One of the best parts of creating an OC is putting them through their paces. Original characters shine their brightest when shared, and they can benefit from being used in challenges that push creators as writers and artists.
And, wouldn’t you know it? CharacterHub has loads of challenges you can participate in with your original characters. Here are 17 challenges you can share with CharacterHub on social media to help you develop and spotlight your OCs.
It’s Good to Share
There are plenty of art and writing challenges if you want to push yourself as an artist. These challenges are primarily for social media; if you are a social media user, CharacterHub will share your results. It just requires tagging CharacterHub and sharing with the right hashtags. Learn more about them with each challenge.
However, don’t limit yourself to social media, either. Register for an account with CharacterHub and create entries for your OCs. CharacterHub’s social features, such as the social space channels or post feature, allow you to share and document your approach to different challenges. You can invite other CharacterHub users to participate as well. Any OC creator challenges involving art are easy to promote and share, thanks to CharacterHub.
Most importantly, though, CharacterHub runs on-site challenges and prompts every week, giving you plenty of opportunities for creative expression. All it takes is registering for an account.
#1 - Art Challenge - Fandom Crossover Drawing
To be a creator is to be a fan inherently. You’re not only a fan of the worlds and OCs you create but also inspired by your existing fandom for other stories and characters. This challenge allows you to embrace both loves by drawing your OC in the setting of a fandom you are part of.
This OC art challenge is easy. Take your original characters and adapt them to a setting that you are already a fan of. You can draw your OC as a pirate if you’re a fan of Our Flag Means Death. Are you a fan of My Hero Academia? Then, draw your character as a seldom-seen classmate in Room 1A. If you are a fan of Marvel’s Loki, why not try drawing your character in a TVA variant uniform?
Try to evoke the spirit of your fandom in your drawing through your original character. Or, simply think about it in terms of cosplay. Take your OC and have them cosplay in your favorite setting that is not your own.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- You need to draw an existing OC in a new setting based on your fandom.
- This could range from a costume change to a form change or even a 4th wall-breaking approach where your OC wears fandom clothes. Think cosplay or merch.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #FandomCrossoverOC in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the Fandom Crossover Drawing Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#2 - Writing Challenge - A Bad Morning
Give your OC a bad start to their day, and set up a rougher day ahead in under 500 words. The challenge here is to imply a routine that is disrupted immediately and close out with an implied complication for the OC that could be visited later.
This challenge forces you to write a tease for a larger story while establishing characterization regarding a morning routine that has gone wrong.
Can you handle it? We’ll find out.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- Write a flash fiction of a minimum of 500 words depicting a rough start for an OC when they get up in the morning that hints at a more considerable challenge coming up during the day.
- While you can go above 500 words, the challenge is more impressive when you can deliver a complete experience around that minimum word count.
- The piece must be character-focused, based on your OC and their morning.
- Participating entries must be available to read in one shot, across a thread, or a single post. We suggest using CharacterHub’s “post” feature for the best results.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #BadMorningOC in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the A Bad Morning Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#3 - Art Challenge - Extreme Perspective
Just how well do you know your OC? Can you make them recognizable from any angle - Even the most extreme angles? This OC art challenge takes creators on a journey to see how well they can draw their OC with a case of extreme perspective.
The challenge is to push yourself to draw OCs far beyond the typical profile, frontal, and ¾ angles we artists can inevitably default to. This challenge will explore how well you understand the perspective and character construction in a novel way that allows you to show off your artistic talent.
So, search for references to extreme perspectives and start sketching your OCs. And when done, be sure to share it with CharacterHub on social media.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- You need to take an existing OC and draw them from an extreme perspective.
- Google Image Search and Pinterest have many examples of “extreme perspective” in art. Look to those examples for inspiration and reference.
- Think about curvilinear, cylindrical, fisheye, and isometric art.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #ExtremePerspectiveOC in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the Extreme Perspective Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#4 - Writing Challenge - A New Experience
In this challenge, you need to write a drabble where your OC is experiencing something new for the first time and get into their reaction to it. In this case, we’re dealing with a drabble of exactly 100 words, so you only have so much room to surprise us with a complete experience featuring a character reacting to some new event, item, or experience.
Want a great example of the vibe to aim for? Think of the iconic Mike Mignola comic, “Pancakes,” where Hellboy tries pancakes for the first time. What significant new experience can your OC have in under 100 words?
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- Write a drabble of 100 words where your OC experiences something new and their reaction to it.
- This one is touch, you need to establish a disruption to their routine, their new experience, and their reaction in less than the length of a post on X (formerly Twitter). Can you pull it off?
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #NewExperienceOC in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the A New Experience Drabble?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#5 - Art Challenge - Twisted OC
Embrace the cringe with this challenge, harkening back to some of the first characters we collectively try to create. Make an edgy, cringey, and twisted version of your OC.
We’re talking about dark clothes, neon colors, and a sinister and twisted personality. Hell, throw some spikes on their outfit. Maybe a single angel wing. That’s the ticket. Think in terms of the “Coldsteel the Hedgeheg” meme.
Depictions of violence are welcome but must be tagged accordingly. While these OCs are not the kind to follow rules, their creators should be.
How twisted of an OC can you develop based on one of your existing characters? Aim for what personally makes you cringe for the best results possible.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- You need to take an existing OC and create a “dark and twisted” version of them.
- Remember, the more tongue-in-cheek the OC is presented in, the better.
- Depictions of dark subject matter are allowed but must be tagged as such and spoilered in the accompanying post to protect users who may not wish to see such material.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #TwistedOC in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the Twisted OC Art Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#6 - Writing Challenge - OC Sketch
In this challenge, you are tasked to write a sketch where you discover the OC as you write, paragraph by paragraph. But what do we mean by “writing a sketch?” Well, we’re looking at a literary master here for inspiration: Charles Dickens’s Sketches by Boz is an excellent example of our aim here.
In under 500 words, develop an entirely new OC by describing them in action. Perhaps it is a mundane task or some form of crisis. The idea is to develop who this OC is by describing them in this specific scenario.
And while you can use an existing OC, finding a new one through this process is more fun and challenging.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- Write a flash fiction sketch of up to 500 words describing an original character amid some task, duty, or crisis so we get a sense of their character through this task.
- While you can use an existing OC, it is more rewarding to discover a new OC through this writing process. You’re still perfectly welcome to use an existing OC, however.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #SketchWritingOC in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the OC Sketch Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#7 - Art Challenge - Make An OC
How good do you think you are at creating an OC from scratch - from just a pair of words? This challenge tasks you to develop a new OC from a pool of paired words. Rather than adapting an existing OC, you must create one with limited inspirations.
We will present two sets of words each time we run this contest. Your challenge is to take one word from each column and create an original character based on that combination. This challenge is based on the Dual Word Method of OC creation.
Set A
Set B
- Zealous
- Blissful
- Winsome
- Alluring
- Jovial
- Dazzling
- Quirky
- Fearless
- Poised
- Daring
- Detective
- Wizard
- Hacker
- Librarian
- Zoologist
- Journalist
- Warrior
- Mechanic
- Chef
- Pirate
Once you have your character designed, simply share it with CharacterHub on social media. How creative can you be with two words?
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- Instead of changing or revising an existing character, you must create a character from scratch based on a pair of words derived from the above columns.
- Specifically, you need to par a word from Column A to a word from Column B, which will form the basis of your new character.
- Once your character is made, consider creating a profile for them on CharacterHub.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #MakeAnOCChallenge in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the Make An OC Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#8 - Writing Challenge - In a Nearby Tavern
Welcome to the CharacterHub Tavern! Oh my, who is that mysterious stranger sitting in the corner… could it be your OC? In this challenge, you are tasked to write an introduction for your OC that describes them sitting at a tavern - you need to draw interest in them without them saying a single word.
Imagine you are an adventurer who enters a strange tavern filled with unusual characters, all with their own stories. What draws us to your character? What is their aura?
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- You must write, in under 500 words, a descriptive scene that draws interest in your OC amidst a tavern full of interesting OCs.
- Your OC cannot have any dialogue; after all, you’re seeing them from the other side of the tavern. Can you make them intriguing without resorting to dialogue?
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #TavernOC in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the In a Nearby Tavern Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
This is perhaps the biggest challenge we offer. Can you survive the gauntlet that is the 20-day OC Challenge? This challenge spans 20 individual drawing prompts involving a single OC. There are a wide variety of scenarios to explore with your OC in this challenge.
December 2023 - 20-Day OC Challenge
- Draw your OC in winter wear
- Draw your OC wrapping a present
- Draw your OC late for a bus
- Draw your OC going to a costume party
- Draw your OC in a comical mascot suit
- Draw your OC eating their favorite dessert
- Draw your OC’s reaction to their least favorite food
- Draw your OC having coffee or tea
- Draw your OC cooking dinner
- Draw your OC climbing a tree
- Draw your OC as a live streamer
- Draw your OC as a vtuber
- Draw your OC in a holiday-related outfit
- Draw your OC sleepy
- Draw your OC in a school uniform
- Draw your OC with their favorite animal
- Draw your OC as a snowperson
- Draw your OC in their night clothes
- Draw your OC dressed as their hero
- Draw your OC at a New Year’s party
Your challenge is to try to draw your original character for all twenty prompts. Participants at every stage can have their art shared by CharacterHub on social media, like X, Instagram, and Tumblr. It might be more fulfilling to share them all in one-shot, however. Good things come to those who wait.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- You need to produce polished and completed artwork of the same OC for each of the 20 prompts over the course of a month.
- While sketches are acceptable, push yourself toward completed art that isn’t in a draft form.
- While you don’t need to use the same OC across all 20 prompts, it is a great challenge.
- All 20 images should be collected in a single space, such as a threaded post, for easy sharing.
- It is a smart idea to pace yourself and do the prompts over a month rather than powering through all of them within a week.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #20DayOCChallenge in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the 20-Day OC Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#10 - Writing Challenge - OC Dating Profile
For this challenge, we’re playing the OC dating game. Just how much rizz does your OC have? Write their dating profile to reveal all!
For this challenge, you are tasked to write a dating profile for your original character in under 350 words. Try to keep in PG-13, though! Your profile should reveal why your OC is a catch and what they seek in a relationship.
For inspiration, consider looking at old personal ads. Those can be quite elucidating.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- Write a dating profile for an OC in under 350 words. Your OC’s dating profile should say a lot about them and their personality through what they are looking for.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #OCDatingProfile in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the OC Dating Profile Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#11 - Art Challenge - Genre Swap OC Drawing
For this contest, you are tasked with a genre switch. You need to take an existing OC and change their genre entirely. So if your OC comes from a sci-fi setting, swap them over to fantasy. Are they in an adventure series? Well, now they are in a romantic setting.
For this OC art challenge, you’ll draw the best expression possible of your OC in their new genre, whether that be a comic, a costume change, or their reaction to the new setting. Just be sure it is clear they’re no longer in their initial genre.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- Draw your OC in a form that emphasizes their new genre. This can be a comic or costume change that reflects the hallmarks and tropes of whatever genre they have arrived at.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #GenreSwapOC in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the Genre Swap OC Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#12 - Writing Challenge - OC Diary Entry
Your challenge this time is to write a diary or journal entry from the perspective of your OC. How clear is their voice? We want to get into the headspace of your original character in their own words.
As for the subject of the diary or journal entry, that is entirely up to you. Maybe it is a somewhat inconsequential chapter of their day-to-day life. Or, maybe they gather their thoughts after a significant adventure. The key is that we view events through their words.
Oh, but here is the twist. You only have 250 words to work with.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- Write a diary or journal entry from the point of view of your OC in under 250 words.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #OCDiaryEntry in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the OC Diary Entry Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#13 - Art Challenge - Create An OC Sibling
Does your OC already have a sibling Why not come up with another one? In this challenge, you are tasked to develop an OC that is a sibling to an existing OC you have created.
To participate in this challenge, it must be an entirely new OC. If you have an OC with an existing sibling, you cannot use those existing family members. This challenge may be better suited to the only-child characters as a fun “what if?
You may consider registering the sibling at CharacterHub as an alternate universe character. Who knows, maybe they are the genesis of a new OC that fans of your original character will also love.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- Create an OC that can serve as a potential sibling for an existing OC you have created.
- The illustration does not need to include the original OC and the new OC, but it wouldn’t hurt, either. There should be some indication in the text of whom this new OC is a sibling.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #NewSibilingOC in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the Create an OC Sibling Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#14 - Writing Challenge - The OC Obituary
In this extra spooky challenge, you must deal with the death of an OC. How do you sum up the life of an OC? What is most important to note? Try writing a brief obituary of your original character (it’s okay; they’re not actually dead) and see how you do.
What does a good obituary do? It sums up the life of a person and lets people know they will be missed. What happens if an OC dies? Shouldn’t an obituary do the same for them?
So, in under 250 words, celebrate the life and passing of your OC - and make it memorable. For maximum impact, try doing this one in October.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- Write an obituary for your OC in under 350 words. The obituary should give us a real sense of how the OC was and why they will be remembered.
- For inspiration, consider looking at the advice in this article.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #OCInMemoriam in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the OC Obituary Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#15 - Art Challenge - Draw the OC Creator
Making original characters is cool… but what if you want to be the original character? This challenge makes you the character for a change. Many creators have drawn themselves interacting with their OCs before, so this challenge is along those lines.
All you need to do is draw yourself as an OC. This can take any number of forms and is super flexible. Are you an exhausted parent? Are you just as crazy as your characters? Find the vibe that best represents you and your role to your characters, and draw a portrait of yourself that reflects that.
If you’ve already done something like this before, then you have a head start. Consider drawing yourself interacting with an OC in a way that fits your role.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- Draw yourself in a way that represents you and your role as the creator of your OCs. This can be handled in many ways but must feature a self-portrait component and indicate the relationship between you and your creations.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #DrawTheOCCreator in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the Draw the OC Creator Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#16 - Writing Challenge - Time Warped Encounter
If your OC had an opportunity to talk to a time-displaced version of themselves, what might they say or ask? In this challenge, you have 500 words to write a dialogue involving the same OC across two periods of time.
How you arrange the time-breaking meeting isn’t as important as showing how your OC has changed through conversation gleaned from their two periods of time. You can have an OC travel back to talk to their childhood self. Or, you could have a past version of your OC visit themselves after a potential choice in the future. It’s entirely up to you.
The key is to make sure that while you are using the same OC, their different experiences shine through. This is a tricky challenge!
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- Write a dialogue of about 500 words that features your OC speaking to themselves, from two different points of time. Place your emphasis on showcasing their different perspectives, based on their relative position on their timeline.
- Don’t dwell too much on why they are meeting. Treat this as an exercise in highlighting voice in a single OC based on different experiences and contexts.
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #TimeWarped in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the Animal Form OC Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
#17 - Art Challenge - OC Animal Form
Can you adapt your OC to an animal form and maintain their essence? This challenge involves taking one of your beloved human OCs and changing their form to something a little more wild - a representative animal.
What sort of animal best represents your OC? Of course, how will we tell it is your OC? Are elements of their character design that carry over into animal form? How do you adapt an OC to such a new form? This could be the biggest challenge yet, and we’re eager to see how you tackle it.
However, what if you have an original character already in animal form? Well, you can still participate. Take your animal OC and make them human.
Rules
The rules for this challenge are basic.
- Draw your human OC in an animal form or your animal OC in human form and share it with CharacterHub. It is certainly welcome if you want to include both their original and new form in the image.
- Try to evoke design elements of your OC across their new form. Ideally, we should be able to see the OC and realize that, “Yes, that is what they would look like as a cat.”
- You must use the hashtags #OriginalCharacter and #AnimalFormOC in your post.
- Tag CharacterHub on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr.
- If your character exists on CharacterHub, also include a link to their profile.
Ready to begin the Animal Form OC Challenge?
Get those pencils moving, and when you’re ready, use the buttons on your right or in the footer to find CharacterHub on social media and share your hard work.
Join the Competition!
These 17 challenges are a great way to get in some practice when it comes to art and writing, as well as spread the word about your original characters and worlds. If you found these challenges interesting, you should register for an account with CharacterHub, as we offer hundreds of on-site challenges. New challenges are rotated every week, meaning something cool is always going on.
The combination of challenges and a large, dedicated community in which to experience them is a reward all its own. So, take on as many social media challenges as possible and join CharacterHub for even more.
About the author
David Davis
David Davis is a cartoonist with around twenty years of experience in comics, including independent work and established IPs such as SpongeBob Squarepants. He also works as a college composition instructor and records weekly podcasts. Find out more about him at his website!
