Games Art: 2D Pathway - Environment (M4/4)

One of the last two requirements of the Art Pack in the 2D pathway, was to create a model sheet (turnaround) and a final piece (detailed image).

Above is my final model sheet of my part vehicle/part environment scene. I decided on including a front, side, top down (birds eye view) and a back view. In addition, amongst the other graphical elements, are measurements of the heights, widths and lengths of certain objects; such as the ship and dry dock platform. I really enjoyed aligning components to scale and proportion. Moreover, this would then aid a modeller if it was to be made into 3D.

Here is my final render made in Maya's plugin, mental ray. To get the right composition was a tough choice, as I wanted to get several elements into place and direct the field of view towards the focus that is the colossal anti-gravity ship in centre. I looked through several shipping and dockyard environments on Google Images before I came across one of a dry dock in Portsmouth. As I am from the historical naval city, it seemed odd that I did not think of this setting at first (one that I am very familiar with of in the dockyard).

Above are several of the photographs I took on my travels and in my free time to use for my digital work. For example, a range of metal surfaces that I then cropped and shaped to fit certain aspects of the ships etc. After this, I then played around with the blending options in Photoshop to get the best result.

This is the step by step progress of my final piece. As it was only a simple paint over of my 3D render, there are just four shots but it is clear where I have adjusted certain areas. It was really interesting looking back on this at the different stages and the improvements I applied. I attempted to focus my time management as correctly as possible between certain aspects of the art pack requirements. However, I feel I could have spent less time on my variation compositions (regarding detail) and more time on my final piece.

Lastly, this is my final piece paint-over of my previous rendered image. I made sure to use a unique colour palette, not only because of the interesting tones but to capture the elements and mood of the futuristic state of the depleted and desperate world (in my game idea I made the content around). 

Furthermore, I found several weaknesses in my work as regards to painting proportions and large scaled 'hard surfaced' objects. To challenge and overcome this obstacle, I studied in-depth at how to use guidelines and visualise space (of the immense) through real-life examination. In other words, on my travels, in London for example, I looked at buildings etc from afar and their sizes to other bodies surrounding them (jotting mental notes and small doodles/sketches).

Overall, I believe I have refined my practices in both the digital medium as well as in my practical (sketchbook studies) while exploring my ideas revolving around present nautical and future freight transportation, through in-depth research, to the best of my ability.