Blizzard Student Environment Contest
polycounter lvl 8
Hey everyone! Over the next month I am doing the Blizzard Student Environment Contest for World of Warcraft. I've played WoW for 5 years, and it was a huge influence on me getting into game art. The contest requires a small building or structure, trees, grass, rocks, and props. Should be fun and hopefully a nice portfolio piece!
My idea so far is to do a coffee shop run by mages. Some of my favorite areas in the game are the more magical ones like Dalaran and the Exodar, so I want to apply that style to the most magical substance of all... coffee.
Here are some rough building sketches I did today. I'd love some feedback on the buildings and the general idea.
My idea so far is to do a coffee shop run by mages. Some of my favorite areas in the game are the more magical ones like Dalaran and the Exodar, so I want to apply that style to the most magical substance of all... coffee.
Here are some rough building sketches I did today. I'd love some feedback on the buildings and the general idea.
Replies
Hahaha, I was going to suggest looking at the interior of Howl's Castle for reference (although rereading your post, it's not clear if an interior is expected. Whoops.), because that sort of mismatched, cobbled-together look is something I love in both magic houses and coffee shops. I agree that would be awesome to see carried to the exterior! On which note, I really like 5 and 6 the best silhouette-wise, but the boilers and chimneys you have scattered throughout these are really charming and I'd love to see them worked into your final piece. Every single one of them.;)
[Also crap, now I have to go back to working on my Howl's Castle interior...c:]
Here are some concepts I worked on today to work out the composition and color:
It's really cute I gotta say! Very warcraft with colours and chunkiness
It's looking really good! You did a great job capturing the look and feel of WoW
I also really like how you integrated the intelligence symbol into the design.
What I think would be really cool would be to integrate more Mage/Magic elements in the piece - like maybe some cups and plates on the side of the building being magically cleaned or something?
You could also add one of those chalkboards and write something funny on it (if I think of something I'll let you know haha)
One observation (depending on whether or not this was intentional it's either positive or negative), the design you're going with really reflects a lot of the traditional Alliance Mage races (I see High Elf, Human and Gnomish). Looking at pictures of Dalaran though, High Elf architecture dominates so I don't feel it fits. This building though looks like it would be very much at home floating above the Mage Quarter since the districts of Stormwind mix a lot of Human designs with other races! I actually really like that, but I'm not sure if it's what you're going for.
My only critiques are that I think that the corners of the main structure need something (maybe prominent cornerstones or maybe the wooden beams from the 2nd floor should go all the way down)
I think the sign feels a bit weird for me. I think that the sign should be facing out so that people can see it more when they land on the island! You might also want to consider a sign near the edge of the island so that people below or flying near the island can see it.
Very minor, I think the style of the chairs and tables make it look like they should be on top of bricks or something.
@krisCrash - I definitely see what you mean with the different rooftops. I added a lot of coffee-related objects today so hopefully that will help it looking like a cohesive theme. I'm going to see how I like it when I start painting and keep that in mind. I like your color suggestion too!
@ARCallejas - I'm very happy to hear that the look and feel is right from another WoW player
Here are the meshes. I still need to unwrap them so I haven't finished arranging everything. Textures coming soon!
PAINT TIIIIME.
Some textures:
You can also try using a soft light solid color layer on top of everything and choosing a primary color like a shade of green from the grass to see what happens and work from there...
Just a thought:
Take some of those bricks, put a cut or ding in em. Rocks look good. Finish them up. Add a few highlights.
The tree needs to look like it has bark that is all...made of pieces. Individual shingles of bark you know? If you look at pixelb's tree in her winning entry you see how the surface has such depth? With highlights?
This painting is looking on the flat side. MORE DEPTH. CUT DEEP.
Although, i would add a second color on the textures like the roof tiles, because right now is not looking integrated. What i mean by that is that the roof is pink, the grass green and the walls white, So try to integrate the colors a bit more.
Good luck my friend!
Any more advice before my last work day? :O
Here's my final submission
And if I ever open a coffee shop when I'm old and need a way to support myself and my 15 cats, I hope you don't mind if I steal that name. C:
It's like I'm seeing a Starburst. :]
I like your idea and color choice, really fits a Dalaran mood.