Any tips on how you come up with original environments? Like.. where do I start with learning how to do that.. buildings and interior and such..
Hello! For me, I personally find it pretty foreboding to put together an environment without prior research and references, so I recommend collecting a plethora of images from either Google, pinterest, or various other sources.
Creating a collage can assist you in picking out potential elements for your original envirionment. Building what is essentially a wardrobe of reference images might help develop your interiors "purpose", or intended function. For example, if you wanted to depict a futuristic living room, sleek furniture, more commonly seen in futuristic interior renders, will seem more appropriate than ornate Baraoque interior. Moreover, do you want the futuristic living room be well lived in, or relatively impersonal? This might translate into how the furniture is arranged, or if household objects are strewn about as opposed to systematically organized. It's also important to think about what shapes best represent your idea of a futuristic room. I might like drawing Laurel crown couches, but the shape is far too elaborate when compared to a typical streamlined futuristic couch.
When it comes to researching, I recommend creating a pinterest board and finding images of the specific type of room (a bedroom, or perhaps a kitchen), building, or environment you are trying to emulate. For example, my most recent project is meant to emulate an older living room/kitchen, thus, many of my references are antiquated living spaces.
This image specifically has been pulled up in a separate tab for almost the entire duration of my piece thus far.
Ultimately, even original environments are derived from real life, no matter how fantastical or far-fetched they might look. Studying the natural world teaches you interior norms, and if you understand interior norms, you can teach yourself when to break them.
A really good video on this by BaMAnimation on youtube goes into further detail on environmental design if you are interested!
But the specific thing I want to note here is how they describe backgrounds! Backgrounds/environments, according to BaMAnimation, are characters in and of themselves! Figuring out the purpose of your interior, just like how you might figure out the goal of your OC, will directly impact the visual presentation of your environment!
I recommend breaking down your idea into questions that you can answer!
1). Do you want your environment to be focused on the interior, or the exterior?
a). If its interior, what type of room, building, or indoor area do you want to depict?
b). What function does this room serve? If it's, lets say, a bedroom, what items are typically useful in bedrooms?
2). If it is an interior environment, is it inhabited or uninhabited?
a). How can you convey that it is either inhabited, or uninhabited? Is it messy, or is it very clean?
3). Is there a specific time or geographical area associated with your environment? Is it futuristic, or is it antiquated? Is it located near an ocean, or is it near the mountains?
a). What elements are associated with, for example, antiquated interiors? When looking for references, do you notice specific types of furniture, wall papers, or decorations more frequently seen than others in your references?
These are just some starter questions that might help narrow down your focus!
When it comes to actually putting your image together, I recommend playing around with grayscale mapping exercises! I like to swap out different room layouts or furniture positions when creating my environments, so grayscale mapping helps me quickly lay everything out infront of me before committing to the actual drawing. If you dont want to do grayscale mapping, however, I have heard that Minecraft can be good for creating a rough outline of your environment as well.
This video by Victor Staris on YouTube goes into more detail when talking about the actual creation process for environments! Topics like color warmth, textures, and object interaction, all elements I believe to be important when creating backgrounds, are covered in the video! I recommend looking into it if you're interested!
If I missed anything, or if my explanation isn't very clear, please don't hesitate to ask for clarification!
