After being named a finalist in the Worlds Challenge, Jonaton Cwiakalski takes us through the creation process of his environment- Stolen Earth. He explains why motivation, time and feedback are important to the creation of any piece.

After reading the brief, rules, FAQ and basically everything that was to be read about the task, a rough idea started to form in my mind. It was about Earth stolen by giant planet which arrived from deep space and has become a part of our solar system. During that cosmic event Earth was purged by meteors bombarding the surface. In result the landscape is filled with craters and those who survived found a shelter in these craters. They built the cities inside and connected them with roads.

It was the foundation of this world. Next step was to solidify rough idea into some eye pleasing vision so I started sketching. I like sketching with lines - it supports my brain in generating ideas. It's just pure exploration of rough and ephemeral thoughts which must be captured before they vanish. I don't worry about colors, values, lighting etc. at this stage.

But eventually those factors must be considered too. And for that I like to use 3D software - Blender in my case. Except obvious gains like resolving possible problems with correct perspective or lighting, 3D working environment allow me to quickly test different camera angles, lighting scenarios and compositions of elements of which the final image will be made.

In parallel I started sketching some shots from the surface which - to be honest - wasn't really necessary since I decided (during my first sketching session) that I want to show this world from above. But I wanted to test new software that I bought at the time - Clip Studio Paint. I wanted to know if it will be suitable tool for this Challenge. Now I can say it passed the test very well. Additionally to testing new software I was considering three different scenarios and type of landscapes - sea, swamp and frozen world.

Eventually I was seduced by clear, bright and frozen landscape filled with evening (or morning) light.

When I was (at least a bit) satisfied with camera angle, composition and lighting of my scene I started build up details of the cities, I've modeled tanker arriving to the cargo bay, did rough sculpting of craters and modelled more distant elements of the landscape - planets, broken apart and scattered Moon and planetary rings. In parallel to modeling in Blender I was playing with different color schemes in Clip Studio Paint.

Finally the time has come to abandon 3D and put all effort in overpainting and repainting renders from Blender (there was one scene and render for Earth part of the landscape and one for the planets and planetary rings). Using Clip Studio Paint I was working on overall mood, colors and atmospheric perspective to bring back depth lost a bit during modeling phase. I reworked planetary rings completely - I wasn't happy with the scale of meteors. And there was a lot of work with overall detailing. At the start the most important is the first impression. But after that I wanted to give viewers something to explore.

I want to mention here about two very important factors - time and motivation. Time given for this Challenge was quite long. And more time in general is a good thing - we can potentially do more. But with elongated time comes struggle with motivation and keeping mind and eye fresh and sharp. When we are starting a project and our mind generate ideas on the fly, we feel like we can do everything! But when we keep this project for long time in the back of the head, think about it, rethink everything over and over again, It's getting harder to summon that initial excitation and fresh eye. Still... the job must be done and delivered on time - that's very important thing! So when we have harder time or go too far with happy concepting or get lost in the details, we have to cut the bullshit, turn on all strength and stubbornness that we have and keep pushing ourselves - step by step - towards our goal. Even if it seems to be as far away as the Lonely Mountain on a distant horizon.

Another very important thing - feedback from other people. I was fortunate to receive great constructive critique and it was like see the whole thing with fresh eyes, from different angle. It helped me a lot to focus on important things. Especially I want to thank @volenck, @korontari, @flamer, @thakis and @janbuczny - you are great! Also kind words and watching progresses of other participants was like a fuel in tank - helping to generate energy necessary to overcome obstacles.

So... step by step, painting session after painting session I've reached the point where only one week left and... yeah - that last week was crazy. I suppose we all didn't sleep much in this last days and nights of the Challenge ;). Yes, it was crazy and great at the same time. I really enjoyed this Challenge and I hope you all felt the same!

Finally... this is the result of all hard work: