Blender Guru: Christmas Competition Results

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Christmas Competition Results Dec 21st 2011, 07:47 Wow! In just 3 weeks, there have been 284 entries! That makes this the most popular Blender competition to date! I was blown away by the quality of entries. Have you all been saving up your talent for the end of the year? Let’s start with the entries, the Honorable mentions and then the Winners. All Entries In reverse alphabetical order: Honorable Mentions These entries caught my eye and deserve to be seen at full size: Created by DerekG1080 The attention to detail is what makes this. The frozen texture on the letterbox, the icicles and the imperfections in the snow all show that you put a lot of thought into this. At first I thought the footprints were too small, but then I realized they are from elves! Nice touch Keep up the good work! Created by saikafu From a purely technical viewpoint, this is almost flawless. The modeling, skin shader and lighting are spot on. You’ve demonstrated that blender really is capable of professional, studio quality results. However subject wise… I found it a little inappropriate. I won’t go into detail, but for obvious reasons I can’t award this a prize. You’ve got some serious skill saikafu, and I hope everyone notices the amount of work you put into this! Created by wjbarber This certainly isn’t the cheeriest of stories, but it does show a Christmas that some people experience. You’ve done a great job at portraying a grungy, ghetto styled apartment, whilst also using the Christmas elements to tell an interesting (if depressing) story. Great job! Created by OscarM Everyone’s favourite childhood memory of Christmas: a big jolly Santa. I particularly like the cartoonish feel and warm lighting. I can see this being used in a TV commercial or Christmas card. Well done! Created by Reynante Another depressing one! Traditionally Christmas doesn’t usually involve nooses, jail cells or death notes. But then that’s what I like about the freedom of art. It allows non-traditional ideas like this to make it’s way to the forefront. I’d never really given much thought to people who are in jail over Christmas, but it is a very real story. Well done Reynante for bringing this to life! The lighting and colors are fantastic. Keep it up! Created by Damien Technically this entry doesn’t qualify, as the you admitting that you “used ZBrush for modelling”. But I’m giving it a mention here anyway as it’s a great image. The cold blue winter environment goes well in contrast to the glowing yellow heart. The modeling on the characters is some of the best in the competition, and the out of focus background really helps draw you into the scene. Great! Created by Milksnake12 I love the childhood innocence and colorful lighting that the lights paint on the walls. The characters aren’t perfect, but if you can look past that it’s a great image. The scene has a very cosy and comforting feel that makes it a pleasure to look at. Great job! Winners This time round there are three places. Winners were selected based on the following 3 criteria: Technical – Lighting, modeling, composition etc. Story – Told an interesting story Relevance to the theme Third Prize Created by Pratik Solanki Congratulations! You’ve won any item from the Blender Store! Another amazing entry from Pratik Solanki! For those that missed his last work, he previously won the Slum competition. This is another solid entry, showing a comic story of mishaps and hijinks. I particularly like the detail that you put into the snowy environment and the aurora lights. It makes the whole thing feel more “complete”. I like the way that you used Christmas lights to add lighting to the key areas of the scene. Very clever. At first the story is a little unclear, so that could have perhaps been portrayed a bit better, but overall it’s a great image. The expression on Santa’s face is priceless Second Prize Created by Robo3Dguy Congratulations! You’ve won an iPod Nano! This image just makes me feel happy. Aliens aren’t a traditional theme for Christmas, but it’s done in such a colorful, cheerful way that it just looks right. The wacky characters and surreal city give it a very Dr Seuss feel. You’ve done an excellent job at getting the cartoon-ish mood just right. Congrats! Hope enjoy the Nano First Prize Created by eisklotz Congratulations!! You’ve won a Kindle Fire + $100 Christmas spending money + a permanent spot in the Winners Hall of Fame! This image portrays the Christmas that we all want to subscribe to: a warm Christmas morning, opening presents under the tree. Choosing to make a dog the focus of the scene is a daring, but excellent move. Animals are notoriously difficult to create, and furry ones even more so. But it looks fantastic, and so does the rest of the scene. The out of focus Christmas tree in the background look almost photo realistic. Overall I thought your image best portrayed the atmosphere of Christmas, whilst also being an excellent stand alone piece of work. Congratulations! Enjoy your prizes To everyone else: Thank you so much for entering! With 284 entries, you’ve made this one of the biggest Blender competitions in history! Unfortunately I don’t have enough time to personally critique each artwork, but if you’d like feedback, post a link to your image below and I’m sure others will be more than happy to chip in with advice. Have a very Merry Christmas! See you all in the New Year