Environment Painting & Design

An 8-week course focused on creating stronger environment paintings based on a narrative of the student’s choice

OVERVIEW

INSTRUCTORS

GALLERY

COURSE OVERVIEW

Create strong environment paintings

In this follow-up course to Environment Concept Design, students will be diving deeper into the elements that make up a good environment painting—from values, lighting, and design to composition and colors. The goal for this course is to gain a deeper understanding and mastery of the intricacies of environment painting and design, specifically for the video game and feature film genres. A longer-term project will include design tasks as exteriors, interiors, establishing shots, and design call-outs.

Course Format:

Standard

Duration:

8 weeks

Materials:

Photoshop (any), Wacom tablet or equivalent

Lecture Type:

Pre-recorded

Assignment:

Due each week. Expect to spend 8-10 hrs/wk viewing lectures, q&a, and time on assignments.

Skills Level:

Advanced

Feedback:

Individual recordings

Q&A:

Once a week

Prerequisites:

Perspective, Environment Sketching, Fundamentals of Environment Design, Environment Sketching for Production, Fundamentals of Architecture Design, Environment Concept Design, OR advanced digital painting and environment design skills

Course Format:

Standard

Duration:

8 weeks

Materials:

Photoshop (any), Wacom tablet or equivalent

Lecture Type:

Pre-recorded

Assignment:

Due each week. Expect to spend 8-10 hrs/wk viewing lectures, q&a, and time on assignments.

Skills Level:

Advanced

Feedback:

Individual recordings

Q&A:

Once a week

Prerequisites:

Course Format:

Standard

Duration:

8 weeks

Materials:

Photoshop (any), Wacom tablet or equivalent

Lecture Type:

Pre-recorded

Assignment:

Due each week. Expect to spend 8-10 hrs/wk viewing lectures, q&a, and time on assignments.

Skills Level:

Advanced

Feedback:

Individual recordings

Q&A:

Once a week

Prerequisites:

COURSE OVERVIEW

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

EXPAND ALL COLLAPSE ALL

The more you know, the better.

Week 1 | Introduction and Values

Introduction to the class | Importance of drawing, values, vs colors | What is a value? (Value scale, Values vs colors, Value relativity, describing form) | Show hi-key paintings and low key (show on value scale) | Show concept with few details but great values | Value design (master paintings example) | Demo 1: Value design study of master’s painting | Demo 2: Low Key Painting | Demo 3: High Key Painting | Demo 4: Paint mid-tones first then extremes

Week 2 | Composition

Week 3 | Lighting

How light behaves | Vocabulary of lighting and analyzing lighting references | Value relationships in ambient light vs angle of the plane | Demo: Painting light on simple buildings

Week 4 | Color

Week 5 | Color Techniques

Color corrections over B&W values | Glazing over B&W | Finalizing B&W sketch and how to color it with different techniques | Painting from a color reference

Week 6 | Interior Shot

Introduction about what the differences are from interior and an exterior shot | Demo: Painting (in color) an interior shot with at least 3 different light sources

Week 7 | Edges

What are edges in paintings? | The four different types of edges | Show examples in master paintings | Edges in shadows | Edges for shadow form vs edges for cast shadows | First: Demo with the study of a movie screenshot with only one opaque, hard edged brush. Second: Reworking the edges to get a final painting and realize the power of edges

Week 8 | Finalization of a Painting and Conclusion

Environment Painting & Design

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Instructor

Taking your skills to the next level

Axel Sauerwald

/Freelance

LECTURES BY Gilles Beloeil

Axel Sauerwald is a freelance concept artist and illustrator, currently living and working in Germany. While being a part of the team at Atomhawk Design in Newcastle he had the chance to contribute to games such as Mortal Kombat 11, Age of Empires 2:DE and various other unannounced projects, mainly creating character and costume designs, illustrations and marketing art.

INSTRUCTOR'S GALLERY:

REQUEST SYLLABUS

STUDENT GALLERY

Environment Painting & Design

Student Gallery

STUDENT INTERVIEWS

The Practice of Painting

Interview with Nick Harran

The Practice of Painting

Interview with Nick Harran

Painting With Passion: What It Takes to Transform a Blank Canvas

Interview with Gergely Fodor

Painting With Passion: What It Takes to Transform a Blank Canvas

Interview with Gergely Fodor

Mastering the Technique: A Visual Breakdown Into an Artist's Development

Interview with Vladislav Andonov

Mastering the Technique: A Visual Breakdown Into an Artist's Development

Interview with Vladislav Andonov

SUMMER TERM REGISTRATION

Apr 29, 2021 - Jul 19, 2021

ONLY

$699

COURSE BEGINS

July 14th

PRICING SCHEDULE

Even though our courses are the most affordable for the quality of education.

These FINANCE OPTIONS allow you to focus on your goals instead of the barriers that keep you from reaching them.

EMPLOYER
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”

Henri Woon-Am

Gilles provides very clear and helpful feedbacks, directly pointing out how and why your work should be changed, and how your art would be overall improved in the end. His expertise in environment painting, coupled with his professional but also laid-back behavior, makes the Q&As really enjoyable and informative.

”

Chris Lindstrom

Great instructor, provided lots of useful and clear feedback on assignments and very informative Q&As.

”

Peter Millar

Gilles was very professional and free with his knowledge.

”

Anna Orlova

Gilles is a wonderful instructor and artist.

”

Allan Boulogne

Gilles was a fantastic instructor and I’m really glad I got to have him as a mentor. He cares about the students, answered every question to the best of his ability at each Q&A. Awesome guy.

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