Best Of

* Creature Making Contest 2025 Winner Announcement *

Big thanks to all of you fantastic creature makers who entered our 2025 Creature Making Contest! As always, your level of creativity was through the roof. With so many fun entries, it was nearly impossible to pick a single winner, but we are pleased to announce the Grand Prize goes to InkyPunkArt for their entry, The Banderbear. Congratulations!

Here are some words from InkyPunkArt about their creation:

Fantasy adventure fiction has always been my safe place and my escapism, and no novels as much as ‘The Edge Chronicles’ by Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart. The Banderbear is one of my favourite creatures from the series, and so, inspired by the incredible illustrations of Riddell, I made my first puppet 7 years ago, and this guy more recently.

Made entirely by myself from scratch, he has an aluminium wire skeleton, a faux fur soft body stuffed with wadding and hand sculpted and painted head, hands and feet.

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Grand Prize Winner:

The Banderbear by InkyPunkArt
https://forums.stanwinstonschool.com/discussion/11907/the-banderbear-poseable-ooak-puppet

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

KUDARU baby sea creature Original design, by DZmitry
https://forums.stanwinstonschool.com/discussion/12056/kudaru-baby-sea-creature-original-design

Bear Snail by Leeanderthal
https://forums.stanwinstonschool.com/discussion/12097/bear-snail

Hrima and Eisglodir by mr_spacelobster
https://forums.stanwinstonschool.com/discussion/11890/hrima-and-eisglodir

Lady Latrodectus by Chris Decays
https://forums.stanwinstonschool.com/discussion/11993/lady-latrodectus

The Druid by Begona F. Martin
https://forums.stanwinstonschool.com/discussion/12069/the-druid

The Grafton Monster by Greg Popovich
https://forums.stanwinstonschool.com/discussion/12096/the-grafton-monster

Gorilla Crab by Leeanderthal
https://forums.stanwinstonschool.com/discussion/12090/gorilla-crab

Leviathan by Tomo Hyakutake
https://forums.stanwinstonschool.com/discussion/12051/leviathan

Weird hybrid animal The Morsh by Иван Гродзенский
https://forums.stanwinstonschool.com/discussion/12134/weird-hybrid-animal-the-morsh

- Team SWSCA

Chris Ellerby

5

Re: What's On Your Workbench? (Summer 2025)

My most recent latex mask of a charred zombie, just finished this the other day, and a picture of me and my actual work bench with some older and newer projects.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020761/uploads/editor/pq/thq5uacmpifk.jpg

Mike McCoy

5

Weird hybrid animal The Morsh

Good day Dear Stan Winston school!
Our names are Ivan and Anna, we are family of sculptors/artists from Ukraine. We create characters from our imagination, and then make sculptures and figurines, maintly from polymer clay, sometimes from ceramic mass. We hope 3 our works we post here for contest, at least attract some attention and interest !
As for this sculpture : Weird hybrid animal The Morsh
Made from Cedrnit opaline, eyes made from epoxy

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020761/uploads/editor/kv/arjx104bpv9c.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020761/uploads/editor/hw/zaepq4agxhlm.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020761/uploads/editor/s5/43hnjkndc4hq.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020761/uploads/editor/7c/3gc9t3ze82r5.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020761/uploads/editor/hg/pgpvvr0lh0o5.jpg

Иван Гродзенский

5

Hrima and Eisglodir

In the farthest reaches of the frozen north, where wind and ice rule, Hrima and Eisglodir patrol the endless snowfields. Hrima—a quiet guardian—carries the weight of ancient oaths, his small frame steady with a warrior’s resolve. Eisglodir—his towering mount—moves with sharp grace, venom gleaming, spikes poised, a shield against the cold, and the key to their survival.

Bound by an unspoken bond, they cross the stillness, watching, listening—protectors of hidden paths, keepers of old secrets. A flicker of life in an endless white, enduring where few dare to tread.

Sculpted with Cosclay, painted with acrylics.

mr_spacelobster

6

KUDARU baby sea creature Original design

Hello 👋 My name is Dzmitry , I am an artist from Miami, Florida USA . My creature Kudaru was inspired by different animals such as otter, catfish, seal and so on. For the name I used the Navi language. I combined two words (push) and (stone), Kudaru is the interpretation as a stone pushing creature. The creature spends most of its life in water, but also feels good on the shore. The feeding method is turning over stones and collecting mollusks and small fish, also powerful jaws with a large number of small teeth and powerful hands with fingers are great for opening mollusks shells. The legs are short but powerful, provide good pushing support and help maneuver while swimming! The large tail fin allows for quick movement underwater, as well as creating sand barriers on the bottom while pursuing a larger predator. During the mating season, males change color and choose a large and beautiful stone to give to their partner.

( concept design, sculpture modeling, mold creation, silicone pouring and painting, also a skeleton is installed inside - all processes are created by me )

DZmitry

5

Hand Monster - "Feel No Light" (3D Sculpt using Zbrush, Substance Painter, and Maya)

He was once a man—the slayer of the last dragon. But when he claimed the golden ring from its corpse, he was cursed to live as a wretched monstrosity for all eternity, bound to the very symbol of his greed.

The dragon’s remains warped into a throne, rotting over centuries, becoming both his prison and his home. His human eyes now sit in the dragon's skull; he can see only through them, but cannot take them when he leaves. He wanders blindly—feeding on whatever he can scavenge.

I created this completely original piece specifically for this competition using ZBrush, Substance Painter, and Maya, with the final render completed in Arnold.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020761/uploads/editor/eg/i63iq1v49pvd.jpg

Here are a couple of screenshots from Zbrush:

Here are three screenshots from Substance Painter:

Viola Schmid

6

Gorilla Crab

Hi everyone. This is my entry for the competition. I also have a world building YouTube channel, where I make creatures and other random stuff.
please enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi1se-tvghw

Leeanderthal

6

Re: What's On Your Workbench? (Spring 2025)

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020761/uploads/editor/9p/epf461ltqkoz.jpg

DoManhFX

7

* The 2025 Creature Making Contest Has Ended *

The 2025 Creature Making Contest Has Ended

The winning entry will be announced on Friday, May 30th, 2025, so stay tuned!

Thank you all for sharing your creations with our community here at the Stan Winston School of Character Arts Forums.

Please click the "Like" button on your favorite contest entries. We take the community's reaction into consideration during the judging process. Let your voices be heard!

/Chris

Chris Ellerby

11