CGSociety

CGSociety :: Special Feature

SECRET AGENT
XXIV CGChallenge Winners Announced.
THURSDAY 8 October

The mission for 'Secret Agent', the 24th CGChallenge, was to depict characters and events involving espionage, gadgets, guns and evil geniuses, via a still image or video. The field of almost 1,200 undercover artists who took up the challenge did not disappoint.

"Entrants once again astounded us with the quality and breadth of styles of their work. The CGChallenges offer a chart for the evolving excellence, imagination and capability of today's digital artists to produce world class entertainment and art.

This work stands as a testament to the entrants, the CGSociety and the global digital arts industry - well done!"

Mark Snoswell - President of the CGSociety.

CGSociety would like to thank the 24 judges that stepped forward for this CGChallenge.

Image Master Award
'Mouse Love'

Jose Alves da Silva (Zeoyn)
PORTUGAL

Artist comments:
For years I have been following the CGSociety Challenges, looking with amazement at the stunning works of art that my favorite artists created. When I entered this challenge I had no idea of how enriching this experience would be. This eight week journey with my fellow challengers definetely pushed me to the limit and I would like to thank them for such great help and support. If you are willing to listen to what other people say, your work will raise to a whole new level. Knowledge and a great brotherhood spirit are the prizes that all contestants can be sure to take from these Challenges.

Judges' comments:
Mark Snoswell:"Good lighting and a nice story twist."

Jon Rush:"There's a wonderful mood in this piece. I feel bad for the human, since mice and rats scare the crap out of me! Lots of nice details to look at, but they don't derail the composition. I like the rat tails forming the heart."

Martin Koehler:"Very narrative, overall well done!"

Links:

Prizes:

BOXX 3D Workstation

WACOM Intuos4 tablet

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

Vue 7.5 xStream

Luxology Modo 401

Corel Painter 11

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

4 x Ballistic Publishing Books (Standard Edition)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Artist comments:
"I feel greatly rewarded to actually be part of the winners of this Challenge, alongside so many talented people, the experience of being connected to a group that is developing the same theme as you with different perspectives and interpretations was motivating, feedback exchange plays a lot in making decisions and finding direction, so I must give a big thank you to everyone who supported me throughout the process.

The guideline for the contest was just too good that immediately ideas of conspiracy with a stylized visual concept came to my mind. From the beginning I wanted to try restrict the format to a movie still or a videogame cut scene, and keep it visually twisted and very atmospheric image. The great thing about participating is that i learned a lot designing the scene, playing around in new methods to me for develop images like using help of 3d basic shapes to establish compositions and perspectives and work above it in Photoshop, from that it was a back & forward experimental process trying to keep in mind the scene as a whole, I think that was the key to finish it. Events like this Challenge are great to push people both technically and artistically and certainly helped me to surpass the frustrations that come along when creating images, and i had great joy doing it."

Judges' comments:
Jon Rush:"Terrific all around image: from the designs of the characters, to the composition as a whole. The lighting is awesome."

Martin Koehler:"Very nice environment and character work."

Links:

Image Excellence Award
'Rabbit Menace'

Gonçalo Pereira (rawgon)
PORTUGAL

Prizes:

WACOM Intuos4 tablet

Autodesk Mudbox

Autodesk SketchBook Pro

NVIDIA Quadro

Corel Painter 11

2 x Ballistic Publishing Books (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Video Individual Excellence Award
'Beelzebub'

Ishan Shukla (redCigarette)
SINGAPORE

Artist comments:
"This feels great. I thought I had lost the challenge when I had to leave for home a couple of weeks before the deadline. The fellow CG challengers have been a great support and inspiration all the way. So big thanks to them.

Working on this looked really hard initially, as there was no time after work. But slowly things got better and I started getting used to it. I had this idea of a trivial day in the life of a usual 9 to 5 guy. And things change and reveal his true colors in the last act. I hope to do more than a 30 sec trailer in near future. And this certainly is a great motivation to do so.

Judges' comments:
Alexandra Ciolac:"Lovely graphic style. I believe this piece is the best expression of the classic secret agent concept. Nicely timed animation consistent with the style, full of life characters. Great eyes and facial animations."

Marc Mordelet:"Something between Cobra and dirty harry. Great animation and beautifull music. I wish to see this on tv."

Tomasz Jedruszek:"Classic."

Links:

Prizes:

Autodesk Mudbox

Autodesk Sketchbook Pro

NVIDIA Quadro

MAXON CINEMA 4D XL Bundle

2 x Ballistic Publishing Books (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Video Individual Master Award
'Run for the Artifact'

Aurelien Rantet (Aurel0988)
FRANCE

Artist comments:
"I'm pretty new in the CG world so this award is a real honor for me, especially considering the level of the other participants. When I saw the theme of this challenge I could not resist participating in it. It's a kid's dream to be a secret agent! It was really fun to imagine the story and bring it to life, so i'm really happy that people like it. Thanks to everyone who offered me encouragement and critics during my work."

Judges' comments:
Alexandra Ciolac:"Nice twist to the story."

Hal Milton: Wow! Great gags, great designs, fantastic spy moments. I really wanted this to keep going. I really mean it about the gags. The climax of the big sentry bot encounter killed me. This tells an amazingly satisfying story by brilliantly squeezing meaning into every single second on screen. Once again, you individual contributors scare me with your giant, assumed to be pulsing, brains!"

Marc Mordelet:"Amazing sense of colors. How can a young man do all of this professional work alone? I am feeling old now."

Tomasz Jedruszek: "Brilliant"

Links:

Prizes:

BOXX 3D Workstation

WACOM Intuos4 tablet

Choice of one of either Autodesk Maya, Autodesk Max or Autodesk Softimage.

Houdini Master

Craft Director Studio Master Bundle

Stash 6 Pack bundle

4 x Ballistic Publishing Books (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Video Team Master Award
'Agent Omicron'

Goro Fujita (Goro)
Kory Heinzen
Nico Sanghrajka
Ryosuke Fujita
GERMANY
Artist comments:
"We are very excited to be honored with the Secret Agent Challenge Master Award. We had tons of fun creating this project and are very pleased with the result! Our idea was to create an intro sequence for an imaginary TV series called 'Agent Omicron'.

The inspiration came from 80's Japanese animation shows like Lupin the 3rd and Cowboy Bebop mixed with some more modern motion graphics and sensibilities. Because we all have full time jobs, families and other interests we knew it was going to be a tough journey from start to finish.
Luckily the collaboration between the team mates was incredibly smooth and everybody worked very fast and focused. We couldn't have asked for a better working experience and outcome. Thanks goes to our friends and families who had live with us during the last couple of weeks of the challenge. And a special thanks to the organizers here at CGTalk and to all the people who visited our thread and gave us words of advise and encouragement.

Judges' comments:
Tomasz Jedruszek: "Another classic, but completly different technique this time, very nice final effect."

Arthur Mirzoyan: "Very stylish film.

Links:

Prizes:

BOXX 3D Workstation

Choice of one of either Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max or Autodesk Softimage. (up to 7 licenses depending on the number of members in the team)

2 x NVIDIA Quadro

Craft Director Studio Master Bundle

2 x Stash 6 Pack Bundles

12 x Ballistic Publishing Books (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

6 x CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year

Video Team Excellence Award
'Jack Force: Love it or Leave it'

Israel Fornes (CGIsrael)
Jorge Magaz
lvaro Gonzalez Garcia de Burgos
Lucas Figueroa
'Estelrich'
SPAIN

Artist comments:
"We did it with all our love, passion, effort, money and resources were around. We involve many people in the production. I spent many many days working 16 and 18 hours day. I also said no to one job just for to finish this project. So for us is something that goes beyond any price. We think we did a great character with personality. A trailer that makes you want to see the final story. With a fluid edition, VFX, sound effects made by professionals also an awesome soundtrack by an unbelievable musician here in Madrid. I mean, we are satisfied with the job and we are glad to see others also think it."

Judges' comments:
Alexandra Ciolac:"Absolutely impressive amount of work and combination of techniques was put in this peace. It has an aura of professionalism, and it feels that creators truly love what they do and had a lot of fun making their film - I believe it is very important part of the equation. It is true to the movie trailer genre, grabs and holds viewers attention, and entertaining to watch."

Hal Milton:"Ignoring Jack Force's junk shot in the making of, or attempting to and failing, this looked like it was great fun to make; and that you probably don't really need any of the prizes up for grabs. The compositing is fantastic, the ideas come fast and crazy, and the use of the teensy plastic shotgun as high-tech sniper rifle was only topped by the line-delivery of Force's presumable catchphrase."

Tomasz Jedruszek:"Pretty well done, I like the actors' play and interesting visual feeleing of this movie."

Links:

Prizes:

3DVIA Virtools

Autodesk Mudbox (up to 7 licenses depending on the number of members in the team)

Autodesk SketchBook Pro (up to 7 licenses.)

NVIDIA Quadro

Vue 7.5 xStream

MAXON CINEMA 4D XL Bundle

2 x Stash 6 Pack Bundles

6 x Ballistic Publishing Books (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

6 x CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Artist comments:
"I am really honored to be receiving this award. It was a lot of hard work and I enjoyed every step of the way. I wanted to create something I would be proud of, so I put a lot of effort into it. I find good animation is really inspiring and I hope that my animation has the ability to inspire others. There were a lot of great entries, and a lot of talented artists. Congratulations to everyone who finished."

Judges' comments:
Anton Fletcher:"The character animation blew me away, the detail in the fights is amazing."

Leigh Van dr Byl:"As a whole the animation was very well done given the timeframe, and there are some nice camera angles too."

Links:

Best Animation Award
'The Runner'

Richard Spriggs (Richard3d)
CANADA

Prizes:

Autodesk SketchBook Pro

Craft Director Studio Master Bundle

Ballistic Publishing 'Oddworld Inhabitants' (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Best Art Direction Award
'Unsafe path'

Morgan Yon(mgn)
FRANCE

Artist comments:
"What a really great morning!!! I am so honored to be selected as Art Direction winner of the Secret Agent challenge. Thanks for the interest in my entry! It was the first time I entered one and I won a prize! I am so happy to be selected among other really amazing pictures. I decided to do this challenge in a week, not more, just trying to focus on one idea.

Thanks to the judging panel of course

Judges' comments:
Mark Snoswell: "Great style - very well done."

Links:

Prizes:

Autodesk SketchBook Pro

Gnomon Workshop Digital Bundle

Stash 6 Pack Bundle

Ballistic Publishing 'Massive Black' (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Best Character Award
'Goldie Locks And The Three Bears'

Vanja Todoric (NJA3d)
SERBIA

Artist comments:
"This is my first CGChallenge ever, and I would've been more than happy to have passed just with honorable mention, so you can imagine how I feel! I had awesome time working on my illustration, and wining the best character award really makes me, the Panda family and little Goldie very proud!!!

I would like to thank CGSsociety, the Judges, and all the people for their kind words and support during and after the challenge!!! This has been a wonderful experience, big thanks to you all once again !!!"

Judges' comments:
Anton Fletcher:"This is fantastically bizarre, and just a little bit dark."

Leigh van der Byl:"I love this image, the really distinctive style and use of colour really set it apart from the rest of the entries."

Links:

Prizes:

Autodesk Mudbox

Houdini Escape

Luxology modo 401

ZBrush 3

Ballistic Publishing d'artiste Concept Art (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Best Compositing and Editing Award
'Gray Wolf'

Amir Jahanlou (saeDubai)
DUBAI

Judges' comments:
Anton Fletcher: "Ever since we started doing video challenges, there is always team entries that go above and beyond to create something amazing - where do you people find the time?"

Links:

Prizes:

Autodesk SketchBook Pro

Vue 7.5 Infinite

Stash 6 Pack Bundle

Ballistic Publishing 'EXPOSE 7' (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Artist comments:
"Our team's entry was a product of two and a half months of work, which had to be balanced alongside a number of work and other commitments. It feels extremely rewarding to have the trailer's compositing and editing recognized in its category, given the emphasis placed on VFX and live action integration."

Links:

Best Concept Art Award
'Dreaming the End'

Amelie Hutt (Smirtouille)
USA

Artist comments:
"I missed the previous 'Steampunk' challenge and wanted so much to try. 'Secret Agent' is the first official challenge I ever entered and it was a great experience. It was hard too, I tried to manage myself to play on waters I knew and didn't, to make something I would be proud of and that teaches me something at the same time. I learned a lot from working aside such great artists and seeing, interacting with their projects and process. I can't wait to challenge myself more."

Judges' comments:
Anton Fletcher:"The indistinctness, and bold colours of her dress really emphasize the dream-like nature of this piece."

Leigh Van dr Byl:"As a whole the animation was very well done given the timeframe, and there are some nice camera angles too."

Prizes:

Autodesk SketchBook Pro

Gnomon Workshop Analog Bundle

Ballistic Publishing d'artiste Concept Art (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Best Digital Painting Award
'The assassination of John F. Kennedy'

Michal Lisowski (maykrender)
POLAND

Artist comments:
"I'm extremely happy to be awarded. It was a great privilege to take a part in CGSociety event, like always, I have a lot of fun. The artwork was very time- consuming, but luckily I've managed to do that. I am more satisfied that I achieved the desired final effect and atmosphere, which I assumed from the very beginning. I would like to thank everyone who supported me doing this artwork, especially my mate Czarek Albinski, for his support in developing an idea of this work."

Judges' comments:
Mark Snoswell:"Very clever and well done. Good use of unusual perspective."

Jon Rush:"Terrific composition, punctuated by the fish angle lens. Great job depicting a scene from the past, and making it feel

Links:

Prizes:

Autodesk Mudbox

Autodesk Sketchbook Pro

Vue 7.5 Infinite

Corel Painter X

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

dartiste Digital Painting bundle (Standard Edition)

CGS Membership

Best Landscape/Matte Painting Award
'Deception is the key'

Szymon Biernacki (lordbiernac)
POLAND

Artist comments:
"I'm truly happy to be one of the winners and the feeling is even stronger due to the fact that this was the first time for me to participate in a CGSociety challenge. The Best Landscape/Matte Painting award is especially dear to me because I've put some extra effort in painting the cityscape in this image and tried a new approach based on my experience in painting architecture with watercolors. Thanks to everyone who helped me with their constructive comments. I had a lot of fun working on this picture and I'll definitely participate in future challenges because I've learned a lot and improved my painting skills."

Judges' comments:
Anton Fletcher:"Leaving the challenge so open to interpretation has been really rewarding - I was certainly not expecting anything this crazy and fun."

Links:

Prizes:

Autodesk SketchBook Pro

Gnomon Workshop Analog Bundle

Ballistic Publishing d'artiste Concept Art (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Best Lighting Award
'Holy crap!'

Michor Chun Lin Lu (mic)
SOUTH AFRICA

Artist comments:
"I wasn't expecting to win any prize. Originally I was going to do something rather clich?d but after spending a little bit more time exploring ideas, I came up with the Nun idea. Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who gave feedback and constructive crits. It has been great fun and I'll definitely enter future challenges."

Judges' comments:
Anton Fletcher:"I like the way the light works with the skin and habit, and the fine dust in the air fogs the background. Nice work indeed."

Links:

Prizes:

Autodesk Stitcher Unlimited

Houdini Escape

Luxology modo 401

Stash 6 Pack Bundle

Ballistic Publishing Elemental 3 (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Best Modeling Award
'Art Ventura'

Cheong Hoe Yi (Fireantz)
MALAYSIA

Artist comments:
"Jim Carrey; my idol, my inspiration. Never did I think of winning anything and here I am feeling so excited and honoured to recieve this award. Working on him was never a bore and despite the deadline and work, I still managed to squeeze in a few hours just to spend some time on him. And I really hope HE will like this portrait of him."

Judges' comments:
Anton Fletcher:"This is an excellent caricature - something I had certainly not expected to see." Leigh

van der Byl:"The likeness is really well done, you can immediately see who it's supposed to be."

Links:

Prizes:

Autodesk SketchBook Pro

Craft Director Studio Vehicle Tools Bundle

Luxology Modo 401

Ballistic Publishing Character Modeling Bundle (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Best Sculpture Award
'Bond,... Old Bond'

Miguel Madael de Freitas (Madail)
PORTUGAL

Artist comments:
"I couldn't be happier with this prize, thanks to all members of the juri for it, i wouldn't dream winning any category, given that i only started work 10 days from the end date... So this is really a major compensation for the work and sweat i've put in this, and will also be a great motivation for keeping up and enter future challenges!"

Judges' comments:
Anton Fletcher:"This has been my wallpaper since I came across it - such an awesome sense of humor and tells a great story."

Links:

Prizes:

Autodesk Mudbox

ZBrush 3

Ballistic Publishing Character Modeling bundle (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year))

Links:

Best Texturing Award
'Mission4'

Jean-Sebastien Guillemette (JsGuillemette)
Marc Lebuis (Lebuis)
Derek McTavish Mounce (fouressence)
CANADA

Artist comments:
"Being a full time student at the NAD Centre in Montreal, my colleague and I had about one month to complete our project. Actually, we also used this demo as our final assignment. Because this contest was international and with so many talented participants, we were a lot more dedicated to the project and our last month in school was that much more of a blast!"

"At last, I would like to thank CGSociety and their partners for this amazing opportunity to participate in this one of a kind challenge! I simply can't wait to take part in your next contest, and this time, we will be more experienced and... more of a threat! MMMOoouuuaaaahhhhh!!! Seriously, it will be a lot of fun to compete and share our knowledge once again."- Marc Lebuis.

Judges' comments:
Anton Fletcher: "This is a fun little story, and possibly the world's most durable spy."

Prizes:

Autodesk SketchBook Pro

ZBrush 3

Ballistic Publishing Ultimate bundle (Standard Edition)

Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)

CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Best Visual Effects Award
'The Bronson Maneuver'

Mike McCain (mikebot)
Ryan Sluman (rsluman)
Joon Kim (mcnooj82)
Danny Dahlquist (waketapps7)
USA

Artist comments:
"The whole experience went better than I ever expected! What started out as a bit of a lark turned out to be something to be really proud of."

Judges' comments:
Anton Fletcher: "I think this is a first for stop-motion animation in the CGChallenges, great to see such a variety of techniques making their way into the competition."

Links:

Prizes:

Autodesk SketchBook Pro
Houdini Master
Craft Director Studio Camera Tools Bundle
Ballistic Publishing Matte Painting 2 (Standard Edition)
Free subscription to ImagineFX Magazine (1 Year)
CGS Membership (Standard - 1 Year)

Honorary Mentions:


Bryan Butenhoff (GerR).	Avi Graiver (AviGra).

Paolo Lamanna (C4Dteam)	Michael Krupa (kroopson)

Jared Simeth (Aedilhum).	Boris Ignjatovic (borisignjatovic).

Igor Sandman (Igor Sandman)	Lei Sheng (gooncool)

Chase Stone(ChaseStone).	Andre Weiss (Randis).

Anders Ehrenborg (fellah).	Michael Dashow (walrus).

Jakob Eirich(yakonusuke).	Sergio Guilherme Filho(sergiofilho).

Yongjae Choi (indus80).	Bittler Bernard (Bittler).

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