Overview

I've participated in a bunch of Pixar's RenderMan Art Challenges over the past several years. For each Art Challenge, Pixar provides a handful of base models and assets and participants have to create a complete image incorporating those base assets; creating a finished entry means lots of custom modeling, texturing, shading, lighting, and more. These are great fun to participate in, and I've found them useful both for keeping my own CG art skills sharp and as a great way to keep in touch with how artists are using the latest CG tools across the wider industry.

I have participated in 7 challenges so far. Out of 7 challenges, I have won 1st place once, 3rd place once, and received an honorable mention 5 times.

Here are all of the entries I have submitted before, along with the how my entry placed in each challenge. These are in order of newest to oldest. Click on each image to see the full-size 4K version.

"First Contact" Art Challenge

Honorable Mention

Responsible for creating everything on top of base models provided by Pixar. For this project I also wrote a RenderMan plugin that extend's Pixar's default PxrPathTracer integrator with rays influenced by general relativity. Done just for fun. Created in 2025.

Assets by Adobe, KitBash3D, Grayscalegorilla, Ozone, and Pixar. © Disney/Pixar - RenderMan "First Contact" Art Challenge

"Lost Things" Art Challenge

Honorable Mention

Responsible for creating everything on top of base models provided by Pixar. This one was basically a big exercise in modeling/texturing/shading as ton of props. Done just for fun. Created in 2023.

Walking Teapot by Dylan Sisson. Models by 2018 Pixar PUPs and Leif Pedersen © Disney/Pixar - RenderMan "Lost Things" Art Challenge

"NASA Exploration" Art Challenge

Honorable Mention

Responsible for creating everything on top of base models provided by Pixar. I modeled every single tile on the space shuttle model by hand, which took forever. Done just for fun. Created in 2022.

Walking Teapot by Dylan Sisson. Models provided by NASA and Poly Haven © Disney/Pixar - RenderMan "NASA Exploration" Art Challenge

"The Iconoclasts" Art Challenge

Honorable Mention

Responsible for creating everything on top of base models provided by Pixar. Done mostly for fun but also as a vehicle for experimenting with new RenderMan 24 features and for learning to write RenderMan plugins; for this challenge, I wrote a RenderMan camera plugin that simulates real-world lenses via polynmomial optics. Created in 2021.

Walking Teapot by Dylan Sisson. MAT by Damien Levaufre © Disney/Pixar - RenderMan "The Iconoclasts" Art Challenge

"Magic Shop" Art Challenge

Third Place

Responsible for creating everything on top of base models provided by Pixar. Done mostly for fun but also as a vehicle for learning RenderMan, XGen, Substance Painter, and other tools. Created in 2020.

Mathilda model by Xiong Lin and rig by Leon Sooi. Pixar models by Eman Abdul-Razzaq, Grace Chang, Ethan Crossno, Siobhán Ensley, Derrick Forkel, Felege Gebru, Damian Kwiatkowski, Jeremy Paton, Leif Pedersen, Kylie Wijsmuller, and Miguel Zozaya © Disney/Pixar - RenderMan "Magic Shop" Art Challenge

"Shipshape" Art Challenge

First Place

Responsible for creating everything on top of base models provided by Pixar. Done mostly for fun but also as a vehicle for learning RenderMan, Substance Painter, and other tools. Created in 2020.

Ship concept by Ian McQue. Robot concept by Ruslan Safarov. Models by Cheyenne Chapel, Aliya Chen, Damian Kwiatkowski, Alyssa Minko, Anthony Muscarella, and Miguel Zozaya © Disney/Pixar - RenderMan "Shipshape" Art Challenge

"Woodville" Art Challenge

Honorable Mention

Responsible for creating everything on top of base models provided by Pixar. Done mostly for fun but also as a vehicle for learning RenderMan, Houdini, ZBrush, Substance Painter, and other tools. Created in 2019.

Concept by Vasylina Holod. Model by Alex Shilt © Disney / Pixar - RenderMan "Woodville" Art Challenge

Blog Posts

After every challenge, I write up a making-of blog post mostly as a way to organize my own notes for what I did and what I learned on each challenge. Posts are listed starting with the most recent:

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Leif Pederson at Pixar for running the RenderMan Art Challenges series, and thanks to my wife, Harmony Li, for her support and for always giving great feedback and suggestions on my pieces.