EmoteLab Character Creation Contest 2026 Results
Thank you to every creator who took part in the EmoteLab Character Creation Contest and shared their work with the community!
We received far more entries than we initially expected, and we were genuinely impressed by the variety of ideas, styles, and creativity on display. As much as we would have liked to recognize every entry, the number of awards is limited. The winners were selected based on the judging criteria outlined in the contest rules, with each award focusing on its own particular aspects of character creation.
Below are the winning entries, followed by a selection of finalists whose work also deserves recognition for its creativity, design, style, or overall polish. Thank you again to everyone who participated and helped make this contest a success!
Some creators offer retexture commissions, feel free to click the creator's links to check their work out! Looking for more entries? Check out the EmoteLab Character Creation Contest 2026 Archive!
Award winners
Best Character Creation
Selvil Millennium
This entry demonstrates remarkable creativity and visual expression within the limitations. The creator added shadows along the edges of the individual parts, making them look like layers of paper stacked on top of one another. Textures were also added to the parts to further enhance the paper-collage effect. This consistent texturing extends beyond the character itself to the emote assets, creating a cohesive overall appearance. Although the character design is relatively simple, thoughtful details and varied textures keep it from looking plain.
Overall, the creator has successfully transformed the original model into something with a completely different visual style through the creative reworking of existing parts. The entry is well-polished and executed, with a unique style that makes it stand out among the submissions. It is a great showcase of the creator's creativity and attention to detail.
The Stylist
【新中式服装】月夕颜_Yuki07
This entry has a distinctive and easily recognizable visual style, with a fresh and luminous overall appearance. Its colors are vibrant without being overwhelming, while the clean, crisp lines give the design a bright and polished look. The creator's eye design is also particularly distinctive and adds a lot of charm to the character.
The character is themed around New Chinese-style fashion, which gives the design an additional sense of identity and shows the thought put into expressing the concept. Some of the smaller parts have also been adjusted to better complement the theme, making the design feel more distinctive and complete. The colors, linework, and overall concept all come together to create a highly cohesive and recognizable style.
Most Creative
Sage (VALORANT) (CoffeeBean) by @MosantXD
This entry does a wonderful job recreating the original character while also showcasing many creative uses of the available parts. The creator reworked the flame effect from the original model into a visual effect representing the character's skill. This gives an otherwise ordinary effect a completely new purpose while tying it directly to the character's design.
Another creative detail is the outline treatment. The original model uses a relatively thick, single-layer outline, but the creator replaced it with a two-layer design: a dark inner outline paired with a highly saturated light green outer line, creating an effect similar to ambient or rim lighting. This not only gives the character a more distinctive appearance but also makes the contours of individual parts stand out more clearly.
Many smaller parts and expression elements, such as tears, have also been modified. Even the outlines of some default parts, which are not particularly easy to customize, have been given new colors and textures. Overall, the creator has made excellent use of the available parts and put considerable effort into both character recreation and creative expression. A highly polished entry overall.
Community Favorite
酒狐 WineFox
At the end of the Voting Cutoff, this entry had the highest number of unique Steam Workshop subscribers among all contest submissions, demonstrating its popularity and strong appeal within the community.
The character itself uses the creator's own style, while some of the emote assets feature Minecraft's iconic pixel-art style, creating an interesting contrast. The creator has also incorporated many recognizable elements from the game into the details, adding plenty of personality and fun to the work.
Best Vanilla Character
Juniper the reindeer
Despite using only the built-in textures, this entry demonstrates impressive design potential. The creator chose a special, subdued color palette, using dark red and green as the primary colors to create a distinct festive and wintery atmosphere. This also gives the character a visual identity quite different from the original model.
The creator did not limit the color adjustments to the character itself. The emote assets were also recolored to maintain a consistent overall style. Although the available built-in textures and customization options are limited, the entry still achieves a good level of polish and visual cohesion.
The Meme Most Democratic
John Helldiver
This entry features multiple interchangeable character appearances and equipment options, including different versions of John Helldiver. One particularly creative detail is the helmet, assembled using parts originally intended for entirely different purposes, such as the beard and hair. Other equipment options include a visor, armor, and a cape. In addition, the creator has added game-related alternatives for many of the assets, bringing iconic elements from the game into the overall design.
The creator has also provided a very detailed user guide, clearly explaining everything from configuration settings for different appearances to the specific steps for switching parts. Compatibility issues between certain expressions and the helmet are also addressed. This is not only a fun entry full of game references and memes, but also a well-developed character customization setup that other players can easily explore and use.
Now is the time to join the Helldivers!
Additional Community Award
Agnes Tachyon (CoffeeBean)
This award applies to entries submitted during the contest period whose Steam Workshop items were published before the submission window opened.
Among all eligible entries in this category, Agnes Tachyon received the highest number of unique subscribers. The creator does a great job recreating the original design, capturing its defining features while maintaining a cohesive visual style.
Finalists
Listed in no particular order.
渔猫自设二号机
The most distinctive aspects of this entry are its highly recognizable art style and color palette. The colors of the main character are well coordinated, giving the design a strong visual identity and making a lasting impression. The creator's unique visual style has also received plenty of appreciation from the community, helping it stand out among the submissions.
The design already has a clear personal style, and carrying that style through to more of the smaller parts and details could make the overall entry feel even more complete.
Aeri
The overall design is highly distinctive, with a subtle sense of nostalgia. Its vibrant cyan and green color palette is bright without being overwhelming, while the glass-like transparency and reflective effects create a fresh, futuristic atmosphere. A very interesting detail is that the device on the character's head is made of two layers, allowing the liquid inside to move slightly when animating.
The main character and most of the emote assets maintain a strong sense of visual coherence in both color and presentation, giving the design plenty of texture while keeping its overall style cohesive.
Tzuki
The overall color palette of this entry is cohesive and well coordinated, with the eye design being particularly impressive. The eyes have a distinctive style: simple in design, yet full of sparkle, making the character's expression especially lively and eye-catching. The line art is also smooth and crisp.
Unfortunately, a few of the textures are misplaced.
芙宁娜
This entry does an excellent job recreating the character's appearance. Both the outfit and hat come in black and white variations, reflecting the creator's attention to detail when recreating the character's different looks. Some of the emote assets have also been replaced with items from the game, bringing more elements of the original work into the design.
The linework is clean and crisp, and the colors are handled with great care. Every part looks well put together. It is clear that the creator put considerable effort into this work.
Shay
The color palette is particularly pleasing, giving the overall design a natural and cohesive appearance. When creating the custom textures, the creator retained the thick outline style used by EmoteLab's default parts while incorporating their own design elements. This allows the custom textures to blend naturally with the original parts. Even without making extensive changes to the emote parts, the overall art style remains highly consistent, showing a thoughtful approach to blending different elements together.
尼古喵喵
This entry does a wonderful job capturing the original character's appearance and personality. The eyes are particularly well done: they retain the distinctive style of the original while also having an unexpectedly adorable charm. Looking closely, the linework also has a subtle pencil- or crayon-like texture, giving the character a unique hand-drawn feel. The overall style is natural and cohesive, capturing the character's characteristics very well.
Cuerva by Haruyuih (CoffeeBean)
The overall art style and color palette of this entry are highly distinctive. It primarily uses black, white, and other low-saturation colors, paired with a hand-drawn, brushstroke-like texture. The result has a unique visual identity, and the character's mysterious atmosphere fits the art style and color palette particularly well.
Mime girl
This entry uses only EmoteLab's default parts and features a low-saturation black-and-white color palette. Despite the limited selection of available parts, the creator has achieved a cohesive visual style through thoughtful color choices and part combinations.
MEDI
Based on Caelus from Honkai: Star Rail, this entry captures the character's original design while incorporating the creator's own artistic style. This gives the character a recognizable connection to the original while still allowing the creator's personal touch to shine through. The linework and colors are clean and well handled, resulting in a fresh, cohesive appearance that is simple and pleasant to look at.
Kunai Zombie G
This entry features a unique and vibrant color palette, making use of highly saturated neon colors with strong contrasts while still maintaining a good sense of balance. The creator has also added polka-dot patterns to the hair, introducing more texture and visual depth to the design. The character has plenty of personality and a distinctive appearance, and the overall result is highly polished. A very unique original creation.
Pixel Centorya
This entry uses a unique pixel art style. The creator reworked the parts so the character, the outfit, and the emote assets all share the same pixel look, and that consistency is what holds the design together. The care put into those details is easy to see.
The centaur body is a particularly clever idea. The wing texture is used to build the horse's body and legs, turning an existing part into something new. It is an inventive solution, and it shows how much thought went into the piece.
银月
The overall color palette is clean and refreshing, with a distinctive personal style. The eye design is quite different from EmoteLab's built-in model, yet it blends surprisingly well with the other parts. When creating the custom parts, the creator retained the thick outline style of the original model, allowing elements with different art styles to come together naturally and maintain a cohesive overall appearance.
Rem
This entry does a great job recreating the original character while incorporating the creator's own artistic style. The character retains the recognizable features of the original while also having a distinct personal touch. The overall design is clean and refreshing, with natural, well-coordinated linework, colors, and textures that create a bright and pleasant appearance.
ZOMBIELAMB
This entry has a color palette that feels very much its own. The colors are soft and sit well together. The sheep and melting elements are worked into the design with care, and that is what makes the concept come through so clearly.
Participant Lucky Draw
- glassalt
- Lileg
- 渲琳
- 花铃屿鹿HanazuNeko
Congratulations to the lucky-draw winners!