Regardless of your specialty within the world of CG art, whether your focus is in gaming, animation, or 2D scenes, there is always a demand for one supporting but vital character—the environment. The all-important role of context in digital art can easily go unrecognized when in reality, the position of every blade of grass, tree, and building was meticulously chosen, and without it, the story wouldn’t be nearly as convincing. 

But creating the perfect atmosphere is no easy feat—that’s why environmental artists use a handful of techniques and tools to help blow their audience away.

Here are the top tips to help you level up your environmental art:

Start with a Concept

Oftentimes, a creative masterpiece will start with a simple sketch or even a few sentences. When it comes to digital creations, sometimes it helps to stick with analog first and think through hand-drawing. Environmental art is no different—the only discrepancy is you’ll be supporting the plotline as opposed to creating it from scratch, making your job a whole lot easier.

There are a few questions you’ll want to ask yourself before getting started, such as:

• What kind of environment is it? Maybe it’s an ancient mythical forest or the chaotic streets of a big city. Start with the most basic description so you can begin to list the elements you’ll need to cover.
• In what way will the environment be used? Will it set the ambiance at the start of an animation? Perhaps it’s a platform game that needs a variety of continuous scenes. This will help you understand the intention and scope of the project.
• What is its history? Is it manmade or natural? How long has it been around? By understanding how it was created in the real world, you can begin to break down the steps you’ll need to produce its digital counterpart.

It may sound like a mammoth task, but organizing your goals and priorities will make all the difference.

Don’t be Afraid to Reference

At this point, you should have a clear verbal understanding of what your environment will look like, how it will be used, and how it might be created. The next step will involve developing a visual understanding through references. Although referencing is often confused with copying, and for that reason, gets a bad rap, this can’t be further from the truth. In fact, using references the right way is, more often than not, a key part of the creative process. 

Bottom line—don’t be afraid to use references. Especially for environmental art, where you’re tasked with conjuring up a world that may not even exist and wowing your audience with its realism. For example, you may only use one reference to help you achieve the ambiance you’re after or multiple that breaks your scene into manageable chunks. Whatever the case may be, try to understand the purpose of the reference—it doesn’t have to and shouldn’t look like a spitting image of what you want your final product to look like. 

Composition is Crucial

It’s no secret that environmental art requires an eye for space, architecture, and natural atmospheres, but when it comes to bringing all of those ingredients together, ultimately, the composition is really what can make or break the shot’s success. So if you have all of the right elements, but the angle is funky, all your hard work can easily go down the drain. While digital software can help aid you, in the end, it’ll be you composing the final shot, which will determine everything else.

To nudge yourself in the right direction, you’ll want to begin by blocking out big shapes to get a feel for the lighting, shadows, and colors before modeling everything in detail. Be sure to not only block out the largest items by size, but also the most important for the shot. For instance, if the scene includes characters, you’ll want to ensure you block these out as well to establish the proportions you’re playing with. This will also help you determine the boundaries of the shot, and what you’ll need to crop out—you don’t want to spend valuable time on something that won’t end up in the frame.

By doing a quick render of all the basic shapes, you can get a pretty clear understanding of how well your composition will work before all the hours of work.

Don’t Aim for Perfection

This may come as a surprise, but remember, even an extension of reality needs to be convincing. And although it sounds counter-intuitive, one of the most convincing elements of reality are its imperfections! Reality goes through wear, tear, and grime, so there’s no reason a perfect rendering shouldn’t take on a bit of the same characteristic. 

Even if it’s a sterile environment like a hospital room, although it may have been spotless when it was first built, over time, dirt has accumulated in the corners, and there are a few small cracks in the walls. It’s in the imperfect details that digital art holds all of its credibility!

At this point, you can have fun with it. You’ve done all the hard work, and now only a few things remain—like adding rough textures or dust on the floor. Technology can even assist you with this. For example, many rendering software will have the option to generate colors or values at random for repeated objects so that you can produce instantly varied outputs. Regardless of how you do it, don’t get sidetracked. Always remind yourself of your purpose as an environmental artist. So no need to spend all too much time on the details, because too many details can end up distracting from the task at hand!

Create a Portfolio

As in all creative ventures, practice makes perfect. While you’ll probably come into the field with a basic understanding of the elements you’ll need to make your scene convincing, like buildings, plants, animals, etc., you’ll only improve with time. That’s why it’s important to track your progress with a portfolio.

Whether it’s to book your first environmental artist position, or document your development over time, it’s important that you keep a record of all the work you’ve done, no matter how big or small. This will not only allow you to self-reflect but will also help you share your work with others and let a second pair of eyes review your work. 

Ultimately, some of the best ways to improve your skills are to be open to criticism, embrace the learning process, and celebrate your achievements one step at a time.

Rely on Cubebrush to boost your environmental art skills!