Layout and Environments *stamped posting*

(posting for the next two weeks: Secondary Action)

Hey everyone!

Below I will start adding a list of environment demonstrations to help you in producing your own content!  Expect a list of resources to the right of your blog in the near future!

Environments can be challenging to produce, but when you approach them with the idea of it being like a stage for a play, it becomes easier to produce content!

The first examples are from SAMURAI JACK.  Here, the artist draws a black and white image first, making sure to denote every hard edge for the work produced.  Then, with traditional media, the artist paints solid volumetric shapes that represents each part of the object. That way, we do not get lost in details, and we ultimately see the totality of the work produced! The same approach can be applied digitally in photoshop, working first with flat color, and adding texture on top!

FOR A CEL SHADED APPROACH, IT MAY BE EASIEST TO PRODUCE YOUR ENVIRONMENTS IN TOONBOOM!

Samurai Jack: Painting Demo 1
Samurai Jack: Painting Demo 2
Samurai Jack: Painting Demo 3
Samurai Jack: Painting Demo 4

Static Images of Samurai Jack's Environments

The next approach is producing a singular black and white image.  This piece represents the LIGHTING that is needed on top of your artwork. Producing it primarily in black and white makes it easier to convey dynamic lighting for your art!

Check out the link below, and look at some of the conceptual art designs for Mulan, produced by Alex Nino and company.

Alex Nino:  Environment Concepts for Mulan on Pinterest

In some cases, people tend to start with a black and white image, lay flat color, and place in layers of shadow across the entire image to show more of what is going on!  This builds depth, texture, and creates an easy approach for creating more painterly art!

Take a look at this link to HANS BACHER's work on mulan.  You can see the final color designs for shots were much simpler, and much more expressive than the concept art! This was achieved over time, taking out everything that wasn't needed, and only keeping what was necessary.

Hans Bacher: Environments pt 1
Hans Bacher: Environment concepts (part 2)

As an extra note, use your own personal skills to produce the best environments you can!  For those of you that have 3D skills, you may be able to create models you could use as placeholders or sketches for your work in your film!

Hans Bacher's Blog: Animation Treasures


For those who are into more realism, check out the link below. This stylistic approach is done by an illustrator and animator known as Kevin Dart (powerpuff girls, symbionic titan, yuki seven, steven universe, among others)

Link to Kevin Dart's other work.

Take photographic reference of a REAL place you want to use as an environment, and make note of the COLORS that are used in that environment!  Apply those COLORS to your drawing to create a much more realistic and believable place in lighting and content! Better lighting = Better Colors + More specific content = Much more believable space!