Category: Environment Design

Genre: Cyberpunk

Locations: Capua, Appian Way and Rome.

Key moments: Crucifixion along the Apian Way and escape from training school in Capua with kitchen equipment

Choosing one of the topics I have decided to go for environment design. Prop design was my second option but I prefer working with environment since it allows me to focus on the surrounding, buildings and explore my creativeness. I also want to develop my skills in this topic which would make it both challenging, interesting and learning. I looked at a couple of speed painting and call out sheets to get a better idea of the environment design process.

The two environment locations I have selected are 1. The crucifixion along the Appian Way and 2. The 78 gladiators escaping from the training school in Capua with kitchen equipment. I will look into locations in Capua, Appain Way and Rome, as the crucifixion was 20 miles long between Rome and Capua. The genre I have been thinking about is cyber punk, although the art contains a lot of neon colours and shades which can be a good concept to get a focal point.

The Third Servile War or called the Gladiator War and the war of Spartacus. The only dangerous was the Third Servile War in Italia in 73 BC and 71 BC, the Roman army lost battles against the slaves who won a few battles. [3] In 71 BC the rebellion collapsed by Marcus Licinius Crassus, Crassus commanded the left side of the Sulla's army at the Battle of the Colline Gate. [4]

Spartacus who was a slave and a gladiator fled from his training school in Capua. In 71 BC a group of 78 gladiators escaped, these men used kitchen equipment to escape from the school. it increased to 120,000 people both men, women and children led by Spartacus. All these 120,000 people wandered throughout Italy, the adults in this mass were a powerful armed force. The armed force could combat such as the Roman military from the local Campanian patrols, Roman militia etc, it was successful until they got defeated by the Roman legion.

It all began due to a rebellion by Spartacus, this event took place in South Italia, Capua. As Spartacus army increased and they defeated several Roman legions, at the end Spartacus got killed. [5] The 6000 survivors were crucified along the Appian Way, the 20 miles long road between Rome and Capua. [6]

I have decided to use the technique photobashing as it's popular among artists to blend photographs together while painting over them. I also think this will give a neat final piece and speed up my process. I have tried photobashing before but never really succeed since I find it very difficult to blend the photographs and paint over it to make it look like my own drawing. Before starting with photobashing I looked at several tutorials of artists work. I think the biggest issue it trying to make the images fit into the painting and make it blend it well. I will be using a soft eraser and a wet brush which blends a lot better, and I will also be using the adjustments settings to fit my environment.

To get a better idea I did a quick blockout of thumbnail 8 and 9. I added some lightning to get a clearer idea of the tone in kitchen environment. There is a huge difference on the perspectives compared to the thumbnails. Although, I decided to go for thumbnail 8 (left image) since I like the composition as it's not a huge open space compared to thumbnail 9. From thumbnail 9, I liked the hanging shelf as it creates some depth. And I would’ve like to do a smaller environment since the crucifixion environment was quite big.

Learning Report (546 words)

For this brief I choose to do environment design, I didn’t find prop design or narrative design as interesting as environment since it allows me to be more creative and I’m not good with characters. Reaching the final pieces of the crucifixion and kitchen, I have learnt how to use photo bashing and Keyshot for the first time, and other software's such as Maya shortcuts and tutorials. The best way I learnt was to begin looking at tutorials to get a better understanding of different techniques and then get into a new software. I would definitely use Keyshot and photobashing again, I personally think I my workflow was smoother with these methods.

For the crucifixion I would say I managed to achieve the cyberpunk genre by using the dark tones and using the strong neon colours which creates a focal point. The kitchen was more modern and ancient as I wanted to enhance the narrative in the environment, I added a few led lights to keep the genre. Throughout the process I was using the same method by drawing 2D concepts, thumbnails and eventually do 3D block out of the chosen thumbnails to get an accurate perspective. Perspective was one of the areas I struggled with, using the 3D block out was extremely helpful and is a good way to combine with photobashing. It also showed where the shadows and lightning would hit the buildings as example.

At the beginning I didn’t understand the reason of style guides and callout sheets. When reaching the final environments, it made my workflow smoother and easier. Such as amount of details, tone, reference images, materials, textures etc. I found it helpful when I felt unsure or forgot how much details I wanted for the environments.

I received lots of feedback which improved my final environments. I changed the composition, depth, scale, rotation, objects shapes etc to strengthen the focal point. As example my issue was the scaling with pathway in the crucifixion, it had the same width the whole way, this made the distance between the buildings and front cross look close to each other. The coliseum didn’t look like the coliseum as I made it in a cyberpunk style, instead I changed it to the original coliseum and added in some neon lights. And for the kitchen I got suggested to maybe add in a prison door cell and padlock to enhance the meaning behind the image. By starting over and taking the feedback as something positive, I also learnt which areas are my weaker side. Doing the second environment helped me to use the feedback from my first environment what to keep in mind so I knew what to focus more on. I also found what kind of work process I prefer, such as 3D over 2D when doing the thumbnails because of the perspective and easier guidelines where I could use wireframes. I’m happy with the two final environments, although I think I managed to get a better composition in the crucifixion as I have more leading lines. But I like the final piece of the kitchen more because of the tone and results came out better as it was my second environment where I had a better idea how to use different techniques.