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View All Entries - 3D Characters | 2D Characters | 3D Vehicle | 3D Animation

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| 3D Judge | Damien Canderle | Character Artist | Ubisoft Entertainment |

11 years ago, Damien Canderle started his career trek in the computer graphic industry. He first worked in a small advertising company, mostly creating some covers and 2D/3D illustrations for print and commercials. It was a great experience but he wanted to do more with 3D and all its possibilities. With this new goal in mind, he found a job at Eden Games where he began modeling cars for a racing car game. As time passed, he finally got to work on characters and this was when he truly began to like what he created. Currently, he has built up a repertoire of gigs as a freelance artist and now spends his days happily working as a character artist for Ubisoft Entertainment.

1st Place - Duncan Fraser - Octavius
Great character desgin. The idea to mix Octavius and Dune sounded weird to me at first but the result is a true success.

2nd Place - Erigo - Electra
Great version of Electra. Very clean design and technically perfect.

3rd Place - Afisher - Batman
A comicon challenge without batman isn't a comicon . This one is very well done.

4th Place - danitchu - Ghost Rider
Great idea. I'm cold just looking at him.

5th Place - NikitaNV - Catwoman
Very clean character, good design. I would love to see her in a more dynamic pose though. Regardless, well done!
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| 3D Judge | Magdalena Dadela | Senior Character Artist | Guerrilla Games |

Magdalena Dadela, in 2004, began with doctoral studies in English literature at the Jagiellonian University in Poland. However, after 1 viewing of Pixar*s Finding Nemo, she decided to ditch her academic studies and pursue a career in 3d animation and visual effects. She attended a 1-year intensive course at Vancouver Film School and since then, she never looked back. After graduating, she briefly worked in Dundee as a character artist for Real Time Worlds before she picked everything up and moved to Montreal to work as a cinematic artist for Ubisoft Entertainment. For the next four and a half years, she continued working for Ubisoft in Digital Arts and Games on titles like: Assassin*s Creed, Far Cry 2, Assassin*s Creed Lineage, Assassin*s Creed Revelations, Predators [movie], La Horde [movie] and others. Magdalena, since July 2011, now works at Guerrilla Games, a division of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, as a Senior Character Artist.

1st place - Erigo - Electra
This is stylistically a great entry - very well thought out and consistent. The proportions of the character are very interesting and technically the model is very well executed.

2nd place - digitalinkmind - Dare Davil
Despite the fact the artist has placed him in a completely different era it's easy to recognize Dare Devil in this work. The costume is well designed and executed.

3rd place - NikitaNV - Cat Woman
This is a very well executed piece, in particular when it comes to texturing. The materials look beautiful. I also like the singular interpretation of the character, making her less sexually explicit and perhaps more realistic.

4th place - afisher - Batman
A great and simple interpretation of the character. Stylistically it's not far from the original but still has it's own characteristics. I especially like the simplicity of the suit design and the subtlety of detail [not too many logos all over the place for instance]. 
5th place - ra-qevz 每 Phoenix
Great choice of style for this particular character and excellent fx work which brings it out even more. I also like the overall proportions and the balance between the armour and nudity.
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| 3D Judge | Kouji Tajima | Freelance Modeler & Texture Artist |

Kouji Tajima is a freelance character artist from Japan. A graduate with a degree in arts, he now spends his time working on feature films and game cinematics as a freelance modeler / texture artist.

1st place - Andrey ※Alex04se§ Serebryakov
This was the first link I opened, and I must admit, I was really impressed with this entry*s design, shading and texturing. One of the best Iron man model I've seen. Congratz!!

2nd place - Fred "phred" Howard
This is really simple but I like the concept and the idea behind his costume. He is very believable. However, the inside of his cape needed to be darker.

3rd place - Daniel "danitchu" Orive
Very good expression, really nice modeling with Zbrush and the texturing is done extremely well. Converting Fire into Ice... a great touch! The final result is really impressive.

4th Place 每 Ivan "vAp"
Modeling and textures are awesome. Unfortunately, his body didn't look like metal, and the gun looked like a really light gun because of the final posing. Nevertheless, the character redesign, plus idea, was a great achievement! Well done!

5th Place - Adam "afisher" Fisher
Really beautiful model. It looks perfect. The only reason this model did not place higher for me is because I felt that it was lacking a bit of novelty 每 cool factor. Regardless, exceptional achievement! Congrats!
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| 3D Judge | Michael "walur" Dashow | Art Director | Watercooler Inc |

Michael 'walrus' Dashow - is long-time game industry vet and professional science fiction, fantasy, and childrens' artist. He has worked in the games business for close to 20 years, having spent over 7 years each as an Art Director and artist at Blizzard Entertainment (Diablo II and Daiblo III) and Broderbund Software. Currently he is the Art Director for social games studio Watercooler Inc., and spends his spare time developing the iPhone game 'MageMaze' with long-time GameArtisan - Maph. Michael's digital illustrations have graced the covers and interiors of many books and magazines, including 'Spectrum,' 'Expose,' 'ImagineFX' magazine (Britain), It's Art Magazine (France) and Fantasy Art Magazine (China). He was a winner of the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists' Chesley Award for his cover for Peter S. Beagle's 'The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche,' (Best Paperback Book Cover of the Year in 1997, the first digital piece to ever win a Chesley.) Recent accolades include a 14th place award in Dominance War III, the Award of Excellence in the CGSociety "Uplift" competition, and Best Concept Art in the CGSociety "B-Movie" Challenge. He currently resides in Oakland, California, USA, with his wife Talia and their three-year-old son, Zachary.

1st place - Alex04se - Iron Man
Wonderful work on the details and an elegantly simple and effective setting and layout. Great work transposing Iron Man into a new, unexpected setting. It would have been nice to see a little more gold to tie him back together with the original Iron Man suit, but nonetheless, still my favorite entry.

2nd place - Danitchu - Ghost Rider
This entry will win when hell freezes over... oh, wait... Anyhow, it's the unexpected theme and head that totally makes this piece for me. Given how distorted the face's proportions are, it might have been nice to see some similar liberties taken with the body anatomy, but great work! (And I love the carving on the base, too)

3rd place - Afisher - Batman
Suberb job on the lighting and the texture details. The face is exceptionally nice, especially in contrast to the rest of the tech details. Nice clean layout and pose, too.

4th place - Duncan Fraser - Dr. Octopus
Lovely palette, great technology details, and original (and totally bizarre, but in a good way) take on his anatomy. 
5th place - S. G. - Catwoman
Lovely period stylings (even the base has a great touch!) and I can't even imagine how much work you must have put into the hair alone! It would have been nice to tie it together a bit more with the original CatWoman with a darker palette, and my eyes keep getting drawn to the overly wide mouth, but overall a great entry!

Honorable Mention - vAp - Deadpool
Lovely job on detailed tech-armor. A more dynamic pose and stronger camera angle would have helped the beauty shot more: The silhouette isn't as strong as it could be. I like the clean graphic design to the entry and the nice texturing. |

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| 2D Judge | Paul Richards | Concept Artist | Vigil Games |

Paul Richards has been skittering under the boards of game development, vole-like, as a concept artist these past 10 years. He now works at Austin's Vigil Games and, when not drawing for leisure, can be found feverishly updating his website/playground www.autodestruct.com. Most loathed term in art direction: "generic."
Paul has worked in Powerhouse Comics (in birth city of Appleton, WI), ION Storm, id Software, 3D Realms, Ritual Entertainment, Raven Software, Vigil Games, and Blizzard Entertainment.

1st Place - Aniconoff - Sky Doll
Niconoff takes the cake with his noir-style version of Barbucci/Canepa's "Sky Doll." It's the classiest, most well executed design here, and I'm not just saying that because I have a soft spot for gratuitous t&a. You can see great effort was made to make the design consistent across the model sheet and beauty image, and that he didn't go overboard with costume details. It's in keeping with the franchise's elegance while taking it to a place it hasn't been. And by placing her in such a thoroughly realized setting, and calling out that key as a prop, we get a real sense that there's a story here. Story is, after all, the driving force of all great comics.

2nd Place - Cold - Mecha Hellboy
Christian Fell's female mecha-Hellboy has been dropped into a wintery battlefield for maximum contrast and intense action. If this was the cover of a comic book, you'd pick it up off the shelves to see what was inside...before being disappointed that some other guy did the lousy interior art. The forced perspective in this very dynamic composition screams "comics", and, again, design wins out -- her plate breakup is highly pleasing, with darker bits that form an exciting overall pattern. I'm certainly not left "Cold" by this entry. Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck...

3rd Place - Mudakir - Iron Man
I'm going to admit that, in terms of execution, Zulkarnaen has a way to go before getting any cover gigs. But this is another one of those moments where you go, "WTF? Symbiote Iron Man with organic Guyver armor? Cooooooooool. Never seen that." It's an original take, as well as a gimmick I could actually see Marvel exploring in some random What-If styled spin-off.

4th Place - Chuvabak - Batman
Chuvabak, you draw really, really well. I get the same feeling looking at your stuff that I get looking and Jim Murray (See that Dota 2 comic he drew? FOOK!) and Simon Bisley. Just raw, from-the-gut power. It's not that your concept is even all that lofty. In fact, it's pretty generic -- mutated Batman (Man Bat?). That's been done. It's just that...you did it SO WELL! It's the chunky, earthwormy style here that makes it fun to look at. And style can be all it takes to get people to notice your book.

5th Place - 2garinOFF - Batman Dell Arte
I'm giving this last one to Herman Tugarinov for his "Batman Dell Arte." Your version was, in fact, high concept, and I feel a little guilty putting Chuvabak in front of you. That grappling hook gun is sick. It, along with the matching chest emblem, give it JUST ENOUGH to differentiate him from just another period-costumed dude in pointy hat. The splash image is immersive and moody -- you can picture yourself in that world. I can see you made some reservations on his suit, not encrusting every square inch of him with wacky detail. His character looks rougeish and in control. There's a lot that can be done with him.
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| 2D Judge | Fredrik "FredH" Hultqvist | Game Artisan |

As the founder of GameArtisans.org Online, Fredrik Hultqvist is a creative director who is passionate about his work. He holds a technical degree in Illustration & Design and has worked in the games industry both as a freelance and fulltime game artist. For the past 5 years, Fred began, organized, and managed various online competitions, most of which have become renowned international events. Today, he is an occasional assistant 3d teacher at Dawson College Montreal and interviews with Mr. Hultqvist have appeared in Russian, Chinese, English, and Korean Game/Art magazines 每 Name brands include Playstation Magazine, Game Land, Advanced Photoshop, Imagine FX, CG Magazine China and more. Fred*s artistic background together with his drive and passion to help artists everywhere level up, has given Game Artisans Online a unique, fun and specialized program that is suited for artists of all levels.

1st Place - Mudakir - Iron Man
Although not as nicely rendered as the 2nd place choice, this entry makes up for it with pose, atmosphere, expression, and all around coolness. The machine bits were a great addition to further emphasize the time and place when the character alone could not. In the end, everything was thought out really well. The final image together with its two supporting images were presented well and if needed, could have easily been given today to a modeler to recreate in 3d. Well done Zulkarnaen Hasan Basri ※Mudakir!§

2nd Place - Le$hiY - Flash
The total redesign of flash into a character from ancient times was an awesome twist for an entry in Comicon 2011. I think the only thing that took this entry down 1 spot was the artist*s choice to give the character a complete facial mask. The bodysuit alone was enough to showcase the time period, so personally, I felt a lot was lost by covering the entire face. I kept looking at the belt and chest rather than the head area, which is a little strange considering it*s always important that the face and its personality, captivates the viewer. Nevertheless, the entire design as a whole was very strong and the background was a welcome addition to further emphasize time period, strength, speed and finally, his super powers. Top notch entry! Congrats Shekhovtsov Oleg ※Le$hiY.§

3rd Place - Rahmatozz - Wolverine
This wolverine redesign was first class. His famous uncaring and angry expression was kept from the original comics, and together with a painterly design, this made it into the top ranks of the challenge and my 3rd place choice. I especially love the design of the waist-belt area and his claws. A lot of thought went into the mechanics behind this piece, making it a joy to look at from head to toe. Congrats Mikhail Rakhmatullin ※Rahmatozz.§

4th Place - SintoRisky - Naruto
I am a big fan of Naruto, and to see a recreation of him in this challenge, and executed extremely well, brings me great joy. The only problem is, it*s a little hard to tell what gender this character is, hence the reason I write ※this character§ instead of him or her. Is it a guy or is it a girl? I am guessing a girl... but after seeing the character*s modeling sheet, I am left confused. Otherwise, the expression, the anger, the fire effects, the dead bodies, the room... basically, everything looks well thought out to make for a great design of AnGrY iMprisOnment!! Hell.. I expect 9 tails to start forming and a big jail break to take place in a matter of minutes or even seconds. Really well done Anasatasia Bulgakova ※SintoRisky§

5th Place - Verehin - Batman
Seeing batman in a barbarian and savage setting was a really cool twist for an entry. The choice of weapons 每 using a blunt weapon instead of a sword, was a great thought considering his thoughts about killing people. The lighting further adds to the mood and everything is really well rendered with a painterly styled twist. This entry might have placed higher if not for its sketchiness and less defined style when compared with the above entries. Nevertheless, the design, positioning of elements, and choice in colors made for a very strong piece. My only two cents.. it might have been cool to see the girl in broken bondages or something - something to suggest that she was rescued. Right now, it looks like he just woke up from good times and decided to kick everyone else out of line... which happens to be off the face of a cliff. Then again, perhaps my impression is all messed up =) Congrats Maxim ※Verehin!§
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| 2D Judge | Michael "walur" Dashow | Art Director | Watercooler Inc |

Michael 'walrus' Dashow - is long-time game industry vet and professional science fiction, fantasy, and childrens' artist. He has worked in the games business for close to 20 years, having spent over 7 years each as an Art Director and artist at Blizzard Entertainment (Diablo II and Daiblo III) and Broderbund Software. Currently he is the Art Director for social games studio Watercooler Inc., and spends his spare time developing the iPhone game 'MageMaze' with long-time GameArtisan - Maph. Michael's digital illustrations have graced the covers and interiors of many books and magazines, including 'Spectrum,' 'Expose,' 'ImagineFX' magazine (Britain), It's Art Magazine (France) and Fantasy Art Magazine (China). He was a winner of the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists' Chesley Award for his cover for Peter S. Beagle's 'The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche,' (Best Paperback Book Cover of the Year in 1997, the first digital piece to ever win a Chesley.) Recent accolades include a 14th place award in Dominance War III, the Award of Excellence in the CGSociety "Uplift" competition, and Best Concept Art in the CGSociety "B-Movie" Challenge. He currently resides in Oakland, California, USA, with his wife Talia and their three-year-old son, Zachary.
1st place - Gyorkland - Steampunk Scorpion
Great pose and rendering and wonderful design. You can instantly tell who it's supposed to be, but very nicely transposed into a steampunk setting.

2nd place - Mudakir - Iron Man
Such a bizarre, beuatiful idea, the organic symbiote armor on a character we've all come to associate with hard steel and nothing organic at all. The pose is a bit stiff, but it's such a great concept!

3rd place - Le$hiY - Flash
So completely different from the traditional Flash, but as soon as you look around, all of the essential elements are there, subtle but evocative. Lovely details, mood, and overall rendering!

4th place - ANiconoff - Sky Doll
Wonderful work on the entire setting, turn-arounds, and details.

5th place - AndreyPratama - Iron Woman
Superb rendering on the face and metal! would have been nice to see more of the body and of the work in progress steps, and the final background is a bit noisy and fights with the foreground. |

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| Vehicle Judge | David Finlay | Senior Artist | HNTB |

David Finlay, a senior artist with 6 years experience in the game industry working for Rockstar Games and other large studios. For the past year, he currently works in the ArchViz field for HNTB in Kansas City, MO, where he specializes in hard surface modeling and texturing.

1st place - LeMkKnee - Owl Ship
The color palette is extremely interesting and the texturing is very clean. Well done!

2nd place - ridley075 - Aquaman's Chariot
The chariot by Ridley is a nice model, but the texturing lacks a bit of vibrance, which in the end, made it a bit dull. However, overall, it was really well done!
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| Vehicle Judge | Michael "walur" Dashow | Art Director | Watercooler Inc |

Michael 'walrus' Dashow - is long-time game industry vet and professional science fiction, fantasy, and childrens' artist. He has worked in the games business for close to 20 years, having spent over 7 years each as an Art Director and artist at Blizzard Entertainment (Diablo II and Daiblo III) and Broderbund Software. Currently he is the Art Director for social games studio Watercooler Inc., and spends his spare time developing the iPhone game 'MageMaze' with long-time GameArtisan - Maph. Michael's digital illustrations have graced the covers and interiors of many books and magazines, including 'Spectrum,' 'Expose,' 'ImagineFX' magazine (Britain), It's Art Magazine (France) and Fantasy Art Magazine (China). He was a winner of the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists' Chesley Award for his cover for Peter S. Beagle's 'The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche,' (Best Paperback Book Cover of the Year in 1997, the first digital piece to ever win a Chesley.) Recent accolades include a 14th place award in Dominance War III, the Award of Excellence in the CGSociety "Uplift" competition, and Best Concept Art in the CGSociety "B-Movie" Challenge. He currently resides in Oakland, California, USA, with his wife Talia and their three-year-old son, Zachary.

1st place - LeMkKnee - Owl Ship
Instantly recognizable as the OwlShip from Watchmen, but also completely different. Great job transplanting it to a new setting. Great textures and modeling, too!

2nd place - ridley075 - Aquaman's Chariot
I especially love the harnesses on the sharks. Exceptional model and design!
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| Animation Judge | Brad Kinley | Cinematic Animator | ILM |

After seeing Jurrasic Park 14 years ago, Brad Kinley was ecstatic to achieve his long term goal when he began to work for the immensely talented crew of ILM. The highlight of that experience was when he was given the opportunity to animate Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Starscream, for Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon. Prior to this experience, he worked as a Lead Animator for Bioware's Mass Effect 2, Cinematic Animator for Mass Effect 1 and most recently, he has been enjoying life as a Lead Animator for Capcom Vancouver.

1st Place - Nicquek - Flash
Fantastic work here! Really entertaining sequence, clear staging and
some fun physicality. You've got some really strong poses to break up
the major actions and those are supporting the readability well. The
residual motion after each major action was key as it helps balance
the stylized actions of the flash with a feeling of real weight and
realism that sells the whole thing.
I thought the slightly unbalanced 1 foot scoot, and waving at the
robot were really entertaining and helped inject some personality into
a very short space of time, which animators are often pressed to do,
but can be difficult to make happen - so again, great work there. I
clearly understand that the whole affair feels easy for the flash and
that's a huge plus for a shot based mainly on physicality.
On another note, aside from animation, the 'trail' left by the flash,
impacts by the lasers on the pavement and audio are all working
particularly well and help support the shot well without becoming a
crutch.
Critique wise, you're in a great spot. All the major aspects of your
shot are working really well, and I don't have too many comments along
those lines. I have some polish and plus notes that could help push
your shot along if that something you're interested in.
- When the flash picks up the piece of concrete and is running in
circle under the robot, I feel like the robot is less responsive than
I'd expect. Might be worth trying to have the robot try and track the
flash a bit more but in a way that visibly shows it can't keep up. You
have it look at camera for a while now, and then kind of make an
attempt at tracking him, but it feels fairly delayed and you lose a
little tension because the flash stops being in danger while he does
this huge antic for hurling the chunk at him.
- The pose at the end when the flash is in mid air was the weakest of
the shot for me, there wasn't a really clear line of action and I
didn't feel like his body was very involved with the throw. It's this
very up/down compressed midair crouch, but if it wasn't for the very
colorful trail left by the piece of concrete I think I would have had
a hard time following what had happened. If it was me I'd take a
little discus reference and exaggerate it, and possibly work in a
little residual motion of a throw being completed. Having the line of
action coming off the body along the same trajectory of the concrete
would help as well.
- The 'run in circle antic' is working pretty well, I love the idea. I
think the very end of it could be massaged to make it feel like it was
a little more purposeful than it is now. Feels a bit random when he
lifts off, rather than a slow build towards it and it happening at the
perfect point in time. I think this could be done by building in a bit
of upward movement right near the end, and having the upward travel
following the trajectory of the circular arc he's been following.
Basically try to maintain the momentum he's been building throughout
the antic as he moves into the throw.
Those are the biggest points I found. As it is, this is a really
strong shot, so any additional work you do revisiting it will just
push it further towards something really special. I took a look at
your planning and it was obviously fully formed and working well
before you touched maya which always helps. Fantastic work!
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| Animation Judge | Taran Matharu | Animation Director | Trapdoor Inc. |

Taran Matharu is a 9 year experienced senior game animator of the games industry, and graduated from Bourn mouth University in UK with a degree in Computer Animation. He has worked on many production titles in games, such as Worms 3D, Lemmings PSN, Indiana Jones and The Staff of Kings, Nickolodeon*s MonkeyQuest, and many other in house projects. He is currently employed at Trapdoor Inc in Montreal, as a senior character animator/animation director for upcoming PSN/Xbox Live title WARP. He is an active member for various online animation communities, such as 11 second club, and you can view his work at www.taranmatharu.com. Taran is thrilled to be part of the judging panel for comicon, and hopes to give invaluable feedback, to push animators further in the field of character animation.

1st Place - Nicquek - Flash
Overall, its nice, fun and entertaining. Camera shot is simple and effective.
Here are my points that help improve it further.
- Nice entry into shot, works well. After initial round around at 4 seconds, when he gets off balance, we can push the pose further, like have a little side step or shuffle of feet to show he's more off balance. Or, dont have him off balance at all, and have him confident and in control.
- Not sure about the meaning behind the leap or jump at 6 seconds. Is he trying to get the robots attention? If so, have the robot react more so in an element of surprise, for eg, a double head shake from the robots 'head' or turrets.
- When he then sprints to the armour plate on the floor at 7 seconds, have more anticipation and weight transfer when he's lifting it, then naturally leap into the sprint again.
- After spinning around, he jumps ready for the attack. Now this phase can be pushed further by pacing. First of all, after the first jump, hold the pose for a moment, then execute the attack with the throw of the plate. Once the plate hits the robot, have the hero hold the pose of the last frame of the throw for a moment, then land. The land pose could change also to a more dynamic 'get ready' pose. At the moment, its happening all too fast, therefore we loose some of the power of the attack. Also, during the running around of the hero just before the attack, we can have the robot a little more reactive to it, only a little.
But overall, good effort! Just curious, how long did this take?
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| Animation Judge | Michael "walur" Dashow | Art Director | Watercooler Inc |

Michael 'walrus' Dashow - is long-time game industry vet and professional science fiction, fantasy, and childrens' artist. He has worked in the games business for close to 20 years, having spent over 7 years each as an Art Director and artist at Blizzard Entertainment (Diablo II and Daiblo III) and Broderbund Software. Currently he is the Art Director for social games studio Watercooler Inc., and spends his spare time developing the iPhone game 'MageMaze' with long-time GameArtisan - Maph. Michael's digital illustrations have graced the covers and interiors of many books and magazines, including 'Spectrum,' 'Expose,' 'ImagineFX' magazine (Britain), It's Art Magazine (France) and Fantasy Art Magazine (China). He was a winner of the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists' Chesley Award for his cover for Peter S. Beagle's 'The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche,' (Best Paperback Book Cover of the Year in 1997, the first digital piece to ever win a Chesley.) Recent accolades include a 14th place award in Dominance War III, the Award of Excellence in the CGSociety "Uplift" competition, and Best Concept Art in the CGSociety "B-Movie" Challenge. He currently resides in Oakland, California, USA, with his wife Talia and their three-year-old son, Zachary.

1st Place - Nicquek - Flash
Love the blurs, and there's a great sense of balance overall... I love the little steadying hops at 0:04. Great work, and way to tell a whole battle story in 0:10... Appropriate for your character choice!
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