Wētā Workshop Design Competition Returns for 2019
Wētā Workshop’s annual design competition is back for 2019. The Incheon City Concept Design Competition (ICDC) celebrates the best sci-fi and fantasy art from tertiary students throughout New Zealand and Korea. In store for the winner and runner-up: a creative journey abroad to Incheon City in Seoul, South Korea, with Wētā Workshop co-founder, Richard Taylor and Wētā Workshop game director, Greg Broadmore.
The ICDC – formerly the Gwangmyeong Concept Design Competition – calls for budding artists, illustrators, and designers to apply their imagination to a creative brief, set by Wētā Workshop. Tertiary students from any discipline are invited to submit.
This year, entrants are asked to step into the shoes of interplanetary explorers.
Imagine a future in which select members of Earth’s population have boarded massive spacecraft and headed off in pursuit of a new life. These bold explorers discover a planet and the benign, sentient lifeform that lives there. Together, humans and aliens cohabitate in a new community. What do they wear, use, travel on, and discover, out on the new frontier?
Submissions will be judged by Richard Taylor and members of Wētā Workshop’s Design Studio. Together, they will be looking for equal parts originality and technical ability. The very best submissions will capture a sense of fantasy, reality, history, and imagination inside an evocative, technically impressive piece of art.
The prize is a once-in-a-lifetime trip to South Korea. Winner and runner-up will fly to Incheon City in Seoul for the awards ceremony in August. When they’re not sightseeing, the pair can attend creative talks by Richard Taylor, Greg Broadmore, and other surprise speakers. The overall winner will also receive a $300 USD voucher to spend on Wētā Workshop collectibles; with a $200 USD voucher on offer for third place.
Since its inception in 2015, Wētā Workshop’s annual concept design competition has attracted more than 500 entries. In addition to incredible prizes, the competition provides a rare opportunity for students to get their work under the eyes of industry professionals. Some finalists have even found themselves with job offers; among them, 2015 runner-up Tahiwi Trenor Hunt (Massey University), 2017 runner-up, LiWen Choy (Auckland University) and 2018 winner Chow Qin Yi (Auckland University).
Entries for the ICDC open on June 3. Students have six weeks to submit their work. For full submission guidelines and eligibility criteria, head to www.icdc.co.nz.