CG Cookie Community Halloween Challenge

Contests and Challenges

The Challenge: Model a SCREAM in Blender

(A rendered STILL image)

We've all heard the classic Halloween screams and maybe even watched a few films named Scream. But we're artists, Blender artists who tend to go our own way, take on new challenges, and bend the spoon.

In this challenge, which is indeed a challenge we're asking you to create a 3D STILL IMAGE that embodies the Scream. Sound hard, you bet it is.

I'd encourage you to NOT think literally, and please-please-please avoid any scream mask models. 😱 Instead I challenge you to think how you'd artistically represent the idea of a scream, the feeling, or sound of a scream in a static 3D medium. 🤔 

Some ideas could be getting ketchup on your new hoodie, a zombie in your house, a monster under your bed, or Being stuck on a spaceship with spiky self-aware balls.

Happy Blending!



 Summary

  • What  - Create a 3D rendered image that embodies a scream
  • When - October 1st 2021 - October 31st 2021
  • Why   - Challenge yourself, have a bit of fun, and think outside the box or was it, "What's inside the BOX!?!?"


Rules

  • Use Blender! 😎
  • All models are your own creation - No 3rd party models
  • Submit your result to the CG Cookie Gallery by October 31st 2021  23:59 US CST

You are encouraged to create a WIP thread in the community forum for review with the title Halloween Challenge 2021 WIP - [Name].

Your WIP thread should consist of progressive images with a short explanation of the process at each stage. 

When you post your result in the Gallery, add a link to your WIP in the description so the judges can easily find it. 



Why should you do this challenge?
Getting better at anything is a result of practice, practice and practice. Challenges are a way for you to practice what you've learned within a set list of constraints. Much like a freelance gig or task asked of you at a studio job.


So if you're into being obsessed with improvement, challenge against yourself to see what you can come up with! 



How we'll rate your SCREAM.

The CG Cookie crew Wes, Kent, Lampel and Wayne will review and pick 4 Screams - entries to include a WIP thread. 


The top four picks receive: 

  • Featured across the Gallery for an entire week! Expanding the awareness and exposure to your work,
  • Shared on CG Cookie's Twitter (26k followers) and Instagram(51k followers) with the artist's social media accounts tagged, 
  • 500XP points awarded for bragging rights to friends, family and peers. 

Make sure to add your social media handles to your profile.

  • Sébastien Lenaerts(slenaerts) replied

    Whoop whoop!  I'm in and I'm happy we get more time (I'm moving this weekend and next weekend to my new home) and I haven't found out how to blend and to move boxes at the same time 😅

  • adrian replied

    slenaerts hope the location transformation goes smoothly, don't forget to turn on auto smooth in data properties.

    Think of them as default cubes, not boxes.

    Add a subsurface modifier, easier to move !

  • Angela (amblender) replied

    Just to be clear: The scream should be due to terror, fear or similar negativ feelings. no screams out of joy


  • adrian replied

    amblender , do you enjoy being scared.....

    a still image of a traditional Halloween scream 😱 (excluding scream mask models) 

    is what we will be looking for in this challenge.

  • adrian replied

    We're watching you!!

  • Angela (amblender) replied

    i allready have some ideas and 1 month to scare you guys

  • Sébastien Lenaerts(slenaerts) replied

    @adrian2301 I won't forget to double tap g, will be easier to move along the edges😀

  • coyo (coyohti) replied

    The description of the deliverable on this is confusing me. ^_^;

    First it says to not think literally and create an artistic representation of a scream. The examples given are more along the lines of something to scream about. Then Adrian says, "a traditional Halloween scream" which sounds more literal to me.

    Any idea I've had so far (aside from the sassy ones I roundfile immediately) are more along the lines of "The moment before the screaming begins". Does this fit?

  • adrian replied

    Hey coyohti , and anyone trying to escape the box, or see what's in the box 


    This is a tough challenge, for the mind as much as the modeling.

    I have been playing with the use of eyes,

    The eyes do more than see, 

    Eyes can express emotion.


    a still image of a traditional Halloween scream

    what does this mean?

    For me, it means fear, horror, scary, shock etc.

    It was suggested, 'screams of joy', but this doesn't fit the Halloween theme.


    artistically represent the idea of a scream

    What is a scream?

    According to Google,

    'A long, loud, piercing cry or cries expressing extreme emotion or pain'.

    So, how do we represent this in an artistic way?

    For me, I would look into ideas 'expressing extreme emotion or pain'.


    I'd encourage you to NOT think literally

    Take the Monsters Inc. scream extractor image above, a fun concept in collecting screams.

    From disney.fandom.com ,

    The Scream Extractor is, as the name implies, a scream extracting machine which has the intent of collecting screams much better than even scarers. It has 15 Scream Cannisters. Randall Boggs was going to kidnap Boo to test it and see if it will collect screams exactly as he expected it to, then work with Waternoose to kidnap hundreds of children to extract their screams in order to stop the energy crisis in Monstropolis and bring Monsters Inc. back on top. It's demonstrated that it extracts the victim's breath along with their screams, which can potentially suffocate the victims, even monsters.

     

    The Melvin image is a simple movie poster design, with the word 'scream'.

    The more I think on this, the more thoughts are created in my mind.

    An example of my thoughts on this...

    Melvin, Eats Sheep, right?

    Or Lambs,

    The Lambs are Screaming in Fear,

    Then.....

    Silence....

    Silence of the Lambs.

    The opposite of a loud scream, but you get where I am going with this....


    "The moment before the screaming begins". Does this fit?

    Yes!

    If you can capture the moment, or the expression, or the spine tingling feeling of the scream.

  • Vue Thao(euv) replied

    I'm having trouble understand the description of the Halloween challenge too.
    I'm assuming "the scream" as an analogy or somewhat emotional expression for the scene.

    Examples:

  • coyo (coyohti) replied

    Silence of the Lambs is one of the few movies that really, actually scared me, Especially having grown up in an area unfortunately infamous for serial killers.

    At least one of the ideas I have intends to capture that sort of feeling so now I am thinking I am on the right track with this. Thank you!

  • adrian replied

    Anyone for Eye-Scream?

  • adrian replied

  • Manuel Beck(bexxarts) replied

    An area where I'm severely lacking is coming up with my own ideas, truly expressing myself, so I'll try to do these challenges in the future, even tho it's scary. Thanks for organizing them

  • adrian replied

    Hey bexxarts ,

    Appreciate the thanks!

    The challenges are hopefully there to help challenge yourself, and take you another step further down the road on your Blender journey.

    I used to be the same, lacking in ideas.

    I started doing more research on the things I wanted to create, and would mix and match ideas from different references.

    I think its important to know, or at least do some research, on your subject. Every worthy 3D artist will tell you to use reference images, or concept art. 

    The more you do the more you will have your own ideas.

    Trawl the internet, sites like Pixabay, Unsplash are good sources for free images.

    Hope this helps.

  • Rita G replied

    coyohti  I too am from an infamous area where there used to be many executions for condemned victims, criminals and rebels alike. Thinking up ideas is tough. 

  • Rita G replied

    For eye scream, do you mean victim's eyeballs bulging out of sockets, eyelids retracting, cheeks swelling outwards, lips stripping to reveal the entire sets of teeth and gum?  Just a suggestion only.  

    Another suggestion. Imagine yourself a victim sleeping in a room with clandestine hauntings. During your restful sleep, you are dreaming nothing. Then comes the bump of surprise. Jet black SHADOWS visible in an already dark room. Your mind's eye suddenly sees the flickering shadows over your shut eyelids and more shadows flitting at the back of your eyeballs.  At that, you wake fast.  You either react with fright or respond with anger and issue threats to shadows: "Mess with me once more and you will see what I'll do next. I swear you WON'T want to discover what that is and you DON'T want it. So, be very, very careful. Wait, I don't mean "very careful." I actually mean, BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL." Howls and shrieks from shadows be reduced to soft, apologetic whimpering sounds. Suggestion only.  

    A religious person keeps blessed salt in all the four corners of the bedroom, and also holy relics. Entities spit and cough too near salt. 

  • Rita G replied

    For a model music, perhaps you can try shrieky sound like thousands of tortured seagulls violently whipped up in a gusty wind. Mix that with raspy pitches of vocal screams. Banshee scream effect. Suggestion only. 

  • Rita G replied

    Why just a scream?  A ghost's laughter can be as jarring as a scream and it is enough to make your lungs collapse in shock. You can't scream if you are paralyzed by fear, your blood suddenly turning cold. When you breathe again, only then you might be able to scream.  After a scream or no scream,  you faint and lose conscience. Suggestion only. 

  • Rita G replied

    Sometimes, words alone can spur on visual imagination. Bullet-shot paced descriptions in screenplays do better, as they quickly fire up film producer's imagination.  

    "Scary" only if you (in imaginary victim's shoes) are unaccustomed to hauntings and be totally shell-shocked. Unscary if you have fully acclimated to them, being hard-skinned and no longer shell-shocked.  Novelty in hauntings wears off for the latter. 

    As sensitives or mediums, visitors always ask: "Is your home haunted?" Surprised, you the host respond with a knowing expression, a sigh and a smile:  "Ooh, isn't it?" Slip of your tongue gives them eebie jeebies. Curious, you then ask, cautiously and suspiciously: "Now, why do you think it is haunted?"  They look at you, perplexed, wondering why you seem oblivious to the flickering and flittering shadows around you. You are religious and protected, shadows therefore being banished from your sight.   (Suggestion only). 

    Another idea.  A shaking bed in a room where you as an intruder not only just see or hear things, also FEEL them. 

    While you sleep, a  vapour rises from the grave afar, knowing you trespassed on their favourite space. Soul breezes or storms into your room.  Your imagination here. ...  Have your way. 

     In a haunted bedroom, you just half wake and suddenly FEEL ghostly fingers teasing your scalp, stroking and fingercombing your hair. If you have long hair, you might wake up with plaitings done to your hair. That is not ever all. Other bumps of surprises can be such as a soul poking his thick finger inside your mouth and rudely awakening you with a hard fingernail pinching at the furtherest back of your tongue. 😛  You wake suddenly, feeling confused and wondering: "Wha-what was that? Did I just swallow a spider?" Well, it felt like a thick-bodied spider. Then came a ghost's outburst of laughter. He'd tease you more, if you were female: "Haw, haw, haw, haven't you ever heard of love?" Suggestion only.