Showcase Your Creativity

WD Blue Contest for Content Creators

As seen over time, art tends to reflect the technological advancements and changes of the contemporary time. Today, with digital technology at the core of our everyday lives, artists are often inspired by the very mediums we use—digital media—to create art. Whether you start a creative project with an image captured through a camera lens or a sketch drawn from your imagination, how you use digital technology tools like Adobe Creative Cloud plays a key role in your evolving creative process.

163 Entries

Entries

8 Winners

Winners

Winners

1st Prize Winner

Curren T.

As a content creator, I heavily rely on digital technology as a source of inspiration and a means to carry out my creative vision. My academic background in software and hardware engineering makes me deeply appreciate the tools I use to bring about my ideas. I began making films and taking photos at a young age, using online tutorials to teach myself the fundamentals of shooting and editing. With my camera, our family computer, and the internet, I quickly began pushing the boundaries of any equipment at hand.
Technical limitations led me to develop workarounds to achieve my goals before I eventually upgraded to a new camera and switched over to the Adobe Creative Cloud. Since the transition to more advanced software, my capabilities of creative expression increased exponentially. Additionally, I began learning how to create 3D art, a medium that ultimately depends on digital technology from beginning to end. My love of 3D art, specifically, stems from the possibility of creating otherwise impossible, photorealistic imagery. Given that technology improved drastically over the last ten years, my capabilities as an artist followed that trend.
From capturing live visuals to completing post-processing, the entirety of my workflow involves some form of digital tech. This submission piece involved taking a digital photograph and using software to translate its perspective lines into a 3D environment. Then, I used a custom HDRI to light the scene with accurate, on-location lighting. Using my 3D software of choice, I introduced various models to complement the composition and tell a story. I finally rendered the image, composited it onto the original photograph with Photoshop, and color graded it with Lightroom. My art reflects the cutting-edge advancements in imaging technology, ultimately making it reflect the time during which I created it.

1st prize winner, Curren T's image submission

2nd Prize Winner

Stephen G.

I’ve been a visual effects artist for years now, so digital tools are the most important thing in my workflow. Software like Blender and Adobe After Effects allow me to create CGI worlds with endless possibilities. I generally use Adobe After Effects for compositing and post processing my 3d renders, and I use Blender for my 3D work. With these tools I’m able to iterate extremely quickly and work way faster than I could building everything in the real world. This passion of mine led me to filmmaking and I currently work professionally as a freelance vfx artist and filmmaker. This piece I submitted is one of my favorite passion projects I’ve ever made, and it was created in blender and Adobe After Effects.

2nd prize winner, Stephen G's image submission

3rd Prize Winner

Carolyn U.

Thinking that landfills are brimming to capacity, the thought of taking more and dumping it into a landfill and making it even more filled and possibilities of finding and creating yet another site is just too crazy and the word, “avoidance” comes to play. Then you begin to look into the oceans and the dumping going into it, again, makes you cringe and realize that our world is becoming smaller and smaller. The thought of finishing and catching that big one and wonder, “what am I even eating?” The pollution rate is high, very high and it is like a vicious cycle of eating, dumping and so on and so forth.
When creating this sculpture of “The Old Man and the Sea”, that thought of taking a book, repurposing it structurally and creating it to be something special with the use of photoshop to create and bring it to life through it’s color and dramatic art of using, or should I say to keep the black and white to make a statement.
I love using Adobe for my work and because the files are so large, it would behoove me not to consider using a drive from Western Digital. A most trustworthy product, you can never go wrong in doing so. I have never ever had an issue with lost data or files and it truly is the only one that I would every use. All of our artists are absolutely believing that there really is no other option for working! I truly hope that you like my submission and see the detailing in the artwork and how absolutely the colors chosen were used to share the idea that I was working to convey in my art! Thank you so much!

3rd prize winner, Carolyn U's image submission

4th Prize Winner

Ruth H.

Today we have found ourselves in a new era of creation. What were once Rembrandt paintings and marble sculptures are now digital paintings and 3d renders. Digital technology has created a new form of self-expression similar to those classic painters, only instead of a paintbrush, it’s a computer mouse. With these new powerful tools, artists of a new variety are coming around and changing the face of art. Digital art is more accessible to creatives worldwide than ever before. Its format lends itself to be shared across social media for everyone to see. Strangers can see my work from their living room couch and I can communicate my emotions, life struggles, and who I am as a person. We can relate to each other while never meeting face to face. This makes art more powerful than it has ever been before.
I started working in Adobe programs in middle school and immediately became addicted to the creative process. In Adobe Photoshop, I could combine images in new ways to create surrealist scenes that couldn’t exist in nature. I knew right away that the only creative boundary was my own imagination. My photography would not be what it is today without digital tools and programs allowing me to create visually stunning compositions. I believe we still have yet to see the limit of where we can take digital art and I only hope to be at the forefront of it.

4th prize winner, Ruth H's image submission

Honorable Mentions

Fan Favorite

Matt M.

Digital technology allows you to fail, and ultimately succeed, at an increasingly fast pace. Something that would normally take days can now be done with a click of a button. From the simple “Undo”, to content aware tools and AI based style transfers, anything that automates work allows you to explore ideas that you wouldn’t normally attempt. Then, once you make the attempt, you have the freedom to iterate beyond the initial vision. I can only imagine what Leonardo da Vinci’s desktop would look like if he had today’s tools at his disposal.

Honorable mentions, Matt M's image submission

Mindy L.

I won’t be the kind of artist I am today without digital technology. The imagination and creativity begins from my heart and mind, but digital technology allows me to expand and spread my ideas and voice to those around me. This connection is the best motivator and reason why I create. Technology allows my art to connect with others. It helps me bring my weird and crazy ideas to life and makes it accessible to reach all kinds of people.

Honorable mentions, Mindy L's image submission

Edward W.

Digital technology has helped me bring ideas to life that I couldn’t otherwise create. Sketches that are difficult to physically paint can be created, tweaked, and developed through 3D software and digital technology.

Honorable mentions, Edward W's image submission

Sopuruchi N.

The first time I opened Adobe Photoshop, I remember being overwhelmed. I had seen people use the app before, but when they used it, it had a white canvas on it. For some reason, I couldn’t figure out how to move from that gray interface to a white canvas for months. When I finally got wifi access, I looked up how to do that, but it didn’t stop there. I searched how to make a gradient, multiple shapes, texts, travel to multiple countries…by editing myself in the background of my desired location. The rest is a blur been three years now, and that Huion drawing tablet mom and I went around the computer market to find when I still lived in Lagos, Nigeria was the best thing that ever happened to me. It opened up a path I never saw or imagined possible for myself.
I have always seen creative skills as a bridge that lets the world into our thoughts, and the more we hone those skills, the stronger the bridge becomes and farther into our minds people can access. Learning digital art has served a vital role to explore and express my creativity, tell stories, and visually represent my ideas beyond ways I ever thought were possible.

Honorable mentions, Sopuruchi N's image submission

Disclosures:
Contest open to US residents age 18 and over. Please visit contest Terms and Conditions for more information.

Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. Product specifications subject to change without notice. Pictures shown may vary from actual products.