Grand Space Opera is the second title in the CG Challenge series. The book features the artwork and techniques of winning artists and finalists in the online CG Challenges organized by CGNetworks.com and CGTalk.com. The book also features an epic gallery of over 50 notable entries.

CG Challenge Grand Space Opera: the book
The format of the CG Challenge Grand Space Opera book features thirteen in-depth “making of” articles from each of the winning artists and the runners-up, and a gallery featuring the work of 50-odd artists who received honourable mentions in the Challenge or were selected for the book. Grand Space Opera is not only a record of the CG Challenge, but also a learning resource delving into the techniques that winning artists and finalists used to produce their magnificent entries. The consistently high quality of entries to the Grand Space Opera Challenge also meant we needed to add extra pages to show a representative selection of the best work entered.

The Grand Space Opera Challenge
The Grand Space Opera Challenge (CG Challenge XVI) run by CGNetworks from 18 October 2004 – 17 January 2005 was sponsored by Boxx Technologies, PNY Technologies, Softimage, Discreet, ART VPS, The Gnomon Workshop, Ballistic Publishing, Turbo Squid, Luxology, Pixologic, Corel and Digital Tutors.

The thinking behind the Grand Space Opera Challenge for entrants was to think big – really, really big! It presented the opportunity to create an iconic image capturing a pivotal moment in a vast galactic spanning civilization... a civilization so vast that the only thread holding it together is a shared legacy of common legends. Legends of heroes, of heroic battles won against unimaginable odds, of crushing defeats and enemies that swarm through entire galaxies. Legends of utopian worlds, of vast planetary cities, of whole suns enclosed. Legends of secret sects and empire-spanning conspiracies. Legends of oppression and abject poverty. Legends of artists, of scientists, of religious leaders, of political leaders.
View the Grand Space Opera Winners>>

The CG Challenge book series
The CG Challenges are the world's largest digital art contests. Run four times a year on CGNetworks.com and its CGTalk.com forums, it challenges artists to push their abilities in creating cutting edge artwork with the latest arsenal of digital tools available today. The CG Challenges continually produce extremely high quality digital art through its workshop approach, where all contestants must share their work-in-progress for other artists to critique and improve.

The CG Challenge book series celebrates these online contests in a permanent, printed medium. Each book is filled with making-ofs from the winners and a gallery packed with the hottest images from the finalists. Published to the same perfection as titles such as EXPOSÉ and d'artiste, the award-winning team at Ballistic Publishing bring you this remarkable art series celebrating the talents of digital artists participating in the international CG Challenges.