Advanced Concept Art
Games artist Jakub Kowalczyk takes you from virtual reality to Photoshop as he puts together a dizzying fantasy landscape
There’s no time to waste in this video tutorial, as Jakub Kowalczyk explains the concept art process he used for his work on the hit game Frostpunk. The video chapters divide neatly between four different programs: indeed, you can choose to buy smaller, cheaper downloads featuring just the content for an individual program if you prefer.
Jakub begins with Gravity Sketch, an app that’s almost as much a game as it is a creative tool. This is 3D modelling software within a virtual reality environment; it’s sold for just £23 through online platforms and works through a VR headset like the Oculus Rift. Watching Jakub work in VR to build his 3D model of a windmill is literally and figuratively dizzying: the sudden changes in viewpoint can make you feel a bit queasy, but you’ll want to try it for yourself.
Jakub next works in the 3D sculpting package ZBrush to craft his terrain for the windmill. This 20-minute instalment whisks you through the process, offering good tips for making the surface look truly organic rather than man-made, and explaining key ZBrush processes such as reducing the number of polygons in the model before export.
The models are now brought into KeyShot, a more specialist tool that helps you lay the groundwork for highquality renders. Jakub shows how you can add and manipulate textures and materials on the models, control the lighting and export various render passes. The artist finally brings the various renders into Photoshop, showing how each might be used within a composite image, before finishing the piece with a photobashing session to place the windmill within a mountain range.
Placing an emphasis on technique, Jakub says little about the creative side of concept art, but offers a nutsand-bolts overview of a highly effective workflow that’s accessible to 3D newcomers.