City in the Sky Challenge

We’re congratulating Ben White for winning the First Place!

Follow Ben:
Artstation

Ben about his entry:

“I decided to base my project off of the concept of an O'Neill cylinder, a space settlement concept proposed by American physicist Gerard K. O'Neill. These self sufficient stations, complete with full ecosystems, could one day be a home away from home - cities in the sky. The cylinder would rotate, creating gravity through centrifugal force. Due to the shape of the cylinder, there would always be part of the construct above, yet another city in the sky. I spent many hours on this project. It proved quite challenging to get the sense of scale to look correct. Rendered in Blender Cycles. All models created by me, with the exception of the trees which are from the Botaniq addon.”

Created using Blender, Botaniq.

What our jury says:

Curtis Holt: "The idea of an O’Neill cylinder space station was a really good take on the theme. The detailing is wonderful and if you took multiple crops of this image at different locations, you would still come away with an impressive collection of artwork. There are only a couple of things I would critique. Firstly, the overall vibrancy of the frame is quite dull, despite the utopian vibe and emphasis on agriculture. Secondly, the suddenly grey industrious-looking sector to the upper right is quite an immediate transition, perhaps a more gradual blending between areas like this could also be interesting."

Daniel Nees: "This image was a clear standout to me. The sense of scale and detail and the composition are really nice. It would be nice to see a little bit more range in brightness values as it feels a little bit hazy and decontrasted and I would like to see a bit more life in the scene, but otherwise, excellent stuff!"

Masha Bazueva: "I love the idea of a cylinder station with everything human beings could actually need to live their lives! The execution is great, I’m really impressed by all the small details and different areas we can observe through the whole station. One thing that is missing a bit here are maybe some humans and animals.Anyway, even without these elements, the artwork is fantastic, well done!"

Martin Klekner: “Amazing details and impactful composition. Throughout the judging process, I kept coming back to this one, finally deciding this is my favorite piece of the competition. More color punch and contrast would help, but that's a small flaw on an otherwise amazing artwork!”

Zach Reinhardt: “This is an artwork that didn't shine immediately, but it gets better and better the longer you look at it. I love the more realistic take on the subject, with a design that could exist in the real world. It reminds me of the space station from the movie "Interstellar". Great work on the realistic vehicles, the crops in the foreground, but also the landscape, buildings and structures in the background. It is fun to discover all the nice details. Only the colors and contrast could be pushed a bit more, to make it look less flat.”

Jan Egon Preiss: "Good use of colors and atmospheric effects gives a nice impression of the size and of depth of this habitat. Still, I feel this composition can be balanced a bit more. Also, the objects and their scale can be improved to fit better"

We’re congratulating Yordan Zarev for winning the Second Place!

Follow Yordan:
Artstation

Yordan about his entry:

“I recently made a trip to Venice which inspired the concept behind this work. From there on it just needed a bit of imagination to bring it to life. i've used Blender and rendered out everything in cycles. For the trees and vegetation, TheGrove3d was really helpful combined with some manual work. All the textures and post-processing were done in Gimp.”

Created using Blender, TheGrove3d, Gimp.

What our jury says:

Curtis Holt: "Overall, this is a satisfying piece to look at. The balance of color and lighting is great, and there is a good distribution of clustered details with various shaping – the harsh cubic buildings, spherical balloons and curvy vegetation scattered around the scene. My main point of critique would be the character model in the lower left foreground, zooming in reveals a lesser-detailed model that doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the scene. Overall, I like the comforting vibe of the image."

Daniel Nees: "The colours, lighting, and composition in this piece are amazing. The attention to detail with the vegetation and buildings is excellent. The only real let-down for me is the low-quality character in the bottom-left corner."

Masha Bazueva: “Absolutely love the vibe of this artwork! The details on the buildings are very well done: the small bricks, the little plants, all the differences in the windows! I live in Italy and these buildings are very like the ones we have here (as far as I see from the description this artwork was inspired by Venice), and since there is not much repetition they feel really alive and believable! I like very much the ships flying around with balloons, but the guy on the left side feels really low resolution compared to the rest and somehow breaks the magic for me. Apart from this, great work!”

Martin Klekner: “I love the details on the city along with the color palette. The result is a bit dragged down for me because of the dark figure in the bottom left corner, which somehow lacks detail / it's silhouette is too distracting. Overall though, this is one of my favorite renders of the competition!”

Zach Reinhardt: “This one felt special the first moment I looked at it. Here the lighting and color choice stand out the most, besides an interesting architecture, and convincing vegetation. Although the "clouds" are not as present as in other artworks, you can still get the idea with the floating boats. Wondering how deep it goes down there. The only flaw that hurts a bit is the low poly guy in the foreground. Luckily, he is covered in darkness so that you barely can see him.”

Jan Egon Preiss: "Was in my broad selection and almost made it further. Composition, the use of complementary colors to work with the depth of the scene, and the right balance between the light and the shadow, all make sense. The only drawback was the lack of feel for the sky, and its height. The streets give more the feeling of empty channels."

We’re congratulating Sebastian Gerken for winning the Third Place!

Follow Sebastian:
Instagram
Artstation

Sebastian about his entry:

“I created an original concept with Midjourney and sketches. The original vision of the concept was more ambitious, but because of time constrains, I decided to scale the artwork down and focus more on polishing. Software I used: I tried to incorporate all my software knowledge into this artwork. -Blender for 3d modeling -Zbrush for Rock Sculpting -Unreal Engine 5 for scene Assembly -Substance Designer for custom grunge and the trimsheet creation -Substance Painter for the trimsheet -Photoshop for post-processing I tried to be as resourceful as possible and used many assets from Brushify and Artstation marketplace. The Waterfalls and the Sky were added in post because my Unreal Engine knowledge wasn't sufficient.”

Created using Blender, Zbrush, Unreal Engine, Substance Designer, Substance Painter.

What our jury says:

Curtis Holt: "As a whole, this is a very nice fantasy art piece. It’s well-balanced and composed, and even demonstrates the importance of keeping darker areas for creative lighting. For critique, I would say the city above looks a bit two-dimensional on close inspection, and I feel like something is missing closer to the camera. Perhaps a couple of grazing animals and/or an abandoned wagon for transportation - just something to add some visual interest to the foreground and give some story to the path."

Daniel Nees: "The composition and lighting in this are spectacular and I love the overall look. I would really like to see a bit more storytelling and a bit less duplication in the city structures because aside from those, this image is fantastic."

Masha Bazueva: “I like soo much the oil painting vibes of this one! Also, it feels really like a fantasy book cover! Would definitely read it :) Anyway there are some small mistakes that are a bit disturbing, like the tips of the trees that have some leafs without branches and a really low poly trunk or the city that also looks a bit low poly with too many repetitions… Anyway, the artwork is magic, I really loved it!”

Martin Klekner: “Atmosphere-wise, this piece is amazing! There are little flaws here and there - some of the trees don't have enough detail, the city itself feels a bit 2D, the boulder on the bottom left attracts a bit too much attention... The colors, composition and atmosphere make the whole thing work though, and that's ultimately the most important thing.”

Zach Reinhardt: “This artwork stood out the most through its nice composition, with the shapes of the environment leading the eye to the city in the sky. But the lighting is also top. It feels like a screenshot from a video game world, I would be eager to explore (obviously it was created in Unreal Engine). The foreground looks a bit boring and is lacking storytelling. A character or a vehicle would add a lot here. Also, the low resolution trees with floating leaves in the foreground could use a bit more details. Other than that, a striking image.”

Jan Egon Preiss: "Great work with the color pallet and the lights, reminds me of paintings of old masters. The composition and sense of scale make this scenery very believable."

We’re congratulating Enes Aksakal for winning the Honorable Mention!

Follow Enes:
Instagram
‍Artstation

Enes about his entry:

“A traveler is looking for the miracle water, which he needs for his village for the harvest. This miracle water is located in the very top of the sky, the city is known as Floctopia.”

What our jury says:

Curtis Holt: "This is a very original idea and presented in an impressively vibrant way. I like that you’ve tried to incorporate a storytelling element with the colorful little character and their rowboat on the clouds. For a critique, I think the detail level of the clouds feels a little bit out of place, perhaps if they were more stylized, then they may feel more consistent with the style of the octopus."

Daniel Nees: "This is a cool and unique take on the theme, and I like the imagination on display. The main two things that I feel damage this are the clouds that look a bit too highly detailed and the blur of the tail not being quite right both technically and also against the clouds right next to it."

Masha Bazueva: “This artwork caught my attention immediately! I love so much how creative it is, the design of the squid town is so unique and the vibrant colors are very eye catching! I don’t like very much the look of the water coming from the octopus (or is that wind?), that feels really flat and the clouds floating on the city feel like they have burned out colors. However, this was one of my favorite artworks, well done :)”

Martin Klekner: “Even though a lot of the clouds seem a little too cut-and-paste, composited over a 3D scene, I adore this piece. The octopus-like city's design and the overall creativity absolutely make this piece stand out.”

Zach Reinhardt: “This one had probably the most unique design from the whole challenge. I love the cartoony look and the vibrant colors. Also, a very interesting idea, with the giant kraken-like creature breathing in air for the city inside (I guess). The character in the foreground is a nice little detail that you discover by exploring the image. Only the strong depth of field and the sometimes too detailed clouds are a bit distracting.”

Jan Egon Preiss: "Really surrealistic piece. Have to say it has a pretty playful mood. Well-chosen colors."

We’re congratulating Bert Willemsen for winning the Honorable Mention!

Follow Bert:
Behance
Artstation
Instagram

Bert about his entry:

“It's a city in the sky. Made in Blender. Add-ons used: Botaniq + Traffiq”

Created using Blender, Botaniq, Traffinq

What our jury says:

Curtis Holt: "This is a well-designed piece that has been given a lot of attention to detail. The atmosphere and sense of scale are also quite impressive, and I appreciate that it is easy to identify different areas of the city, such as the airport on the upper level. If I had to give a critique, I would say the framing of this image may not do justice to the design. It leaves a lot of empty space, and you may be able to get a range of interesting shots by bringing the camera closer to the city and allowing some of the structure to run off-frame."

Daniel Nees: "The simplicity of the environment combined with the incredible detail of the subject makes an excellent combination. It has an extremely cinematic vibe, which I love. It would be nice to see some more story in this, though."

Masha Bazueva: “This is very well done! I like how the city looks, it has a nice combination of buildings and vegetation, that makes it feel very believable. The lighting also feel very realistic, great work! Maybe there is too much empty space around it, and the sea in the background looks a bit out of scale.”

Martin Klekner: “One of my favorite pieces of the competition, very well done from a technical standpoint. I would definitely like to see it in some ultra-high resolution. Adding a bit more story elements to it would make it even better!”

Zach Reinhardt: “This image feels like a photo taken from a real city. The sense of scale is perfectly captured here, with the detailed city model and the tiny balloons. I also love the variety in the shapes of the buildings, with some vegetation in between, which adds a lot to the realism. Although quite simple, the background and sunlight fits perfectly here. Only storytelling wise, I would love to explore a bit more.”

Jan Egon Preiss: "My favorite in the pro arena. The visual purity of composition and at the same moment imminent feel of the extreme complexity of the city gives this piece a breathtaking capacity. This is an opening scene for a sci-fi blockbuster movie."