Why'd you choose to be an Environment Artist?

Soul Exist

Question for all my environment artists. Why environment art? You could have become anything else, art related or not. Why'd you choose to be an environment artist? I wanna know your inspirations. Doesn't matter if you're already in the game industry, student, or hobbyist. I wanna hear it all, from every perspective.

alexrc

Ill take a shot at this question. For me, regardless of what characters I make or what other pieces I work on, environment art is in my opinion a league of its own. You're essentially creating a place from pure imagination, whether its a small town or a large landscape, and making it tangible. I can't think of many greater feelings for creators than to see an entirely fictional place brought to life. Even if you're only working on trees for an environment, you're still decorating a world that doesn't exist and adding your own touch to it.

JordanN

Part of it is because of storytelling. The other part comes from confidence issues.

Before I got into 3D modeling, I use to draw people. I was obsessed with drawings characters I saw on TV, Movies, Games, Anime etc and getting them to look perfect. Eventually I wanted to make my own characters but every time I looked at them I felt a huge sense of embarrassment. But not because I felt like the art/anatomy was lacking, but because my body has a weird reaction to how I think millions of people would look at this stuff.

This phenomenon didn't bother me when the first art I posted on Polycount was cars, small props etc. I was much more receptive to the idea of making highly detailed props/environments and showing them to people without having any adverse bodily reactions to it.

I still want to return to my my original dream of making characters, but I'll continue pursuing environment art as a means of receiving income.

Auldbenkenobi

Mine was very similar to JordanN. As a kid I used to draw all the time, and I mean ALL the time. Cliche I know, but true. Then, I went to high school, and the drawing fell by the wayside as new interests took root but it was still there, at the back of my mind. I just never acted on it or practiced.

Then came University and I decided I wanted to make concept art for movies and games. So, I got myself onto a Games Art course and within the first days, saw how far ahead my peers were with their drawing and painting ability. It smashed my confidence, and I'll admit I largely took refuge in 3D. It seemed the "easy" option for some reason.

It's only now I'm getting back into 2D and actually beginning to take it as seriously as I wish I'd done as a teen.

Spoon

I liked the modular approach, and the many techniques and "cheats" that I felt was lacking in character art.