9/13/21

Mysteries of the Heavens

Theme description

Mankind has no idea that the apocalypse is almost upon them! Evil geniuses, tired of being the best in everything and the excruciating routine, decided to obtain a mankind distillate in order to breed the Homo Novus, a superhuman equal to themselves, or, ideally, even superior to them in talents. For this insane plan to succeed, they have to wipe out nine out of ten humans, and with the help of a deadly virus, that seems like a doable thing. Owned by brilliant and very sexy villains, a clandestine organisation codenamed the Trojans is preparing for the coming catastrophe as we speak.
However, this is only the surface of the matter. In fact, the seemingly mad plan to create the Homo Novus is part of a game being played by the higher forces: Angels and Demons. The black-and-white Limbo may look like a haven of
peace, but it is in fact boiling with passions and strife over the future of the Earth. The forces of Light and Darkness are barely holding back from swooping at each other's throats. All the resources for the mother of all battles are there already, including an Arsenal with supernatural weapons.
What will you do with this shocking news? You are the one with the power and the skills to pick a side and take part in this clash of Light and Darkness.

Scope of Work

Create a character, picking one of the options:
• One of the Angel race,
• Or one of the Demon race.

Angels and demons are similar to people, but keep in mind that they live in a completely different world. You should try and emphasise in your design how similar or different they are from regular humans. Come up with your own quirks—dark, funny, weird, whatever you see fit.

You're welcome to try your wildest ideas! An angelic warrior or a demonic opera
singer—in this universe, everything is real and possible. Take time to elaborate on the special traits of your race and character of choice to make them really stand out.
A good idea would be to place your character on a neutral background, while their pose and emotion are all up to you. It would be great if you went for an angle and a pose that would allow to study the character's image and outfit in the smallest detail, or, alternatively, you may add sketches with several different angles.

IMPORTANT: All characters should be humanoid. They may sport wings, horns, halos, tails or any other paraphernalia, but they must be based on a human image.

Style Suggestions!
Limbo is dominated by Futurism, Geometry and Fantasy, reflected both in the architecture and in the images of its inhabitants. The main locations of the story are current-day Rome and Limbo. You can consider your characters within both locations, imagine what they do on Earth to avoid standing out from the crowd, by hiding their horns and tails, dressing in human clothes or some such, while in Limbo they may be presented in their full original glory. Baroque and Renaissance elements will probably fit the concept perfectly, too.

Note
Meeting these criteria is not a guarantee of success. You can get as creative about the inhabitants and styles of this imaginary world as you wish. In any case, the most interesting and high-quality entries will win, not those 100% consistent with our guidelines.

Prizes
The total prize pool of the competition is over $10 800

1st place in Angels:
- $2000 from Green Grey,
- 30% discount on any Render.ru courses for a year,
- a VIP account on Render.ru,
- an interview for Render Magazine,
- 50 rating points on the website.

2nd place in Angels:
- $1600 from Green Grey,
- 30% discount on any Render.ru courses for a year,
- a VIP account on Render.ru,
- a publication in Render Magazine,
- 30 rating points on the website.

3rd place in Angels:
- $1100 from Green Grey,
- 30% discount on any Render.ru courses for a year,
- a VIP account on Render.ru,
- a publication in Render Magazine,
- 20 rating points on the website.

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1st place in Demons:
- $2000 from Green Grey,
- 30% discount on any Render.ru courses for a year,
- a VIP account on Render.ru,
- an interview for Render Magazine,
- 50 rating points on the website.

2nd place in Demons:
- $1600 from Green Grey,
- 30% discount on any Render.ru courses for a year,
- a VIP account on Render.ru,
- a publication in Render Magazine,
- 30 rating points on the website.

3rd place in Demons:
- $1100 from Green Grey,
- 30% discount on any Render.ru courses for a year,
- a VIP account on Render.ru,
- a publication in Render Magazine,
- 20 rating points on the website.

+10 incentive prizes, $770 each.

Up to 150 competition finalists will automatically receive job offers from Green Grey and the company's partners!

Extra category: RENDER.RU Choice

Our editorial staff will pick best entries that did not end up winning prizes, with the authors getting:
- a VIP account on Render.ru for a year,
- 50 rating points on the website for the duration of the VIP status,
- 30% discount on any Render.ru courses for a year,
- a publication in Render Magazine.

An important point is that the payment to the winner will be made directly by RENDER.RU, a guarantee for the participant in itself. In order to receive their prizes, winners will have to transfer the rights to their competition entries to the organiser. After signing the contract, the money will be transferred to the winner's account. The payment of the prize is remuneration for the transfer of rights to the competition entry.
However, you can still display your work in your portfolio, pointing out that it was the winner of the Mysteries of Heavens contest by Green Grey.

Promising artists may be offered the opportunity to work on Green Grey Softworks projects. This has nothing to do with prizes. You may get an offer even if you don't end up in the top ten.

Terms of Reference

- Your competition entry must be in *.jpg or *.png format, saved with maximum quality, at least 2,048 px high or wide, whichever is smallest.
- You can use photobashing, but in an inconspicuous way. Don't bet on it. A poor-quality photobash will be detrimental to your work.
- The choice of style is up to you, but we recommend sticking to realism in your experiments. Your task is to produce an interesting, quality work.
- A good idea would be to place your character on a neutral background, while their pose and emotion are all up to you. It would be great if you went for an angle and a pose that would allow to study the character's image and outfit in the smallest detail, or, alternatively, you may add sketches with several different angles.
- It would be a huge plus if you added WIP images to your deliverable. You can add any number of images to each entry, and even GIFs and YouTube/Vimeo videos, if necessary.
- Entries that promote racism, drugs, sex, violence or contain offensive religious references and can hurt the feelings of believers will not be accepted.

Participation Conditions and Competition Rules (FAQ)

- We invite you to vote on this page. This will make the job of the Administration easier.
- You can join RENDER.RU groups in VK or FB, or join the RENDER.RU Telegram channel to stay on top of the latest news and changes in the course of the contest. It's very important to keep up!
- We suggest that you repost the competition announcement on your page (if you don't have a VK account, you can do it on Facebook). This will help us make the competition even better, but it's not a requirement.
- Sign up at RENDER.RU if you don't have an account yet. To avoid missing the deadline to submit your work to the contest gallery, sign up in advance.
- No more than three entries are allowed from any one participant (entries, not images; there can be as many images in one entry as you want).
- To take part in the competition, you need to submit your work to the competition gallery by clicking the big green 'Add an Entry' button on the main page of the contest.
WARNING: If you simply add a work to your own gallery, it will not participate in the competition! Use the 'Add artwork' button on the main page of the contest.
- The contest is international, but only individuals over the age of 18 are allowed to participate.
- We care about artists. For Russian citizens, Render.ru LLC will automatically withhold and pay the 13% income tax. You won't have to pay any other charges or submit tax statements after receiving a prize. The transfer of the prize without tax deduction is only possible for non-residents of the Russian Federation (foreigners). This is the Russian law, and we are obliged to follow it.
- You may add a short writeup explaining the story of your character to the description of your entry, if you consider it helpful to feel the atmosphere of your artwork to the fullest.
- Do not plagiarise! Such things cannot be hidden, and blatantly derivative entries will be deleted.
- Submitted works must be made specifically for the competition. You cannot submit works made for other contests or at other time.
- Please refrain from publishing your work elsewhere before the competition concludes.
Note: Any work sent to the contest is moderated for technical execution. All participants will receive an email notification letting them know whether their work has passed the selection process. In our experience, the vast majority of submissions do.

NOTE: The decision about the winners is made solely by the jury of the contest. The popular voting serves only to reflect the sentiment of the audience and does not affect the jury's decision. It is useless to try and cheat the voting. This is easy to identify and makes no sense at all. We don't have any in-house candidates or favourites. There are no clandestine schemes or conspiracies. Our competitions are as honest as possible for one simple reason: our goal is to find talented artists and collaborate with them on new projects!

Contest Timeframe

The duration of the contest is 2 months.
Works are accepted from 13 September to 13 November inclusive. Please note that selection is not instant. Screening of your work might take anywhere between hours and weeks, but 100% of works will have been moderated by the deadline.

Results will be formed within 7 working days from the end of the contest. The possibility of extending the contest timeframe is minimal, but the organiser reserves the right to do so.

Jury