Photoshop中的環(huán)境概念藝術(shù)實(shí)踐

俄羅斯環(huán)境概念藝術(shù)家維柯多利亞安沙米吉納帶領(lǐng)我們通過(guò)她的練習(xí)，探索Photoshop環(huán)境概念的方法...

Russian environment concept artist Viktoria Anda Shamykina takes us through her methods for practicing and exploring Photoshop environment concepts...

Even with all sorts of work, constant drawing jobs and other affairs, I whole-heartedly believe in the usefulness of practice. It's a playground where you can both get experience and have fun. Any project, any specific work process, consists of borders, deadlines, employers' demands and all that stuff. In practice you are the one who chooses what to do, what to focus on, and what you are interested in right here right now. This article describes how I come up with practices, how I think when I draw, and how I bring these ideas about. Since I make environment concept art for video games, the topic will be a sort of landscape.

即使有各種各樣的工作，不斷的繪畫(huà)工作和其他事務(wù)，我全心全意地相信實(shí)踐的實(shí)用性。 這是一個(gè)游樂(lè)場(chǎng)，您可以在這里獲得經(jīng)驗(yàn)和樂(lè)趣。 任何項(xiàng)目，任何具體的工作流程都包括邊界，期限，雇主的要求以及所有這些內(nèi)容。本文介紹了如何制定實(shí)踐，繪制時(shí)的思考方式，以及我如何提出這些想法。 自從我做視頻游戲制作環(huán)境概念藝術(shù)以來(lái)，這個(gè)主題將會(huì)是一種景觀。

Concept stage

A significant number of works that are not connected with projects - random sketches and practices - begin with a similar situation: an interesting idea about an environment from a photo, which is transformed and changed according to the prompts of the intuition. It can be helpful to analyze the original picture in two aspects: how the space is organized (there is a road to some sort of entrance, and a river flowing into the background along the road) and what materials are used (masonry, a low stump of a sawed tree, grass, bushes, and the river).

It's usually enough to change the format, enhance the existing peculiarities of the space, add a material or two, and make it all more epic (add some danger, suspense, vastness or something like that). Besides, I'm always for a new story, which you can briefly tell in your work, showing a part of that world (this is what environment concept art is actually all about).

概念階段

與項(xiàng)目無(wú)關(guān)的大量作品 - 隨機(jī)草圖和實(shí)踐 - 從類(lèi)似的情況開(kāi)始：一個(gè)關(guān)于照片環(huán)境的有趣想法，根據(jù)直覺(jué)的提示進(jìn)行變換和改變。 在兩個(gè)方面分析原始圖片可能會(huì)有所幫助：空間如何組織（有一條通往某種入口的道路，一條沿著道路流入背景的河流）以及使用什么材料（磚石，低層 一棵鋸木，草，灌木和河流的樹(shù)樁）。

通�？梢愿淖兏袷剑�增強(qiáng)空間的現(xiàn)有特性，添加一兩個(gè)物體，并使其更加史詩(shī)化（增加一些危險(xiǎn)，懸念，浩瀚或類(lèi)似的東西）。 此外，我總是在一個(gè)新的故事，你可以簡(jiǎn)要地介紹一下你的工作，展示這個(gè)世界的一部分（這是環(huán)境概念藝術(shù)實(shí)際上是關(guān)于）。

Reference

The earlier I collect the main references the better. Since originally this was a practice of detailed elaboration in the manner of Asian artists (thorough study of materials, preserving the dabs of paint, meaning not photorealism, but a drawing good enough to read the scene and the materials). My first step was finding drawing and additional material/color references - the orange accents. And then I came across a picture of a spoonful of red caviar and the story became clear!

In concept art, color and material are very closely connected: to avoid confusion different materials are usually created in easily distinguishable colors and shades, so that the player can quickly tell what environment he is dealing with. So in most cases, color means material.

參考

較早收集的主要參考文獻(xiàn)越好。 原來(lái)這是一種以亞洲藝術(shù)家的方式詳細(xì)闡述的做法（徹底研究材料，保存油漆，意義不是真實(shí)感，而是畫(huà)出足夠好的畫(huà)面和材料）。 我的第一步是找到繪圖和附加材料/顏色參考 - 橙色口音。 然后我碰到一勺紅魚(yú)子醬的照片，故事變得清晰！

在概念藝術(shù)中，顏色和材料是非常密切的連接：為了避免混淆，通常會(huì)以容易區(qū)分的顏色和色調(diào)來(lái)創(chuàng)建不同的材料，以便玩家可以快速地了解他正在處理的環(huán)境。 所以在大多數(shù)情況下，顏色是指材料。

Finding the story

After I decided to tell a story about mysterious sores that look like caviar, the plot became clear: two adventurers cautiously examine the entrance of an infected cave. Since the aim of the picture is focused on the entrance, the main cluster of this "caviar" should be placed there - close enough to be easily noticeable, but far enough for it to be clear that the "caviar" is glowing (that's +1 in epic, which means +1 to mystery).

Here we should note that in environment concept art, every picture has a specific goal. In this picture the goal is to show the entrance to a mysterious cave through the player's eyes, and the characters' figures are supposed to help scale the situation: this is how the player will see his characters when he or she visits the scene. Giving a general idea about its structure and relative sizes of objects is the goal of the picture.

At this stage you make up your mind about a couple of other important things. First of all, since the picture is about the cave entrance, you should focus on it not just by placing the "main cluster of caviar" there, but also by arranging the rhythms of the tree roots (shown with arrows) and creating a contrast in shades (from a well-lit place where the characters are standing to darkness).

And secondly, you should set up the palette - here it's mostly the triad shown against the sky; in a couple of spots in this work you can see little purple patches, which I gradually abandoned later on. The breakdown of materials is strict: the yellow-green palette for the ground and the plants, blue for air and water, red for the "caviar". The air perspective for the far-away zone is set up here as well, with a simple gradient from dark to light blue.

發(fā)現(xiàn)故事

在我決定講一個(gè)關(guān)于魚(yú)子醬的神秘瘡的故事之后，情節(jié)變得清晰：兩個(gè)冒險(xiǎn)家謹(jǐn)慎地檢查一個(gè)受感染的洞穴的入口。由于圖片的目的是集中在入口處，這個(gè)“caviar”的主要集群應(yīng)放在那里 - 足夠容易看出，但足夠明確的是“caviar”發(fā)光（這是+ 1在史詩(shī)般的，這意味著+1到神秘）。

這里我們應(yīng)該注意到，在環(huán)境概念藝術(shù)中，每一幅畫(huà)都有一個(gè)特定的目標(biāo)。在這張照片中，目標(biāo)是通過(guò)玩家的眼睛顯示神秘洞穴的入口，人物的數(shù)字應(yīng)該有助于擴(kuò)大情況：玩家在訪問(wèn)場(chǎng)景時(shí)會(huì)看到他的角色。給出關(guān)于其結(jié)構(gòu)和物體的相對(duì)尺寸的一般概念是圖片的目標(biāo)。

在這個(gè)階段，你會(huì)想起一些其他重要的事情。首先，由于圖片是關(guān)于洞穴入口，你應(yīng)該把重點(diǎn)放在不僅僅是把“caviar”放在那里，而且還要通過(guò)安排樹(shù)根的節(jié)奏（用箭頭表示）并創(chuàng)造一個(gè)對(duì)比在陰影（從一個(gè)光線充足的地方，人物站立到黑暗）。

其次，你應(yīng)該設(shè)置調(diào)色板 - 這里主要是反對(duì)天空的黑社會(huì)。在這項(xiàng)工作的幾個(gè)點(diǎn)，你可以看到一點(diǎn)紫色補(bǔ)丁，我逐漸放棄了。材料的細(xì)分是嚴(yán)格的：地面和植物的黃綠色調(diào)色板，藍(lán)色的空氣和水，紅色為“caviar”。遠(yuǎn)處的空氣透視也在這里設(shè)置，從黑暗到淺藍(lán)色都有一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的梯度。

Drawing

The drawing stage. Here I tried adding another material: smooth dark gray stones, but apart from that I elaborated on all the other fronts. For example, the scattered masonry was added to the ground material, having almost disappeared since the sketching of the original photo-idea. Here it is a scattered road, and it's doing an important job: it's creating a background story for the stage, because such roads are manmade. So, once upon a time there used to be a paved road here, which specifically led to the cave.

The pillars made of smooth gray stone can suggest either a unique type of stone or mineral that could have been mined here once, or a sacred place for worship or rituals, if the stones were brought here on purpose to decorate the cave entrance. The brook has its job too: it separates the characters from the entrance, it's a symbolic obstacle. The right part of the picture establishes the general context: rocks, bushes, the infection has spread not just right next to the cave, even though it's clear that that's the origin or a sort of cluster.

The diagram on the right shows the main brushes that I used for elaboration, they are mostly smooth for small details or textured for wide strokes. Some more detail about the bottom two: I believe that the freedom of strokes for me is the most important aspect of form control (when the stroke is working according to the form, it bolsters the visibility of volume in the flatness of the work), so I use flat brushes with a Wacom Art Pen - a stylus with a tilt and rotation sensitivity. The Photoshop setting that accounts for the flat brush angle automatically works with Art Pen.

繪畫(huà)

繪畫(huà)階段。在這里我嘗試添加另一種材料：平滑的深灰色的石頭，但除此之外，我詳細(xì)闡述了所有其他方面。例如，分散的磚石被添加到地面材料中，從原始照片概念的草圖幾乎消失了。這是一條分散的道路，它正在做一個(gè)重要的工作：它為舞臺(tái)創(chuàng)造了一個(gè)背景故事，因?yàn)檫@樣的道路是人造的。所以，曾經(jīng)有一段時(shí)間，這里是一條鋪好的路，這是專(zhuān)門(mén)導(dǎo)致洞穴的。

由平滑的灰色石頭制成的支柱可以提出一種獨(dú)特的類(lèi)型的石頭或礦物，這些石頭或礦物質(zhì)可能在這里被開(kāi)采一次，或者是一個(gè)神圣的地方進(jìn)行崇拜或儀式，如果石頭被帶到這里來(lái)裝飾洞穴入口。小溪也有它的工作：它將角色與入口分開(kāi)，這是一個(gè)象征性的障礙。圖片的正確部分建立了一般的背景：巖石，灌木叢，感染已經(jīng)不僅僅在洞穴旁邊傳播，盡管這很明顯，這是源頭或一種群集。

右邊的圖顯示了我用于精心制作的主刷，它們對(duì)于細(xì)小的細(xì)節(jié)來(lái)說(shuō)大多是平滑的，或者是用于大筆畫(huà)的紋理。關(guān)于底層的更多細(xì)節(jié)：我認(rèn)為，對(duì)于我來(lái)說(shuō)，筆畫(huà)的自由是形式控制的最重要的方面（當(dāng)筆畫(huà)根據(jù)形式工作時(shí)，它可以提高工作的平坦度）所以我用平板刷與Wacom藝術(shù)筆 - 一個(gè)傾斜和旋轉(zhuǎn)靈敏度的觸控筆。用于筆刷角度的Photoshop設(shè)置自動(dòng)與Art Pen一起使用。

More elaboration: the materials inside the character figures (metal corresponds to "water + air", cloth and skin with minimum elaboration - to "ground + plants": since the picture is not about characters, I thought it was unnecessary to add new colors). Here an advantageous (in my opinion) element was added to the "caviar" - a sort of snot and veins, placed, like blood vessels, intricately, so that it is clear that they are tense and watery at the same time - this suggests the organic origin of the "caviar" and adds some more nastiness and mystery.

更詳細(xì)的說(shuō)明：人物中的材料（金屬對(duì)應(yīng)于“水+空氣”，布料和皮膚，最小化 - “地面+植物”：由于圖片不是字符，我認(rèn)為沒(méi)有必要添加新顏色）。 這里有一個(gè)有益的（在我看來(lái)）的元素被添加到“caviar” - 一種鼻孔和靜脈，像血管一樣被錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜地放置在一起，這樣就可以清楚地表明它們是緊張的和同時(shí)水的 - 這表明 “caviar”的有機(jī)起源，并增添了一些更加骯臟和神秘的東西。

Tweaking

My favorite moment! You go and repaint the foreground. My senior colleague suggested this successful trick, which I admit with pleasure: this option has plenty of advantages. In the work of a concept artist remarks and ideas from outside are heard and specified constantly, so it's a normal and productive working environment.

If the tall pillar in the center of the picture used to battle with the entrance and the characters for attention, and the right zone used to be "just context", and the dialogue between the characters and the main object of the picture - the entrance - used to be much less energetic (they used to be too close, almost blended), now all of these aspects have been improved.

Besides, there appeared an important complication of the scene: an abrupt height difference. In order to get to the cave the player has to come down to the river in the foreground first. Even this insignificant change brought to the scene is important in terms of composition of the game level. And, as a cherry on the cake, the river is widened, and the "caviar-infected" roots serve as a sort of bridge, which intensifies the general suspense of the scene as well.

扭捏

我最喜歡的時(shí)刻！你去重繪前景。我的高級(jí)同事建議這個(gè)成功的技巧，我很高興地承認(rèn)：這個(gè)選擇有很多優(yōu)點(diǎn)。在一個(gè)概念藝術(shù)家的工作中，外界的言論和想法不斷被聽(tīng)到和指定，所以這是一個(gè)正常和富有成效的工作環(huán)境。

如果圖片中心的高柱用來(lái)與入口和人物進(jìn)行對(duì)戰(zhàn)，而正確的區(qū)域曾經(jīng)是“正義的上下文”，以及人物與圖片的主要對(duì)象之間的對(duì)話 - 入口 - 過(guò)去很少精力充沛（他們以前太接近，幾乎混合），現(xiàn)在所有這些方面都有所改善。

此外，現(xiàn)場(chǎng)出現(xiàn)了一個(gè)重大的并發(fā)癥：突然高度差異。為了到達(dá)洞穴，玩家必須首先到達(dá)前景的河流。即使這個(gè)微乎其微的變化帶給現(xiàn)場(chǎng)，在游戲水平的組成方面也很重要。而且，作為蛋糕上的櫻桃，河水?dāng)U大了，“caviar-infected”的根源也是一種橋梁，也加劇了現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的一般懸念。

Light

At this stage of elaboration I think it's important to talk about light: so that the glow of "caviar" isn't surpassed by anything. I chose a gloomy daylight from above; it allows for the highlighting of flat surfaces and emphasizing the depth of the entrance. It also helps easily achieve the goal of showing the depth of the scene where we see mountains in the distance: using a minimum of details you can mark which rocks are further, and which ones are closer with simple plaques, creating a gradient from dark to light with intermittent fog.

At this stage the depth of the cave is still too dark: the shade is competing with dense shadows in the foreground, the cave is "sticking out" forward - at the next stages and in the end it will be corrected with wide half-transparent strokes of a very big soft brush - the so-called glazing. I do that on a separate layer, so that it's easy to regulate "fogginess" and, as a result, the visual perception of depth.

燈光

在這個(gè)闡述階段，我認(rèn)為談?wù)摴馐呛苤匾�的：所以“caviar”的光芒不會(huì)被任何東西超越。 我從上面選擇了一個(gè)陰沉的日光; 它允許突出顯示平面，并強(qiáng)調(diào)入口的深度。 它也有助于輕松達(dá)到展示遠(yuǎn)處景色深處的景象：使用最小的細(xì)節(jié)，您可以標(biāo)識(shí)哪些巖石進(jìn)一步，哪些巖石更接近簡(jiǎn)單的斑塊，從黑暗到 光與間歇性霧。

在這個(gè)階段，洞穴的深度還是太黑暗：陰影與前景中的濃密陰影競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，洞穴向前突出 - 在下一階段，最后將用寬半透明 一個(gè)非常大的軟刷的筆畫(huà) - 所謂的玻璃。 我在一個(gè)單獨(dú)的層上做到這一點(diǎn)，所以很容易調(diào)節(jié)“fogginess”，結(jié)果是深度的視覺(jué)感受。

Composition

Let's talk a little bit about composition, the direction and spreading of attention. In reality, these ideas were set in the very beginning, and are just being developed later on, but it's easier to show them at the final stage. First of all, I really like organizing the main elements by the golden ratio. And even though it's only useful for a more pleasant overall feeling of the picture, while the scene itself can be perceived differently in the game (for example, the player might arrive from another angle), I think it's important to strive for artistic harmony in any picture - then it would be more likely to be accepted in a project, if we were talking about video game development. Subjective perception of concept art is just as important as the perception of a good illustration, even if we take into account its specific applied features.

As part of the same striving all truly interesting objects are not scattered around the edges, but gathered towards the center of the work - keeping in mind the spreading of attention. Visually, objects that are situated on the periphery are considered less important or concealed, and that's why there is nothing extraordinary or important around the edges. There is also a clear entrance to the scene (the large arrow), so that in a split second the viewer could easily "go into" the scene and then start looking around and noticing details.

組成

我們來(lái)談?wù)勔幌陆M合，方向和注意力的傳播。在現(xiàn)實(shí)中，這些想法是在一開(kāi)始就設(shè)定的，而且正在稍后開(kāi)發(fā)，但是在最后階段更容易展現(xiàn)出來(lái)。首先，我真的很喜歡按黃金比例組織主要元素。即使它只對(duì)一個(gè)更愉快的整體感覺(jué)的圖片有用，而場(chǎng)景本身可以在游戲中被不同地感知（例如，玩家可能從另一個(gè)角度到達(dá)），我認(rèn)為重要的是要爭(zhēng)取藝術(shù)和諧任何圖片 - 那么如果我們談?wù)撘曨l游戲開(kāi)發(fā)，那么在項(xiàng)目中更有可能被接受。概念藝術(shù)的主觀感覺(jué)與一個(gè)很好的例證的感覺(jué)一樣重要，即使我們考慮到其具體的應(yīng)用特征。

作為同一個(gè)努力的一部分，所有真正有趣的物體都不會(huì)分散在邊緣，而是聚集到工作的中心 - 記住注意力的傳播。在視覺(jué)上，位于外圍的物體被認(rèn)為不太重要或隱藏，這就是為什么在邊緣周?chē)鷽](méi)有什么特別或重要的原因。還有一個(gè)清晰的入口（大箭頭），所以在一秒鐘之內(nèi)，觀眾可以很容易“進(jìn)入”現(xiàn)場(chǎng)，然后開(kāi)始環(huán)顧四周，注意細(xì)節(jié)。

Final flourishes

Finally, about the horizontal reflection. I'll repeat the well-known piece of advice that it is useful to mirror your work often (vertically as well as horizontally) to keep your own perception fresh. And secondly, since we read from left to right, such disposition suggests that the plot will develop to lead the characters into the cave, because, roughly speaking, everything situated on the right means the future.

最后的發(fā)展

最后，關(guān)于水平反射。 我會(huì)重復(fù)眾所周知的建議，經(jīng)常（垂直和水平）鏡像工作是有用的，以保持自己的感覺(jué)新鮮。 其次，由于我們從左到右閱讀，所以這種處置表明，情節(jié)會(huì)發(fā)展成將人物引入洞穴，因?yàn)榇笾聛?lái)說(shuō)，所有位于右邊的都是未來(lái)。

A little bit about details: as you can see in these fragments, strokes and roughness are visible everywhere, as I had planned. But the details that I considered important are well placed. For instance, the glazing of shades between the knight's shield and the mountains in the distance where the brook ends. Or the archer's butt and heel, mildly lit by the "caviar", whereas on the knight the orange accents are only seen on the edges of the metal parts of his armor (metal reflects local light better, even if it's fairly far away).

有一點(diǎn)細(xì)節(jié)：正如你在這些片段中看到的那樣，筆畫(huà)和粗糙度隨著我的計(jì)劃到處可見(jiàn)。 但我認(rèn)為重要的細(xì)節(jié)是很好的。 例如，在布魯克結(jié)束的距離內(nèi)，騎士的盾牌和山脈之間的陰影玻璃。 或者弓箭手的屁股和腳跟，輕輕地被“caviar”點(diǎn)燃，而在騎士上，橙色的口音只能看到在他的護(hù)甲的金屬部分的邊緣（金屬反映了當(dāng)?shù)氐墓饩�，即使它相當(dāng)遙遠(yuǎn)）。

In this fragment you can see the differences in the shades of water: different shades are used where it's foaming, falling from a height, and where it's flowing calmly. Here we also see that among the "caviar" there are brighter and duller "sores", which is shown on the ones on the right and which enhances the organic element in the perception of the "caviar" pieces as well.

在這個(gè)片段中，你可以看到水中的不同之處：不同的色調(diào)被用于發(fā)泡，從高處墜落，平靜流淌。 在這里，我們也看到，在“caviar”之間，有更明亮，更骯臟的“sores”，它們顯示在右邊，并增強(qiáng)了對(duì)“caviar”作品感知的有機(jī)元素。

And the last fragment is about the dialogue between rough and tangled roots and smooth "caviar" balls that are covered with intertwined "vessels" and "snot". This contrast also adds to the effect of suspense and a vague feeling of illness and danger - since we know that the texture of wood is hard and rough and that it's not supposed to be sticky and moist, we feel that nothing "good" can come from such a tree. Obviously, at the cave entrance this effect should be the strongest.

最后一個(gè)片段是關(guān)于粗糙和糾結(jié)的根之間的對(duì)話，以及被交織在一起的“血管”和“鼻子”的光滑的“caviar”球。 這種對(duì)比也增加了懸念的影響和模糊的疾病和危險(xiǎn)感 - 因?yàn)槲覀冎�道木材的質(zhì)地很硬，粗糙，不應(yīng)該是粘稠和潮濕的，顯然，在洞穴入口處，這個(gè)效果應(yīng)該是最強(qiáng)的。

Finalizing the picture, I check the shades of the work once again, including the layer of discoloration (over my work layers I always have a layer with notes and a perspective grid, if it's needed, and a layer like the Adjustment layer - Hue/Saturation... with 0 color saturation, which allows me to see just the shades of my work, helps me check plans and composition).

Then I reduce the size (depending on the goals of my work I draw on 2000-5000 dots long canvas), and add one of my favorite sharpness filters (it's often Paint Doubts on 30-50%). I once again reflect the work vertically and horizontally, and if everything is alright, I sign it and consider my job done!

完成圖片，我再次檢查工作的色調(diào)，包括變色層（在我的工作層上，我總是有一個(gè)帶有筆記和透視網(wǎng)格的層，如果需要的話）和一層像調(diào)整層 - 色相/ 飽和度與0色飽和度，這使我能夠看到我的工作的陰影，幫助我檢查計(jì)劃和組成）。

然后我減小尺寸（取決于我在2000-5000點(diǎn)長(zhǎng)畫(huà)布上繪制的作品的目標(biāo)），并添加一個(gè)我最喜歡的銳度濾鏡（通常在30-50％的油漆疑點(diǎn)）。 我再次垂直和水平地反映工作，如果一切順利，我簽署并考慮我的工作！