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Winners Announced
October 2019

Life on a Boat Challenge

8th CG Boost Art Challenge for 3D Artists - Improve your 3D Skills!

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Artwork by
Alex Speed
Overview

Life on a Boat Challenge winners announced!

Strange boat designs, scary sea creatures and great stories! We have seen so many incredible renders for our 8th challenge.

Our jury had a good but also hard time judging all the great accepted submissions. Each judge voted for their own top 5 artworks. We also picked three random winners for the challenge raffle, see all the winners below.

Regrading the prizes, we will contact the winners during the next few days.

Congrats to the winners and honorable mentions, and a big THANK YOU to our sponsor and everyone for taking part!

Now scroll down to see the winners.

Artwork by
Alex Speed
How to participate

First of all, choose your side.

Description
Prizes
Rules
Deliverables
Judging Criteria
Description
Prizes
Rules
Deliverables
Judging Criteria

Further questions? Find more info in our FAQ section.

Participate Now

Submit your work.

Select your arena *

Please submit the following two files:
1. A screenshot or clay render of your 3D scene
2. Your final render
Please use the following naming convention for your files:
Final Render: Your_Name_final (e. g. "Zach_Reinhardt_final.jpg")
Screenshot/Clay Render: Your_Name_wip (e. g. "Zach_Reinhardt_wip.jpg")

Thank you!

We will review your submission and then add it to our submission folder above. If your submission is invalid or missing something, you will be informed in a timely manner.
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Jury

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Post your work-in-progress renders in our community and get constructive feedback from the CG Boost team and other members.

FaQ

Frequently asked questions.

Where do I ask questions about the challenge?
Can I update my entry after I submitted it already, if I notice a mistake?
Can I share my artwork online before the challenge is over?
When I win the challenge, can I get cash instead of the prizes?
Can I enter both categories at the same time?
Jury

Get to know our jury.

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Winners: Pro Arena
Winners

Let’s see who has won in the Pro Arena.

Let’s see who has won this challenge.

Finalists

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Winners

1st Place

Ken Liang

We’re congratulating Ken Liang for winning the first place!

Follow Ken:
Artstation

Ken about his entry:

“Sh*t, here she comes!”

“I stumbled upon this challenge while looking for Blender tutorials because I was in the process of migrating from another 3D software. What a perfect opportunity for me to familiarize myself with Blender’s workflow while trying to come up with an entry for this challenge! Naturally, I tried to apply as many aspects of 3D workflow as I can into this little project. They range from modeling, sculpting, UV unwrapping, texturing, shading, simulations (fluid, cloth, particles for bubbles and smoke), rigging, file linking, and many more.

As for the idea, I wanted to do something that relates to Halloween while still sticking to the theme. The idea of a frog escaping from the witch’s cauldron in a makeshift boat made of wooden bowl came into my mind. I had the basic layout and composition sketched on a piece of recycled paper and the rest is history.

Everything was done in Blender 2.8, rendered with Cycles, and composited in Fusion 6.1.”

Created using Blender and Fusion.

Clay Render

What our jury says:

Lukas Walzer: Wow, a wonderful image! I love the dramatic composition, the materials and the energetic fluid modeling. There’s really some action going on in there!

Aidy Burrows: Creative use of the theme with a comical result. Simple but what is there is very well done, nice composition too, very easy to read and eye catching.

Chris Plush: I’m not 100% sure what’s going on here but I love everything about it. Good luck to the frog prince in his escape.

Amina Khan: Oof, that expression on the frog! Cinematic. I quite enjoyed the quirky take on the theme too. The foreground and depth effect has been maximized for a perfect scene. Lovely!

Chipp Walters: Great high concept. Absolutely LOVE the frog’s red eyes and dashing cape! A strong color palette and full on motion composition makes this image a top entry. The motion blur of the green, thick, sea, is fantastic. And– what an expression on Mr Frog!

Darko Vucenik: The sense of adventure in this image is great. I love the lighting and colors and the DOF focuses the action on the character nicely. One thing that could use a bit of improvement is the sculpting on frog’s elbow.

Cedric Van der Kelen: Great storytelling and composition. Some less DOF could be a bit more helpful as to setting the scene.

Julien Kaspar: I really love this artwork for it’s composition & raw appeal. The motion & emotion of the scene reads really well and it’s just really pleasant to look at.

Marius Iatan: Nice, punchy render that conveys the drama in progress. Good character work, nice saturated colors, goo details. Well done!

Zacharias Reinhardt: This is a fantastic dynamic render with great storytelling and very nice technical execution. I especially like the color, atmosphere and lighting.

2nd Place

Fekete Zoltan

We’re congratulating Fekete Zoltan for winning the second place!

Follow Fekete:
Website

Fekete about his entry:

“I have made the models in Makehuman, rigged them up. It was extremely hard to pose, to move the face muscles in such a way, that their mimics looks like a real human expression.“

Created using Blender and MakeHuman.

Clay Render

What our jury says:

Lukas Walzer: Now that’s a funny entry! I really like the story going on and the endearing yet realistic characters. Just one thing: The seagulls seem very small to me.

Chris Plush: This was probably my favorite interpretation. The character dynamics are believable and you can tell these friends have spent their lives together out on the boat often.

Amina Khan: Absolutely loved this piece. It’s wholesome, it’s quirky, it’s simplistic. The detailing on the characters is on point, which really helps the mood come through. Great work!

Chipp Walters: This one absolutely needs a caption! Two shirtless fisherman clearly having fun at the expense of a third, who is the unfortunate recipient of a seagull’s morning business! Lot’s of attention to detail and especially the poses and expressions make this a winning entry

Darko Vucenik: Beautiful slice of life moment. Three old friend fishing. Posing and facial expressions of the characters are the highlight of this piece, they convey such genuine emotion. Couple of things that would improve the image would be to adjust overall exposure of the piece (brightening the highlights) and a bit more attention on characters anatomy (especially the shoulder, armpit area).

Wybren van Keulen: This picture is so much fun, the look on their faces! And I can relate, this happened to me once…

Zacharias Reinhardt: This render made my day! Although it might be not perfect from a technical standpoint, this image has so much charm in it. The characters and their facial expression is priceless. Well done!

3rd Place

Jakob Scheidt

We’re congratulating Jakob Scheidt for winning the thrid place!

Follow Jakob:
Artstation

Jakob ​about his entry:

“The idea for this challenge was to express the relaxed mood on a boat. The first step was doing a lot of research on different cultures, the music they play etc. Then I collected about 80 reference images that influenced the character design and the look of the boat. At this point I started sketching some first drafts of the scene and created a previsualization in 3D. Modeling the assets like the teapot was an important step, these details make the scene look believable. The sculpting of the clothing was particularly challenging, using many references and looking at drapery in real life was very helpful though. During the process of modeling I arranged the parts of the scene, created the water and moved the different assets around. At the end I tried different lighting setups to make the scene look calm and emphasize the important elements.

I used Blender 2.8 for modeling, Substance Painter for texturing and Photoshop for compositing. Rendered in Cycles with 1500 samples.”

Created using Blender, Substance Painter and Photoshop.

Clay Render

What our jury says:

Lukas Walzer: The unusal composition and perspective give this image a very photographic quality and I’m deeply in love with the wonderful green nuances of the water!

Darko Vucenik: A serene moment on the river. Great ditail on the character and the boat with wonderful colors and ligting.

Marius Iatan: A composition that gives you the feeling of tranquility. You can see the old man spends a lot of time in his boat, and he’s happy with it. Nice render, too!

Zacharias Reinhardt: Fantastic atmospheric scene. You can really imagine sitting in this boat and peacefully floating through the water. Nice color and lighting and lovely details.

Honorable Mention

Jan Flormann

We’re congratulating Jan Flormann for receiving an honorable mention!

Follow Jan:
Portfolio

Jan about his entry:

“I don’t know if its only me, but when I am on a boat or swimming in open water, I often think about what might be down below in the water, waiting for prey to drag down into the deep.

This guy on the other hand is just chilling on his boat, and he apparently doesn’t worry much about creatures that might be lurking beneath the surface…yet.

For my entry I started with a few sketches and ideas. Initially had the idea of putting the camera at sea level to show the boat and also the creature underwater, but finally I preferred the top view to leave more to the viewers’ imagination.

The lighting was one thing that really took me some time. Rotating the sunlight just a little bit and the ocean had a completely different look, which made it hard to decide what looks best. Hope you like it and good luck to all participants.

Created in Blender, rendered in Cycles.”

Created using Blender, Gimp and MakeHuman.

Clay Render

What our jury says:

Marius Iatan: A well-constructed scene. The attention is drawn to the right place, and you can anticipate the quick change in mood of the character. Nice render, too!

Chris Plush: I thought it was simply a whirlpool at first, but then you see the teeth and realize he’s going to need a bigger boat. He’s in for a rude awakening, Great scene and story.

Chipp Walters: Very, very strong concept, and executed magnificently. It’s the middle of the day and the fisherman is about to realize he’s got more than he bargained for– as the creature is about to “take the bait!” Very well lit and compositionally strong, this entry is just too good not to give proper kudos!

Aidy Burrows: Classic creature of the deep combo with the theme here, when the catch of the day is more than bargained for! Simple idea but nicely done!

Gregory Smith: This is a very eye-catching entry, initially in the great use of strong color, then through the narrative. The sense of movement is fabulous, and quite literally draws you in.

Honorable Mention

Yane Markulev

We’re congratulating Yane Markulev for receiving an honorable mention!

Yane about his entry:

“Inspired by bayou atmosphere and lifestyle. A calm and carefree place full of lurking dangers and the long arm of the law. The challenge for me was to use only modeled from scratch assets, and so I did except for the guy’s body. All trees, furniture, lamps and props have been modeled from scratch.”

Created using 3Ds Max, V-Ray and Photoshop.

Clay Render

What our jury says:

Julien Kaspar: A nice example of guiding the eye where to look at with well-made lighting & framing. The assets & general execution also look great.

Gregory Smith: A really readable narrative that’s very easy to understand brings this shot together. The environment work here is the star for me, though – the variation and attention to nature are excellent.

Chipp Walters: This amazing bayou submission is not only strong in details, it is also well lit with proper depth of field and has a great overall framed composition. It suggests a Tom Sawyer moment, with a contemplative hero character fishing off the back of the houseboat. Reminds me of the Disneyland Painting – View From The Blue Bayou by John Alexopoulos. Very nice!

Darko Vucenik: This image pulls of that night at the bayou feeling really well. Ii love all the detail in the boat house, and the surroundings. Great environment.

Zacharias Reinhardt: Nice atmosphere and mood in this image. I like the peaceful appearing feel to it, but you can see the danger that is nearing. Also, the technical execution is well-made, especially the lighting and composition.

Highlights: Training Arena

Let’s see how our newcomers have performed.

Raffle Winners

Learn who’s won our raffle.

Winners

The sponsors and supporters of this challenge.