Deadlock-Inspired Candleman Animation for the Gauntlet of Gods Challenge
Check out Paraffin – a candle-headed creature designed by Folio for pwnisher's 3D Community Challenge.
Folio, a programmer and talented 3D artist, shared their entry for the 13th Community Challenge run by Clinton Jones, also known as pwnisher. The candle-headed character is a swarm card – Paraffin attacks his opponents by blasting dozens of hot, burning candles from his minigun.
As the creator explains, Paraffin was largely inspired by Deadlock – a highly anticipated upcoming third-person shooter from Valve. Folio created and rendered the character in Blender. Texturing was done in Substance 3D Painter. With Marvelous Designer, Folio carried out a cloth simulation to create the character's outfit.
This is not Folio's first time participating in pwnisher's art challenges. The artist has been an active member of the community for over 5 years, and this time, they co-created the back cover art for the official Gauntlet of Gods card game alongside Ronan le Gall.
Participants in the 13th community challenge had to design characters for the Gauntlet of Gods card game. A 3D template and 13 hand-crafted animations were provided to all artists. They could use any 3D program they desired to turn the template into a game-ready custom character. The participants also had to create a 2D version of their design and use the Card Creator to make a TCG card for their characters. Though the provided animations were humanoid, the artists were free to make all sorts of creatures for the challenge.
To make it fair and ensure full originality, the use of licensed characters and generative AI was not allowed. The artists had one month to craft their own character – the challenge began on August 1, and submissions were open until September 1. Once the committee decides on which designs stood out, the top 100 submissions will be printed, packaged, and shipped.
On September 5, 2026, all renders submitted for the challenge will be revealed. The top 100 entries will be announced a week later, on September 12. Finally, on September 18, the judges will name the winners of the challenge in a livestream. The entries will be evaluated by Calder Moore, Dominik Mayer, Wilbert Roget, II, Artur Baranov, and AJ Brandon – the designer behind the Gauntlet of Gods.
If you want to see more awesome creatures made by other 3D artists for pwnisher's challenge, we gathered our favorites here.
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