Finding a reference for first Environment

Gallamanji

Hi y'all
I'm doing the Futurepoly course on Environment Modelling which concludes with me modelling what will be my first game Environment. I have to find a concept to work from. Apart from picking something that appeals to me aesthetically, are there any tips you could give me on picking a first environment to model. 
Like, 
1) What elements make a peice of concept art good to work from or bad to work from?
2) What type of environment would be suitable for beginner level?
3) Are there any concepts / artists you would recommend looking at? (I'll ask permission before I use anything)
Up to now I've been building realistic assets but I want to make something that is stylised, WoW, Wildstar style for example. I also love illustrative style of games like Machinarium though I know that's 2D.. 
Check out my ArtStation if you want to get an idea of my skill level www.artstation.com/artist/samgalloway 

As usual, many thanks for any help, love this forum.

Kevin Albers

Something without a huge number of assets.  Bad = establishing shot of super cool place, with tons of 'neat little things' visible.  Good = smaller, intimate space with a few key elements that you find cool/nice looking, that you think are within your ability to create (or a bit past your current ability, to make sure you provide a moderate level of challenge).

Gallamanji

Thank you
Heres a few that have caught my interest.. I want to make something that can be viewed first person, so not an isometric or mobile game type environment. Most of these are Final Fantasy 9 backgrounds and wonder if I could translate them into first person 3D...

a) Final Fantasy 9 Background (not technically concept art? difficult to work from?)


b) another FF9 background


c) I like this one a lot, struggling to know how i would make the building modular but i guess thats the challenge?



d) another FF9 background.. maybe too much going on?



e) my favourite but worry it could be too difficult for first environment. 


f) similar to e but more simple.. and a bit more boring..


g) one of my favourites, feel it could be straight forward with reasonable challenge. Just worried the concept might be difficult to translate into first person 3D - its another FF9 bg


h) I like it a lot, personally like the more gloomy environments but this is nice and cartoony

Any input on these is v much appreciated. Thank you!

PixelMasher

keep it smaller in scale and simple so you can actually finish it and everything can be high quality. for concepts/inspiration....artstation baby. there is so much good stuff on there, I use the like function to build up reference librarys for potential projects. good luck

Kevin Albers

I think 'b' is maybe the most suitable. It's small, it doesn't have endless assets, it's sort of 'mainstream' in it's appeal, if your audience is a hiring Art Director/Lead Artist.

Nice selection of options, by the way. That shows nice artistic sensibilities.

Gallamanji

PixelMasher said:

keep it smaller in scale and simple so you can actually finish it and everything can be high quality. for concepts/inspiration....artstation baby. there is so much good stuff on there, I use the like function to build up reference librarys for potential projects. good luck

Thanks for your advice and yeah Artstation is awesome, has been my main source so far, that and Pinterest.

Kevin Albers said:

I think 'b' is maybe the most suitable. It's small, it doesn't have endless assets, it's sort of 'mainstream' in it's appeal, if your audience is a hiring Art Director/Lead Artist.

Nice selection of options, by the way. That shows nice artistic sensibilities.

Thanks for your input, I liked b too, its good to know why that might be a good environment. Based on your feedback Ive been carrying on my search a bit and reduced it down to intimate dungeon like environments similar to b, to get a bit more scope. I currently have a few ideas.

So heres b.. again

But I've since found this..

Kind of similar to b, but seems an easier concept to work from. b is more of an illustration? being an ff9 background, but this seems more designed for a modeller to work from. I can see how it could be constructed modular and I've counted about 16 props there, but theyre all quite simple props.

Then theres this concept...


Again this seems like an easier concept to work from as a modeler. The only issue I have with this concept is it feels a bit empty, just a couple of barrel props. So I thought maybe I could find other props that fit in stylistically and put them inside. So far I have found this..

Would be very interested to know your thoughts on these ideas?
Much appreciated.

P.S. Sorry this is turning into a bit of a WIP thread.. I did post the same thread in the WIP section but no one has responded lol.

Thanks!

Deathstick

Well the concepts you picked are nice, I'd probably stay away from the wooden stone corridor one though unless you can make it more interesting. I'm 70 percent sure it's actually a screenshot of a model someone already made, so unless you can make it look more interesting I dunno. 

Your two versions of B are nicely scaled projects to work on, and would be easy to make the wall pieces modular. The wizard lab has the table which itself could be a fun focal point for an upclose screenshot dependent on what props are on it, especially if the light source from the window is set so the sun is casting the beam directly to it instead of out to nowhere. I think I recall seeing H) as straight from a tutorial series on how to model it, so unless I'm wrong I'm not sure an exact copy of it would be great for a portfolio piece.

Stylistically you could make the lab look like B or keep it in the stylized world. B feels a bit more like having fun in zbrush. One tip is to probably break up the edges of the woodbeams if you go with the castle lab though so it's not so straight edged. Anywho I'd pick your current favorite and just get to work cranking it out! Other than the standard WoW/cartoony castle styles or the elder scrolls series, I'd recommend taking a look at the castle in the first level of Wolfenstein: The New Order. From what I recall, the detail in it was top-notch quality.

Then i'd move on to g personally, as it has a lot more curves which will be a nice contrast and a bit different from modeling the corridors.

Best of luck!