Mother is Watching ( Game Environment Sketch)

This is what I refer as a 3D sketch. I often do these on my iPad, using Nomad Sculpt. Once I have the idea nailed down, I can move the project into Blender to clean up assets, adjust scale, etc. For this particular project, I wanted to create an environment that was somewhat "steampunk". I also had this idea of having humans be dependant slaves to a machine, with the twist being that that the machine itself was a slave.

For these quick 3D sketches I often have a scale reference ready ( so that I don't have to do that at a later stage) and i focus on readability and lighting. Later I can add more assets if needed, but the idea/concept is understanble at this stage.

I usually start each project by creating a simple mood board. I keep it simple, with 10-15 images max, expressing the ideas I want to have in the design.

Creating a mood board helps me realize early if I am going to need to sketch out assets to which I can't find images that capture the idea. This is one of those cases in which I sketched out a design for the workstations for the environment.

Silloutte is probably the most important part for me in any project. The main idea needs to be readable at first glance. For this project, I wanted to use a machine hanging, much like a person hanging in shibari ropes, to represent not in control.

Here is shot of the scene, with out any small details. If the core idea is readable with just large and medium size shapes, then I know I am heading in the right direction.