The Foundry and CGSociety are looking for the world's best MARI artist!

The Foundry, makers of the 3D digital paint tool, MARI, has supplied us with "Witch Doctor" by the wonderful Jakob Kousholt (thanks Jakob!). The model, shown above, is for you to texture and bring to life. Download it here:
Witch_Doctor_v4.zip (10MB)

The artwork will be judged on the composition, attention to detail and general awesomeness. We want to see textures that tell a story.

We'll be looking for detailed, realistic textures in a lookdev-ready setup (a minimum of colour, bump and spec maps for each shader). Details which make the textures more evocative will get bonus points too. You will receive extra qudos for submitting animated textures, turntables, renderable scenes (Maya and 3ds Max etc.) and showcasing your work in progress on CGTalk.

The competition will be judged by Jack Greasley, MARI’s product manager, the multi-talented Scott Metzger, Image Engine’s Justin Holt and well known texture artist and CGTalk Chief moderator and host Leigh Van Der Byl.

You must have permission to distribute the textures you use.

Haven’t got MARI? Never used it before? The Foundry are offering a 60 day trial for the duration of the challenge, plenty of time to get to grips with this incredibly powerful tool. Download the 15 day trial www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/mari/, and to extend it to the end of the competition email your name, address, phone number, and sys ID for the license to mari-challenge@thefoundry.co.uk

If you want to brush up on your texture painting skills before presenting your final entry, CGWorkshops is offering an 8 week, fully mentored, online "Creature Texture Painting in Mari," CGWorkshop with Image Engine's Justin holt. The workshop begins on 15th October. Click here for more details. Remember that although you'll learn better techniques through Justin's videos, feedback and live webinar sessions, Justin cannot give you any advice or help on your competition entry.

Deliverables to be uploaded on your Challenge page:
Beauty render
At least 2 WIPS (Work In Progress), but the more the better.