CGWorkshops Alumni Gallery Comp - 15th Jan - 5th Feb 2014

#1

Have you taken a CGWorkshop in the past couple of years? Do you have some pieces you’re happy with as a result? If so, we want them in the new CGWorkshops Alumni Gallery .

We’ve had so many fantastic changes recently at CGSociety that it’s hard to keep track. However, last week we launched a super-cool addtion to our new CGPortfolio system - Galleries . The gallery system allows you to collect images together by searching on a tag. Broader functionality is still pending, but at the moment, if you go into any tagged image in CGPortfolio and click on a tag, you’ll pull up a gallery of all images which have the SAME tag. So if you click on a “Dinosaur” tag, for example, you’ll bring up a gallery of every image tagged “Dinosaur” that has ever been uploaded to CGPortfolio. Nifty, huh?

We want to use this new functionality to showcase the awesome body of work our CGWorkshops students have created over the years. Here in the office we get to see everything made in the workshops, but until now there’s been no really good way of beaming it all back to you. Now there is.

So how do you upload and win? It’s very easy! If you created a piece of art (either 2D or 3D) in a CGWorkshop, or as a direct result of a technique you learned in a CGWorkshop, upload it to your CGPortfolio. Once you’ve done this, you need to TAG IT TWICE - once with the tag “CGWorkshops” and once with the SURNAME of your instructor for the class you made it in. So if you took Photoreal Matte Painting with David Luong, you’d tag your piece with both “CGWorkshops” and “Luong”.

Does that make sense? I hope so! If you need further clarification please post in the thread below. And feel free to post links to your recently added work.

On Weds Feb 5th at midnight PST, we’ll select 9 pieces to award prizes. The winner will receive a free CGWorkshop worth up to $649, numbers two and three a free CGTOD to the value of $159. All the 9 selected will receive CGSConnect Memberships to the value of $59.

There are no criteria for selection other than the pieces must be uploaded to your CGPortfolio and tagged correctly. As you tag your work with the CGWorkshops tag, it will automatically be added to the Alumni Gallery. So keep an eye on the gallery as it grows.

And the judges? Well, I mentioned that here in the office we see all the work? The judges are the 9 of us here - we’ll each choose a piece that speaks to us, and tell you the reason why.

#2

The selections are starting to come in from CGSociety staff - posting the winners here as they come in:

In no particular order, here are the judges’ selections (so far)

Our Head of IT, Ben Castles, chose a classic dragon image by Kim Van Duen . Kim created this image after having taken Becoming a Better Artist with Rob Chang.

Ben says, “I love a good dragon image, and this one has some really nice things going on. Kim has created tension between the dragon and the warrior attempting a death blow. Using the warrior imposed over the bright moon really draws the eye, and to reinforce this, the dragons gaze leads the eye to the warrior as well. If it wasn’t for the title, ‘Demise’, I could see this playing in either the warriors or the dragons favour.”

Our new Consultant, Anne Pogoda, selected this image by Griffin Hanzsek .

She says,“Jebus! There is so many great pieces in there!Especially the landscape guys submitted some excellent stuff. Will there only be one winner?”

Griffin took Advanced Environment Design for Film and Games s with Simon Scales.

Our Web Developer/Support Analyst Rhys Jenkin liked this factory inspired piece by Maxime-Raphael Cyr because he felt it demonstrated a lot of imagination and detail. Maxime-Raphael took David Luong’s Matte Painting CGWorkshop.

Our web-developer, Peter Madida, also chose an image by Griffin Hanzsek . (nice going, Griffin!) Peter explains, “I love the colours and the sense of being dwarfed by the vastness of the jungle. Theres also a bit of a story going on with the hunter left of frame and his pet and the monster lying in wait in the shadows to the right.”

This was also done in Simon Scales’ Advanced Environment Design for Film and Games CGWorkshop.

Not to be outdone, our CEO Andrew Plumer chose this delightful piece, “Steampunk Elephant” by Dan Hardesty for two extremely good reasons. “I like Steampunk,” he said. “And I’m fond of elephants.”

Dan created his steamy pachyderm in Don Seegmiller’s Monster Character Painting class, which is now available video only as a CGTraining-on-Demand title. (However, you can take Don’s Face and Figure Painting CGWorkshop now)

This piece by Einar Martinsen made our CFO and Director of Operations Garth Hammet want to leave his desk and immediately go on vacation. “Being a bit of an idealist the appeal of nature and the possible discovery of a new world appeals to me and this image invokes all that I can imagine it should/could be. It makes me want to be there and I love the idea of exploration and getting away from humanity,” he says.

Einar took David Luong’s Photoreal Matte Painting CGWorkshop.

These are just the winners so far - there are a few more to be announced yet, so stay tuned. (You can view all the entries in the CGWorkshops Alumni MiniChallenge Gallery )

#3

OK, we have some more winners!

Our forum leader, Leigh Van Der Byl, selected “Rivendell” by Matthew Rodgers.

She says, “The mood is really evocative and I like the sense of tranquility.” Matthew created this image after taking David Luong’s “Matte Painting” CGWorkshop.

And I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but everything selected so far is 2D, so I thought I’d pick my favourite 3D piece. This one, by Martin Punchev , was created a little while ago in Bryan Wynia’s “Concept Sculpting and Maquettes” class (which is now available in CG Training on Demand format).

I love it because of the expression on the monster’s face. Sure, he looks evil, but there is also something else there - he looks a bit tired. Kind of over living in a murky bog and preying upon innocent passers by. There’s a sense of story to this character, and that’s what makes it stand out.

And finally - Mike Hepburn’s pick (a little late because he’s just back from his wife having a baby - congratulations Mike!)

Mike has selected a work by the awesome David Demaret , a veteran of Rob Chang’s Becoming a Better Artist CGWorkshop.

Mike says: “Spend a second in my home office and you’ll quickly cotton on to the fact that I am a sucker for all things Sci Fi. Therefore, my eye greedily ate up the epic space opera created by David Demaret. I love the enormous scale and sense of adventure that it conjures.”

OK, so these are all the finalists - Our CEO Andrew Plumer will pick a winner. Drumroll…

#4

So better late than never!

Here is our winner:

Our CEO Andrew Plumer says, “This was a really hard choice with so much great work in the finalist selection. The depth and detail in this piece is amazing with such strong composition to draw the viewer in.”

Congratulations Maxime! You’ve won a free CGWorkshop of your choice - PM me to collect your prize!