Another concept for a map that didn't make it, but this was one of the first ones that I remember stretching the canvas from my original drawing to change the composition. The whole right third was added later in Photoshop, because I wanted to show where the bridge led to. By this time I'd learned to start making custom leaf brushes to quickly create jungle foliage.
Slightly older sketch where I was trying to show a bit of the diversity of color in what some of the buildings in an old Mexican town might have, along with some of the stuff you'd find on the streets that help instill life into it, without actually having to put people in.Normal turnaround time on concepts like these are 1-2 days.
6 comments:
Jeez! Those are amazing! You should do a comic in that illustrative style. Just gorgeous.
Rich,
These are really stunning. Do you reference this stuff, or are you creating this from scratch, out of your head? I find visualizing backgrounds to be the toughest part of any work I do, and am just wondering a bit about your process.
Can't wait to see more!
Best,
Rich
Thanks guys. To answer your questions Rich, yes, I do a lot of research on architecture, terrain, props, etc. before starting these. Much easier to do these days than, say, back in the days of when I worked on Doom Patrol and had to depend on my personal clipping file or the library for reference. Google has made my life 10x easier... as well as a few other sites filled with great ref pools.
How much communication is there between you and the game designers at this stage? Are the "maps" you concept based on their "map" plan or are they done just to inspire a potential "map"? Hope that question makes sense.
Rich,
Oh, I hear you, man. I don't know how I'd do illustration without Google Image Search, Flickr, and so many other image sites. My students have no idea how fortunate we all are.
Best,
Rich
Dave: It can work both ways. Sometimes we are given a map with a specific request for an area to get concepted, when they just need certain zones fleshed out, or want to see it in a few variable states. It's much quicker for us to paint up quick variations than for it to be built up in 3D. Other times, we concept artists will brainstorm and come up with some ideas and drawings that will later get incorporated into the level design.
Rich: Yeah, kids these days have no idea how easy they've got it when it comes to ref gathering...
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