Log inBy CategoryBy Instructor
Browse

Designing Environments for Games

Sketching 3D Environments using Blender & Photoshop with James Lewis-Vines

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
  • Chapters
  • descriptions off, selected
  • captions off, selected

      Description

      Sketching has traditionally been considered a 2D medium, but with the power of Blender’s Grease Pencil tool, you can draw in 3D and jump right into your designs to truly explore the space. In this 2.5-hour workshop, James Lewis-Vines shares his techniques, from gathering references to sketching and modeling a sci-fi environment design. His time-saving workflow allows concept artists to explore an environment design from many different angles and possibilities early in the sketching process without sketching multiple versions of the same scene.


      Discover how James designs a gas station in the clouds, then follow along in Blender as he moves around the environment design in 3D, exploring and capturing interesting camera keyframes for the final render. You’ll see how James goes through the process of substituting the sketched scene from his chosen point of view with a realistic environment using a lineup of Kitbash elements. Once the scene is rendered, he works the keyframe concept through to a final polish using Photoshop.


      This workshop is intended for intermediate Blender users; however, it also covers some of the basics for those just getting started. The purpose of this tutorial is to help provide a sound understanding of the Grease Pencil tool and to give you confidence in sketching your own environment designs from your imagination in a 3D environment.


      Project files provided with this workshop include the final Gas Station Grease Pencil Environment Blender file and the rendered thumbnails from the various cameras in the scene, as well as the final rendered keyframe image.


      Duration: 2h 36m

      Format: HD 1920x1080

      James Lewis-Vines

      Lead Concept Artist at Fuse Games

      James Lewis-Vines is Lead Concept Artist at Fuse Games and was previously a Senior Concept Artist with EA at BioWare and Criterion Games, working on Star Wars, Battlefield, and the Need For Speed titles. He also worked more recently as a matte painter for Disney.


      James loves his craft and the collaborative energy that comes with making video games. As a concept artist, there is always a fresh problem to solve with a sketch, painting, or 3D model. He enjoys innovating with new techniques and technologies to create artwork that inspires the look and feel of new worlds, characters, and objects.


      • I have had the pleasure of working with James for several years and on multiple titles while at Criterion, and I have always found James to be an exceptional concept artist. He is a reliable, humble, hard-working team player who brings a lot of creativity and drive to the team. His attention to detail and ability to explore and visualize even the vaguest ideas into vision-defining pieces have helped shape all the projects he has been involved with.

        - Pedram Karimfazli
        Character Art Director at EA Ripple Effect Studios