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I updated it, added a couple shades as suggested.

Aggh dammit I misread the size limit, my bad.

...And they shall call him Tankman.

I got frustrated drawing his gun so I just went with a machete instead. Machetes are cooler than guns anyway.

I guess I'll toss this onto your pile of requests, just to make sure you stay submerged. You don't have to draw the dead guy if you don't want to, just the Queen.

The sniper rifle bit was more of a reference to RPs, in which people simply hang back and godmode. Really in stories and such they'd be fine for the tricksters or the dark menacing personalities.

Obviously any weapon is acceptable in a story, but what I mean by personalities behind the weapons is less of "let's be realistic", but something that brings out or exaggerates the character. A shovel is always a classic last-resort weapon, but if the character in question got to choose between that or a bazooka, for writing purposes he'd choose the bazooka, which would exaggerate the violent blow-everything-up personality. And an out of place weapon is even an opportunity for awesome moments, like wrapping a shovel around a guy's skull or using a rifle as a melee weapon.

I'm speaking from more of a comic book style character angle, so I didn't really cover the realistic stuff.

I actually wrote something about this on another forum, give me a second to find it.

Please keep in mind I wrote it for a forum that emphasizes more on roleplaying and stuff, but I think it still applies to characters. Just take all the parts where I mention "SSLF" and completely disregard them.

I thought it would be cool to make some sort of tutorial or guide on something, and seeing as how 75% of you suck at making cool or enjoyable characters and you should only make tutorials on stuff you actually know about, I chose character design.
Before we start please notice that I sometimes don't make sense, so ask questions or babble incoherently if you don't understand something and I will do my best to confuse you more.
So sit down, strap in, and shut up while I toss you head-first into my vaguely instructional explanation of the process of designing a character.

STEP 1: THE SETTING

For the first step, you've got to know the setting your character will be in. If you're an average SSLFer, the only characters you'll be making are signups for two-episode Lego comics and half-done RPs, where the setting has already been basically laid out for you. Sure, being the average SSLFer, the setting has a 3 in 5 chance of being post-apocalyptic (You can thank Fallout 3 for that, thanks to them we're stuck with post-apoc until sometime in the 2020s), but in the case of somebody being struck with a bolt of originality (It really happens, I see it occasionally), you should try and get to know the basics of the setting. Ask some questions, if you annoy the guy it's just because he hasn't thought it out that well. If it's your own setting, ask [i]yourself[/i] some questions. What's going on? Why is it going on? Where are we? Who killed Roger Rabbit? Once you know the simple necessities, you're ready for the next step of the journey of a thousand miles.
In fact, this shouldn't just be something you do when designing a character. If you're designing the latest dime-a-dozen fantasy universe that's sure to become the next Star Wars, ask yourself a whole ton of questions about [i]EVERYTHING[/i], from the king's favorite Play-doh color to the average temperature of an orc's skin. Find somebody that asks a lot of questions and show it to them. The more questions people ask, the more questions you'll be answering and that means you're fleshing out things. If all they do is criticize your grammar, you should probably do so but realize that they're probably annoying nitpickers who aren't interested in helping you improve anything.

STEP 2: BIO AND PERSONALITY

Even if I don't have it written down, I always have some form of backstory for all the characters I make. Yeah, even those retarded things I doodle in my sketchbook topic. And that's what I'm talking about here when I say bio. Not those 6 paragraph things that EVERYONE hates hates hates to write, (Even though I'm still about to tell you about that) but more of the general story about your character. What do they do? What do they think of the other characters? What is their favorite fruit? This stuff is generally stuff you don't post anywhere, but you keep it in your mind to remember.
On the subject of the actual bio you post with sign-ups, that would be your backstory. Generally, SSLF bios follow this format:
"(Character name) went to school and graduated, then joined the (elite military force). After a couple years, (Character name) got bored and left. Then the (nuclear apocalypse/worldwide war/alien invasion/point of the RP) hit, and they took cover in (town where the RP takes place). After hearing about (RP's military force) they decided it would be fun and joined up."
THIS IS BAD. A bio shouldn't be a generic description of your life story up to the present, it should be something to describe EXACTLY what you did. Not "I graduated college and joined the Marines", it should be more like "I graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor's Degree in Astrophysics, but after graduating I was inspired to join the Marines". Not "I served in the Marines and then left", it should be more like "I was in a tank crew during Desert Storm, and was promoted to Sergeant for my heroics in saving my crew, after it was struck with an RPG." Hell, give yourself a Congressional Medal of Honor, that guy that wrote Forrest Gump did it with his character, didn't he? While I'm sure some people will mindlessly label your character a Mary Sue for having done something significant with their life, to me it gives your character something to talk about and makes the character worth 10 Private John Does.
Then we get to personality. This is stuff more like "How would they react in situation X?" You don't need to bust out the flowchart and start listing off every possible circumstance, because the whole point with the character is they DON'T KNOW what's about to happen, or what can happen. They just react. A frivolous character will come upon a shop with a sign in the window, "Ooh, 50% off!" she says, and in she goes to buy it. A bold character is being held hostage at a bank. Seeing the robber has his back turned, he jumps up and attempts to disarm them. The trick to it is not to think "What would I do?", but "What would [i]they[/i] do?"
Once you know this stuff, it makes character interaction seem much more real, because it's not just your avatar in some bizarre world, but another person with their own tastes and desires. Of course, every creation reflects its creator in some way, but it doesn't have to be a mirror image.

STEP 3: APPEARANCE

This is the FUN part, this is where you give your character flesh and blood. Sometimes, especially when I'm drawing, I'll do this part first and do the others to fit around it. Actually, it doesn't matter what order you do any of this stuff in.
But on to the subject that we're supposed to be talking about. The appearance should fit with their personality, and carry a bit of their bio, tastes, and interests. A bubbly little girl isn't going to be walking around in bulky space marine armor, nor are you going to see a hardened marine wearing a tie-dye shirt and some khaki shorts, with one of those stupid retarded straw hats that should be banned. Honestly, I think the same should apply to their weapon. The annoying wise-cracking playboy shouldn't be using a Vulcan cannon, nor should the "take-no-prisoners-I-am-Legion-hear-me-r oar" guy be fighting with a shovel. Also, never use a sniper rifle. You lame cowardly camper.
Clothes are of course a minor part of the overall appearance. Also take into account their hairdos, their body type, face structure, eye color, lung capacity, heart rate, blood pressure, and brain activity. The guy with one of those Buzz Lightyear cinder block chins and a flat top you could eat meals off of will almost definitely give the impression of being a badass sergeant. Heck, if you draw it right, some random stooge will come across it and immediately know exactly what it is.
The name should match the personality. A name like Sam McGrittle is one that would immediately make you think either "That guy is badass" or "That guy must have invented the McGriddle", so the last thing you should do is waste that name on some 3rd grade history teacher.
Also, obvious last names are not that bad. Sergeant Paine will have less trouble convincing people what he does for a living than Private Johnson. Essentially, all characters you make should be like cartoons in a way. You can look at the picture and know all about them. Or, inversely, like the Redwall books, you can read their description and get the idea almost instantly.

Hopefully you found at least some of that helpful.

Man that guy didn't even need the chair by the looks of him.

I've been looking at some of the awesomeness in the Art Portal, and upon seeing the shading employed in the works of people like Mindchamber and Shyfts it got me wondering. How do you guys do your shading? Do you use gradients or something? It has me absolutely baffled.

I think I'll have to agree with the others that it looks a bit flat. It also seems that your proportions are a bit off, I know DK has huge arms but man. I'd suggest hunching him over and shortening the arms, and he'd probably look a lot better.

Mario is fine, but I think the hammer could be facing more of a forward direction/be held in a more "battle-ready" stance.

The background probably needs to be redone. Maybe change the location to the top of the tower, with Pauline and miscellaneous barrels in the background?