Environmental Concept Work

Drawing inspiration from the reference images I posted, I began to mock up some small thumbnail sketches of things that I feel would make interesting additions to the scene as well as the overall scene itself. From market squares to mountainous landscapes I wanted to get my ideas down quickly and effectively. As I began working my graphics tablet actually broke, which was not really ideal. I bought a brand new one straight away and began with sketching things up with some pencil brushes I made. Although I had actually tried drawing into my sketchbook, the freedom I feel I had within Photoshop just seemed completely unparalleled.

Doing these basic thumbnail sketches forced me to do something I had never actually approached before in that I was not able to refine my work to the point where I felt it could be presented. Having to work in such a small space forced me out of my comfort zone and into one where my work was much more fluid and many of the mistakes I made stuck. These mistakes could them be interpreted however my eye saw them.

Some of the things I created were just not suitable, but by working through these 9 panels I was able to establish what worked for me.

Each individual drawing drew more and more from the reference images and the more I drew each new scene the more I realised I was reusing certain objects over and over again. The main one being the door in the 3rd panel that carried through to the 9th.

Having refined my image over time, I decided to go with the final panel as the one that I would use to base my environment on. Overall I felt the composition as a whole worked best, especially with the small town at the rocks by the bottom and the raised up entrance by the rocks. The extended walls gave me the freedom to introduce a mountainous environment just behind it if i needed to and if possible I could begin work on everything in the background if everything goes okay in Maya.

From here I wanted to work on a colour study to see if everything in the scene would work well with everything else. Not necessarily having a colour profile in mind, I took back into Photoshop and began to work on the image.

Working with colour gave me new ideas and new ways to progress the environment. Looking at the piece coloured I realise there was no contrast to the image with no real focal point in the foreground. Removing the two huts by the rocks would just leave the castle by itself. Introducing the drain to the bottom left hand side allowed me to play with the composition as a whole. Introducing this varied colour allowed me to establish a new focal point whilst giving me something else interesting to model once in Maya.

Having established this form from the side view, as I did before with my conceptual photographs, I wanted to create an image from the front. As this is how i'd be modelling a majority of the piece, having a front reference to work from would help me establish my aim.

Again in Photoshop I began concepting an idea based on the one above to really finalise the image to allow me to work in Maya. After about an hour I had come up with this pencil sketch;

The image itself includes all the things I wanted when looking at the original references; an enclosed entrance, a drain in the left wall, a high central level, a mountainous background and the potential to include both pillars and stairwells. Working from both of these basic images I feel I will confidently be able to go into Maya knowing what it is that I am creating.