Exposé
4 published by Ballistic
Publishing is the latest in a series of computer graphic image
showcase publications. Daniel Wade and Paul Hellard came together
to produce this fine record of the best of the best of digital
images. Why? Because, web sites come and go, and the work of the
best digital artists should be preserved in print. Indeed, on page
5, Dan and Paul wrote, “Though digital art has had to fight
for its credibility in the traditional art world, publications like
the EXPOSE series have shown that great art is great regardless of
the medium.â€
EXPOSÉ 4 has 20 categories: Fantasy, Exterior Architeture,
Interior Architecture, Portrait (painted) Portrait (rendered),
Action, Conflict, Faery Folk, Creatures, Environment, Cityscape,
Matte Painting, Science Fiction, Abstract and Design, Product
Design and Still Life, Horror, Surreal, Humerous, Whimisical, and
Transport. Of the 5200 entries received by the publishers, only a
few of the best were chosen for each category, with Excellence
given to the runner up and Master awarded to the top images of the
category. The Grand Master Award Winner was Stephan Martiniere.
Stephen certainly put the detail into every image whether it was a
sailing ship on the dock, or a science fiction scene in a war torn
city.
Clothos, the image by Carolyn White which took the Master for
Fantasy, was so powerful and crystal clear, I felt like I was
standing right there watching the character spin her web.
The Exterior Architecture images were absolutely photo realistic.
It appears today with digital art that there is no difference
between an artist concept of a building in a city, or the
photograph taken weeks after the project is actually completed.
Congrats to Lewis Quinn and Richard Moss for Master and Excellence
awards, both artists from Great Britain.
Equally stunning were the Interior Architecture Master and
Excellence winners, Geoffrey Packer and Paul Manning, both also
from Great Britain. And it didn’t stop there. I found the
detail, lighting, and composition of Kamal Birdi’s "Fine
Dining" image to be quite captivating. Kamal is from
Bahrain.
The Painted Portrait Master, Melanie Delon from France, and the
Excellence winner, John Kearney from Great Britain, worked entirely
in Photoshop to produce portraits better than any brush or graphite
or render. One of the most stunning images was from Marta Dahlig of
Poland, "His Only Friend." This section that was done
also in Painter and ArtRage, simply is the heart of artwork in the
digital media.
Â
"Healing"
3ds Max, Brazil r/s, Photoshop
Hyung-jun Kim, KOREAÂ Â
The Rendered Portrait category was equally spectacular. Master Greg
Petchkovsky from Australia produced an awesome creature with just a
touch of rememberance of dear old grandma. Ecellence winner
Hyung-jun Kim of Korea provided a wonderful young lady holding a
white bird. The realism is fantastic. And yes, there was a vixen
with a sword somewhere in the mix.
Chih-Han Hsu from Australia took the Master for Action with the
"Leviathan" image. Skan Srisuwan from Thailand was
awarded Excellence for the complex scene "The Conductor."
The action category has everything from bicycle riding, to
superheroes, to Godzilla-sized robots walking the streets of a
frightened city.
The Conflict category sported three masters. Dave Seeley from the
USA for his "Battle of Bunker Hill" shared the category
with Master Ted Terranova of the USA, Simon Robert of Romania, and
Luis Nunez de Casro of Spain. Alessandro Baldasseroni of Italy took
the Excellence category along with Raymond Swanland of the USA, Don
Mak of Hong Kong, and Monsit Jangariyawong of Thailand.
The Faery Folk Master was Patrick Parish of Canada with his
"WoodWalker" done in Photoshop and Painter. Kyung Up Hyun
of Korea took the Excellence category with "Angel
Warrior" done in Painter.
Â
"WoodWalker"
Photoshop, Painter
Patrick Parish, CANADA
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One of the wildest categories was the Creatures section. Xiao-Chen
Fu of China produced the "China Summoner" in Photoshop
for the Master award, and Excellence was awarded to Glen Angus of
USA for "Thor." There were dragons and lizards and snakes
and dinosaurs and oh my, you have to go see for yourself.
The Environment Master went to Daniel Dociu of the USA and Mark
Simonetti of France. Thierry Diozon of Canada took the Excellence
award. One of my favorites was the "Dr. Hartog Mansion"
done in Photoshop by Marjin Giesbertz of The Netherlands.
Cityscapes Master went to Daniel Dociu of USA, along with Ekarat
Abhiratvorakul of Thailand and Toni Bratincevic of Croatia.
Excellence went to Stephan Martiniere of USA. The Cityscapes
clearly required a lot of painstaking detail and time to complete
the complexity of the images represented in Exposé 4.
Matte Painting Master went to Dylan Cole of USA for a photoshop
work called "Cuoti City" nestled in the plush green
mountains of fantasyland. Excellence went to Deak Ferrand of USA,
also a Photoshop work.
Sparth of USA took the Master Science Fiction category. Excellence
went to Frederic St. Arnaud of Canada. The future is in the eye of
the artist.
Abstract and Design was a category that reminded me of a cross
between Monte Python’s Flying Circus and fractal imagery.
Congrats to Tim Borgman of Germany for the Master award, and
Excellence to Cherie Treweek and Jannes Hendrikz of South Africa
who collaborated on their entry.
Perhaps the most lucrative category was the Product Design and
Still life. Here, the latest in Cell Phones and binocular cut-aways
and soda bottles were displayed. Kornel Ravadits of Hungary took
the Master award, and Carles Piles of Spain was awarded
Excellence.
Of course, what is art without a horror category, eh? Master went
to Jean-Yves Lelcercq of Belbim, and Excellence went to Wendell
Penedo of Brazil.
The Surreal category is appropriately named. Master went to Andrew
Mamo of Australia, and Excellence went to Dennis Sibeijn of The
Netherlands. Jonathan Kemp’s Cyborg head looked familiar with
regards to a few concepts shown at SIGGRAPH 2005.
Humorous was indeed humorous. From bowling snowmen, to little girls
playing surgeon on their teddy bears, everyone brought a smile to
my face with their art. Masters were Chris Ollis of Great Britain,
Bobby Chiu of Canada, Ramon Acedo of Spain, and Oliver Wetter of
Germany. Excellence went to Blaz Porenta of Slovenia.
Whimsical included light bulbs that were self-aware and could plug
themselves in at will and an obsessive and slightly disgruntled
rabbit with brightly colored Easter eggs. Master went to Andre
Kutscherauer of Germany. Excellence went to Jonny Duddle of Great
Britain and Ken Won of Australia.
The final category, Transport, has everything from motorcycles, to
trains, to cars, to airplanes, to docking space ships. Master went
to Fernando Faria of Brazil, Partin Lised of the Czech Republic and
Andrea Bertaccini of Italy. Excellence went to Kurt Miller of
USA.
Now for the software. Photoshop was in the lead as the most popular
program used for the images. In no particular order, there were
images that used Painter, Sketchup, 3DS Max, V Ray, VIZ,
finalRender, Maya, Cinema 4D, AutoCad, AccuRender, Brazil r/s,
Z-Brush, Mental Ray, Lightwave, SoftimageXSI, After Effects, Deep
Paint, Combustion, Poser, Premiere, Body Paint 3D, vue
d’Espirit, Illustrator, FreeHand, Sketchbook Pro, Rhino,
Bryce, and Solidworks.
If you want some inspiration and oohhh and aaahhh imagery, this is
the book for you!
Exposé
4 from Ballistic Publishing $49.95 (USD)Â
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About Ballistic Publishing
Ballistic Publishing is the leading, award-winning, independent
publisher of books for the digital arts industry. Dedicated to
producing the highest quality publications celebrating the talents
of digital artists worldwide, it is setting high standards in all
areas of publishing from the quality of content, design and
delivery to its responsiveness to the market. Ballistic Publishing
shares a strong affiliation with the digital arts community through
its sister organization The CGSociety (The Computer Graphics
Society). Ballistic Publishing is based in the Adelaide Hills of
South Australia, with offices in Melbourne (Victoria, Australia)
and Tampa (Florida, USA).
All supporting images are copyright to
their respective artists, and used with permission from Ballistic
Publishing.
All content and images cannot be
copied, printed, or reproduced in any manner without written
permission.
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