Our first ever themed competition was aptly set to Halloween, and what a treat it was!

First up let's look at the honorable mentions, then the winners...

Honorable Mentions

by John Mattson using Blender — by John Mattson using Blender

Seriously creepy! I had to read the comments to discover the girl was a photo, but it was blended perfectly with the CG background. Great work!

by William Paré-Jobin using Zbrush — by William Paré-Jobin using Zbrush

Look at that detail! There's no story to this render, but as a standalone character render it's great. Really fantastic sculpting work!

By Chelsea Vera using 3dsmax and Vray — By Chelsea Vera using 3dsmax and Vray

Now that's a complex scene! I love how much effort you put into texturing everything and building out the scene. The composition is a little conflicted, but other than it's fantastic. Well done Chelsea!

3rd Prize

By Eric Tualle using 3dsmax and Octane — By Eric Tualle using 3dsmax and Octane

Whoa! Getting some serious Stranger Things vibes from this, and that's a good thing! Detail wise it's simple, but the composition and lighting makes it super effective. Really well done Eric!

2nd Prize

By Rachel Frick using Blender — By Rachel Frick using Blender

At first glance this render looks quite simple, but at full-size you can appreciate the details in both the foreground and that "surprising" background! Really great scene and well deserving of 2nd place!

1st Prize

by Ramon Scortanu using Blender — by Ramon Scortanu using Blender

What a stunning environment! It's easily readable, detailed and well textured. I love that you combined two IPs to create something new as well (The Shining with HP Lovecraft). This is well deserving of first prize. Well done!

To everyone else that entered, thank you for your hard work! It was a pleasure - and a little unsettling - to see all of your images. Hope to see you in future competitions!