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[Environment work] Of Orcs and Men

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Boyo polycounter lvl 8
Hi,

Last September, Spiders released "Of Orcs and Men", a dark fantasy RPG.

I had the chance to work as an environment artist on this project, and i'd like to show you some of the environments i've worked on.

It was a small team, so I had the opportunity to work on many aspects, from mood and concept, to lighting and postproc.

Hope you enjoy!

OOAM2.jpg
OOAM3.jpg
OOAM4.jpg
OOAM5.jpg
OOAM6.jpg
OOAM8.jpg

Replies

  • CyberGameArts
  • Skummel
    Very nice, I really like the one with snow in the doorway
  • Lord Fryingpan
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    Lord Fryingpan polycounter lvl 12
    Awesome work for an awesome project.

    I would love to see more :D
  • Ark
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    Ark polycounter lvl 11
    Awesome stuff, been meaning to pick this up.
  • Torch
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    Torch interpolator
    FOOKIN 'ell :O
  • Mr Smo
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    Mr Smo polycounter lvl 18
    i loved this game, one of my favorites for the year! nice work guys. goblin tossing has never been so much fun.
  • d1ver
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    d1ver polycounter lvl 14
    Thank for sharing. Nice work Mathieu
  • Boyo
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    Boyo polycounter lvl 8
    Thank you so much for feedbacks guys !
    I'll post more soon :)
  • AlexCatMasterSupreme
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    AlexCatMasterSupreme interpolator
    Okay, I'm not going to lie. These need a lot of work.
  • Orangeknight
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    Orangeknight polycounter lvl 5
    Okay, I'm not going to lie. These need a lot of work.

    Is this sarcasm? Because to me they look awesome and especially because you had to work on a deadline and not on a huge team.
  • AlexCatMasterSupreme
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    AlexCatMasterSupreme interpolator
    Is this sarcasm? Because to me they look awesome and especially because you had to work on a deadline and not on a huge team.

    No, this is serious. Even if you are working on a deadline that isn't really that great and there are some very glaring issues, stretched UV's ect, in the shots that are supposed to show it off, I mean RIGHT IN YOUR FACE. The lighting could be improved a lot in a few shots, the most notable is the one with what looks like maybe blood all over the steps.

    The last one is suffering from pretty much using one or two textures that don't really have any large details to break it up, these are all very simple things that could have been done on a deadline, and overall the scene just are lacking. I'm not trying to be a dick, but give honest feedback. You can take it however you want, I don't care.

    The best scene is the mountain one, I'd say they did that very well, and it could even benefit from some more interest/props to create a focal point, but it is the best of them.
  • Scruples
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    Scruples polycounter lvl 10
    Anisotropic filtering should probably be enabled, much of the detail was simply raped by bi/tri-linear filtering.
  • Brygelsmack
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    Brygelsmack polycounter lvl 11
    Really liking the snowy mountainside.
  • roosterMAP
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    roosterMAP polycounter lvl 12
  • BARDLER
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    BARDLER polycounter lvl 12
    Okay, I'm not going to lie. These need a lot of work.

    Yet the OP works in the industry, and you don't. Not going to lie you are one of the most abrasive and consistently annoying users on this website, and rarely ever post anything worth while. This isn't a random video game forum where trolls run free for fun, this is a website for artists who have respect for each other. Which is something you very clearly have no understanding of by the majority of your posts.

    Having said that, good job on shipping the game dude, its looks awesome.
  • Tobbo
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    Tobbo polycounter lvl 11
    I have to agree with Alex. There is really nothing special here. I understand it was under a deadline and it's a part of a game, but seriously that alone doesn't make it fantastic artwork. I like the mountain scene one the best though.

    @BARDLER Alex was giving honest feedback. He wasn't attacking the artist or anything. He was simply critiquing the work. No reason to blow up on him for it. Let's try and be professional here.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    Asset by asset these pieces are not impressive, but the mood, lighting, and designs of these scenes are very impressive and work well, I sure they really help to sell the look, feel, and mood of the game. They might not be the most technically impressive pieces (It's a smaller studio focusing on console specs), but they are excellent examples of good design.

    My only major complaints is the lighting is too harsh in the forest and on the blood steps scene.
  • Boyo
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    Boyo polycounter lvl 8
    Hi

    I agree with Alex, these need a lot of work. I have no problems with criticism :), that's why i'm showing this.

    Deadlines are not an excuse for anything, and i didn't mention it in my first post, but yes, it was short.
    I said it was a small team because it allows me to work on every aspect of each environment.

    ZACD : thanks, that's exactly the way we wanted to work. It was a tight schedule, so we needed to focus on the whole picture, though it's far from perfect.

    Thanks again for all the feedbacks.
  • MisterSande
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    MisterSande polycounter lvl 8
    While I can also see room for improvement most of your scenes already have this "breathing" effect. They really feel alive (which is what we artists strife for :P). Congrats dude!
  • reverendK
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    reverendK polycounter lvl 7
    While I don't think Alex's initial "critique" was even remotely helpful, I don't think he should be berated for saying the images could use work.


    I thin the 3rd and 4th images are great.
    I'm not too terribly keen on the trees in the second - i've got a pet peeve with the leaves fanning out in odd directions on tree models.
    the 5th image also is crazy high contrast and really hard to read - looks very noisy.

    I've had to push out my share of assets I wasn't terribly happy with simply because I didn't have any more time to spend on them - and the fact was they were going to sit in a corner or build a cliff face, or hold up a wall or something and weren't terribly important as the rest of the scene was concerned. It happens all the damn time, especially with a small team and tight deadlines.

    For presentation purposes, though, I would limit yourself to just a couple of the better ones (say, for a portfolio or something) that show off your more adequately loved assets.
  • AlexCatMasterSupreme
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    AlexCatMasterSupreme interpolator
    The Reason I didn't go off an list the things I felt could use work with it from the start is 95% of the time you go and take 15 minutes to write something people will just get irritated and not care or get offended. So I just say "oh this needs work" if someone actually wants to know they end up either PMing me or asking about it. At that point I will take the time to give critique, unless the person is asking for it. And yes, ZacD is right, the lighting isn't bad.
  • reverendK
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    reverendK polycounter lvl 7
    At the risk of detracting attention from the posted work I'd like to say this:
    If you've got criticism say it. If you don't want to waste your time on something you think will be ignored than why are you bothering to post at all?

    It's a safe assumption that anybody posting work here is doing so because they're ready to have their work reviewed by their peers. There are exceptions, but that's their problem - not yours. Assuming that somebody isn't willing or able to take critique is all well and good..but simply posting something negative and not constructive only encourages any given person to continue feeling trepidation about presenting their work in this forum.

    You assume they lack the creative maturity to graciously accept your feedback, but suggest that your ham-handed implications about faults in their work should be met such a mature and pro-active response as sending you a PM to get your critique.

    and you've yet to show them why your advice is worth going out of their way to get your opinion.
    For Pete's sake, you don't even have a portfolio linked. How is anybody to know that your critique is worth the time and effort of a PM? because you said their stuff needs work?

    Also - as these are shots from a released title there's little point in calling out deficiencies with the work and expecting them to be changed - unless the OP has access to all the files AND permission to change them for their own personal displaying. Which is highly unlikely.
    I'm all for speaking your mind and saying what you feel needs to be said - but implying you've got something to say and then not saying it is childish nonsense.
  • Mark Dygert
    There is some great work in there! Nice going! The snowy mountain side and the following shot are fantastic!

    The first one gives a somewhat flat first impression, it displays several problems and probably isn't the best piece to start off with. If you want me to point out the specific things I see, say so, but it sounds like you might be aware of them already?
  • Darkleopard
    @ Alex - Perhaps next time you should state your crit's in the same post as 'these needs a lot of work' instead of waiting to be prompted as to why. It does make you come off a little dickish when you just say 'this stuff isn't very good' and then don't provide feedback until someone challenges you.

    I really like the snow scene, the second last one however, i honestly have no idea what i'm looking at, its a pretty confusing screenshot.
    It's awesome you are in the industry mate, this is a good start and you have a great attitude towards it!
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