We have some talented 3D artists participating in this year’s Halloween contest. It was a tough competition with hard to beat entries.

This year’s 3D winner captured the essence of fear with a creeptastic render that’s realistic enough to make a person tremble under the covers. Sleep paralysis is experienced by millions of people, but it might just be “an attempt to rationalize the various demons, ghouls and night creatures that prey on us at our most vulnerable.”

I sat down with Glinka to get the spooky details on her terrifying creation.

What inspired your creepy render?

It's actually based on my own sleep paralysis experience, which happened a few weeks ago and piqued my curiosity on the phenomenon and all the various legends around it. The image was a recreation of what I saw and felt, so I wanted it to convey the same terrifying feeling of being completely helpless and vulnerable. When I saw the contest, it immediately triggered the memory, and I thought it would be the perfect theme for it.

The render is quite realistic. What was the most difficult thing to accomplish?

Thank you! I always try to create realistic renders, as it's my favorite style, so that's very nice to hear. In this particular case, the most difficult thing was to balance the night scene lighting while keeping it bright enough to see the woman and creature clearly. Getting her expression right was the other thing I wanted to make sure worked, as it's what sells or breaks the image.

Why did you use that particular creature as inspiration for your night terror demon?

It was the closest to what I saw in my "dream."

You used Daz Studio, ZBrush, & Photoshop for your image. Can you tell us a little about what you did in each of these programs?

Sure.

I used Daz Studio as the main program to set up the characters and scene and used Iray to render it in different lighting passes so I could have more control when compositing them in Photoshop. I also converted the blanket to a dForce mesh so it would fall on the characters properly.

ZBrush was used to shape the creature further and adjust it to fit the pose better. I also used it to deform the pillows and mattress to accommodate the figures' poses.

Photoshop was used to composite the rendered layers, adjust the color and overall lighting, and to clean up small details.

How long did it take you to complete image?

It's hard to say exactly, as I usually cycle between projects because I find that revisiting an image with fresh eyes often helps me to find issues I might not have seen before. It was probably around five days of on and off sessions. As it's a fairly simple scene, I spent most of that time tweaking lights, materials, and playing with the camera angles.

How did you feel when the winners were announced?

I was honestly surprised!

Once I saw all the entries though, I knew it was going to be a very hard competition. I was just happy to enter it in the contest since it was such a personal image. Winning was a very unexpected and a most appreciated surprise.

How long have you been a member & have you participated in our contests before?

I've been a member since 2008 but had not entered any Renderosity contests until now.

How long have you been a 3D artist?

I started playing with 3D as a hobby around 2008, but it wasn't until about three years later that I decided to use it as my main creative medium, so I started actively trying to learn more and watch as many tutorials as I could find. I always loved the freedom of being able to create any idea I had without having to rely on stock or other people's images, as is the case with photo manipulations, and since I'm not an illustrator and love realistic renders, 3D was the perfect answer.

Click here for more bout the 2018 Halloween Contest.