CGSociety

CGSociety :: Special Feature

XXV CGChallenge Winners Announced.
THURSDAY 17 June

The CG Challenges are the biggest online art contests of their kind, with huge sponsorships and publicity for each challenge. Working within guidelines and software limitations, artists are challenged to create outstanding artwork based upon set themes, while showing their work-in-progress to the community.

B-Movie projected the theme of those shlock-horror pictures on drive in theater screens. Some truly spectacular concepts were thrown forward. Some superb tongue-in-cheek ideas. Posters depicting crazy goofy reactions to crazy monsters from outer space.

Our CGChallenge posed one question. Just how insanely eye-popping can one B-Grade film get? Congratulations to all our winners.

Professional artists Jon Rush, Goncalo Pereira, Ishan Shukla, Jose Alves da Silva and Leigh van de Byl, CGSociety's Anton Fletcher and Mark Snoswell.

Team Entry Video Master
'The Night of All Fears'

Team Members
* Cyril Corallo (Beuda)
* Jonathan Erwin Malnoury (DjoPetitRat)
* Emmanuel Briand (tokyobanana)
* Gaëlle Rouby (MrLeChatNoir)

Lyon, FRANCE

Artist comments:
'We are very happy and truly honored to have been given this CGSociety's B-Movie Challenge Master award. We worked very hard and have spent a lot of hours on our project. We thank the CGSociety for giving us such a great opportunity to test our team and push our limits. We started as a motley collection of freelance artists, and now we at Rheo have become a dynamic team in large part to the challenges we've faced together while completing this project.
We sincerely hope you'll enjoy the product of our work. A lot of effort and dedication has gone into every aspect of production, from the music to the visuals, made primarily with Adobe Flash CS3 and After Effects. We especially want to thank in particular the other competitors and all the people who have left messages on the forum of the challenge. It has been an ongoing source of motivation. Again, thank you all.'

Judges' comments:

Ishan Shukla: "Beautiful. The mood and colors work very well with the music. Amazing work."

JoseMovie:"The visual style is so fantastic and professional. All the shots are stunning and the music fits the story brilliantly."

Links:

Prizes:

Dell Precision™ M6500 Mobile Workstation

Choice of one of either Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max or Autodesk Softimage

NVIDIA Quadro

Craft Director Studio Master Bundle

Kickstand StretchMesh

12 x Ballistic Publishing Books (Standard Edition)

Choice of any Imagineer Systems Product (up to 7 licenses depending on the number of members in the team

Maxon Cinema 4D Studio Bundle

3D Connexion SpaceExplorer

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year) - One per team member

Team Entry Video Excellence
'Attack of the Space Mutant Chicken'

Team Members
* Andrea Femerstrand (Noukah)
* Joakim Palmkvist (JockeP)
* Dan Santos (Framed)
* Boba Subin (Boba3d)
* Sofie Trigo Wagner (SofieTW)
* Carolina Arnas (Carro)
* Andreas Andersson (Ackeee)
* Anna Hilding (annahilding)
* Samuel Tyskling (Wonkah)

Årsta, SWEDEN

Artist comments:
'First of all thank you so much for picking us for the Excellence Team Award. You have no idea how much this means to all of us! Second, I want to thank everyone in our team for their hard work and effort.

We truly believed in our little project, but thinking that we actually would make it THIS far? No way... It's really the best that could've happened, and now, looking back to when all of us worked superhard to make this fly, it was all so worth it. The team has been awesome, we wouldn't have been here without everybody doing their magic. We're superproud, amazed and incredibly grateful!

It's pretty cool how far you can actually get, having a giant three-headed chicken as a sidekick.... Andrea Femerstrand, concept artist.

Judges' comments:

Ishan Shukla: "Great trailer. Love the characters and horrifying horror of the Giant Mutant Chicken."

JoseMovie:"Great timing and sense of humor. A very complete and professional production."

Links:

Prizes:

NVIDIA Quadro x2

Kickstand StretchMesh

Smith Micro Poser Pro

3D Connexion SpaceNavigator

Choice of 6 x Ballistic Publishing Books (Standard Edition)

Mocha - tracking station (up to 7 licenses depending on the number of members in the team)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year) - One per team member

Prizes:

Dell Precision M6500 Mobile Workstation

NVIDIA Quadro

Choice of one of either Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max or Autodesk Softimage

Vue 8 xStream

Craft Director Studio Master Bundle

Houdini Master

Kickstand StretchMesh

3D Connexion SpaceExplorer

Monet - placement station (List price: $3,295)

Mokey - removal station (List price: $3,295)

Mocha - tracking station (List price: $1,095)

Mocha shape for After Effects (List price: $110)

Mocha shape for Final Cut (List price: $110)

Choice of 6 x Ballistic Publishing Books (Standard Edition)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Individual Video Master Award
'Blood Mines'
Staszek Marek
(Staszek)

Krakow, POLAND

Artist comments:
'In first I could not believe it. I feel very happy that judges enjoyed my work. It was a great time, to take part in this challenge. While judging, I spent a lot of time watching other entries and I was almost sure someone else will win.

Thanks to all entrants and congratulations to you! It was a real pleasure, hard work, and a big lesson. I wish to encourage others to take chance in the future!

I would like to thank to CGSociety. This is realy great that you created such great opportunities like these CGChallanges. People from around the world meet, share same passion for CG. This is great! I would like to thank also my family and friends for mental support!'

Judges' comments:

Ishan Shukla: "Another one I would love to see as a feature. Incredibly well executed trailer there!"

JoseMovie:"The amount of high quality character and complex animation is astonishing in this film. Gore to the max."

Links:

Prizes:

NVIDIA Quadro

Kickstand StretchMesh

3D Connexion SpaceNavigator

Smith Micro Poser Pro

StudioGPU MachStudio Pro

Choice of 3 x Ballistic Publishing Books (Standard Edition)

Mocha - tracking station (List price: $1,905)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Individual Video Excellence Award
'The Blob Outaspace Zombie Killer'
Adel Benabdallah
(adelben)

Paris, FRANCE

Artist comments:
'I am really honored to be receiving this award, and thanks for the interest in the blob outaspace. Like all the members of this challenge it's not easy to bring your ideas to life when you have a fulltime job. For me, I've made a big effort and had lots of sleepless nights. I can say that I was definitely living like a ZOMBIE... But it was a pleasure to participate in this challenge, as the B-Movie was a great topic. Thanks to CGSociety for this great challenge and congrats to everyone who finished.'

Judges' comments:

Ishan Shukla: "Brilliant work there!"

JoseMovie:"Great composition and film look. However, what really caught my eye was the quality of the characters. They have a personality and they are really well animated."

Links:

Individual Image Master Award
'Auditions'
Szymon Biernacki
(lordbiernac)

Warsaw, POLAND

Artist comments:
'Wow! This is amazing! I guess I was hoping that my image was interesting enough to compete with all those fantastic entries out there, but actually winning the Master Award is far beyond my hopes and dreams! The B-Movie Challenge turned out to be a great opportunity to come up with a humorous illustration and funny stories are my favourite subject to paint.

This is the second time that I've taken part in the CGSociety challenge and I must admit that this is a great way to improve ones skills. This time I tried to achieve a bit more of a realistic look in the elements on the painting and I've learned a lot. I would really like to thank all the people who helped me develop my idea and make the most out of it!'

Judges' comments:

Gonçalo Pereira: "Great picture, i like how it portraits a casual scene in a backstage preparing for a casting, great illustration. Very funny"

Mark Snoswell: "laugh out loud funny. great story. Fits theme well. good execution"

JoseMovie:"Excellent sense of storytelling. Very well executed and funny."

Links:

Prizes:

Dell Precision M6500 Mobile Workstation

Choice of one of either Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max or Autodesk Softimage

Vue 8 xStream

Smith Micro Poser Pro

3D Connexion SpaceExplorer

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

Choice of 6 x Ballistic Publishing Books (Standard Edition)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Judges' comments:

Gonçalo Pereira: "Great and funny idea! really well done."

Mark Snoswell:"Nice technique and great concept

"

JoseMovie:"Hilarious concept. There are geeky details all around and the painting style is very well achieved. It reminds me of Michael Jackson's Thriller video but with... geeks."

Links:

Prizes:

StudioGPU MachStudio Pro

Pixologic ZBrush 3.5R3

Smith Micro Poser Pro

NVIDIA Quadro

3D Connexion SpaceNavigator

Choice of 3 x Ballistic Publishing Books (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Individual Image Excellence Award
'Night of the Living Geek'
Jakob Eirich
(yakonusuke)

Salzgitter, GERMANY

Artist comments:
'I'm trying to find words which describe best how I feel, but the only one I can think of is "WOOHOOO!" Thank you very much, to everyone involved in this Competition! Also many thanks to everyone who stopped by and left helpful and encouraging comments in my work in progress thread.

I usually tend to go for a rather whimsical theme when I participate in CGS-contests. But this time it seemed like the topic was made just for me. Therefor it was twice as fun creating this image.
I tried to achieve a more realistic rendering for this piece so I used references which I shot of myself... no, I won't show any of them! But you can imagine how stupid I must have looked, when you see the result. I haven't used them to trace my face or body, but merely as a guide to get the light, poses and grimaces right and applied these informations to exaggerated characters I came up with myself. Otherwise I most likely would have got a bunch of similar looking nerds. The rest was the usual process: Lines, rough tonal values and rendering. In the end I've added text and some effects to imitate an old grungy movie poster and et voil!'

Modeling
'The Taxman from Outer Space'
Kris Costa
(Antropus)

San Francisco, USA

Artist comments:
'After competing in two big challenges and a mini challenge here at CGSociety in the past, I promised myself I would not enter another one because of the amount of work involved, normally insane (because I don't like doing anything half way

, but I found myself so excited about this theme and the possibilities that I decided to enter.

I entered without many expectations and decided to have fun while using this challenge to learn new tools, especially Modo. Congrats to all of you guys and gals who managed to finish your amazing entries. Well deserved winners, you should all be proud!

Links:

Prizes:

Choice of Autodesk SketchBook Pro or Mudbox

Craft Director Studio Vehicle Tools Bundle

Luxology Modo 401

TopoGun

Ballistic Publishing 'd'artiste Character Modeling' bundle (Standard Edition)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Texturing
'The Mysterious Guru of Planet P'
Samuel Poirier
(Vimmy)

Arvida, CANADA

Artist comments:
'I had a great time to do this challenge, it has been a truly rewarding experience on so many levels. Congratulations to all participants.'

Links:

Prizes:

Choice of Autodesk SketchBook Pro or Mudbox

Craft Director Studio Vehicle Tools Bundle

Luxology Modo 401

TopoGun

Ballistic Publishing 'd'artiste Character Modeling' bundle (Standard Edition)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Animation
'Ice Rage'
Alexander Brown
(AlBrown)

Grand Rapids, USA

Artist comments:
'I must say we are somewhat surprised to win the Animation portion of the challenge. It was a long three month journey from start to finish, and we learned alot about our individual talents as well as working as a team.

I am glad to see our efforts have paid off, and that is more than enough to motivate us to move forward in search of that excitement (and relief) that follows completing something of value. Thanks to CGSociety and everyone else who competed.'

Links:

Prizes:

Choice of Autodesk SketchBook Pro or Mudbox

Craft Director Studio Master Bundle

Ballistic Publishing 'Oddworld Inhabitants' (Standard Edition)

NewTek LightWave 3D

Stash Best of 2009

Smith Micro Poser 8

Kickstand StretchMesh

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Prizes:

Choice of Autodesk Sketchbook Pro or Mudbox

Vue 8 Infinite

Smith Micro Poser 8

SideFX Houdini Escape

Stash Best of 2009

Ballistic Publishing 'Elemental' Bundle (Standard Edition)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Lighting
'9 Sqrm Production'
Tomasz Jedruszek
(Morano)

Bochnia, POLAND

Artist comments:
'When this CGChallenge closed, I started seeing more and more beautiful work finished. I realized winning any prize would require a tremendous effort. So once those results were announced to me it was like "ufff" all pressure gone and I am happy to be winner again, because once again the competition was extreme.'

Links:

Visual Effects
'The BEE Masters'
Juraj Molcak
(JurajMolcak)

Kosice, SLOVAKIA

Artist comments:
'I am a big fan of the B-Grade movies. Particularly of those where you can see filmmakers pushing their creativity to develop VFX within the boundaries of low budget or limited technology access. I did try to somehow limit my workflow for this project and replace obvious with unexpected. It was also very refreshing to get dirty by creating some analog stuff instead of counting pixels and I think CGChallenges are good place for this kind of experiments and tryouts. Great experience on many areas with nice result.

The prize as a motivation came in a good time when I am questioning and thinking a lot about the future projects. It is a great honor, especially considering the quality and spirit of the other entries.'

Prizes:

Choice of Autodesk SketchBook Pro or Mudbox

Houdini Master

Craft Director Studio Camera Tools Bundle

Mocha - tracking station (List price: $1,095)

Massive Jet License + Locomotion Agent Library + Access to Student Forum

Ballistic Publishing 'Massive Black' (Standard Edition)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Links:

Landscape/Matte Painting
'The Wasp Woman Returns'
Gediminas Pranckevicius
(imperioli)

Vilnius, LITHUANIA

Artist comments:
First of all I am very happy that I participated with my venerated artists, it means a lot when you get criticism or advice from your favorites. This contest has cost me a lot of effort, but they proved, (Landscape/Matte Painting) it is very honorable category, I am so glad. Maybe it is a sign that I should start practicing and look for a job with the landscape field in the future

Links:

Prizes:

Choice of Autodesk SketchBook Pro or Mudbox

Craft Director Studio Vehicle Tools Bundle

Luxology Modo 401

TopoGun

Ballistic Publishing 'd'artiste Character Modeling' bundle (Standard Edition)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Art Direction
'Killer Woods of Misty Mountain'
Darko Vučenik
(DarkoV)

Donji Laduč, CROATIA

Artist comments:
Wow, Art Direction. CGSociety contests are the most kick ass contests out there. Many of the people that compete are the same people that on a regular basis inspire me with their work. So winning a prize in that company gives me a special warm and fuzzy feeling.

Links:

Prizes:

Choice of Autodesk SketchBook Pro or Mudbox

Newtek Lightwave 3D

Stash Best of 2009

Smith Micro Poser 8

Ballistic Publishing 'Exotique 4 & 5' (Standard Edition)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Prizes:

Choice of Autodesk Sketchbook Pro or Mudbox

Vue 8 Infinite

Mocha - tracking station (List price: $1,095)

Stash Best of 2009

Ballistic Publishing 'EXPOSE 7' (Standard Edition)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Compositing and Editing
'Nikola Tesla and the fall of the Third
Michael V. Blount
(Revalis)

Huntsville, USA

Artist comments:
'First off, thank you SO much for the news! I got each of these guys to come into my office this morning, one by one, to read the email and watch their response as they did. It was great watching them go wide-eyed and giddy with laughter. We're all extremely excited and honored to have been chosen!

We had never done such a blending of live action with CG elements before, and it's very gratifying to know we didn't fall short of our goal. We're very thankful for the opportunity CGSociety gave us to challenge and push our skills to the next level; and extremely honored to be award winners!'

Links:

Prizes:

Choice of Autodesk SketchBook Pro or Mudbox

Luxology modo 401

Smith Micro Poser Pro

Ballistic Publishing 'd'artiste Character Modeling' bundle (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Best Character
'Night of the Portapotamus'
Bill Melvin
(Quadart)

Quakertown, USA

Artist comments:
'This was a pleasant surprise, considering all of the great entries submitted in this challenge. I really had to scramble to stitch together the time needed to complete the entry with my busy work schedule.

The theme was a good one. I chose to do a spoof piece on this already cheese loaded theme. I was afraid of going a bit too far with the cheese factor. The challenge was a treat, allowing me to try something different. This was a departure from what I normally do for my supper as an illustrator. All in all--it was fun!'

Links:

Concept Art
'Valley of the Vampire Vixens'
Michael Dashow
(walrus)

Oakland, USA

Artist comments:
'Thank you so much! It's always fun taking part in my favorite online contest, and it's a wonderful honor to be given this award. For this contest, I pushed myself to make the female characters more anatomically correct than I have in my past Challenge entries, while maintaining the level of humor that's a big part of both B-movie posters (unintentionally) and my own art style.

For the dinosaur, I started out making him anatomically correct and later veered away from that path to be more accurate to the style of the old movies. I'm glad that the entire package held together and that everyone appreciated the result. Thanks for letting me participate!'

Links:

Prizes:

Choice of Autodesk SketchBook Pro or Mudbox

Houdini Master

Craft Director Studio Camera Tools Bundle

Mocha - tracking station (List price: $1,095)

Massive Jet License + Locomotion Agent Library + Access to Student Forum

Ballistic Publishing 'Massive Black' (Standard Edition)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Links:

Prizes:

Gnomon Workshop Digital Bundle

Stash Best of 2009

$500 to the 3DVIA Store

Ballistic Publishing 'd'artiste Digital Painting' bundle (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Digital Painting
'The Caveman'
Simon Dominic
(BaronImpossible)

GREAT BRITAIN

Artist comments:
'I'm really happy to win the 'Digital Painting' award, especially given the amazingly high standard of competition. When I first heard the theme I knew it would be a lot of fun and as it turned out I wasn't wrong. It gave me the opportunity to explore new techniques, working on something I probably wouldn't have attempted otherwise, and this really helped me expand my skills base. I think the toughest aspect of that painting was getting the text to look right. Compared to that the rest was a doddle (well, not quite)! And lastly just let me say congratulations to all the other winners and to everybody who took part - well done!'

Music and Sound
'Istanbul Monster'
Director: Omur Kukes
Audio mix & complimentary theme: Ozan Kurtulus
Original music: Baba Zula
Producer: Anima Istanbul

Istanbul, TURKEY

Artist comments:
'First of all, thank you very much for this award. We were not expecting that even if it's maybe the most obvious one for this video clip which is all about music. For this video, the music was a central element because it's almost one of the characters of the movie. All the dances have been synchronized on it and, as the monsters themselves, it represents the soul of Istanbul or at least the the vision that Omur Kukes have of it. Those big monsters are not so evil, they are very old spirit which are hungry for party and crazy belly dancing.'