Envirornment Art.

My first attempt at stepping outside of my usual character modeling work and branch into something that would appear easier than it actual is... Environment modeling is a huge testament of patience and detail work. I have high hopes for this piece, as I know I need to open up my skillsets more and I'd really like to have a nice fully rendered concept.
 

 

I am planning on making this  into a fully polished 2D concept piece, with potential for animation at a later (later) time... So far it's been a lot of fun and extremely challenging.  So many small details to get through!  A lot of research and reference hunting, too.

 I've been working on this in free moments over the past couple weeks. I'm eager to get past the modeling for once in my life, however, and dive into the lighting, maps, and texture work.  I'd like to play around with Xgen as well, as I've heard a lot of great things about it...

 

To learn about the process, I've been busying myself with my digital tutors subscription, which has been a lifesaver.  Specifically I found Justin Marshall's "Setting Dressing and Design in Maya" very helpful.  His videos were easy to understand technically which is always nice for a change, but very useful for demonstrating different ideas for how to approach of organizing, and building the foundations for working with out of the assets as an entity. 

 

I particularly liked his referencing technique;  painting registrations marks on his terrain as a guide to where his objects, vegetation, etc, will be placed...   There was definitely some great tips throughout his tutorial.  I recommend it for a core foundation if you have never attempted modeling an environment before!

 

But, hey, I've got a long way to go myself...  So, luck be on my side that I get to the finish line as I intend...

 

 

There really is a lot to learn about an environment modeling workflow.  I'd really love to find some more resources, maybe take a class at some point.  Even matte painting would be great to explore down this avenue of the industry!

Have to make this one short, but wanted to get my latest work out there... Things are a bit hectic at the moment with the hustle of it all.  I'm volunteering some of my time at a company learning and working with character animation and have a small commissioned gig (which I'll go into both at another time-- but both very exciting!).  Both are keeping me very busy, too, but hopefully I will have more progress to show soon!  

I hope you all had a great holiday!  Welcome to Summer 2015.  Let's bring it on strong!
Please drop by again to find out what's new! And thank you as always for your support!