The Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenge | March - April (83)
Hello everyone! Welcome to the 83rd edition of the Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenge for the months of March and April!
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:
Half Timbered House by James Arkwright
https://www.artgram.co/a/half-timbered-house-gIvkmC
STYLIZED ENVIRONMENT:
Wóska - Concept Arts by Inès "Ourka" Rotzinger
https://www.artgram.co/a/bird-village-environment-concept-arts
If you're looking for even more of a challenge with this one, check out the artist's link to find a view of the interior space as well!
- PROPS -
HARD SURFACE PROP:
PREY - Props by Dmitry Sorokin
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/62OD5
STYLIZED PROP:
Concept Artist RPG 5 by Ekaterina Bek-Nazarova
https://www.behance.net/gallery/74230707/Concept-Artist-RPG-5
- 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 CryEngine 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 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
Really cool concepts here. That hard surface environment looks like it'll be a good challenge for modularity.
Hi! Decided to start with the Half Timbered House by James Arkwright. I don't know yet how much time I will have for this. But at the very least, I want to make a couple of nice texture sets.
Rough notes about textures and structures:
Current state of blockout:
I find it particular challenging to imagine the obscured part of the structure. I decided to make the top floor for storage, so there should be some platforms and fixtures to lift things up. The vertical support currently in place might be a bit overkill.
Looking forward to see more WIPs 🤓
So far I'm done with the model, I still need to study topology a lot, it's currently a mess
@Fabi_G I love your idea for the back!
I've also decided to go with the hard surface environment. My blockout isn't finished yet, but I've sculpted some rocks I'm really happy with. I'm not sure whether I will bake them into lowpoly models (I'm going with more of a next gen approach) or just into a material, but here they are :D
@elfennani nice, certainly resembles the concept 👍️ Some still renders would have been nice, to get a better look of the model. What's your plan for texturing? Will you bake details down or keep it as geometry?
@mxrxq Thanks! I'm curious to see someone else's interpretation 🤓 Stones look like a solid start, nice! Could do both, a tiling material and a couple of single stones. Keep it up!
Hello!! Just found this forum love the challenges! Is there a discord? or just post here?
Even the blockout looks so nice allready! How did you do the roof texture/material? Substance designer or, something more manual?
The plaster texture, so far is looking a bit wierd. To me it feels like it is going in diagonal lines:
Maybe if you try a plaster material that is more soft, it would ressemble the reference a bit more:
@lucardo Thanks for the feedback, absolutely agree. It should improve over time.
My overall aproach is to bake down geometry to use as a base in Painter. In the case of the Roof, it's some low poly slabs arranged in a tiling manner. Going forward want to give them a sculpting pass for more detail.
I kinda finished the first module (although it's still missing the stone wall, and there is a lot to be improved in materials). I really like how the roof turned out, and it has way lower polycount than I thought it would have (3k tris). In the future, I will definitely make a new slate material, sculpt the plaster a bit and add dirt masks to the plaster material, but for now, I'm happy with the progress :D
Never had participated in one of those and they seem fun!
I'm making the projector first, wanted to try out this method of making the high poly/ detail model in fusion 360 then used max to make a low poly version and bake and make the textures all up.
here is the fusion 360 model done!
tried to keep all of the shapes and silhouetes as close as possible while also maintaining the rule that the lense must be in the centes of the projector.
Taking a stab at this. Any notes on proportion would be appreciated.
@SimãoSilva - Nice! I think there's some minor differences in proportions/placement of the projector arm and lamp on the back, otherwise super nice!
@Fabi_G Nice write up breaking down the shapes and such. This is gonna be helpful for others taking on this concept.
First post on the site ! Doing the projector for some hard surface practice. Here's my low poly , some of the cuts I'm gonna bake in. Any feedback welcome 👍️
@Gannon - looks good from this angle 👌
@SimãoSilva - Good job mate, nailed it ! Nice to see someone doing the same ref. Only critique I got is the lamp at the top, seems a bit to squished compared to the ref .
Hey all
After a long time I've returned and looking forward to tackling this challenge.
I have decided to go for the Wóska village by Ourka, it looks lots of fun.
Not sure how much I’ll be able to do but I will aim on finishing it!
This is what I have so fare