Behind the Scenes: Low Poly Castle Environment

Before I jump into the latest project rundown, let me ask you a question.

Why are you interested in learning Blender and 3D?

Do you want to be more resourceful as a designer in your current job?
Or are you looking to expand on what you can offer to your clients?
Or is it that you're just starting out as a designer or artist and feel like there might be a value in 3D or you want to go and create games?
Or maybe you're just transitioning from 2D or traditional arts and crafts to catch up with what technology has to offer.

Whatever your answer might be, I think you're on the right path. You just need to invest a little bit of time to get those skills and then unleash your creativity.

The other option is to just keep doing what you do. The way you do it.

But let me tell you from my own experience. Every year, it will get harder to see the world around you moving on while you're staying in one place.

Some of my students were able to do the Become a 3D Illustrator course in just two weeks.

That's two weeks from knowing nothing about Blender, to having done 5 different scenes and feeling the confidence to use those skills professionally.

And since the current 50% sale on all courses end in two days, it was never easier and more affordable to go, and do it.

Just take the leap.
You will thank yourself later, trust me.

Now let's talk about my recent project.

Inspiration can come from a lot of places, but I simply love when it comes from procrastination.

You know it, taking some time for yourself, watching a video or a show, playing some games or doing whatever you just laid your eyes on. Just to avoid the real work or chores that await.

Oh the guilt.

But sometimes, this can create mysterious connections in your brain (well, they are not that mysterious) and suddenly you get inspired. This is what I could use in my...., or this could be utilized in....

Last week, I finally installed Tiny Glade. If you didn't hear about it, it's a cozy relaxing game, where you just build castles and structures. No mission, no rewards, no score. The only reward is a screenshot of your castle (You can see my attempt down here between the reference images).

While playing, it reminded me of my older low poly works. Not because it was low poly (it isn't), but the way you create the environments and play with the terrain has in general a lot in common with sculpting and modeling in 3D software.

Visit the full Pinboard here

The only difference was, that I always created my works as isometric cut-out dioramas. First of all, they were cute, but it also allowed me to reduce the scope and create them a little bit faster (If you know me, you know I started by posting daily artworks).

Now I felt the sting of nostalgia, but also wanted to try something more. Try to create the whole environment. Fill the canvas.

I rushed to save my Tiny Glade screenshots and then look for some other style and structure references to save to my Pinterest board. I was looking to refresh my memory a bit and get back into the low poly mindset.

I was a bit rusty to be honest, but that more excited, because it felt fresh again.
 

I always start with a sketch first, because it's just easy to brainstorm on the iPad. Sketch, erase, move, scale. Much quicker than 3D, believe me. And it absolutely doesn't matter how your sketch looks.

And I could directly utilize my play time from Tiny Glade. Since they made the terrain adjustments so easy, I naturally created more vertical layout. With hills, and cliffs and whatnot. And now I felt the need to do the same here.

With the sketch ready, I moved to Blender and spent some quality time crafting my new low poly world. What a joy.

I liked the new result so much, I didn't just want to post it as is, so this time I thought about how this could be presented. Since it was inspired by game and the low poly aesthetics screamed game, I created a simple website layout and used the renders as landing page background and assets.

I think the seamless scene and website presentation really helps to see these skills in the light they can be used and utilized. 

You can watch the full Blender process video on Youtube.

See you in the next one! :)