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Weekend Contest: Nightmarish Dreamscapes

60

Get ready to loose some sleep this weekend with our new weekend contest: Andre Strydom picked "Nightmarish Dreamscapes" as our topic!

(Image: Death Taker by Kfir Merlaub)

Since H.R. Giger tragically passed away recently, I thought it would be fitting to dedicate this weekend's theme in his honour.

His work is described as nightmarish and surreal, so this weekend's theme will be "Nightmarish Dreamscapes". It doesn't mean that you necessarily have to follow the style of Giger, so let your imagination go to whatever dark places you may find. Whether it's a eerie landscape, haunting creature or something that defies definition, it's up to you.

Enjoy!

Post your work below (attach an image and a screenshot if you like), and vote for your winner. The winner will get a post on monday, and will get to pick next weekend’s contest theme. Have fun!

About the Author

Avatar image for Bart Veldhuizen
Bart Veldhuizen

I have a LONG history with Blender - I wrote some of the earliest Blender tutorials, worked for Not a Number and helped run the crowdfunding campaign that open sourced Blender (the first one on the internet!). I founded BlenderNation in 2006 and have been editing it every single day since then ;-) I also run the Blender Artists forum and I'm Head of Community at Sketchfab.

60 Comments

  1. After researching H.R. Giger (which comprised of reading his Wikipedia article) I noticed Giger had a lot of man and machine combinations so I created this image. Comments and critiques appreciated!
    "Linked In"

  2. AspiringAnimator on

    Missed being the first entry by about 3 minutes... oh well!
    This weekend I decided to go a little more cartooney.
    Here's my entry, "Faces in the Night." I actually based it off of a vivid image I remember from my childhood nightmares.
    One version is with edges, the other is without. Rendered in Cycles.
    Comments and critiques appreciated! Enjoy! :)

  3. AspiringAnimator on

    Woops, I entered them both in the same post!
    Here's the no edges one by itself. The previous post can just count as the entry with edges.
    Once again, comments and critiques appreciated! Enjoy! :)

  4. My entry for this weekend contest is called "The Planes of Oblivion: Mehrunes Dagon's Deadlands". Based on the Oblivion realm of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, this brings back some slightly less than pleasant memories. It has been awhile since this "Hero of Kvatch" stormed Oblivion, and even I still remember that hell hole ( literal pun intended ). I mostly remember it for constant quick-saves and quick-deaths, unfortunately not always in that order. Anyone who has played TES4 will know what I am talking about. Rendered at 1440p in Cycles at 1000 samples.

    You can view the full resolution image here: http://imgur.com/wIo6y2E and on my DeviantArt: http://hsoj95.deviantart.com

  5. Here's my entry "Hellgate is opening".

    Rendered in Cycles with 100 samples [thanks to my AMD graphics card :-( ]

    • AspiringAnimator on

      You did a good job with lighting your subject, the monkey-headed figure, to make it look creepy! You might consider creating a background to contribute to the atmosphere of the image (a dark forest or something creepy/unsettling). Also, you might want to change the ghost's eyes from red to a darker red or black, to give them a more classic ghost-like look. Speaking of ghosts, there is a node in the compositing that (I think) gives neat looks to images when not over-used: The glare node (in the type of glare, it's default setting is streaks- click it and you'll get a drop-down menu. Choose "ghost"). Should you choose to use this node, don't let everything with light get a ghost, or it clutters the image with lens flares and looses the effect. The amount of light that gets reflected as a ghost is controlled by the "Threshold" box- greater numbers means the brighter the light has to be to get a glare/ghost. One overall thing I like to add to images is a vignette (shading on the corners). Here's a tutorial on how to achieve a vignette (should you choose to add one): http://www.blenderdiplom.com/en/tutorials/418-tutorial-vignette-in-blender-264.html
      Overall, good job with the image! It's very original! Keep up the good work! :)

  6. Wanted to do this for a longer time and now thought i would do it for this contest. Not related to Giger but related to another big man in horror ^^

    • Nathan MénétrierHacquemand on

      Your creation recall me "The Starry Night" or "Wheat Field with Cypresses", of Van Gogh....
      I like it!

      (sorry for mi english... I'm french :/)

  7. Hi everybody!! This is my entry for this weekend. It is a sinister place, and I have tried to insert a known passenger… is recognized? With nodes composition I tried to give a different atmosphere... Hope you like it.

      • jajaja Thanks! I did not know Lord of the Flies....
        I think I went too far with composition nodes ... does not convince me ... For what I see, to the people the image does not like too much... :(

    • AspiringAnimator on

      So, going for two wins in a row? :)

      Anyways, great image! Very interesting and realistic- the texturing on the floor and the light really sell the realism! I think I found a new desktop background- and a new office design...

      • Andre Strydom on

        Thanks! Glad that you like it! :)
        I didn't expect much from the scene, but Cycles came to the rescue. Also Cycles baking, one vertebrae was 70k polys but I baked it down to 7k. Even then the .blend file ended up being 250mb.
        You should google image search "Giger Bars", it's pretty awesome.

  8. I have been waiting for a topic like this. So here's my image "the road to ruin". It's rendered in cycles.
    Hope you enjoy!

  9. Oops, I've chosen the small one. Here again: "the road to ruin". This time in HD resolution. It has also a little bit depth of field.
    Enjoy!

    • Andre Strydom on

      I love this pic, couldn't stop laughing. Your nightmare is a douche, he should stop following you around, tell him to get a job or a girlfriend! lol Great scary model btw.

  10. Chickenkeeper on

    Yay! I love nightmarish surreal dreamscape stuff, this is probably going to be my new favorite contest :D

    • This is by far the most creative entry after looking at all of the art. Wow Steve you really did a great job.

  11. Pablo Petzen on

    Maybe too late, but here is my try.
    This weekend i used sculptris to model/texture+blender to render and post process.

    I hope you enjoy my nightmare!

  12. Better late than never I suppose. Didn't have as much time as I expected. Made everything but the head today, so was a bit rushed. I see a lot of things that could be improved, but I'm open to comments/crits.

    I call it 'What's that at the foot of the bed?'. I'm not that clever with names as you can see.

    Full size version at:
    http://www.florencecomputing.com/images/pigFaceNightmare.jpg

    Edit: Not sure I'll ever understand disqus, sorry for the double image.

    • AspiringAnimator on

      What this reminds me of: "My name is Dobby. Dobby the House-elf."
      Great modeling job! A little dark side, but still a great image!

      • Thanks. Rendering it overnight with a lot more samples and a bit brighter. And to think I spent a good bit of time getting the SSS to look right, then realized it should probably be a dark room.

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