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In my case, I only wanted to accentuate the impression of a forest, but not giving an actual forest. There are always some unavoidable trade-offs between realistic and artistic aspects in any scenario. Nevertheless, an important aspect that should be taken into consideration is that pushing the environment arts towards realism does limit the freedom of creativity of an artist. That information helps create and scatter foliage assets more accurately based on the characteristics of the rainforest. Or the existence of a true shrub story is extremely unusual because of shaded conditions, and only scattered vines and shrubs are present. For example, the plants in the understory are usually equipped with dark undersides, deeper colored leaves, and larger leaves than the canopy plants that are only several meters above due to the low-light condition in this layer. Even though diving into some ecology for only several days is just like scratching the tip of the iceberg, it does give me an idea of what the composition of the rainforest should look like or which prominent features could be visible to the appearance of the foliage. Each of these layers is in interdependence with each other and has its unique characteristics based on differing levels of water, sunlight, and air circulation. Most rainforests are structured in four layers: emergent, canopy, understory, and forest floor. The rainforest is incredibly diverse, complex, and scary. To my surprise, this process was nowhere near as daunting as I anticipated instead, I came across countless useful information and fed my curiosity. ![]() I spent days studying the ecology of a rainforest, mostly based on the informative websites of National Geographic and Mongabay. Eventually, apart from a few rock assets that I got from Quixel's Megascans, everything else was created by myself. Another box that needed to tick was to minimize using external resources in the creation process as much as possible. The original purpose of “The Guardian of Light” was to create an aesthetically striking game-ready environment on top of which is to understand how to utilize the trim sheets into the assets creation workflow and being fluent in the foliage creation using industry-standard software such as Maya, ZBrush, Substance Suite, SpeedTree & Photoshop. By setting the goals, I know exactly when I’m done with my project if I’ve ticked all the boxes in the checklist. A project might never be considered finished as we always have an opportunity to go back in another time and add five or ten percent extra work. I always set goals once embarking on a new project. Without any further ado, let's get started! Research & Pre-Production Hope you find something useful from this article and can apply these methods to your works. This article has been structured similarly, which covers four main sections: the research, the story, the design, and the technical breakdowns. I love reading articles where they share their thought processes behind each decision-making to solve technical problems or to achieve a certain artistic effect. I am always amazed by how game developers are willing to help each other and contribute their understanding and knowledge to the community. I’m currently looking forward to landing a junior role at a game studio to help create some fun game experiences. Since then, I’ve been honing my skills towards the environment art role and started getting into my stride. ![]() Among all modules, the one focusing on 3D art drew me towards creating environments for games, which I then saw right up my alley. I took a Master’s program in Games Art & Design at Goldsmiths, University of London, and graduated with a first-class degree. And it was definitely a life-changing decision. Taking the opportunity to study abroad was not just for getting out of the stagnant situation and reaffirming my career direction, but also was a breath of fresh air in terms of experiencing and engaging in a different culture. "It's time to make a move," I thought to myself. It was the time I felt like I was capable of more than what I had performed, and my career held still despite my constant effort. Right after graduation, I started off my career as a background artist at a local animation studio then was attached to it for two years. ![]() A bit of history about me, I obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design from FPT University Hanoi, Vietnam. My name is Son Nguyen, and I'm a graduate Environment Artist from London, United Kingdom.
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