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ARTIST Mike Johnson SOFTWARE 3ds Max, V-ray, Photoshop

“What inspires me as an artist are beautiful worlds in film and television, and concepts,” explains Mike Johnson, a full-time lead scene assembler at Blur Studio. “I really love the feeling when you see an image or film that takes you out of your day-to-day life, and for a second you forget where you are.”

Fortunately for Mike, his day job means he has plenty of opportunity to play with shading, lighting and compositing. In fact, creating the atmosphere for Chrome City was his favourite part of the project.

To make the image, Mike created the silhouettes for the buildings and filled them in. “Once I defined a style, I started replicating buildings and creating new silhouettes,” he reveals. “Then, I established the composition and lighting direction; I failed a million times and kept trying until something cool started to form!”