Welcome to The Empire Monthly Challenge!
You are all welcome to stretch your artist legs. This is a good way to help push yourself either outside of your comfort zone for maximum learning or out of your artist block your dealing with.
I'll be showcasing the strongest pieces on Instagram and these will also link back to your ArtStation.
New to the challenge are the modifiers. These are optional rules for the challenge that allow you to push your skills even further!
Environment Challenge - Lighting and Modularity
The Grand Library
It's a big one, or... Is it? In this challenge we'd like you to initially focus on recreating the lighting and atmosphere, so try and block things out and nail that lighting before you move on! Most of the walls share a similar material, and you could get a way with just a single bookcase. Mix in some decals and shaders, and you could do the scene fairly quickly.
Prop Challenge - Hardsurface Modelling
Tank d’Infantrie
Last time we focussed on creating a clean sci-fi prop, but this time we flip it around! Get grimey, sculpt some damage in Zbrush and if you are feeling really daring, accept both modifiers!
Substance Challenge - Material Focus
Slaggsten/slaggtegel, or slag-bricks in English
A glass-like building material made from the residue left after metals are extracted from their raw ore. It's usage as building material is uncommon and almost exclusively found in Scandinavia.
Get some of that nice edge wear in there and build layers on top of each other to create a polished and believable material.
Substance Challenge - Material Focus
Ghibli Grass
Perhaps deceptively simple looking, a lot of the backgrounds in animated are full of tiny brushstrokes and lovingly placed details. Try and focus on creating a good spread of frequencies, some areas full of flowers, others more plain and monochromatic. This will also help you to create a sense of volume, which is of equal importance.
