I like to work this way as it helps me identify not only the needed assets but also how they will be textured. The scene progresses very quickly as I don’t commit much art time to the assets, which means you get a complete scene sooner. It allows catching problems or things that didn’t translate well from the block out. It also let me practice the art style, find out how I will build things going forward and as an added bonus, gets all your source files set up and ready to go for when you come back to production later. Above all else, I find it fun which helps to keep me motivated. In the end, I had a list of every asset I needed to make, how I was going to build it and all the source files for them. Of course, things change as I began to work, but at least I went in with a plan of action.

Initial High Poly

The organic pieces were sculpted in ZBrush and are nothing more than the move, clay and trim smooth border brushes followed by a decimate for the low poly. The hard surface assets, on the other hand, were modeled in Modo.