The Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenge | March - April (95)

Pinkfox · Mar 3 2025

Welcome one and all to the 95th 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:

Staircase by Jordan Grimmer
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/AZyAz5

STYLIZED ENVIRONMENT:

Project Unicorn environment : inverted tree by Sylvain Sarrailh
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/rlDbKJ

- PROPS -

HARD SURFACE PROP:

Starfield - Shattered Space - Concept Art - Assets by Veljko Krivokuca
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8BZKDm

STYLIZED PROP:

Production Building by JiaYing Liang
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/eR9eeG

- 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!

Klawd · Mar 7 2025

Very nice concepts! Tempted to do the hard surface env, I think the scene lends itself so a lot can be achieved by playing with lighting.

Badgoing · Mar 8 2025

Been wanting to join in on the challenge for a while now, decided to go for the hard surface environment. Currently building out the rough blockout to get an idea on the dimensions and the modular pieces I'll need. Also building up my ref board as I go. Luckily I found a victorian staircase (Kimmel Hall Staircase) that matches the concept a lot. Going to include elements from that staircase into my scene.

Paxwort · Mar 9 2025

Didn't do the last one because none of the prompts really stuck out to me. This time they all do 😭

Dvin_ · Mar 10 2025

Hello!
Been a lurker here, so finally decided to hop in and try to do the monthly challenge

I've been learning Unreal and Substance Designer, and taking a bunch of environment art courses on gumroad and udemy. So, I wanted to test myself by creating something on my own rather than just blindly following tutorials. So far, I've made a rough blockout out of basic shapes and tried to match the camera to the concept

virtualman · Mar 11 2025

Hi everyone, I'm excited to join this challenge with all of you. I'm completely new to this field, and this is also my first time working on Environment art – along with Unreal Engine 5! I hope this first step turns out well and that you all like it. If possible, please comment and give me some feedback on my work.

vladorales · Mar 11 2025

Hello everyone. I've participated in some of these but intend to finish this one. Here's my blockout for this scene!

cturbo · Mar 11 2025

does it have to look the same as the stair concept, or can we add our own ideas to it?

Paxwort · Mar 11 2025

Sculpting is a big weakness of mine, and I feel this concept absolutely calls for sculpted elements - so this is going slowly and painfully.

MRpnut · Mar 11 2025

Hi,

long time lurker here. First time taking part in the challenge and really excited about all these concepts.

I am working on the hard surface prob and have the basic model down. Maybe already lost myself in some detailing

At the moment I am trying to find a good balance on textures, trimsheets and tileables as I intent to make it a game ready asset.

Since this is to showcase in my portfolio I would like to get the best result but with an industry standart approach.

Would love to hear a recommandation on texture layout. Maybe I should give everything a texture map, like 6 maps, without trims / tileables?

For the feedback part:

@cturbo: In the rules is a bullet point about adding your own touch and ideas.

"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."

@vladoralis: I would recommend taking a closer look at the height and scale of the room. The ceiling on the ground floor seems really low, like 2.5m, compared to the reference probably like 3.5 - 4 ish. If thats what you intend to do sure go ahead

The stairs feel quite flat too because of how low the ceiling of the ground floor is.

@virtualman looks really cool already. really nice mood you got going already. not much to add really

@Dvin_ looks good. Maybe the stairs a touch to wide but thats just nitpicking really... :P

@Badgoing really like the references you gathered. they fit very well with the concept. I can recommend the Hitman level dartmoor if you need more.

cturbo · Mar 12 2025

I just started the blockin for the past 1 hour and here is where i am at.

Dvin_ · Mar 16 2025

Didn't do that much this week, but I've been working on the blockout meshes and playing with the scale. Will have to work on some floor and wall modular variations, and start planning trims and tileables for them. Also, not sure about how to approach the debris? is it better to simulate it or just make some pieces and then place them by hand and export as a single mesh? Any suggestions are welcome.

Paxwort · Mar 17 2025

MRpnut said:

...

Since this is to showcase in my portfolio I would like to get the best result but with an industry standart approach.
Would love to hear a recommandation on texture layout. Maybe I should give everything a texture map, like 6 maps, without trims / tileables?

Looking good! I'm not industry, but I'd say the specifics of how many and which textures you use are always going to come down to quirks of the specific project. For your portfolio, the approach you've chosen would demonstrate knowledge of efficient texture layout. If you're really focused on that, it might be cool to make use the same trim sheet for some extra props!

Klawd · Mar 17 2025

MRpnut said:

Since this is to showcase in my portfolio I would like to get the best result but with an industry standart approach.
Would love to hear a recommandation on texture layout. Maybe I should give everything a texture map, like 6 maps, without trims / tileables?

It actually depends on what your target is. This concept art is from a videogame, and given the size of the object it would never require that many texture sets, even if it was a hero prop game asset. If it was for a vfx it might be acceptable for very high detailed closeups. As a game prop I would imagine the lead to ask at most 2 texture sets and a trim sheet. But it mostly depends on the technique you are going to use (or that would be used in this game project). Like, for example, if the entire project is using a layering system with tileable materials, decals, and midpoly models, then it would be a slightly different story.

Paxwort · Mar 17 2025

I think that's all the sculpting done, though I'm not really happy with the barbeque masonry, so I may come back at that from another angle. Otherwise, time to get baking!

virtualman · Mar 20 2025

Hi everyone, I’d like to update you on the current process. I’ve just finished working on 2 objects for this project, and I’m quite proud of them (even though they might be a bit too detailed for the project) – my goal is to also become a prop artist, so these are things I think will be useful in the future.

Old wooden dresser.

Old table lamp.

Charlie_Temerald · Mar 20 2025

it has taken me so long to get the perspective right on this, there are some slight differences, especially on the stairs but those I'm fine without, I cant wait to start modelling

i tried real hard to get the perspective right so i even made perspective image guidelines in photoshop. -

MRpnut · Mar 20 2025

Hi,

first off, thank you @Klawd and @Paxwort for the suggestion and answers. Even though I like the challenge of going efficient and compact as much as possibe I focused a lot on game assets throught my 3D journey. For this project I will try a more detailed approach and not go for optimized. Thanks a lot for the suggestion since I was not sure how I would approach it in a live pipeline environment.

@virtualmanyour models looking good so far.

- my suggestion on the drawer would be offsetting the wood texture. It's visibly across the whole front and since the they are different pieces ofsetting the drawers themself would help that pattern feel not projected.

- Furthermore I have the suspicion your normals might not be hardened. It feels like the shading suggest there is a curveture in the front.

- I also feel like the edgewear is a bit too much. If you multiply a grunge texture for example over the edgewear mask you can get rid of the continous edgewear and break it up. I feel like giving it a bit more of an orange / beige tint would give more of a wooden feel.

- one last thing: you can do this even after uv's and texturing - but with caution! - try some slight deformation and bending some of the straight lines.

@Charlie_Temerald looks great! There is a programm called f-spy to help you set up reference images for your viewport. I know it works in combination with blender, other programs not sure. Roomscale and blockout looks great thou!

@Paxwort looking good. Only suggestion would be to add more cuts and offsets in the wood panels to give them some depth. Love the texturing and models so far thou. gj

For my part:

I am getting close to finishing the modelling part. I will go for a Mid-Poly workflow and try to not go overboard with texture maps x) My goal will be to do closeups and give each part the attention to detail I can. There is still some unresolved parts like cables and on the bottom shelf but getting there.

virtualman · Mar 22 2025

@MRpnut
Thank you for your comment, it's very helpful and I will go do fix it.
Your work is so great bro.

rafiii · Mar 23 2025

I don't know if I can finish it in time as I saw it late. But here's a basic blockout and some simple lighting setup of what mood I want my scene to be.

Paxwort · Mar 23 2025

Final output from godot (higher quality still under the cut).

Spoiler

virtualman · Mar 24 2025

I just sculpt and texture this one (base from sketchfab https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/fancy-picture-frame-b54984abe2394345a81621719bf8bf1a#download)

cturbo · Mar 25 2025

cturbo · Mar 25 2025

is there any tutorials on how to make the rubble shown in the Staircase by Jordan Grimmer?

cturbo · Mar 30 2025

I've started importing my blockin in Unreal, and I've also made some debris and textures. Although it's still a work in progress, I'm really happy with the practice I'm getting.

Paxwort · Mar 31 2025

@cturbo Looking great so far! Love that you've included some volumetrics.

The reference puts a lot of focus on this giant pool of light spilling down the stairs - so don't be afraid to experiment with sun angles and removing more wall, anything you can do to get that light in there.

cturbo · Apr 1 2025

Paxwort said:

@cturbo Looking great so far! Love that you've included some volumetrics.

The reference puts a lot of focus on this giant pool of light spilling down the stairs - so don't be afraid to experiment with sun angles and removing more wall, anything you can do to get that light in there.

Thanks, Paxwort! I’ll give that a try. I truly value your feedback and support.