How the Random Character Prompt on Reuben Lara's Site Works

Updated

The Random Character Prompt is a drawing challenge tool on reubenlara.com that selects four random prompts for you to combine into a single character design. It is built for deliberate practice: instead of waiting for inspiration, you get a constrained brief and draw your way out of it. The site describes it as a way to "challenge yourself to drawing a random character using four randomly selected prompts."

What the tool does

The mechanic is simple. You trigger the prompt, and the tool returns four randomly chosen elements. Your job is to design one character that satisfies all four at once.

That constraint is the point. A single prompt ("draw a knight") leaves most decisions open. Four prompts force you to reconcile ideas that may not naturally fit together, which is where character design actually gets practiced.

How to use it for a drawing session

  1. Open the Random Character Prompt page from the site's main navigation or the "Take me there!" link on the homepage.
  2. Generate a set of four prompts. Do not reroll to get an easier combination — the mismatch is the exercise.
  3. Read all four before drawing. Decide which one leads (species, role, or silhouette) and which ones modify it (props, mood, setting).
  4. Sketch a full character that satisfies every prompt. Keep the first pass loose and fast.
  5. Only after the sketch works, refine line, shape, and detail.

Expected result: one finished or near-finished character concept built from a brief you did not choose.

Why four prompts instead of one

Single prompt Four random prompts
Wide open, easy to default to habit Forces combination and compromise
Tests rendering skill Tests design decision-making
You pick the interesting parts You solve the uninteresting parts too
Hard to compare across sessions Repeatable, comparable exercises

The four-prompt format also mirrors real briefs, where a client or art director hands you several requirements that have to coexist in one design.

Practice scenarios where it fits

  • Daily warm-up. One prompt set, 15–20 minutes, no cleanup. Good before client work.
  • Portfolio building. Run several sets and keep the strongest results as original character pieces.
  • Style exploration. Draw the same four prompts in two different styles to see how your handling changes.
  • Teaching or group sessions. Everyone gets the same four prompts and compares solutions — useful for a class or drawing group.

What it will and will not do

It will remove the blank-page problem and give you a repeatable design constraint. It will not teach anatomy, perspective, or rendering on its own — those come from separate study. Treat the tool as a way to apply skills you are building elsewhere, not as a substitute for fundamentals.

The site pairs this with its career guidance content, including "A Path To A Career As An Illustrator," which frames hobbyist and professional art as two different things. The Random Character Prompt sits on the practice side of that divide: a low-cost way to put in repetitions.

Common sticking points

  • Rerolling until the prompts feel "right." This removes most of the value. Take the first set.
  • Trying to render before the design works. Resolve the combination in thumbnail or rough first.
  • Ignoring one of the four prompts. If a prompt is hard to fit, that is the part worth solving.
  • Treating it as a one-off. The benefit comes from repetition across many sets, not a single drawing.

If you want to start, the homepage links directly to the tool under "Random Character Prompt!" — generate a set and draw it before you look for a better one.