks to rid the world of evildoers that threaten to conquer Earth. With the power of a sword, so sharp, he can cut through just about anything in his path.
2013 Challenger: Jesse Hughes
Hey!
I’m Jesse; cartoonist, graphic designer, animation student, and returning two time successful 30 Characters Challenger!
I’ve published a few comics: CosmiCat 1 and 2, Science Girl 1 and SG Double Feature- drawn by me, written by K-Mo. Short comic stories of mine have appeared in several anthologies, including Hamtramck Idea Men’s “If-X”, Rocketbot’s “Rocketbot Anthology”, Joe Foo’s “Messed Up Fairy Tales”, and Kris Moore’s “Snack Attack” #2. I’ve done sketch cards for Cult-Stuff, March of Dimes, and Island Dreams.
I love character creation and character design. I have successfully completed the 30 Character Challenge in 2011 and 2012, and see no reason I can’t do it again in 2013.
My 2011 characters – http://plummypress.deviantart.com/gallery/35012393
My 2012 characters – http://plummypress.deviantart.com/gallery/40873360
http://PlummyPress.blogger.com
http://sciencegirlcomics.com/
http://www.plummypress.deviantart.com
- CosmiCat suits up
Returning Challenger 2013: Daniel Govar
Cover to RELAUNCH
Hello_Guys – it’s been a little while since I’ve done this, but I think I might be able to kill two birds with one stone by doing it again this year.
I’m currently doing covers and interiors for Dynamite on GRIMM: It’s Portland, Wu, working on storyboards for Marvel, and a few other projects in the works including a creator-owned comic RELAUNCH with Ron Perazza, and Supernatural Geographic with Brandon Siefert. On top of this I do commissions out the wazoo.
I’m attempting to finish a ton of character pieces for a few projects I have coming up in the next year – some I want to kickstart, others that are just ideas I need to get out on paper before they’re lost to my imagination. I’ll probably be a day or two behind at first as this was kind of a last minute decision for me, and I’ll do my best to comment on pieces. I doubt mine will offer much more information than the images at this point – I want to keep the info about them private for now, but I hope they tell a story despite the lack of textual info.
Good luck everyone on finishing this year!
Personal Site: danielgovar.com
Deviant Art:Â http://danielgovar.deviantart.com/gallery/
Tumblr:Â http://saulone.tumblr.com
Twitter:Â https://twitter.com/saulone
Facebook:Â https://www.facebook.com/pages/Daniel-Govar/139723602709280
~D
Returning Challenger 2013: Jesse Kiefer
Jesse Kiefer’s back again doin’ a lil’ East Coast Swing!… wait… East Coast? Whoops that’s the lyrics to MotownPhilly… Hey everybody! I’m back for a third year of 30characters! I’ve been surprisingly successful with this challenge having completed it two years in a row! 2011 year I cut my teeth on this project thinking that I’d create characters for my webcomic Tank-Monkey), and while last year I stated that I hadn’t used many of them?… two years later SEVERAL have slowly trickled into the strip from that first year (even ones like the Wixits which I honestly never thought I would use…) Despite starting with an intent or a theme my characters in past years?… they usually devolve into randomness… either decided by a dice roll or inspired by the Elementary children I am lucky enough to teach.
Since last year I continued  vlogging on YouTube where I developed many of the puppet characters from last year and continued my role as a green screened Hologram Head.
I had my first public convention appearance with my partner in crime Axton Kahler of zombieoaks.com.
I co-created a #hastag game sorta inspired by the 30Characters challenge called #5thpanelguest which encourages creators to take any given comic strip to take it one step further in the form of a guest panel. I wrote a lengthy blog about it if you’d like to peruse that you can read it here.
And I finally published the Just For Kicks book I’ve been sitting on for almost 5 years! (Ironically one of the characters from 2011’s #30characters challenge will be indirectly responsible for the end of that webcomic… who knew… newbies? Be careful what you create! it might END your webcomic… just sayin…)
This year I have no plan… Whew… that’s probably not a good way to start… but let’s see what I come up with without constraints… let’s just see shall we?!
Click the link below to see my work from the last two years
http://www.30characters.com/author/jekief01/
Or read my Challenger Entry from previous years
2012: http://www.30characters.com/2012/10/30/2012-challenger-jesse-kiefer/
2013: http://www.30characters.com/2011/10/21/2011-challenger-jesse-kiefer/
You can find me all over the place!
https://twitter.com/jessekiefer
https://www.facebook.com/vorpalarrow
2013 Participant: Vijay ‘VariadicBottega’ Varadan
I’m Vijay and this is my first time doing a challenge of any kind. I’ve never been much of an artist, mostly sketches and doodles. I hope that by completing this challenge, I can get better and make a habit of sketching daily.
I’m a game designer & programmer by trade and lots of what I think of and sketch are characters that would work in games that I would like to create.
Good luck to my fellow participants and I hope to complete this challenge.
2013 returning challenger: Jay Faulkner
Hi all, my name is Jay and this will be my fourth year of attempting the challenge with year one happening in 2010.  The first year was the only time I managed to get close to finishing this thing, with  10 characters sketched and 30 characters ‘created’ in text form only. Year 2 I managed a handful of sketches and last year nothing past the initial planning stage.  Each year I’ve managed to get ill during the event but, this time, I managed to have my ‘near death experience’ early so am hoping that I can get to the end of November without something bad happening …if the zombie apocalypse does happen though, it will probably be my fault 😉
I’m really a writer nowadays, rather than an ‘artist’, and would say that I’m only an enthusiastic sketcher, so nowhere near as good as the majority of the people here (who I am a little in awe of) but I’m really here to have fun and see how close to 30 I can actually get … will aim for the total, of course, and see how things go 🙂
2013 Challenger: Marche’
Hi all, my name is Carter and this will be my first time taking up the #30 Characters Challenge. So nice to meet you all!
I’m doing the 30 Character Challenge this year to try and improve and inspire myself. I’m trying to improve my anatomy, color and composition. I’m hoping this can help me pull out of it and I’m going to do my best to get as many out of 30 Characters done but the end of the month. Really don’t know what should say I say more BTW I’ll try the best as I can.
I’m really looking forward to this starting, and hope to go all out! Good luck to everyone.
2013 Challenger: Chaives
Last year I participated in this challenge and the build up of time between has made me incredibly excited for this month to arrive!
2013 Returning Challenger: Erwin A.
Sup. My name’s Erwin, and I’m pretty stoked to give this challenge another go.
Here’s last year’s entries http://www.30characters.com/2012/12/01/erwin-a-30-characters-in-30-days-2012/ , and I’m hoping I’ll have a completed catalog for this year as well. I’m not sure what the character focus will be for this year. Rather, I’d like to do more than just scan doodles this time around; maybe fool around with coloring in a few pieces.
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone elses entries, good luck and have fun everybody.
2013 Returning Challenger: Melissa Dow
Hey guys!
Slipping my intro in here at the last moment! Â So, I guess I’m a quasi-returning challenger; I didn’t participate last year, and I only got about a week in the year before, but I’m determined to at least try to get through it all this time!
I’m an freelance illustrator and char designer/graphics artist for a small video game company. Â I live in Portland, OR and enjoy pretty much all things geeky. 🙂
You can view my work on my website if you are interested in learning more.
Can’t wait to see everyone’s awesome creations, and hopefully pushing myself for the full run this time around!
Cheers!
New Challenger: Jerell Drakes
Hi all, my name is Jerell and this will be my first time taking up the #30 Characters Challenge.
I want to use this as a way to push myself into drawing more every day and try to be quick as well during November. I usually draw or sketch with pencils and inks but hopefully with this challenge it will push me to colour a few digitally and traditionally as well.
My usual problem is not drawing anything complete before or after work so this month I’ll be pushing myself to make that change!
2013 Returning Challenger: Robert McKeone
Hello!
I participated in this challenge, for the first time, back in 2011. I’m proud to say I was successful (barely) in doing so! I was looking forward to trying again in 2012, but my computer started giving me a LOT of grief and it just wasn’t really possible to use it to deliver the quality I wanted to present. BUT, got a new computer… and everything is peachy! So here I go again!
When I’m not participating in this challenge, I occasionally run a sporadically updating webcomic, called appropriately enough, “Waste of Time“. When I’m ignoring that, I’m slightly more frequently posting to my art blog, “Side Effects May Include Drawsiness“. When I’m not being artsy, I’m wasting away my years at a dead-end job in a national retail chain known for the ever increasing need to “save you 5%”.
2013 Challenger: poisonedsodapop
Hiya! I’m poisonedsodapop, also known as Christina Shelby. I’m doing the 30 Character Challenge this year to try and improve and inspire myself. Unfortunately when I first found out about the 30 Character Challenge it had ended. To be honest I’m not sure what to expect from me this November. I’m trying to step out of my comfort zone and improve my anatomy. Also working digitally is still relatively new for me. Hoping to improve my skill digitally and my coloring ability.
2013 Challenger: Randy Haldeman
Hey everyone! My name is Randy Haldeman. I’m going to do my best to try and keep this simple! I am a freelance illustrator and somewhat designer that enjoys nothing more than drawing and inking comics. I am an artist that does his best to make a living off of my art, and recently I have acquired some jobs that will be seeing publication in the very near future. You can check out my work at the link on my name to get a good idea of what it is I do and what I’m interested in.
I’m doing this as a way to revamp an old comic idea that a friend of mine and I have been working on for years. I want to use the 30 Character Challenge to push myself to fill this comic world full of interesting and expressive characters while at the same time keeping me working on my personal art more often than I do. Sometimes the making money to pay the bills overrules my ability to create personal work. It is a sad truth about being a creator of any sort. It is also something I’m sure many of you know about all too well and something many of you are going to eventually learn about. While I do this, my writer friend is challenging himself with National Novel Writing Month, so I plan to do this in sync with him to keep us both working and on top of our game.
Good luck to everyone, and here is about the best picture of me I think you could find on the interwebs. Again, my art is available at my website for your viewing pleasure!
2013 Returning Challenger: Ozzie Scribbler (Natalia M)
Hi everybody!
I’ve been entering the challenge since 2011, but never managed to finish it, as my flakiness got in the way.
Third time’s a charm, so I’ll do my best to submit entries regularly (though probably not every day).
As for personal info, I’m a back-in-art school graphic artist from Poland, 23 years old. I’m interested in comics, animation, character design and graphic design.
You can find (some) of my art on deviantArt, I also share my opinions on personal tumblr blog and manage a blog concerning the absurdity of scantly-clad female warriors in popular media.
I’ll try to excessive my creative juices and artistic skills to design some new random character (most likely a fantasy one) for every day of November. No promises regarding quality/technique and schedule of my updates, because of unfortunate technical issues (broken scanner) and overall abundance of work.
Good luck, everybody!
~Ozzie Scribbler
2013 Returning Challenger : Austen Zaleski
Howdy, folks!
It’s been quite some time since I took part in this challenge, last time was in 2011 and I only made it to about the 15 mark unfortunately. Now I’m not going to jump up on my soapbox and promise that I’ll make it to 30 this year, but I’ll sure try my damnedest!
I look forward to working alongside all the great artists this year, let’s make it a good one!
You can check out more of my work a few places online , including tumblr , deviantart, and my personal website!
2013 Challenger: Princendo
Hey howdy hello just a short intro
Name’s Prin but I also go by Cake Train and Tukari Silver, looking very much forward to tomorrow UuU First year doing this. Occupationally I attend college two days a week entry level for illustration next year and I’m working on my comic Templex’d for the 3rd year running (currently revamping and relauching come the new year FINGERS CROSSED)
I’ve been in a huge creation funk lately but I’m hoping this can help me pull out of it and I’m going to do my best to get as many out of 30 babs done but the end of the month. Looking forward also to seeing the work of other participants.
Good luck out there! Excited to be here C: ~Prin
Throwing my hat in
Let me try this out, seems like a fun challenge that could lead to some cool developments. Good luck everybody. Cheers
New Challenger: HALsurfer
Hi there,
I´m an artist who draws for fun. I read about this challenge last year or even the year before but I´m too lazy to scan every day. This changes now as I have a new Wacom Inkling just for this problem. So I finally try this challenge and hope you can bear with me getting used to my Inkling.
When you want to see some of my works, take a look here: HALsurfer.deviantart.com
Have fun!
=^.^=
New Challenger: otakutaylor
Hi everybody~
I’m otakutaylor, very unprofessional artist. I rather enjoy making characters so this seemed like a lot of fun to do. I’m really hoping I can work more on faces and body types through this challenge. You can check out most of my stuff here:Â http://otakutaylor.deviantart.com/
Don’t know what else to say, but I can’t wait till tomorrow to get started!
Introducing: Fred
HI.
My name is Frédérick Letendre-Cyr. Last year, without knowing this was going on, I basically fulfilled the challenge as it was happening, though I wasn’t really focusing on individual characters as much. So this year I know and I’ll be doing it right. I want to experiment with my range, which I feel has thinned a bit over the recent past.
The end.
2013 Challenger: Sebastian Chow
Howdy,
I registered in 2011 but sadly didn’t produce anything. I then re-entered in 2012 and completed one pic 🙁
Its 2013 and I’m back again with the plan to complete all 30 characters!
I’m a comic book enthusiast with a passion for drawing. I am a one man band trying to write and produce my own comics.
Check out my blog or deviant site below.
Here are a few random scratchings from my sketch book and a test page from one of my comics.
Returning Challenger — Robin White
Hi everyone! My name is Robin and I’m a Canadian living in Japan who does a webcomic called Doodze — A Tiny Epic. It’s a cartoony fantasy comic that I like to describe as a cross between Smurfs and Lord of the Rings.  I took part in the 2011 30 Characters challenge, completed it (Yay!) and had a great time… though I don’t think I’ve used any of the new characters I created… yet.
Last year I skipped 30 Characters, but this year, in spite of having enough stuff on my plate, I’ve decided to join the fun again. I just can’t help myself…
This year I’ve chosen a theme: Monsters! I’ll leave you with a couple of samples of my work, one that’s a quick sketch and one that’s inked and coloured:
Tune in tomorrow as I begin  30 Characters in 30 Days 30 Monsters in 30 Days!
Hugs,
– Robin (www.doodze.com /Â @doodze on Twitter)
2013 Challenger: Brendon Tapper
Hey everyone!
My name is Brendon Tapper, or commonly known by my internet alias Endshark. A few of my good friends have been doing this in previous years and I always keep missing the boat on signing up – but not this year! Right now I’m unemployed and looking to build my portfolio so I figure this would be a fantastic opportunity to pad it out with some characters. I have no idea what I’m going to do as of yet for any of the days so I’m pretty excited to see what comes of this. I like to think of my art as a blend of both Eastern and Western influences I’ve come across over the years from a bunch of different mediums (video games, comic books, and cartoons) but my all time major inspirations are Hiroyuki Imaishi (Dead Leaves, Kill La Kill, Panty and Stocking etc) and Takeshi Koike (Redline, Trava etc).
I don’t have any major goals for this other than to have fun and to maybe bust out some designs outside of my norm. If anyone is interested in seeing more my tumblr is right here.
Good luck to everyone else as well :)!
-End
2013 Returning Challenger: Dutch Mogul
Hey, everyone! So, as if I didn’t learn my lesson last year, I plan on wearing myself out yet again! This year, each of the characters I design will be new playing pieces for my ever-expanding, modular, multi-genre, 3D print-and-play tabletop strategy game, Pocket-Tactics. Each of the characters I post will be made available as Mercenary pieces that may be used with any of the existing factions. I’m going to try and post pictures of fully printed models along with the 3D renders.
If you’re interested in the process, be sure and check out my personal blog, and check in with the Ill Gotten Games blog for news on all of our game projects.
Good luck, everyone, and I can’t wait to see what you all come up with!
2013 Challenger: captkevman
My name is Kevin Copeland (although I usually just go by captkevman pretty much everywhere online).
I’m a freelance computer technician and consultant by trade, and I’m a comicker/cartoonist community group organizer by hobby.
This is the part where I usually lament that I don’t make the time to draw like I should due to my self-imposed obligations, but actually, I’m feeling pretty good about where things are at the moment, despite the lack of personal productivity (which is still low, but it’s better than it’s been in a while):
Our local cartoonists’ group has been going about five years now. We just completed our third 24-Hour Comics Day a couple of weeks ago (I finished mine for the first time — YAY! — see cover above), we just wrapped our second annual DRAWtoberfest Faire celebration (which I founded and helped organize both years), and we just participated in our second annual local Mini Maker Faire, where we had a table set up talking about our community group and making mini-comics with local kids (and anyone else who wanted to make mini-comics!).
(On a side note, I’m really starting to fall in love with the mini-comic format/sub-genre.)
I’m participating in the 30 Character Challenge again — this year, with renewed vigor. I hope to complete the challenge, but whether I do or not, I’m sure I’ll be blown away by everyone else’s contributions.
Good luck to all the 2013 challengers, and Happy Creating!
2013 Returning Challenger: Ruben Kaae
This is my third year attempting the challenge, my name is Ruben Kaae, I’m a artist from Denmark in Scandinavia.
I have an animation background, but now I’m moving more into illustration, I’ve bin painting digitally for about a 3 years now, and I love it. I’m also teaching 2d drawing online.
I’m really looking forward to participating and creating some new characters + meeting like-minded artists in the community.
You can find me here.
Good luck to everyone:)
Cya Ruben:)
2013 Challenger: Vernon Robinson
Hi all!!!
As a child, since age 3, I have been surrounded by the arts. But as I got older, I have dedicated my skills to drawing and illustrating. Basically starting honing my skills with Dragonball Z, Gundam Wing, Cowboy Bebop, Disney, Power Rangers, and Video Game characters, even with Mangas and Comics.
Throughout the years, I have been proving to myself that I am indeed a talented artist, whether it was Anime, Cartoons or Video Games.
Right now, I am currently working on a project I call, Dark Alliance. I have written and transformed it into a fanfic, consisting of myself and some friends, with Japanese Visual Kei bands and musicians. I’ve gotten pretty creative with it. The site that I featured them on, multiply.com, was closed as of May 31, 2013 and transferred over to the Philippines and specifically for Indonesia. Luckily, I still have every single piece of work, including the original, in my possession. I am, in the process of finally, drawing out the characters and will most likely feature Squad Zero of the Dark Alliance in the 2013 Annual 30 Character Challenge, alongside other illustrations.
My style consists more of going off of the features of a human and turning them into that of an anime or a cartoon character. I am one for paying ATTENTION TO DETAIL!!! Lol…
I’m rambling now, so I guess I’ll bring this introduction to a close and say goodluck to everyone.
This is Vernon Robinson, signing out!!
2013 Challenger: Alexandra Turchanenko
Hi everyone!
I’ve wanted to participate in this for the past two years, but circumstances always prevented me – but /this/ time, I’m plowing on through :>
I’m a big fan or roleplaying and worldbuilding, and this is a great opportunity to just release all the bubbling ideas that have been brewing in my head for ages (and maybe find new favorite toys to play with).
I’m excited to see everyone else’s creativity. It’s nice to be exposed to a wide array of styles and influences C:
Good luck everyone!!!
#30Characters Chatter…