Introduction

My name is Glenn Donaldson I currently live and work in England but I grew up in a small beach side town Warner Beach in South Africa, I left there when I was 20 to pursue an education and career in digital arts in the UK. I went to the University of Gloucestershire and then went on to work in marketing and advertising using my 3D art skills. I was determined to work in the game industry and I joined a local mobile games company Neon Play in 2010. Now over 7 years later I have helped release over 30 titles which have gathered more than 60 million downloads in total.

The project

A few months ago I was asked if I would like to do a talk at the University of Gloucestershire for a video games exhibition they run called Gamex. I thought it would be interesting for the students to see how high-quality game environments are created from start to finish. I decided to make something simple and modular and document the process for the students benefit and settled on the idea of an art nouveau inspired train carriage interior. My wife and I had recently visited Vienna and I was really impressed by all the incredible art nouveau architecture and art on display there and that is why I choose that particular style. I gathered reference on google and even went to a charity shop and bought a cheap book on art nouvea as it had some interesting images of furniture in it. At this stage, I had enough reference that I could see some shapes and styles and themes that I wanted to emulate and I drew a quick concept art sketch. Of course, usually in a studio environment, the concept is supplied but I actually kind of enjoy doing my own concepts when I get the chance. I added flat colors to the concept so that I could start planning the materials and think about how the assets should be divided up and constructed.