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Empire Monthly Challenge
/Empire Challenges | January 2021
Empire Challenges | January 2021
Empire Challenges | January 2021
Empire Challenges | January 2021

Empire Challenges | January 2021

Welcome to The Empire Monthly Challenge!

You are all welcome to stretch your artist legs. Get out of your comfort zone or artist block and unleash your full potential!

There are no winners or prizes, it's all about challenging yourself. The deadline is purely to indicate the start of the next challenge if you need more time to finish that's okay.

Modifiers are optional rules for the challenge that allow you to push your skills even further!

Environment Challenge - Scenery & Mood Focus

The village from a time long ago

Sometimes it can be quite a challenge to capture something well from a distance. And that is exactly what this challenge is about. Capture the village, its surrounding grassy plains, the water, and the looming mountain range. From this shot the sky and its clouds are a major compositional element and what sky and lighting you choose to use can greatly impact the feeling of the image.

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Modifier (Lighting)

All 24 hours of the day!

Imagine if this image was taken throughout the day in different lighting scenarios: a vibrant orange sunset, perhaps a warmly lit mid day and as night crawls in, the village lights up from a small fire with the dim light of the moon in the background. Work with the lighting and sky to have your scene show this place in a few different times of day.

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Modifier (Bonus)

"It's just a wisp of clouds"

Something dark has been moving on the horizon... A vicious storm has arrived! Thunder strikes and rain is pouring down. Expand your scene by setting it in an intense storm where the sky is lit up by lightning and the ground is covered in water and mud.

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Modifier (Bonus)

Rewind the clock!

Envision this village in its prime time! A bustling small community with lights shining, fires burning and husbandry grazing the lands outside the settlement. Perhaps even a trader on its way along the road or runestone that has been raised next to the road.

Jan Erik Waider

Prop Challenge - Attention to Detail Focus

A small patch of nature

Capturing natural and organic shapes and materials well can be some of the hardest things a 3D artist can try. Here we tackle this head on with the aim of really focusing on the details of a few specific things. The log, how it is wet in some areas, how it is discolored on certain areas, how moss grows along it in certain places, how the mushrooms start to grow from it and how small twigs are sprouting up form below it. All these things require close attention to detail when showcased this close!

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Modifier (Bonus)

The Four Elements

Nature stands strong during all four seasons and the rough conditions they bring. Take some time to show this small set of props in the different seasons and how it changes as weather, temperature, and the amount of sunlight changes. Snow starts to assemble; spring comes along, and warm sunlight brings out all the insects... You know the deal!

Jan Erik Waider

Substance Challenge - Material Focus

Yggdrasil

A tree so old it has grown onto and around itself. So old that no one remembers quite how this happened. It is even rumored to be one of the roots of Yggdrasil, the world tree from Norse sagas. Recreate this old and flowing tree trunk with all its veins, cracks, and discoloring!

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Modifier (Bonus)

Infestation

Oh no! The trunk has been infested with some kind of bug or disease. Study how diseases affect wood and add a layer of disease across your material!

Jan Erik Waider

Substance Challenge - Material Focus

Soil of plenty

Some places around the world are abundantly rich in mineral diversity and volcanic soil tends to be just that! Sulfur, iron, and different elements gather up in "pockets" in the sand while small remnant volcanic rocks rest on top. Here we want you to recreate one such place with a vibrant variety of minerals in the black sands of Iceland!

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Modifier (Bonus)

Crystallization

As magma cools rapidly under the right conditions, some of its components tend to crystalize. Study how crystals tend to form in nature and implement this into your material. The choice of elements and crystals is up to you!

Jan Erik Waider