CGSociety

CGSociety :: Special Feature

Dreamscape
XXV CGChallenge Winners Announced.
THURSDAY 8 October

"Once again I am astounded by the breadth and quality or artistic expression of these winning entries.

Even more than most, this challenge has inspired entrants to create images that illustrate the interior landscape of the creative mind.

They are enchanting, captivating and moving. Congratulations to everyone who entered and especially to our super talented winners.
- Mark Snoswell - President of CGSociety.

Judges
Danny Geurtsen, Caroline Delen, Paul Franklin, David Wright, Michael Dashow, Tomasz Jedruszek, Samuel Poirier, Szymon Biernacki, Juraj Molcak, Mark Snoswell, Leigh van der Byl, Anton Fletcher

Image Master
'Respite of a Woodchoper'
David Forest (Frotze)
CANADA

Artist comments:
Wow, words can't describe the joy I feel right now! I don't believe I've ever put so much effort into something. It really took patience and dedication. On multiple occasions, I redrew entire parts because although it 'worked', it didn't spell winner to me. For that I'd like to thank everybody that commented on my works in progress. If the occasional praise was really rewarding and meant I was on the right track, it's really the harsher critics that made the piece what it is today. Thank you all, I really mean it!'

Judges comments:
"A strange and surreal concept, beautifully realized."
- Michael Dashow

Links:

Prizes:

MAINGEAR Quantum Shift

e-on Vue 9 xStream

Luxology Modo

NewTek Lightwave 10

Pixologic ZBrush

Smith Micro Poser Pro 2010

Digital Tutors Annual Subscription

Corel Painter 11

3Dconnexion SpaceExplorer 3D Mouse

3 x Evermotion DVD

Stash One-Year Subscription

6 x Standard Edition Ballistic Publishing Books

Annual CGSociety Membership

Image Excellence
'The Blessed And The Damned'
Vilius Petrauskas (Basazole)
LITHUANIA

Artist comments:
It is the first time that I took part in a CGSociety challenge and it was very successful for me! When I heard the topic of this challenge for the first time I felt that it is exactly for me. I like pictures portraying visions, dreams, unknown spaces and landscapes. I like pictures that speak for themselves. It was hard to find time to start, but the voice inside persisted: "You must to do it!". When there were only a few days left to the end of the competition I couldn't even sleep. I kept seeing new visions for my painting.'

Judges comments:
"Brilliant use of 3d and 2d!" - Samuel Poirier

"Great lighting and mood! I also like the cool blue colour touches here and there..." - Szymon Biernacki

"The essence of unexpected moments and bizzare visions captured in wonderfuly painted and textured image with great lighting. I was just invited to someone's dream and I am both scared and eager to explore it." - Juraj Molcak

Links:
'Dreamscape' CGChallenge page
Vilius Petrauskas

Prizes:

NVIDIA Quadro 6000

Planetside Terragen 2 Megabundle with 1,300 Xfrog plants.

e-on Vue 9 Infinite

NewTek LightWave 10

Smith Micro Pro 2010

2 x Evermotion DVDs

Stash One year Subscription

3 x Standard Edition Ballistic Publishing books

Annual CGSociety membership

Video Master
'Mirare'
Bram Lee Chin Horng (BramLeeCH)
LITHUANIA

Artist comments:
'It is really an honour, I would like to thank CGSociety and all the judges for this award. I appreciate it very much. I started this project as a chance for myself to try out some new ideas as well as techniques in matte painting and compositing. It is more than just an entry for the CGChallenge, but it is actually my exploration for more knowledge in art and design. Thank you very much to my family and friends who have supported me and have given me their honest comments on this project.'

Judges comments:
"Truly imaginative work and excellent execution. Landscape with unexpected forms and shapes that can be accepted easily as a second reality - Dreamscape."
- Juraj Molcak

Links:
'Dreamscape' CGChallenge page
Bram Lee Chin Horng

Prizes:

SideFX Houdini Master

RocketBox "Complete Characters" 3D models library

Nvidia Quadro 6000

Imagineer Systems Mocha Pro

E-On Vue 9 xStream

Craft Animations CDS Complete Suite 1 Year License

The Gnomon Workshop 2010 Digital Bundle

The Gnomon Workshop 2010 Design Bundle

Digital Tutors Annual Subscription

3Dconnexion SpaceExplorer 3D Mouse

3 x Evermotion DVD

Stash One-Year Subscription

6 x Standard Edition Ballistic Publishing Book

Annual CGSociety Membership

Video - Excellence
'Traveling with my Thoughts full of Hope'
Adrian Baluta (adib)
ROMANIA

Artist comments:
"I'm so happy than I cannot believe this is real. What I can say is that I worked on this movie for more than 18 hours a day and the hardest part was to manage all the background and animation.

Dreamscape is a great theme, and brings a lot of nice ideas, but it is really hard to put into practice because of the amount of work. So I start to put on paper the script and tried to find the best way to show my dreamscape. For the character design of the creature I wanted to give a different style, a cartoon one and I decided to go with classic 2D. A lot to draw and paint.

Traveling on a different world through water was the solution of the moment, and I am happy with what I chose. I'm a fan of Hayao Miyazaki and he inspires me a lot. The music also was really hard to find, something to fit with what I need. But at the end all things went well."

Judges comments:
" It's always great to see traditional animation showing so strongly amongst the 3D stuff." - Anton Fletcher

Links:
'Dreamscape' CGChallenge page
Adrian Baluta

Prizes:

MAXON Cinema 4D Studio

NVIDIA Quadro 6000

e-on Software Vue 9 Infinite

Smith Micro Poser Pro 2010

NPower Software SubD-NURBS

2 x Evermotion DVDs

STASH One year Subscription

3 x Standard Edition Ballistic Publishing books

Annual CGSociety membership

Team Video Master
'Ned, the Sleep Walker'
Aurélien Rantet (Aurel0988)
Jonathan Duval (johd)
Adrien Forestier (our0boros)

FRANCE

Artist comments:
'This is an incredible news! We are very proud to be rewarded by the jury. We are happy to have finished on time despite a scenario written in one hour on a kebab restaurant's table. Unfortunately a lot of scenes were cut to fit the deadline. This was a very enriching experience, we had a lot of fun doing this project and we hope you had the same pleasure watching it. Congrats to all the other challengers. Fun always wins!'

Judges comments:
"Somehow I like that quirky animation. Very funny short with good storytelling and editing." - Juraj Molcak

Links:

Prizes:

StudioGPU MachStudio Pro

Maxon Cinema 4D Studio

RocketBox "Complete Characters" 3D models library

2 x Nvidia Quadro 6000

3 x Imagineer Systems Mocha Pro

E-On Vue 9 xStream

Pixologic ZBrush

NPower Software Power Translators licence

Digital Tutors Annual Subscription

3 x Evermotion DVD

Stash One-Year Subscription

5 x 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator 3D Mouse

6 x Standard Edition Ballistic Publishing Book

6 x Annual CGSociety Membership

Team Video Excellence
'Waking Gus'
Paul Capon, Mack Carruthers
Dei Gaztelumendi, Tracy Grant
Siting Liu, Mark Rodziewicz
Garfie Jame, Curtis Hsiung
Mohamas Idris, Christopher Harris
Steve Skratt and Asher Lenz
CANADA

Artist comments:
Our team is very proud to present 'Waking Gus.' Our aim with this short was to recreate a dream that everyone could immediately relate to. Who hasn't dreamed of falling, that sickening feeling in your stomach as you plummet to earth, the ground getting closer and closer until...BAM...you wake to find yourself safe in bed.

Judges comments:
"Hilarious short. Very bizzare too on the other hand. Ending works no matter how many times I see it. Simple yet great visuals and animation."- Juraj Molcak

Links:

Maxon Cinema 4D Studio

NVIDIA Quadro 6000

e-on Vue 9 Infinite

2 x Evermotion DVD

Stash One year subscription

3 x Evolve 3D Conference tickets

3 x Standard Edition Ballistic Publishing books

6 x Annual CGSociety memberships

Modeling
'Marooned'
Laurent Pierlot (sato)
USA

Artist comments:
It was a pretty hard challenge with lots of awesome art. It took me a lot of time to create the 3D scene itself which left me little time for the fun part that is the painting at the end.

Judges comments:
"Very strong piece! I love the mood and design of the background. The mushrooms are fenomenal!"
- Szymon Biernacki

Links:
'Dreamscape' CGChallenge page
Laurent Pierlot

Animation
'Departure'
Joji Tsuruga (thejoji)
David Han (Makotsu)
Ihus Yoon (sinventor)
Yongchan Kim (ddigiri)
Jina Lee (athera)
USA

Artist comments:
"There is nothing more rewarding than finishing a personal project! I've been frequenting CGSociety for years now and I am excited to finally have a submission of my own." -Joji Tsuruga.

Judges comments:
"Although the video is kind of minimalistic it has an accurate dreamy mood emphasized also by soundtrack. The story is open-ended and can be extended to wider dreamscape easily." - Juraj Molcak

Links:
'Dreamscape' CGChallenge page
Joji Tsuruga
David Han

Lighting
'Escape'
Florian Biege (FBiege)
GERMANY

Artist comments:
Thank you so much for this award. I already participated in several CG Society Challenges, but this is the first time I get a prize and I am very happy about it. Working on the painting was a great experience and I am already looking forward to the next challenge. Thanks for all the support and congratulations to all winners!

Judges comments:
"Lovely coloring. I especially appreciate the soft, dreamlike transition from the boring grey classroom to the fantastic world and interesting lighting. Nicely realized work!"- Michael Dashow

"Heh, probably we all have been through this daydreaming. Lovely lighting"- Juraj Molcak

Links:
'Dreamscape' CGChallenge page
Florian Biege

Visual Effects
'Dreamscape'
Jama Jurabaev (djamadj)
Azam Hasanov
Iskandar Mirzoganiev
Ulugbek Halilov
Dmitriy Ten
Sadikjan Tairov
Merdod Gaffori
Khurshed Isamov
Javod Rajabov
Jovid Ruziev

TAJIKISTAN

Artist comments:
It was the first serious animation attempt for us, and we are quite happy to be honored with "Visual Effects" award. But we are hoping to come back with something more serious and exciting in next challenges, so see you soon:)

Judges comments:
"The outer-space matte backgrounds in this are absolutely gorgeous - and work well with the fantastic compositing job." - Anton Fletcher

Links:

Matte Painting
'City of Gods'
Dimitar Tzvetanov (chrom)
BULGARIA

Artist comments:
"I can't explain how excited I am. It was a great challenge, a lot of work, but with a lot of fun. Thanks CGSociety for that and I hope we see next time again."

Judges comments:
"Lovely mood and great scope! The lighting and the crumbling, floating aspects of the landscape really help this piece feel very dreamlike." - Michael Dashow

Links:

Art Direction
'Chaos Melody'
Sergey Skachkov (Atris)
RUSSIA

Artist comments:
The unreal world of 'Chaos Melody' arose like the dream in which realms of past and present, a delusion and an joke intertwined. This work came easy to me, and although not everything turned out as I wanted, I am very pleased with the result. Thank the judges for the high rating!

Judges comments:
"I like the consistency in the design of all the elements in the painting. Even reflections in the water have more of an angular shapes coresponding to the overall style of the image." - Szymon Biernacki

"Am I dreaming? Things look familiar but are they? I am a stranger here... This image reminds me of some very last century visionary pioneer's work. A parallel world that is both so close and so far to the reality."
- Juraj Molcak

Links:

Compositing and Editing
'Treehouse Republic'
Kevin McBride (opentarget)
Przemyslaw Lizakowski
Stephen Fagan
Dale Robinson
IRELAND

Artist comments:
Congratulations to everyone who took part in this Challenge...the amount of work that people put into their projects is astounding and I take my hat off to everyone who managed to complete it, both first timers and veterans alike. It's a thorough slog for anyone to finish!

Judges comments:
"This can work as a nice commercial. Now I want some ice-cream. And more and more... Anyway, I was happy to watch some non-dramatic piece too, just sweet joy." - Juraj Molcak

Links:
'Dreamscape' CGChallenge page
Kevin McBride

Best Character
'The Little Match Girl'
Vanja Todoric (NJA3d)
SERBIA

Artist comments:
This is cool because The Little Match Girl was a story I tried to do so many times. (I think i started the first one for the B-Movie challenge). It's like she's been cheering for me to finish it these last few days.

Judges comments:
"I love the mood and expression on the characters."
- Anton Fletcher

Links:

Concept Art
'Pixel Fishes'
Michal Milkowski (tonpix)
POLAND

Artist comments:
I started from scratch and worked in an entirely different way. I used almost only the force of my imagination, relying heavily on shapes telling me what to do next. I also wanted to achieve a surrealistic effect. Making nonsense things that could make viewers a bit surprised was my illustrating motive.

Judges comments:
"I absolutely love everything about this image! The overall mood and design of all the elements are simply amazing! And the trees just made my day

Fantastic!" - Szymon Biernacki

"Nice twist to the classical surreal landscapes with a signature of digital era."- Juraj Molcak

Links:

Music and Sound
'The Retrospects'
Dong-hoon Kim (Georgie)
SOUTH KOREA

Artist comments:
From the original storyboarding to the final video, I believe it took about two months. It was possible since the challenge allowed the use of pre-made assets of my own, such as the human model and one of the city. All the other models and props are new works of mine created specifically for this challenge.

Judges comments:
"Not as imaginative as many other entries but the choice of the story nicely fit in the challenge theme."
- Juraj Molcak

Links:
'Dreamscape' CGChallenge page
Dong-hoon Kim

Texturing
'Back to my reality'
Thibaut Claeys (Bito)
CANADA

Artist comments:
I was very happy to join this contest. The theme was really interesting as it has no limitation. I wouldn't probably put so much effort into a personal work if I made it just for fun. The competition was a good way to improve my skills.

Judges comments:
"An amazing amount of detail and depth."
- Anton Fletcher

Links:

Digital Painting
'Dreamsworld'
Piotr Jablonski(NicponimskY)
POLAND

Artist comments:
Hah, you ask me what I feel? I'm very happy! Undoubtedly, its a great honor for me to get digital painting award. Its a mindblowing feeling to be honored among so many great artists. Winning this prize, motivates me to be better and better.

Judges comments:
"An image from the other universe that could be a dream. This is an exceptional digital painting.."
- Juraj Molcak

Links:

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