Monday 2 May 2011



Finally got chance to get some long-needed environment practice in this week (get me, all productive and what have you). I have a long standing character whose story I've mucked about with for a long time, and it feels great to finally get some world building in a visual way done for him. These are all thumbnails of the environments you'd find on his home islands - a chain of volcanic islands brought about by the wrath of a fire god. Really wanted to get a tropical feel, but not necessarily where everything is warm and sunny and inviting. Hopefully I've captured that, and managed to get a feel of continuity between them all, so they feel like part of a similar set.

Been very inspired by the Feng Zhu Design youtube videos, especially his latest one on doing just this kind of imagery. HERE is the link to that video, I can't recommend the series enough to those who want a little more info one what makes a good designer of worlds and concepts - especially if you already have the art basics under your belt.

I am using some photo reference here, as I've never really painted much like this before, but never from just one photo source - I often take colors from one, light from another, basic composition from another, and various elements such as rocks, shapes or small details from any number of photos. Original file was around 4500 pixels high.

5 comments:

  1. These are awesome, I should get in the habit of doing something like this. Now to go check out that guy's YouTube videos!

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  2. Thanks for the kind words, and do check those vids out, they cover all kinds of topics!

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  3. Oh wow. I was just amazed by your thumbs - then I clicked the video link.

    Thank you so much for sharing that :D
    Now to do a couple of studies of my own~

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  4. Kana! It's really neat to see these images. I particularly like the upper and lower left, the second from the bottom in the middle, and the 4th from the bottom right. I hadn't considered the harsh jagged aspect of his island before, but it really fits. Angry fire god and all. It's a nice mix of lush tropical and unforgiving terrain. makes me want larger more detailed images. nice job dear.

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  5. Love your artwork and your style. I've recently ventured into the world of digital art and am doing a blog of my trials and tribulations. Please look if you get the time :)

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