[UE4/WIP]Alice Madness Returns inspired environment: Creepy dollhouse scene
polycounter lvl 8
Hi, polycounters 
Thank you for visiting this thread and being part of the journey of this project.
I'd like to share the environment I have been working on since this June in Game Art Institute Environment Artist Bootcamp (it was such a fantastic course). I want to record the progress, thoughts and what I am willing to learn and achieve in this environment, and hopefully get some feedback from the community.
5+ year into the CG world, I had been doing characters, UI, environment props, concept art, and my portfolio is falling everywhere.
So I decided I want to go deep instead of going broad. I would take my time and nail my craft since I would like to be an environment artist as my career for a long time.
(note: English is not my mother tongue. I hope you could understand what I expressed.)
Story and concepts
I am a big fan of horror movies and games. I love the art of Alice Madness Returns a lot, especially at the dollhouse level where Alice met the insane children and dollmaker.
I came across an impressive concept on Pinterest when I looked for the references for the boot camp project. The overall environment proportion would base on this concept, but I may change the props to fit the story in my mind.
It's a house of a person with the dissociative identity disorder. Here is the place he practices witchcraft and kills people. I will create a dark and spooky scene with story-telling props to fit the character, such as different style paintings around the room, skulls, and creepy dolls, etc.
Goals
I would cut lots of objects especially the dolls.
The lighting references:
The lighting gives a cold feeling for the scene and also create a focal point for the foreground.
Material references:
Props references:
Modular assets planning:
Blockout of the scene:
Working in Progress screenshots from UE4:
*The blank models are the blockout, not the final result.
*rope's spline system is from the Unreal marketplace:PurePolygons. I will replace my own rope textures.
Thank you for visiting this thread and being part of the journey of this project.
I'd like to share the environment I have been working on since this June in Game Art Institute Environment Artist Bootcamp (it was such a fantastic course). I want to record the progress, thoughts and what I am willing to learn and achieve in this environment, and hopefully get some feedback from the community.
5+ year into the CG world, I had been doing characters, UI, environment props, concept art, and my portfolio is falling everywhere.
So I decided I want to go deep instead of going broad. I would take my time and nail my craft since I would like to be an environment artist as my career for a long time.
(note: English is not my mother tongue. I hope you could understand what I expressed.)
Story and concepts
I am a big fan of horror movies and games. I love the art of Alice Madness Returns a lot, especially at the dollhouse level where Alice met the insane children and dollmaker.
I came across an impressive concept on Pinterest when I looked for the references for the boot camp project. The overall environment proportion would base on this concept, but I may change the props to fit the story in my mind.
It's a house of a person with the dissociative identity disorder. Here is the place he practices witchcraft and kills people. I will create a dark and spooky scene with story-telling props to fit the character, such as different style paintings around the room, skulls, and creepy dolls, etc.
Goals
- Creating 5 to 6 high-quality props, prove that I can make models from references accurately.
- PBR workflow with substance.
- Practicing lighting in Unreal Engine
- Finak goal: A solid environment portfolio piece.
I would cut lots of objects especially the dolls.
The lighting references:
The lighting gives a cold feeling for the scene and also create a focal point for the foreground.
Material references:
Props references:
Modular assets planning:
Blockout of the scene:
Working in Progress screenshots from UE4:
*The blank models are the blockout, not the final result.
*rope's spline system is from the Unreal marketplace:PurePolygons. I will replace my own rope textures.
Replies
The final result in Marmoset, thanks to the help from the classmates of environment artist boot camp and 10 thousand hours group.
I started creating some other props on the focal point: the skull. I decided to make a whole skull, to practice the human anatomy.
In painter's preview:
Also I dont know if what I ask is allowed in this forum section, lately I try to find some scenes to light up for practise,I took an interest in lighting so in the end if you'd like to share it for me to light in ue4 and send it back, it doesnt need to have all the props in it. If you are interested pm for details.
1. Change the carpet to be more cold toned color (be not that stand out)
2. Add more light sources with warm, orange color. Such as candles, pendant lights, hanging lights.
3. Make the doll scarier. (may add two more modular doll heads)
I tweaked the diffuse and specular map of the old sewing machine, which one you prefer?
Thanks for the opinions in advance
Also the sideboard model with textures:
Adding some props and tweaking lights.
I work on it after work and between challenges once in a while, I probably would call it done now
I did all the modular assets, lighting and post-rendering, and most of the props. Also used some assets from Unreal Marketplace: Atmospheric Candles Pack and Moses Saintfleur's Old Hunters Manor environment, including chairs, books, charms, console tables, red carpet, candle holders and one rectangle-shaped painting on the left side. Moses' awesome work: https://www.artstation.com/soulexist
Thank you for everyone's support and feedback during this project.