The Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenge | May - June (90)
ngon master
Hey everyone! Welcome to the 90th edition of the Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenge for the months of May and June!
This challenge is a way for real-time 3D artists to test their skills and create a piece of work based on concepts provided. It's open to those of all skill levels and we do our best to provide meaningful feedback along the way so everyone can come away from the challenge with actionable points on which they can improve their craft!
Anyone is welcome in this challenge no matter your skill level! It's a test of your own ability not a competition between members. We're all here to improve as artists and learn from each other.
- ENVIRONMENTS -
HARD SURFACE ENVIRONMENT:
Not a Nice Walk by Giulia Gentilini
STYLIZED ENVIRONMENT:
Mask Shop Interior by Oleksandr Klakov
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vDGkOO
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vDGkOO
- PROPS -
HARD SURFACE PROP:
STYLIZED PROP:
Market Stalls by Haris Petritsopoulos
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/04Jl3w
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/04Jl3w
- RULES -
Please read all the rules before starting:- Try to post at least one critique for every post that you make. This will make for a better learning environment and help us all grow as artists.
- Try your best to finish as much as you can in the time frame provided, but remember even if you don't finish by the end of the challenge we encourage you to keep pushing and finish your piece!
- Post what you are working on in this thread so that way it's a more centralized place for advice and critique. Please avoid creating a new thread as we don't want to spam out the forums.
- It is recommended to use a game engine to present your work. Unreal Engine, Unity, and Godot are very common engines that can be used but feel free to use any alternatives that you want. (Marmoset Toolbag for example.)
- Feel free to change up your chosen concept a bit if you want! Interpret these concepts to your liking, especially if your aim is to add storytelling elements.
- If you finish your project and decide to post it to something like Artstation, make sure you give credit to the concept artist in the form of a link to their profile. Additionally, it is recommended to ask a concept artist for their permission to post a 3D piece based on their work before doing so.
- RECOMMENDATIONS -
- When you are just starting out making a scene, it can seem complicated or imposing. Take your time planning and blocking out, it will set you up for success later on.
- Think about how you can re-use assets, re-use textures, break it down as simple as possible and plan it out. A lot of people will break it down in their own way when they start out their challenge. Gather some reference images as well for different parts of the scene, don't be afraid to make it your own.
- We strongly encourage you to go and look at other games and see how they make their assets as well as get concept art to give it your own feel.
The
goal is to learn and grow both artistically and in your ability to both
give and receive critique, but don't stress about it and remember to have fun!
Good luck everyone!
Replies
Blocking out, setup some spline blueprints for the tunnel, lighting seems like it's going to be a bit tricky to get it right and a lot of faking things.
I love the atmosphere you're building here, though the light could be a little less intense, as the rest of the room seems pretty dark on the concept. But I'm not good at environments.
It's also my first time taking part in the challenge, so hello everyone. (: Good to see so many market stalls - I hope I can learn something from you, guys!
Here's my attempt - it's already a bit more than just a block out, as I can't stop myself from going into details. Right now I'm thinking of how can I tackle the veggies - I would like to omit sculpting and go full hand-paint right away.
Looks great! Love the details. (:
@Its0urFate I agree, some large to medium details would help to give the wood some directionality and break up the now empty areas.
I got around to continue with the market stand. I chose to just model away and then map the faces to flat colors, a workflow I recently picked up from Alex_J's project. Also added some subtle gradients into vertex color. Rendered in Toolbag with a cell shader by almighty_gir. Unfortunately can't export a viewer with the shader.
Edit: "Finished" it:
Created an Artstation project with a short turntable clip.
I have added base colors and shadows to mine - time to finally paint the details.
@klamante Thanks, much appreciated! Looking forward to see what details you'll add.
I know the struggle of loosing steam over the course of a project all too well. Personally these measures help me to counter that:
- Breaking down the design into repeating elements beforehand. Sure, this might make it look less unique than the concept, but reusing meshes and textures can speed up the process immensely. Some simple transform variation of reused elements, or deformers, can help to hide repetition. At a later point, one can still go in and give elements a unique touch if required. Even if you started texturing all unique, at any time you can jump in an image editor and reuse pixels you aready polished for other areas. For me this process is never one directional.
- Go from big to small. Blocking everything in at first and then refining gradually, helps me to not lose sight of the big picture and spend the time where it has the most impact. There might be elements that are sort of highlights/high priority and need more polish (vegetables, wood edges, cloth edges), while other things are more rest area/backdrop and work with less definition. Ideally you would always have something to fall back on, with less time it's just less defined.
- Rescope. I think pushing the execution of an element is cool to define a target, but when you're feeling like burning yourself out applying this level to across the scene, reduce the scope. Finish something smaller with more fun and quality. In this case maybe just one box with vegetables? Sometimes just doing it this way internally, helps me chew through more complex subjects.
Well, just my thoughts on the matter. Curious to read how others deal with this. I think the initial post of these challenges also gives some good pointers.
Great, I made a wall of text :-B
Hello Mr. @Fabi_G,
I appreciate your opinion and thank you for your time. I did stack the UVs, but initially, I decided to make all the objects look unique. In hindsight, I think I overdid it for my first hand-painted experience. For example, half of the boxes are UVed, or the upper part of the table is UVed at 1/2 scale and the lower part at 1/4 scale. However, the workload ended up being too much for me.
Mr. @Its0urFate, your positive opinion about my work makes me happy. Thank you. I really enjoy your work and that of other friends. Your efforts are truly appreciated.
There were many materials I found challenging to render like the sack or... pumpkins. I learned a lot in this field!
Hope you like it! And Thanks for the opportunity!
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/29AEqK
Thanks
Although there are tons of things I could and should improve or adjust, I decided to wrap up my work for now and move on for now. At first I planned to make a low poly model with hand paint texture. Then I was struggling with UV cutting and hand paint technique. After some searching and learning, I found out more efficiently workflow but ran out of time. I am looking for the next challenge and keep improving my craft!
Thank you so much! (: