Pirate House Scene (Artyom Vlaskin concept)
Hi Everyone!
This is my first time posting on Polycount - though I've followed several threads and learned a lot from the community. I've been building up my portfolio and wanted to add a piece that was somewhat more stylized to the mix.
I am working from this original concept by Artyom Vlaskin:
My goal was to do something bright, colorful, and almost more cartoony or stylized than I normally do. I'd like to focus on hand-painted textures and game res models. I intend to build it out in UDK with a primary focus on the building itself, but a bit of additional work on the scene around it (dock, trees, beach, ocean) to flesh out the space.
I've started with a color paint-over of the original concept:
I'll be updating regularly, trying to force myself to stay productive by posting here. I'd love any and all feedback the community is willing to offer!
Thanks!
This is my first time posting on Polycount - though I've followed several threads and learned a lot from the community. I've been building up my portfolio and wanted to add a piece that was somewhat more stylized to the mix.
I am working from this original concept by Artyom Vlaskin:
My goal was to do something bright, colorful, and almost more cartoony or stylized than I normally do. I'd like to focus on hand-painted textures and game res models. I intend to build it out in UDK with a primary focus on the building itself, but a bit of additional work on the scene around it (dock, trees, beach, ocean) to flesh out the space.
I've started with a color paint-over of the original concept:
I'll be updating regularly, trying to force myself to stay productive by posting here. I'd love any and all feedback the community is willing to offer!
Thanks!
Replies
Just checking in with some progress on my scene. I've modeled out most of the house and surrounding dock, and I was hoping to get some feedback on it before getting too far into the unwrap. I've definitely found it to be a very complex shape and I've had to make a few adjustments from the concept. Since the concept didn't really give a sense of the back of the house I had to kinda make up a lot of that geometry - I added in a little balcony and some windows to flesh it out a bit.
Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I would say that the model looks good but I think there is some sections that are to straight compare to the rest of model and the concept... Like the boardwalks, especially the outer one, and some parts of the roof. Would be nice with a more interesting silouette of those parts
A lot of his shapes are nice and chunky, and I think a few parts of your model are getting a little thinner. For example some of the wood beams and supports. In his concept they are very weighty/chunky/heavy, and in your model are looking a little thinner and weaker. I would beaf them up a bit.
Also, I have seen a couple people tackle these concepts by Artyom Vlaskin, and one mistake I have seen is that they do a pretty great job on reproducing the part of the concept that is drawn, but on the backside, it kind of falls off...
I think that is happening with your model. The building should really have close to the same sense of AWESOME as the concept has all the way around, and I think the back side of your model is lacking in comparison to the front. Spend some time thinking about what might be around the back. Give it some life and narrative and make something cool that fits with what the front is showing. For example, maybe add more dock around the back with some fishing poles, barrels stacked, maybe exagerate that back patio more. Make it bigger. Stick a small room sticking off it, or maybe its a resturaunt with a big patio out back and bar attached to it...
Something. Anyways, I think its a good start. Just need to nail down what you're going to do with the back of it.
Owl: Wow I really appreciate your incredibly thorough feedback, this is exactly why I came over to polycount
You definitely nailed the bit about the back - I've been struggling with what to do with it since I started and you're right that it really doesn't have that wow factor. I love the idea of adding some sort of bar/restaurant out there with some roofing similar to the front. The whole house definitely gives off the whole bar vibe to me. Your ideas about the fishing poles are excellent, I've realized I've neglected all of those little prop elements and gotten too wrapped up in the large scale architecture. Thanks again for your feedback!
It's been a while since I updated this, but I wanted to show you some progress. I've modeled and unwrapped the full scene at this point, with the possible exception of some additional foliage type stuff I might add on later. There's still a lot of work for textures that needs to be done of course, but I've put in an ocean plane, and some (very rough) landscape and materials.
Again, the landscape is pretty rough at this point. I like the general shape of it, but I need to fix the tiling on those materials.
Here it is from a few more angles. I added a waterwheel to the back side of it, and a few additional props all around.
As you can see, I've made some changes based on you guys' feedback.
Jonas: I've warped and broken some of the wood planking all around the dock. I'm hoping to push this further with the texturing as well.
Owl: I've added the Waterwheel, some fishing rods, and a bit more complex of a dock to the back end to try and match the interest of the front a little bit better.
I'd love any questions or comments you all may have!
Thanks again, Polycount!
I'm no expert on the matter, but it does look a bit weird (regardles of it looking very nice hehe).
Overall it looks like a very good start, can´t wait to see more!
I was joking by the way. But year logic says it won't work there for it doesn't work. You need to look at it from a consumers perspective... They are just going to look at it and be a little confused because its out of place.
An alternative you could use that will fit the pirate theme, would be to add a variant on top of the building or where ever you like, that's made out of sails. Because one thing the beach/ocean has plenty of , it's wind.
I had researched it - water wheels used for larger bodies of water - lakes, oceans, etc - do generally have a different design to account for tidal motion rather than say a river which moves in a set direction. I decided that, since I was doing a more fantastic scene, I'd prioritize style over realism, and go with this design since it was somewhat reminiscent of a ship's wheel. I also thought of positioning the house in more of a delta area, along a river meeting that ocean maybe to make it a bit more believable in having a set flowing current?
Josh, I do like that idea of the sail-type structure! That concept totally escaped me when trying to muse on the back design of the house haha. Perhaps I can convert that wheel - or just add an additional structure like you mentioned on the roof. Definitely something to consider.
This is why I always have trouble pushing myself forward to the next 'part' of the project because I always hear all these great ideas that I want to go back and implement! Haha
Thanks guys!
As for the back of the building... I think this concept shows the back of the building (with the main difference being the large structure attached at the front of the hull). That may also be useful inspiration/direction for your color pallet.
There's a lot to this scene and it has a lot of potential. Good luck with the project!
That's awesome that we are both working on the same project! Great minds think alike
Thanks for that reference as well - I'd seen that image but didn't really connect the dots haha. Maybe that full town will be a project down the line!
Sorry for the lull between posts - I've been hard at work doing this, while also working on other projects here and there.
I've got a few shots of the scene, which has undergone some major work with texturing, adding some clutter assets, and building out the surrounding area a little bit.
At this point, I no longer really have time to model anything new, but I'd love some feedback on how I could really improve the textures! Here's some progress:
I know I need to work on my landscape material a bit - it tiles too much out in the distance, and I know a trick to fix that in UDK, but I'd especially love feedback on ways to dirty up or generally make the house textures pop a bit more! Let me know what you all think!
Thanks Polycount!
If you'd like some feedback on the wear or dirt passes that may match the style, I would look at resources like Team Fortress 2:
I've had some success with this kind of treatment by overlaying high resolution images of grunge or wear and, really simply, going back in with a brush and simplifying the information so its much more generalized.
I think that would lend well with this piece you're creating. Keep it up, man. Loving it so far.
Selaznog - Thanks for the feedback! Looking back, I definitely agree with you on the wireframe-y texture. I'll try and reduce that on my next texture pass!
Gannon - Thanks for the suggestions! I see what you mean about the roof seeming flat - I'll try and add some poofiness if it doesn't break everything - but I will most definitely add some fringe cards. Great idea!
Indecom - Why yes that's the Spiral Islands shader ^.^ Good catch! I love it hahaha.
Thanks again guys! I really appreciate the feedback!