Introduction

Hi, I’m Laurence, an Environment artist. I briefly worked on Playconomics with LionsHeart Studios and I’m currently looking for my next opportunity! I began my journey studying art in school and as I neared my graduation I was encouraged to choose something in the 3D field.

I wasn’t quite sold on this idea until, by chance, I picked up a copy of Bioshock. After that, I knew I wanted to work in games. I gained a bachelor of 3D Animation at SAE Institute and halfway through the course, I found that my real passion was in creating environments. It’s been my focus ever since!

Studying at Game Art Institute

I originally started my course at GAI in October last year, and I’m now finishing up the second course. My goal was to update my knowledge of software used in the industry and gain a better understanding of current workflows. The boot camp begins with everyone concentrating their efforts on one prop, this is a good chance for your mentor to see what level you’re at and try to give some good feedback on your workflow and pipeline before you sit down to create a diorama or a scene.

Apart from learning the main software used currently, it also helped me develop an eye for 3D objects, texturing and the ability to evaluate the object as I’m working on it. I found it important to concentrate on breaking up edge wear to avoid it looking too uniform and using some roughness variation to really push the look of your current project.

Even if the lighting isn’t my focus, I also found it increasingly important to ensure my objects are well lit when preparing them for my portfolio. I often like to layer up the lights and have a light that serves as a skylight for ambient lighting, another light to brighten up the main focal point, dramatic lighting, and a rim light. I feel it’s the context of the object you’re lighting that helps decide what color of lights to use. For example, with my prop below I used bright saturated lights which look like car rear lights and colors you might see in a city. For my desert ruins, I kept to more natural tones.