Urban Alley

hossin_asadi

Hello guys,

I'm a Junior Environment Artist and trying to improve my self.

I started to create an Environment based on the Quixel tutorial by Jack McKelvie. I am trying to get as much as possible from his tutorial and get his key elements and create a new environment based and inspired on his environment. I want to use every method that he used.

Here, You can see the awesome environment from Jack McKelvie:
 https://www.artstation.com/artwork/DxWNey


Right now I blocked out my environment and did a little composition and lighting on it to get feel from it even in the early stage that it is.


I want to lead the viewers' eyes from points 1 and 2 to point 3.



I'll be so grateful to get feedback from such great artists like you and learn from your critiques.


Thanks for watching it.
I hope you enjoy it.

birb

Welcome! What style are you aiming for?

Elements like the arch and windows are very wide when compared to the reference and the scale of other elements in the image, making it look a bit toonish. The scale itself seems off due the apparent floor height used. Sticking to a 3m / 10 ft base makes it hard to go wrong.

I'd also advise against using a rule of thirds in this case. It fights the very concept of alleyway because you need to spread elements in the image to use it while alleyways tend to be narrow by definition. It's also keeping you so focused on the elements on the grid that you overlooked this garbage bag sitting right in the middle of the picture in the place a player character would be, making it an accidental protagonist, plus the door 1 is in the same depth of the arch, so it's not leading the eye to it, it's flattening the image.

Take note of the elements in the reference image: The water and the garbage form a triangle pointing to the arch. This is a very effective way to lead the eye around the image, and it also sells the depth of the scene.

I know it's a number of critiques rolled into one, but don't be disheartened! I think the key points here are to be more analytical and critical. Don't just copy a technique, ask yourself why it's effective and which consequences it'd bring to your piece in particular. If it's not helping don't be afraid of ditching it in favor of something else.

hossin_asadi

birb said:

Welcome! What style are you aiming for?

Elements like the arch and windows are very wide when compared to the reference and the scale of other elements in the image, making it look a bit toonish. The scale itself seems off due the apparent floor height used. Sticking to a 3m / 10 ft base makes it hard to go wrong.

I'd also advise against using a rule of thirds in this case. It fights the very concept of alleyway because you need to spread elements in the image to use it while alleyways tend to be narrow by definition. It's also keeping you so focused on the elements on the grid that you overlooked this garbage bag sitting right in the middle of the picture in the place a player character would be, making it an accidental protagonist, plus the door 1 is in the same depth of the arch, so it's not leading the eye to it, it's flattening the image.

Take note of the elements in the reference image: The water and the garbage form a triangle pointing to the arch. This is a very effective way to lead the eye around the image, and it also sells the depth of the scene.

I know it's a number of critiques rolled into one, but don't be disheartened! I think the key points here are to be more analytical and critical. Don't just copy a technique, ask yourself why it's effective and which consequences it'd bring to your piece in particular. If it's not helping don't be afraid of ditching it in favor of something else.

Thanks, Dear ........(Sorry I don't your name)

Very good points you mention. I am so grateful to learn from you. 

I am looking for a realistic style I think.

About the scales of windows, I bring images from my model and Jack's model. I thought they are the same.


For arch that you say so wide, I use this reference. But if still, it is wide I will make it thin.



And about the rule of thirds. If I use these new cameras, Can I use the rule of thirds?



And yes you say right about the flattening of the image. In these two new images that I capture, Are they have depth?


Again Thanks a lot for putting your valuable time for guiding and helping me. I will use everything that you mention. They are like a lantern in darkness for junior artists like me that show us the true path.

hossin_asadi

birb said:

Welcome! What style are you aiming for?

Elements like the arch and windows are very wide when compared to the reference and the scale of other elements in the image, making it look a bit toonish. The scale itself seems off due the apparent floor height used. Sticking to a 3m / 10 ft base makes it hard to go wrong.

I'd also advise against using a rule of thirds in this case. It fights the very concept of alleyway because you need to spread elements in the image to use it while alleyways tend to be narrow by definition. It's also keeping you so focused on the elements on the grid that you overlooked this garbage bag sitting right in the middle of the picture in the place a player character would be, making it an accidental protagonist, plus the door 1 is in the same depth of the arch, so it's not leading the eye to it, it's flattening the image.

Take note of the elements in the reference image: The water and the garbage form a triangle pointing to the arch. This is a very effective way to lead the eye around the image, and it also sells the depth of the scene.

I know it's a number of critiques rolled into one, but don't be disheartened! I think the key points here are to be more analytical and critical. Don't just copy a technique, ask yourself why it's effective and which consequences it'd bring to your piece in particular. If it's not helping don't be afraid of ditching it in favor of something else.

 I started this block out without any concepts, maybe I should step back and find good concept and then start blocking my concept out. What's you idea?

fullpinkdog

@hossin_asadi

hossin_asadi said:

 I started this block out without any concepts, maybe I should step back and find good concept and then start blocking my concept out. What's you idea?

Hey there, I would really recommend to spend some time on any type of preparations, like: 

- clear understanding what kind of environment do you want to create (in your case, I assume, its urban alley). Is this a night scene? Is this a day scene?

- also it's good to know what type of mood and overall style you want(I mean there are so many different alleys you can find all over the world, depends on year they were created and their location, and so on).

- and to make this project a bit more interesting you can put in this piece of art some local story

Gathering a lot of different references really helps to answer these questions (real photos of urban alleys, any type of digital or traditional art, scenes from movies, and so on), also by this references you can see what composition have been used by different people and maybe you will find a good starting point

After that the blockout stage have much more sense and shouldn't be very confusing

hossin_asadi

@fullpinkdog

Thanks a lot for putting time,

birb say's, I decided to drop it down and start a new environment with good concepts and a lot of useful references. fortunately, I find some channel about creating an environment and other staff. Tim Simson explains all process of creating an environment and I watched that. Thanks form him, I learn a lot from his channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGXr6E_g91ue1rfhA9j4TLA

I think I close this replay(If it is possible) and when creating a block out of my new environment Done, I'll put it in a new replay.

Again thanks a lot from all of you,
Have bests.