#MadeWithEnvato ‘Winter Wonderland’ Photo Editing Competition: And the Winner Is…

Over the holiday season, we teamed up with YouTube sensation PhaseRunner to host a photo editing competition. The theme was ‘Winter Wonderland’, and whether it was a snowy scene, icy castle, or fantastical fairytale inspired landscape, the entries certainly put us in a festive mood. All of the work submitted was made using items from Envato Elements – and tons of creativity!

Out of 560 Winter Wonderland images shared by our creative community on Instagram, we worked with PhaseRunner to whittle it down to one winner – say hello to @camillehalluin – and an overall top 10 entries. Narrowing down the top 10 was the greatest challenge of all as there were some truly spectacular visual creations to choose from. A huge shout out to PhaseRunner for his help and expertise in selecting our winner and setting the bar high with his own artwork. 

Congrats to @camillehalluin who receives receives a Wacom Cintiq Pro and a free annual subscription to Envato Elements to keep the #MadewithEnvato creativity alive. Check out the 10 best entries below and share your own #MadewithEnvato work and tag @envato on Instagram.

Of all the entries, our judges unanimously agreed that Camille’s piece – inspired by Last Christmas by Chilly Gonzales – was the winner. Our head judge, PhaseRunner explains, “I believe Camille’s use of warm tones truly captures the theme and spirit of a ‘Winter Wonderland’. She displays incredible photo manipulation skills and techniques to create a well thought out and solid composition and has clearly spent a lot of time preparing the stock images by pulling shapes, textures and other images and methodically building an entirely new world. Camille’s ability to warp, transform and bend assets to her will is awesome to see. The editing skills on display here speak for themselves!”

Freelance digital artist Panjooolart submitted this entry featuring an ethereal creature along with the caption, “Let the winter spirit guide you”. Comments included, “My brain cannot even fathom how you made this” and “The entire castle is amazing. Absolutely stunning”. PhaseRunner notes ‘ ‘the technical expertise needed to be able to pull something off like this is mind-blowing. Panjooolart is a true visionary and master of the craft!’

This visual feast from Guatemalan graphic designer Tony Hergon features a ‘WW’ (for Winter Wonderland), logo on the front of the enchanted castle with a guest arriving through the main entrance. One commenter said, “The level of this composition is incredible” and PhaseRunner adds ‘Their techniques in world-building, blending, lighting abilities and storytelling are on point’ . We couldn’t agree more!

Digital artist Mello said he still wasn’t satisfied with this entry when it was posted – but we were! The interpretation of the Winter Wonderland brief and icy fantasy castle depicted in the work attracted comments including, “Absolutely beautiful man! Love it so much!” and “Purely fantastic”.

We love the perspective in this one from Szopa Photoszopa, with the castle in the distance and a lone figure walking towards the gates through a frozen pathway. It’s titled “Jotunheim” – a location associated with Norse mythology. Definitely one to watch.

This is a fun and festive one from digital creator @optic_snax featuring a child and a snowman arriving at a winter wonderland playground – which is complete with candy canes, snow capped Christmas trees, a frozen slide and a magical lighthouse. Despite declaring that he is more of a grinch at Christmas time, you’d have to agree Optic Snax has created a truly inviting scene. Scroll through the gallery for some of the incredible details such as the string of lights around the lamp posts.

This was Australian artist and designer Nikkayla’s first competition entry in a while, but they were enticed back in the game by PhaseRunner who has long been an inspiration. Here’s an explanation on the piece from Nikkayla: “I wasn’t going to go with a snowscape to begin with purely because in Australia, Christmas isn’t summer but I rarely do snow so I wound up going this way and for more wanting to weave a surreal story rather than just wanting to do a landscape. I wanted there to be some mystery happening, but something that maybe you’d love to actually see. It was originally going to be whales and fish travelling in the light but I wound up going with a hippocampus instead.”

Concept artist and photo manipulator Jendi created a landscape piece inspired by snow globes. The composition is simply beautiful, featuring two figures (including a snowman) looking out across a scene which includes two dome filled cities among the waves. Comments included, “I am blown away by your concept! It’s so amazing and unique. Good job!” and “Magnificent work jendi, the colors are so beautiful”.

Artist Christian Kirchner’s piece features a mechanical reindeer and an underwater city. He explains, “I love to expand the borders of a given topic or subject to get something unique that tells a story.

My idea for this piece was a girl riding at the bottom of the ocean towards an underwater city to celebrate Christmas. Her robotic version of Rudolph leads both of them safe and sound over the sand… or maybe volcanic ash?” Such a unique concept that stood out from the crowd.

Last but by no means least, digital creator SB wanted to do something a little bit different by recreating Santa’s sleigh flying across the winter wonderland. The result is truly original and dreamy.

You’ve seen our top 10, you’ve discovered the winner, but which were some of your favorite entries from our photo editing competition. Join us on Instagram and let us know. Plus follow us to stay tuned if you missed out on entering this time as we’ll have more contests coming soon.