The BWC 2008 Overview
As the organizer of the BWC, I’d like to comment on the high quality of entries that were received this year, as well as the enthusiasm and effort that was put in across the community.
No matter how skillful the artist, it really showed that there's some great story telling ability, creativity, and determination out there.
For the top three: congratulations for your exceptional submissions.
For the rest of the pack who missed out, by closer margins than it’s fair to mention, congratulations for creating such a fierce competition, and showing what the Blender community can really do. If you pushed your abilities to the limit and learnt something new, then you have done more than enough to be proud of your achievement.
If the level of competition in 2008 is this intense; I say bring on 2009, and hope to see you all there.
Doug Ollivier
The Brief
The brief this year was to create any image, with any theme.... With a small twist!
The task was to create a single image that puts us (the viewers) into the middle of a series of events. To tell a story without explaination, and to put the viewers right in the middle.
And the winners are...
Soenke (Zordan) - Reaching out
Judges comments
"Incredible detail in the primary and environmental modeling. The character in the foreground is real, she has substance and personality."
"This entry not only impress by the huge amount of work it took to complete and by its amazing beauty, but also by the epic story it tells in a single image. The way he used a "passive" moment, without any specific action seems to tell a more detailled and rich story than any specific mouvement or action could have told. Soenke definitly deserve first place for his incredible technical skills. The work he put into modelling all the details of that little city, the care he took to light this immense scene and his incredible eye for composition brought his render to the top of this challenge. Congrats."
"Beautiful work in the style of the traditional romantics. Filled with different symbolic meanings, which makes it very open for interpretation for the viewer. The strong use of perspective and composition, combined with the character in the foreground, makes the work in my opinion more about being unreachable (open for interpretation)."
"One of the bests Blender images I've seen till date. Is not only technically right, but the story telling is so strong that you can easily be part of it, you can almost feel the wind blowing. The little birds here and there add a lot to that mood too, the village below with all similar houses but a big one in the middle makes the difference, there is even life in the dam down there. Very good work on pushing the technical part to the maximum, the lighting is strong too, and the fading-to-blue sky completes the color palette in a geourgius way. Great achievement Soenke. Strong piece, keep it up!"
"Amazing technique and composition; from an “illustration” point of view, quite a perfect image. And, I like a lot also the resulting mood."
Andrew (Lumpycow) - Oh...! That wasn't a good Idea
Judges comments
"Bust me up. I literally cracked up (garnering glances from the people in the room. When they saw it, their response told me that this was infectious humor in still life. Keep going with this, it could develop into an awesome short! I’m probably not the only one who wants to see the rest of this story… The originality in developing these two characters is evident. The story jumps out at you. Upon closer inspection, the motion blur and matted fur on the forefeet and paws of the bear shows that it’s not all fun and games, there’s a high degree of technical skill displayed as well. Bravo. Please send me the short if it ever comes about!"
"You got awesome expressions there mate! maybe the environment distracts a little bit because of it contrast, which you could help by adding a bit of mist or dust from the running fellas? just an idea. Keep making those crazy animals! =)"
"The image is funny and the toony characters are well made, especially the foreground character (which is also more original than the bear one); and the composition contributes in the right way to the gag."
"I laughed so hard when I saw this one. The expressions on both the bear and the little guy in front are great. It really captures the feeling of the story moment. You can feel the fear from the little guy and you just know that he has serious regrets about messing with the bear. You can all but hear the bear's rage and anger at the little guy. The scene is well modeled and the style fits the story very well."
Martin (loramel) - Threesome
Judges comments
"Great story with anticipation, history, consequence. The detail is superb as are the textures and lighting. "
"Out of every entries, it might be the one that struck me the most as 'A moment in time'. With this snapshot moment from a story of nature, Martin completly nailed the theme. His work on lighting, texturing and modelling are top notch, but what really stand out here is the composition of the piece. The action can clearly be felt through the picture. Congrats."
"What a "Moment in Life" for the little mice!, captured the moment in such a nice way, the environment also does the job without taking too much attention, good work on the overall scene."
"I absolutely loved this image. It is beautifully modeled and textured with great attention to detail. You expect to hear the sound of the owl's wings as he is coming in to claim his lunch. You can just feel the tension of the situation jump right out at you as the owl and snake square off over the poor little mouse caught in the sun's rays. I could just feel him hoping for a miracle that the snake and owl would manage to kill each other and save him from being lunch."
