The Gallery

Discover the best new digital art from the CG community

ARTIST

Patrick Ward

SOFTWARE

Zbrush, Maya, Substance Painter, Unreal Engine 4

“I’ve always been interested in different cultures,” says video game environment artist Patrick Ward. “My intention with this project was to create a 3D environment that focuses on the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest and the majestic land they’ve called home for generations.”

Ward referenced traditional Native American artwork and building methods throughout the process. “What I enjoyed most about this project was designing and sculpting the different figures on the totem poles,” he reflects. The particular animals and designs chosen by Ward reference those frequently found in Native American totem art from the Pacific Northwest.

When creating 3D assets, Ward begins by sculpting high-poly assets in Zbrush, before optimising and retopologising them into lowerpoly models and applying UVS in Maya. Texturing then takes place in Substance Painter, where the highpoly asset is baked onto the lower-poly version. Once every asset has gone through this process, they are exported into Unreal Engine and the scene is composed and rendered.

“One of the things that inspires me as an artist is my love for geography, travel and history,” says Ward. “A 3D space is a platform that allows audiences to travel to a time or place without going anywhere. My goal is to create immersive worlds that not only tell a story, but also shed a light on cultures, places, and periods of time not often depicted in 3D.”

artstation.com/pward3d