I've never really done any environment art before, so I figured I'm going to jump in with both feet and see where this takes me. I have my doubts that I'll actually be able to finish since I'm going to France in early October, but even if I don't get everything done I'm sure this'll be a lot of fun and a huge learning experience.
Anyway. Here's the original concept:
And here's where I'm planning to take it:
I want to make something that looks like it would fit into Diablo 3 because I simply love the art style. I have have no idea if I'll be able to do it very well, but I don't care. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to do the inside and outside of the cathedral, but I'll probably do both since I have the polygon and texture budget to throw around.
I've started working on a few different props already, but I don't know if I'll actually keep any of them. I'd like to keep to the fairly low-poly nature of Diablo 3 as well as the art style, but I may make things more detailed. One thing's for sure: If I do go fairly low-poly with everything, I'll be able to cram all kinds of crap into the scene while staying under budget.
Replies
Good luck!
I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to use normal maps. If I actually them, I want them to be fairly subtle and only give a little more detail than I'd get were I to simply paint on some diffuse.
I realize that this isn't exactly the best way to win prizes and whatnot, but I'm not concerned with that. I'm more interested in just learning how environment creation works right now and participating in contests is a good way to learn.