Double whammy
Artists worldwide signed up to take part in Cubebrush’s Artwar 2 contest. We reveal the victors!
Cubebrush’s Artwar 2 contest has come to an end. And among the winners was Thomas Chamberlain-Keen, who also appears elsewhere in this issue!
Cubebrush, the online marketplace for digital art resources, has revealed the winners of its international Artwar 2 competition, which challenged entrants to depict an original vision of either ‘light’ or ‘darkness’. The 2D winner was Thomas
Chamberlain-Keen for Ra, an Egyptian-inspired design infused with fairy-like wings and Greek motifs. “Having chosen a relatively simple lighting setup, I worked hard to make the materials respond to it accurately,” he says. “In particular, the strong, vibrant highlights in the armour evoke the radiant light emanating from my character.”
In the 3D category, the winner was Vri’el, Lord of Time by Antonio
Esparza, who used Photoshop for sketching, ZBrush and 3ds Max for sculpting and reptology, and Substance Painter for texture. “The final assembly was achieved in Marmoset, which helped me with the camera post-production
and fog to give the character a ‘giant’ look,” he adds.
Calvin Seraphinus was the 2D runner-up for his Raguel image, which benefits from a strong background story. Bizarrely, the original inspiration was a wedding photograph of his parents, combined with Spanish elements. “The skeleton character is alive while the full-bodied character is dead, creating a nice contrast between them,” Calvin says. The runner-up in the 3D category was Dzung Phung Dinh’s Pisciasa, created using Maya and Thundercloud Studio for modelling, Photoshop, BodyPaint 3D and Substance Painter for texturing, and UE4 for rendering. “It’s a bad-ass sexy female escorted by her twin mecha fishes,” he says. “The darkness here comes from the deep sea, where light cannot reach.”
The next challenge will be launched shortly; see www.cubebrush.co/blog for the latest announcements.